Falling Idol?

There's something wrong when you're wondering if on the last competition night for American Idol, one of the biggest things you're wondering about is if Paula will be sporting any kind of nose splint after breaking her nose. Blake's interesting, I think Jordin's the best teen contestant I've ever seen (not like the seemingly scripted DeGarmo, for example). But...eh. I might buy Jordin's CD, depending on the samples from iTunes; if my kids ask for it or Spidey tells me it's good, I'll get Blake's; I'll consider Melinda's...maybe. But, that's about it.

There's something missing this year, that's been present in years past. Contestants.

I've been thinking about this for awhile...yeah, I'm enjoying it this year, just not as much as in year's past...and yeah, there's some extenuating circumstance stuff involved, but a lot of it is the show. It's having an off year. Whether this is the beginning of the end, or just a blip will be seen next January (or February when the show gets good). Anyway, the always insightful Sepinwall--and the de Moraes piece he pointed to on his blog put it better than I could. So, read them:

At Finale Time, 'Idol' Strains to Hit a High Note by Lisa de Moraes

Critics of this season also point to the eczema of product placement that broke out this year. Wednesday's results show got so bloated with Ford Music Videos, footage of Idolettes going to sneak peeks of new flicks about to open nationwide and pop singers pitching their new CDs or upcoming tours that even cheerleader/show host Ryan Seacrest began snipping about it during the broadcast. One week, when the results show was still a half-hour, the Idolettes got only five minutes of that airtime, while more than 20 minutes was devoted to pitching this and that. [emphasis mine]

Who are these people? by Alan Sepinwall

The biographical clip packages, a staple of earlier seasons and a chance to introduce viewers to the non-musical sides of people who got shorted on screentime in the early rounds, all but disappeared. In their place were the obligatory clips where the celebrity mentors offered advice that the contestants quickly ignored. When the producers finally got around to some biographical material, it was with four contestants left, and the information provided was the most generic possible. (In a shocker, all four love their parents! I know! I couldn't believe it either.)

It's almost like the contestants have become guest stars in their own series, sent to the sidelines for the celebrity mentors, for Ryan and Simon's increasingly-pointless homoerotic banter (which has gone everywhere short of "You're a big queen!" "No, you are!"), for all the product-placement (including weekly trivia questions that even Seacrest is mortified by the simplicity of), even for the otherwise-noble Idol Gives Back charity event.

Given all that, is it any wonder that we've spent so much of this season fixated on contestants with no shot of winning, on Antonella and the photo scandal, on Haley's legs and Sanjaya's hair and the clearly-disproved power of VoteForTheWorst.com?