Idolatry
The Times reports today that American Idol is a a programming juggernaut never seen before on TV. That’s why we started Idol Critic (this week’s episode will be out Thursday after the vote).
Kelly Kahl, the chief scheduler for CBS, summed up the “Idol†factor this way: “This is a big monolith sitting out there. It’s the ultimate schoolyard bully.â€If any of Fox’s rivals had hopes that this year might signal some hint that the monster — NBC favors the term Death Star — would finally betray some sign of weakness, those hopes were dispelled in just a week. Most television shows, no matter how successful, fall off sometime after their second or third season, but against all expectations, and most of the historic record of network television, “American Idol†has come back for its sixth season bigger and stronger than ever.
Last year at this time, five weeks into its season, “American Idol†was roaring along as television’s most-watched show, with an average of 31.7 million viewers (up substantially from its fourth season, when it averaged 28.3 million viewers over the same five weeks).
Improbably, this season the show has done even better, averaging 33.5 million viewers over its first five weeks. For perspective, at this point “Idol†could lose half its audience and still rank among the top 10 shows on television. And no one dares predict when this phenomenon will fade.
“Idol†is creating ever more powerful shock waves. A growing number of television executives have begun to regard “American Idol†as a programming force unlike any seen before. Jeff Zucker, the new chief executive of NBC Universal, said, “I think ‘Idol’ is the most impactful show in the history of television.â€
Not I Love Lucy. Not Friends, Seinfeld, Dallas, Cosby, Hill St. Idol.
Tags: idolcritic
February 20th, 2007 at 9:20 pm
Zucker’s an idiot - TV’s not even TV anymore. What’s he smoking?
Jeff - you might enjoy http://www.newcritics.com - picks up on your idea about why we may not need regular/official critics anymore…
February 20th, 2007 at 9:45 pm
Would somebody PLEASE explain to me the appeal of this show?
Act 1: Bad singer.
Act 2. REALLY bad singer.
Act 3. Passable singer.
Act 4. Paula Abdul mumbles something incoherent.
Act 5. Simon Whatsisname gets snarky.
Lather, Rinse, Repeat.
I was the emergency room at the hospital last week and a family was being told that their mother needed to see a neurosurgeon, and one of the guys couldn’t pull his eyes of the damn TV in the waiting room.
Slouching towards Gomorrah.
February 20th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
And I think it’s this year’s “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire,” which means, they’re busy overdoing it and in a year or two it’ll be gone.
February 20th, 2007 at 11:40 pm
what don’t you get?
its format is simple….not overdone
its about real people
it is interactive
it is about music
it is funny
it is great family/office entertainment
it will live forever
US$100 bucks says it is still here in 2010….just maybe not on TV…
February 20th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
I loved it when it was called The Gong Show.
February 21st, 2007 at 9:20 am
You know this show is like must-see TV, if that phrase can be used, for nearly everyone in my workplace — and this office contain more than 200 employees. My co-workers are literally shocked that I’ve seen maybe halff dozen episodes of this show in all the years it’s been on television. What I find so annoying is how the other networks nearly refuse to complete against Idol. They either air repeats of other shows or put something no one was watching to begin with on opposite Idol. What’s wrong with network execs these days; have they never heard of counter-programming? Nielsen estimates there are 100+ million television households, Idol gets one-third of that audience. Why aren’t the networks trying to woo the other 67% percent?
February 22nd, 2007 at 7:00 am
Mumblix,
That’s only the first portion of the show, where the point is to showcase as many deluded wannabes as possible. Personally I can only take so much of it, as after a while it becomes painful and a little depressing to watch, but the American appetite for Schadenfreude is bottomless it seems.
The real meat of the show however is when the pack is winnowed to 24 genuine potentials, and I must admit that American Idol is proving to be better than anyone had imagined at finding and developing real talent. In an era where we must not allow our children to compete for fear of criticism and failure, American Idol says it’s okay for someone to tell you that you do in fact suck, and I think that’s no small part of its attraction.
There has also been a huge musical benefit insofar as the show has re-introduced the American songbook to a generation of people who wouldn’t otherwise have known Frank and Ella from Justin and Britney. To the producers’ credit, they force the competitors to dig pretty deep into the catalog of American vocal performance as the weeks go on, and we’re all a little richer culturally as a result.