American Idol vs. The Voice

    

I know it's not hip to admit to liking either one of these shows. Well, one thing I can own up to is that I've never tried to be hip. The idea behind these shows is, in its basic format, what we are striving to do at this site. To help promote singers that the majority of people have never heard of. Of course because it is on television and major networks they aren't striving to find anyone too different or unique. It is a popularity contest at the end of the day and that usually means something that isn't going to provoke people or make them question too much. Still these shows have found some talent that deserves a wider audience.

I admit I'm a sucker for Kelly Clarkson.  I think Bo Bice puts out some great southern rock.  I'm still waiting for Taylor Hicks to make the album I think he's capable of.  +Jennifer Hudson is a talent to burn.  But the last four or five years American Idol has pushed cookie cutter images that are so quickly forgotten I couldn't even tell you their names.

Truthfully I haven't watched much of American Idol in years.  The last full year I watched was when Taylor Hicks won.  Since than I'll tune in at the start and get disgusted and give up on the show.  Sometimes I'll try to turn back in once they get down to the final twelve but never make it through its entirety.  The Voice I missed the first year and only really starting watching it the second season.

What makes these two shows stand so far apart is also what gets me so upset when I try to watch American Idol at the start of its new season.  American Idol is a mean spirited show and goes out of its way to humiliate people.   There is no amount of argument that will make me believe otherwise.

Thousands, or better yet tens of thousands people audition for a spot on American Idol.  When we turn on our televisions to start fresh for the season we're watching the try outs that have made it far enough to get a chance to perform in front of the judges.  I ask you now, how many others did they have to leap past to get this far?  These people should be the best of the best.  The ones that the judges have to decide if they think are good enough to go on to the next step.  This should be a difficult decision.  But ultimately it's not.

Anyone that has watched the show knows why.  Too many of the hopefuls are just flat out awful.  They get in front of the judges and start singing and within the first few notes its obvious they don't belong there.   And to me, what's worse, is that the judges laugh and make fun of them.  Randy Jackson has gotten the worse of them all.  I made the mistake of watching the first episode of the newest season.  A young Asian boy came on to sing.  And he as terrible.  And Randy laughed and made fun of him.  The boy was 15 if I remember correctly.  I will give Nicki Minaj credit for talking to the boy and trying to make him feel better.    And he wasn't the only one treated like this.

Yes, I know he was bad.  And the others were bad.  My point is that they should never have made it to that point.  They've passed I don't know how many other judges before to get to perform in front of the celebrity judges.  Did any of those judges truly, honestly think they were good singers?   No, they thought let's pass this guy or girl on because it's going to be a hoot when they appear on national television and make a joke of themselves and it'll give the judges a chance to make fun of them.    They're deliberately try to humiliate them.

Now this young man actually took it in stride.  I think a lot of it had to do with Nicki Minaji taking an interest in him and trying to make it sound better than it really was.  But I've seen these bits where the singer was in tears and hurt beyond belief at the way they were treated.

To me that's not entertainment.

Contrast this to the start of  The Voice.   All the singers that perform at the start have a chance of making it through.   They're not all great, but none of them are chosen to get this far for laughs.  It's up to the judges if they hear the potential in their voice to chose them or not.   I don't always agree with the choice of the judges, but I'm never thinking that a singer was permitted to get this far just so they judges could make fun of them.   All their contestants are treated honorably.

And to me that's the biggest difference between the shows.  And why I'll watch The Voice.