I'm done, for now

I've been blogging about American Idol for three years, and I wrote an e-mail reviewing the show for a couple seasons before that. But after watching Norman Gentle/Nick Mitchell "sing" tonight, and then hear three of the four judges praise him, I've had enough. If American Idol isn't going to take itself seriously, then why should I? His whole bit is a joke, but for some reason Randy, Paula and Kara don't care. It's an insult to everyone who actually performed on the show and got critical comments from the judges--when they were 100 times better than Norman/Nick. How do you think Jamar Rogers, or Frankie Jordan or other people who lost sing-offs and didn't make the final 36 feel watching this joke?

Look, I know American Idol is a television show, but it's an enjoyable show because while it can be silly and stupid sometimes, the whole idea behind it is so compelling. Some total unknown who no one ever heard of in December is going to be a huge star by Memorial Day (and perhaps unknown again by the next Memorial Day, but let's not get into that.) And it's genuinely enjoyable and full of suspense to watch each week, see what everyone is going to sing, whether they'll pull it off, how the judges are going to react. But if we're going to mock that with some novelty act, forget it.

There were a lot of other things wrong with tonight's show (specifically the focus, especially by Kara, on this whole "that song didn't show me who you are as an artist" crap. Really, Kara? Someone is supposed to show who they are as an artist with just one song? Don't be ridiculous. Half the fun of American Idol, actually is seeing people figure that out after a few weeks.) But Norman Gentle is the biggest. I'm going to watch the Duke-Maryland game.