Are the judges on ‘American Idol’ meaner this season than they usually are?
Wednesday’s ‘American Idol’ introduced something new to the show that has people talking. Mostly, they’re defending Kenneth Briggs, a guy …

I agree with Kevin’s prescription for happiness but AI is damn funny, to me anyway.

I suspect the naysayers lack in the sense of humor department.

And what does Mensa have to do with intelligence? We’re not talking about IQ here, we’re talking about how one chooses to engage with the world. You (or your Mensa friends) can sit around and watch whatever stupid television show you want. But real, vibrant, intelligent, life-affirming people are too busy reading, walking, working, cooking, eating, traveling, and making love to watch something as idiotic and low-brow as American Idol.

I repeat: intelligent people do not watch American Idol. By definition.

But all of this kvetching is kind of like complaining about getting nibbled on while dangling in a shark cage surrounded by chum. Everyone knows the risks involved.

After 6 years, there is no mystery to “Idol.” It’s not as if no one is aware that a million cameras are focused on their every pore, on every flaw, on every nervous tick and quiver in their vocal chords. Everyone knows Simon’s an ass. They know that this is a nationally televised freak show. Brutal truth will be uttered. Stress will manifest itself in ways the human body cannot accomodate. Egos will crumble. Those with nothing to lose will bet it all. And, occasionally, some will win big.

And yet thousands put themselves in the middle of those crosshairs. Why? Because even the, uh, genetically diverse individuals like William Hung can sometimes strike gold. A goofy Chicken Little kid like Kevin Covais with good pipes can make it to the final group. The Rushmore-sized Mandisa can blow a room away with her tremendous vocal ability. A Clay Aiken can transform himself from a fey shoe salesman into a singing star. Overnight.

Lemur Boy and Fatty Arbuckle from last week were so offended by their cruel and inhuman treatment that they walked it all the way onto Jimmy Kimmel’s show. For many of these people, celebrity condecension is a form of currency they can capitalize on in the nanosecond before the exchange rate plummets. Some people can shatter a glass with their purity of their voices. Other people are born to staple their ass-cheeks together for the amusement of others. It’s a cruel entertainment truth.

It might not be right. It might not soothe the brittle sensibilities of Rosie O’Donnell (who, by the way, owes me the cost of one therapy session for showing up in a dominatrix costume in “Exit to Eden”). But it’s everything television is supposed to be, which means that it’s compelling enough to make the viewer sit through ads for crappy Ford vehicles. That’s all this is.

I wish it was more. I wish it was something deeper and trancendent and enlightening. Maybe it is. Maybe we’re just not looking hard enough for the larger moral and spiritual meanings. Maybe the truth is that we’ve turned into a mean-spirited batch of bullies. If that’s the case and this show has become a reflection, a national therapy session for the value of a thick skin and self-realization, perhaps some good can come.

Until then, pass the chips and salsa.

While the content may not be the most intellectually stimulating, intelligent people do watch the show. For example, I know off the top of my head two members of Mensa who watch it. That alone is enough evidence to disprove your well thought-out thesis. But forgive me for distracting you from your translation of War & Peace into Latin…

Anyway, to Jeff’s point - I, too, found the first couple episodes not entirely agreeable, but am also of the mind that at this point, it’s not reasonable to think that these people don’t know what they’re getting into when they audition.

My question is what percentage of the bad/mentally challanged auditioners are doing it just for the attention. Or as a lark or a bet or something. I’ve got to imagine it’s quite high.

As I see it, just about everything that is wrong with our culture today is the result of the coarsening of Americans feelings toward one another. Practically every sitcom is really just a setting where the characters can insult each other. Most reality shows are just excuses to humiliate people on TV. Most news leads because it’s violent, prurient or humiliating to someone famous.

How did we get to the point where our best entertainment is to see bad things happen to innocent people?

You know what? They were right. I haven’t tried to sing since I was 14. The freaks on American Idol just never got the message.

Kevin is right. The only exception is a small corps of bloggers who find material from watching the show. But then, I usually skip the posts they write about it. I just don’t care.

The much anticipated lucasgrindley.com blogroll debuts today. During the last couple months, I’ve used the “most visited” tool from del.icio.us to monitor the blogs I frequent. As a result, the blogs are listed in order of how often I visit…

When do we start throwing Christians to the lions?

And Jeff. Do you really think those people go in Idol without knowing what they are getting into? I mean, this is the 7th season and the nation has laughed at lots of singers.

And for the record, former AI top ten finalists have recently won a Golden Globe, put out a platinum album less than a year after being voted off the show, won a Grammy, been the subject of a tv movie (and starred in it). That’s actually a pretty good track record all in all.

So let me get this straight. When you are aren’t cheering the onward march of profanity and vulgarity, you wonder about the welfare of retards on American Idol?

I wonder about the retards that listen to Howard Stern.

How many times has Stern giddily asked a stripper if she was molested as a kid?

Teasing these people for their poor singing inherently means teasing them for being mentally handicapped.

Would it be OK for a newspaper to publish a “bright” about all the odd things that the same mentally handicapped person does during daily life. Of course, not. Readers would be offended and outraged, for good reason.

American Idol is on thin ice with viewers for its first two shows this season.