http://blogcritics.org/ A sinister cabal of superior bloggers on music, books, film, popular culture, politics, and technology - updated continuously. en Copyright 2005 by the authors Sat, 28 May 2005 00:49:43 EDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Blogcritics.org custom software http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/27/070118.php#comment-159443 Re #1: Well, duh. Of course it does, like most of broadcast teevee. 159443@blogcritics.org Sat, 28 May 2005 00:49:43 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/27/070118.php#comment-159425 No "Idol" Controversy by Joal Ryan Aug 20, 2002, 1:00 PM PT On September 4, a new would-be pop star will be crowned by viewers of Fox's American Idol. Or maybe not... In setting the ground rules for their game, producers of the top 10 hit Fox reality series long ago reserved the right to make the final pick themselves--millions of call-in votes, be damned, according to published reports today. But the same producers say their trump card will only be played if, indeed, the call-in votes are damned--by, say, a technical glitch. These disclosures, in both USA Today and the Los Angeles Times, come as American Idol marches toward its September 4 season finale, picking up viewers and ratings with each passing week. <snip> In USA Today, American Idol coexecutive producer Nigel Lythgoe says it "would be the dumbest thing in the world" for his team to interfere and mess with viewers' choices. (It wouldn't, however, be necessarily illegal--only quiz shows fall under federal guidelines, a by-product of the 1950s quiz-show scandals.) According to Lythgoe, every single contestant who has moved on, or moved out, has done so because the people out there in TV land said so. "The minute you take away somebody the public's voting for, you're screwing with the program," Lythgoe tells USA Today. "There's no logic to [interfering]." Ah, but there are legal reasons. Fox and Idol producers say they needed to give themselves an out in the event of a "partial or total failure" of the call-in voting system. Hence, the reserved right to pick the winner themselves. Already that very same phone system has proved itself vulnerable. Last week, the Associated Press reported that "phone phreaks," equipped with killer Internet connections, were placing as many as 10,000 call-in votes a night from single phone lines. So far, producers say "slamming" has proved "statistically insignificant" to the big American Idol picture. But if something were to come up, well, Idol producers would be ready for that, too. The same legalese that gives them the right to pick the winner, also gives them the right to change the rules--at any time. "Whenever you do a contract, you have to try to anticipate every angle, because you can't tell what's going to happen," Lythgoe explains in the Los Angeles Times. The rule-change clause has allowed producers to give a contestant (Rik Waller of Britain's Pop Idol) the chance to recover from bum vocal cords, and to boot one of the round-of-30 American Idol finalists (unnamed) after something fishy turned up on a background check, USA Today says. (Another contestant, Delano Cagnolatti, was booted out on air after he was caught fibbing about his age.) Despite producers' assurances to the contrary, some soured fans--largely those Ryan Starr and R.J. Helton devotees whose faves are long gone--are flocking to the Idol message boards and declaring the show is fixed. American Idol is far from the only reality series to give its behind-the-scenes crew extra powers--just in case. Original Survivor contestant Stacey Stillman even sued CBS and that show's producer alleging they stepped over the line to change the outcome of the game (and oust her in the process). The big question is will the new Idol revelations rock viewers? "I don't think they really care," says Robert J. Thompson, professor and director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. "The problem will be if [producers of reality TV, in general] go too far. If it turns out that the winner of Survivor [for example] was bogus, that would be a bad thing." Thompson also says the burgeoning Idol controversy is nothing compared to the quiz-show scandal. "America felt completely betrayed by the news [then]...The average American today reads [about American Idol] and goes, 'So, what?,' and will probably watch American Idol Tuesday and Wednesday." http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,10415,00.html 159425@blogcritics.org Fri, 27 May 2005 23:25:49 EDT http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/05/27/070118.php#comment-159055 Sorry to disagree but for me American Idol appeals to the lowest common denominator. 159055@blogcritics.org Fri, 27 May 2005 08:48:34 EDT