Not to stereotype or anything, but unless you just got in from Third Rock, you probably weren't surprised to learn that Bo Bice, somewhere in those 1990's that he admitted he "could not remember," fought the law and the law won.
Of course, we already knew that Scott Savol had bad paper for an unflattering dust-up with the mother of his child. And now Paula, Ms. Abdul, may have to pay the piper. Believe it or not, it's actually a crime for reality television staff to, um, give "special assistance" to reality television contestants.
Not since the Dallas Cowboys were branded "America's Most Wanted" has a franchise been so weighed down by off-field indiscretions. At this rate, American Idol may give a whole new meaning to the term "rap" artist.
Anyway, I bet Paula hasn't felt this bummed and besieged since one of her back-up singers accused her of the Milli-Vanilli transgression of "Failure to Sing on Your Own Hit Records."
Well, so long as she doesn't issue some statement along the lines of "I did not have sexual relations with that contestant, Mr. Clark," Paula should be okay.
As for Bo's troubles, it's true that the "news" caused bookies to immediately downgrade his stock. I, however, being a serious buzzologist (the first time, to my knowledge, that word has been coined and I WANT CREDIT FOR IT), am reserving judgment until I see Bo's first post-Constantine performance tonight.
I stand by my previous assessment, reference Scott, that American Idol is one of the few venues in pop music where street cred doesn't enhance your image or your chance of winning. But that is not to say that any single factor is Sudden Death. The voting audience, as I discuss below, is just too large for that.
The short answer for now is that Bo's past foibles will create several competing voter trends. First, American Idol is a multi-generational show. Within that segment where kids, parents and even grandparents are watching together, there will be a "role model" thing---now explicit---that people will have to sort out, with a variety of results.
On the other hand, there will be a countervailing sentiment in other voter segments made up of people who, for example, leap to their keyboards to send mass emails saying "Excuse me, Have YOU Done Nothing Wrong?"
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
really great post Sticker, very interesting points about voting trends and super writing - thanks!
2 - Sticker
why thank you very much, Mr. Olsen!
3 - Mir
Sticker, Let me say,you are delightful as always!! Loved that article! I snickered all the way through it!
I WILL give you credit for the "buzzologist" phase! Very verbal of you!
I want to know where this paint analogy came from! Man, thats deep! (I almost needed to wear boots just to read it!) :) It was a good one though!
Your Bee-Gee referencing was extremely well recieved by me! Even if I did snicker even louder while reading it!
I was very confused by the "hello: do I have a stupid face" comment though. To that, my only reply could be,"I don't know. Do you?" hee hee! :)
I am a goody-goody about many things
but the fact that Bo has dabbled in "the drug culture" does not shock me nor keep me from wanting him to win. I can only hope that the people that honestly hold that against him will be the people who will not be voting for anyone. (because they are too cheap or lazy to do it.)
I totally agree with all of your outtakes (as I always do!) Can't wait to see what tonight holds!
Peace Out!
4 - Leslie
Kudos Sticker! If we were to dig a little deeper into all the contestants pasts I'd bet we'd find even more skeletons than the one's in Bo's. Why not just call the show 'American Spy-dol' and give 'em all very in depth background checks with the aide of a lie detector and DNA testing for good measure! The friggin' show is about how well a person can sing/perform! For die-hards that should be all that matters!
5 - Sticker
hey there, mir
If I had you snickering and laughing, I did my job. Lordy, maybe mama shoulda named me Snicker instead of Sticker.
I have been told I do NOT have a stupid face, but why then do people proceed as if I just might believe their STUPID THINGS? huh huh ???
3.5 hours to show-time. Go ahead and make my day, fellas.
6 - Sticker
kudos, to you, leslie
whatyousaid--true - but you know what? I also believe that AI LOVES the controversy.
they know this doo-doo is going to come out and cause an uproar. it's just free pub to them.
i wouldn't doubt it if they were elated when Bo told them up front that he had some bad paper in his past!