'Idol' finds another way to get viewers buzzing
Posted: Thursday, April 26, 2007 4:03 PM by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
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TV
"American Idol" pulled a fast one last night. After host Ryan Seacrest repeatedly promised a shocking finale, the show decided "shocking" could mean "we changed the rules."
On "Idol's" big charity show, it was decided that it wouldn't be charitable to send anyone home. But you could almost see the minds of the producers whirring. They've been in trouble with their audience before, and they surely knew that after millions of viewers paid to support their favorite, those viewers might be demanding their money back if the votes were just thrown out. So they decided to hang onto all the votes and offer up a double elimination next week.
That didn't mean the debate was over, of course. Some viewers felt the show was unnecessarily cruel to teenage Jordin Sparks,* whose name was the last one called, and who may have felt she was going home. (Other viewers felt that none of the Idols looked surprised by the non-elimination, and wondered if the singers weren't warned in advance.)
Others felt that they wouldn't have watched the entire two-hour show* if they'd known that no real news was going to come out of it -- support for Idol's chosen causes notwithstanding. And still others can't stop talking about the creepy CGI event that led to a long-dead Elvis singing a duet of sorts with Celine Dion. Personally, I loved "The Simpsons" dissing a cartoon version of Simon Cowell -- who hasn't wanted to see the caustic judge on the vocal hot seat?
What were your thoughts on the show? Were you inspired to give money to the charities? And was Elvis' resurrection creepy or cool?
*Starred links via the great TV Tattle, which has collected a nice selection of "Idol" commentary.
