Hair today, gone tomorrow
Posted: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 7:27 PM by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
Filed Under:
TV
"American Idol" fans, consider yourself warned. If you haven't yet watched the April 18 episode of "American Idol," otherwise known as 58 minutes of filler and one bit of news, stop reading now. Trust me. On the other hand, if you've watched the show, keep on going, we have a lot to talk about.
So raise your hand if you were ready for tonight's "Idol" elimination. Not so fast, Smarty Pants. Even those of us who, every week, wished for this one didn't really believe it would happen tonight. Country week didn't treat many of the "Idols" well, but it especially played havoc on Chris "I Meant to Sing Through My Nose" Richardson and LaKisha "But I've Always Done Well Before" Jones. Both of them looked as if they were in trouble, and even though Phil Stacey took to the country genre pretty well, it was possible his popularity clock had run out, too.
But they all stayed, and sent home was the one "Idol" whose first name alone garners more than NINE MILLION Google hits. Goodbye-a, Sanjaya. Hair today, gone tomorrow, Mr. Faux-hawk. Shush, all you conspiracy theorists, claiming that people in India could magically vote, or that call centers were somehow running the show. Vote for the Worst will have to move on to someone else -- may we recommend Phil Stacey? And Howard Stern will have to content himself with the fact that his longtime nemesis, Don Imus, remains unemployed.
What a long, strange trip it's been. There have been other singers on "American Idol" who have stayed much longer than they should have (we list five of them here). Scott Savol beat out Constantine Maroulis, even though it's Constantine who's now hooked himself a role on "The Bold and the Beautiful." Young redhead John Stevens beat out future Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson, for Pete's sake.
But none of those other singers earned the media coverage that Sanjaya did. His coverage possibly peaked last week and early this week, as every media outlet in the nation -- and beyond -- was writing about him. He was reportedly booed at a Dodgers game. He was named "Today's Girl" by Maxim Magazine. Former First Lady and current presidential candidate Hilary Clinton even commented on him.
Sanjaya mania easily beat out the equally unexplained William Hung fever that resulted in that "singer" releasing numerous CDs, a DVD, and starring in a movie. Who knows what kind of gravy train awaits the young teenager now that he's no longer tied to "Idol"? I live in Seattle, and I know if I can't get a phone connection in the next few days, I'm blaming fellow Seattle resident Sanjaya -- surely every agent, manager and producer in the world will be clogging the Seattle phone circuits trying to reach him.
We might soon look back on this period, the Sanjaya Era, with the same confusion that modern folks look back on the time when phone booth-stuffing was considered a cool college pastime, or when the Dutch went nuts for tulips in the 1600s. What were they thinking, we'll ask, shaking our heads.
I can't answer that question, never have been able to, but you've got to give the kid this. At 17, he's been through the media firestorm and now is walking out the other end, seemingly pretty much good-natured and with his sanity intact. He won't be the "American Idol," but I can assure you that even the winner, whoever that turns out to be (Melinda), won't have to deal with close to the amount of concentrated attention that Sanjaya did. He's gone, and to many people's ears, that's a good thing, but in the words of his final song, he sure gave us something to talk about while he was around.
