"American Idol" Hits a High Note
Gail Pennington Post-Dispatch Television Critic
St. Louis
Post-Dispatch (Missouri) September 1, 2002
What started out as another corny amateur hour has turned into a suspenseful
competition that has captivated the country.
We came to laugh.
Even the concept was good for a snicker. Sure, a TV talent search was bound to
turn up a new "American Idol" -- the next Elvis or Madonna or Britney.
And at first our cynicism was well-founded: the self-styled future idols who
lined up at open auditions were, by and large, roll-on-the-floor laughable.
What's more, the show itself, with two simpering hosts, one vicious judge, one
has-been pop star and a boatload of product tie-ins, was a veritable festival of
mean-spirited comedy.
But if we started out laughing, we've stuck around for a completely different
reason. In spite of ourselves -- and this is the magic of "American
Idol" -- we now care who wins this darn competition. We're rooting, with a
straight face, for our favorite, holding our collective breath until Wednesday,
when the winner is decided.
We're hardly alone, either. Almost 30 million households tuned in to
"American Idol" in the penultimate week, making the two episodes the
No. 1- and No. 2-rated shows both with total viewers and with the
advertiser-prized 18-49 demographic. More than 85 million calls have clogged
toll-free phone lines in the course of the show to vote on who should stay and
who should go home.
It's that gimmick that makes "American Idol" so compelling. As proved
during a wildly popular run in Great Britain, where the show was called
"Pop Idol," passions run sky high when viewers are the starmakers.
If judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson were making the call, who
would care so much? ABC found that out the hard way with bland "Making the
Band," and the WB flopped big-time with strikingly similar "Pop
Stars." Admittedly, those shows didn't have Cowell, Britain's "Mr.
Nasty," who has managed to coin new synonyms for "awful." But
neither did they put the power -- to make some kid's dreams come true, or dash
them -- in the hands of the audience.
Teens (and preteens) proclaiming their undying allegiance to one of the
competitors obviously form the core audience for "American Idol." These
are the fans who tattoo themselves in pastel Sharpie with the names
"Justin" and "Kelly" and "Nikki," who order
baby-T's and key rings and caps from the show's Web site, who jam phone lines
and chat rooms.
Fox, abetted by the show's English producers, has orchestrated the kid frenzy
perfectly. Visit the Web site (www.idolonfox.com) to subscribe to the
"American Idol" newsletter, sign up to get "Idol" messages
on your mobile phone, check the schedule of upcoming "American Idol"
arena concerts or "make your own CD cover and print it out!"
A tie-in book is already in stores ($8.95), and a "limited edition
collector's" DVD package is due Oct. 1 for $19.99 ($14.99 for VHS). Till
then, the Web site has a Video Wall and pictures of the finalists doing fun
things, such as attending movie premieres and drinking Coca-Cola.
But plenty of adults -- lots of them old enough to have screamed for the Beatles
-- have also been buzzing about the show. At cocktail parties and swimming
pools and around office coffee machines, they've debated the mop-top appeal of
Justin Guarini vs. the wholesome girl-next-door quality of Kelly Clarkson
and the rock sensibility of just-ousted Nikki McKibbin.
We grown-up fans won't admit to voting, and we'll still chortle at the show's
manipulative melodrama -- what nerve, stretching the "you are
eliminated" announcement into a full show! -- and corny scripted banter.
("The whole country has been infected with 'American Idol' fever,"
co-host Ryan Seacrest declared Wednesday night. "And at last report,"
chimed in his sidekick, Brian Dunkleman, "there is no cure.")
All the same, we're infected with "Idol" fever, and no wonder. There's
nothing America loves more than good, old-fashioned competition, and
"American Idol" has served up a great one. As Abdul would put it, in
two words: "Phe" and "nominal."