Pretty good summary of the issues relating to the big AI news from this week that well-regarded contestant Pia Toscano was voted off the show.
(see: http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/08/pia.eliminated.american.idol/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn ). I have reluctantly accepted the fact that I am a regular viewer of this show (I have followed 4 of the last 5 seasons, including this one). I understand it better than I did at first, but there are still a few things that mystify me. My reasons for watching the show are complex, and I am not proud of them, but I am no longer blaming it on anyone else - I own it. One of the things I don't understand is why the show is so secretive about its voting data. I have never voted, but it seems it would be pretty easy to gather a few basic demographics - for sure geographical, but may even things like gender, age and ethnicity. And if they did this, wouldn't they have a treasure chest of useful data for advertisers, and by the way social and pop cultural analysts? The only thing I have been able to ascertain is that they do know that viewers in the southern US are much more likely to vote than other regions, which apparently explains the relative success of contestants from that region (or who sing country-western type music). I assume that also explains why the one kid who is marginally talented has been trumpeting his country-western bona fides since his first audition - from what I gather he is a favorite to make it to the top 2. Toscano's fate raises the issue of gender, not geography, in voting patterns on this show. Apparently females (teenage girls first, but also running second middle age women) are the most frequent voters, and females in both age groups tend to vote for young men. As the cnn.com article quotes recent loser Naima Adedapo as saying: "When it comes down to it, the reality is that more than 50 percent of the audience is little teenage girls, and once they get a crush, we're done." The first year I paid attention to this show Carrie Underwood won, which supports the role of geography over gender, but apparently the gender bias has gotten stronger in recent years, particularly due to the increased reliance on texting as a means of voting. The article speculates that volume of voting may have been down this week (an argument based on silence, as Seacrest did not brag about the numbers on Thursday); with lower volume comes the potential for more idiosyncratic results. My own view is that Toscano was over-rated from the start (for those not in the cult, she is a brunette Celine Dion wannabe), but she clearly has a better voice than at least half of the people left in the contest, and I actually hated her song this week less than any other week. But I was not that surprised that she lost, but for a different reason than geography or fangurls. Somebody - and it is not clear if we can finger Gwen Steffanie for this (I take it "finger Gwen Steffanie" is a phrase used fairly often) had Toscano wear a horrid pant suit type outfit that made her legs and ass look gigantic (and not in the good way), and completely covered up her breasts. Last night she wore a beautiful dress that made it clear her legs and ass are delightful, and pushed up a lot of rounded billowing cleavage. If she sang the same song in that dress, she would still be on the show IMO. Her upbeat song may have cost her some young female voters who identify with her melodramatic and sentimental stylings, and to make up for it she needed to attract significant support from men who thought she was sexy. These are the kinds of issues that made me stop watching the show in disgust after the first season, but which I have gradually come to realize is the point of the show - the factors that contribute to popular music success, and the selling of songs and concert tickets. I find myself rooting for Casey Abrams. The article also addresses whether this controversy will hurt ratings for the rest of the season (apparently a large portion of tweets and blog comments in the wake of last night included the phrase "I will never watch AI again!") or help ratings (there was an explosion of internet and media reaction to and interest in the show after last night). It is hard to see how this will not help the ratings. Also it has been pointed out to me repeatedly that there are several examples of contestants who got voted off around this time in the show who went on to be more successful than many of the winners. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
