Voting For Sanjaya

I've never been one to watch American Idol with any consistency. There have been times in the past when I have tuned into Idol at the beginning of a season to chuckle at some of the awful applicants. Then there are other times where I have caught some of the last few episodes of a season to see who would win the whole thing. I am proud to say that the one year I had any sort of interest in the show as a whole, I was pretty sure Carrie Underwood should've won and she did just that.

If you had told me before yesterday that I would one day be voting for the Idol of my choice, I would have thought you to be silly. No Idol has ever motivated me to figure out how to place a vote, either by calling or by texting. However, thanx to votefortheworst.com and Howard Stern, I am not officially an Idol voter.

A week or so ago, Howard Stern began talking about votefortheworst on his Sirius satellite radio program. Stern is an avid watcher of American Idol but is very unhappy with the show this season so he has decided to get behind the movement that is votefortheworst. The idea is simple. As a group, we vote for the worst singer on Idol and see how many weeks we can keep him or her on for. This week is very important because whoever remains on Idol after tonight gets to be part of the tour that happens when the season is over. This all sounded like a lot of fun to me so I decided to join in.

Currently, the worst contestant on American Idol is an Indian named Sanjaya Malakar. Last night, the first time I've tuned into Idol this season, they even showed Sanjaya saying he didn't think he was the best singer in the contest. After making that comment on a prerecorded segment, Sanjaya performed "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks. When I heard he was going to do that, I cringed a little as I too had attempted that song at a bar on karaoke night. When all was said and done, Sanjaya's performance of "Got Me", while significantly better than mine, was not what you would call Idol worthy.

Now I admit, voting for the sake of screwing with a contest is not something to be proud of. Still, I do have a reason for doing so. The reason is that I hate how American Idol screws up my television viewing habits. When Idol's season starts up, it pushes every other show out of it's way. For one, American Idol is broadcast on the Fox network. This means that if you're a regular viewer of a Fox show like House, plan on taking a few weeks off from that show because Idol will be on in it's place.

Second, if you're a fan of a show on another network show that airs at the same time as a regularly scheduled episode of Idol, then expect your show to move. The problem is that it's been proven time and time again that nothing beats Idol. For that reason, I no longer get to watch Lost when it first airs because ABC moved Lost to 10pm on Wednesday nights to get out of Idol's way.

I also justify my ridiculous anti Idol vote because of the extra little bump Idol will get in the ratings(as if they needed it). Because of my single vote, I am now committed to watching tonight's Idol results show to see if Sanjaya gets to stay another week. Here hoping. Woo-hoo.

One last thing about American Idol. If you're looking to show off the amazing quality of your High Definition television, have your friends over for an episode of Idol. The way Fox lights their colorful sets combined with some really cool camera moves make for the most stunning visuals I've ever seen on my HDTV.

Until Next Time.
Dave

UPDATE: Sanjaya stays!!! WOO-HOO!!!