The Clicker Weighs In On The American Idol Train Wrecks

Ryan Starr… Carmen Rasmusen… Jasmine Trias… John Stevens… Mikalah Gordon… Kevin Covais… It seems like every season there’s at least one contestant in ‘American Idol’ that is way out of their league, vocally. We’re forced to endure performance after performance of these not-good-enough singers before America finally shows them some mercy and cuts them loose. This year, that person is obviously Sanjaya Malakar. So why is it that the producers and judges of ‘Idol’ allow these people to make it as far as they do? Probably because they’re train wrecks and despite the fact that we cringe whenever they take the stage, we cant seem to look away.

While Malakar might be at the top of “How did they make it this far?” list, he is not the only top 12 contestant in Season 6 of ‘Idol’ that probably doesn’t deserve to be there. If the top 12 are supposed to be the best singers/performers out of everyone who auditioned, how did Haley Scarnato, Phil Stacey and Brandon Rogers make the cut? Don’t get me wrong, these people aren’t bad singers and they can certainly carry a tune a lot better than most of us probably can but are you really going to tell me that out of the thousands of people who auditioned, these are the best young singers America had to offer this year?

MSNBC.com did an article last year about the audition process for the show. Basically ‘Idol’ hopefuls show up to the audition site and are screened by the producers. They sing a few bars and are either put through to the next round or they’re sent packing. In the next round, they audition for the executive producers. If they make it past those guys, they get to audition in front of Randy, Paula and Simon. According to MSNBC, the three judges only see about 100 auditioners from each city. This includes the dozens of terrible singers that were let through by the producers.

We all know why these bad singers get through. They provide us with weeks of entertainment when the audition episodes are aired at the beginning of the season. We laugh at the idiots who think they’re the next Mariah or Aiken and look forward to seeing more of the good singers during the Hollywood rounds. Then there are the in-between people who perform well at their auditions, make it to Hollywood and quickly get out-shined by better singers.

Ideally, these people would be weeded out by the judges during the Hollywood round but more than a handful seem to squeak through. By the time the voting portion of the semi-finals begins, ‘Idol’ has given us a bit of back-story on some of the contestants. These are the people who get the added advantage of extra-exposure from the show, which probably ensures them more votes than those who are overlooked by the producers. For example, in Season 4, I remember seeing Constantine Maroulis’ audition as well as video footage of him performing with his band during the audition weeks but I cant seem to recall seeing anything about Bo Bice until he made it to the top 12. He seemed to come out of nowhere despite being a much better singer than Maroulis.

Whether or not the producers have a say in who makes it to the top 24 is unknown (to me at least) but I have to wonder if its left entirely to the judges to determine who makes it to the first America-votes round.

Let’s get back to this season though. Sanjaya Malakar has earned himself the #1 spot on Votefortheworst.com’s list as well as the support of Howard Stern and many of his listeners. Stern and VFTW are both encouraging viewers to vote for Malakar because of his lack of talent. In an interview with EW.com, the creator of the Vote For The Worst website talks about why they encourage people to vote for the worst contestant, stating:

“We love those people. We love Sanjaya. People think we hate him and that we're mocking him — we actually love him and think he's hysterical, which is why he's our favorite at this point. There's tons of people who don't get that we actually love him.”

While this is probably at least partially true, they are kind of mocking him. Moreover, it’s a slap in the face of ‘American Idol’ and for this, I can’t entirely blame them. The producers and judges allowed Sanjaya to get as far as he did so if America wants to vote him into the top 12 and continue to push him through the competition week after week, that’s their call. If Malakar were to make it to the final two, perhaps the producers will rethink allowing mediocre singers to advance as far as they do. Maybe they’ll pay more attention during the screening process and get enough good singers into the top 24. Or it could backfire even worse. The publicity Malakar is getting could boost ratings enough to make the producers work even harder to find next year’s train wreck contestant.

All of the above said, my heart goes out to the kid and to the other weak singers from previous seasons. For many people, being on ‘American Idol’ is a dream come true and while Malakar’s certainly not at the same level as some of the other contestants in this season’s top 12, he’s not entirely without talent. I give him credit for getting up on that stage. It can’t be easy to perform week after week knowing that the bulk of the people voting for you are doing it as a joke.

I suppose for the time being, we have to accept that the goal of the producers of ‘American Idol’ isn’t always to find the best singers but rather, to find marketable performers and contestants who will draw in ratings regardless of how talented they aren’t. That does seem to be the nature of the reality-show beast.


What to Watch (4/8 to 4/14)



Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC) 8:00 pm
Jones Family (New!)– Ty and the gang rebuild the rundown home of a single-mom and her three kids. Let’s go to Sears!!!

’Desperate Housewives’ (ABC) 9:00 pm
Dress Big (New!)– The housewives are back and more desperate than ever! Susan meets her future in-laws in this episode and Gaby has some problems at home.



’How I Met Your Mother’ (CBS) 8:00 pm
Bachelor Party- (New!) – New HIMYM! Woohoo! Barney hires a stripper for Marshall’s bachelor party.

’24’ (Fox) 9:00 pm
10:00 pm – 11:00 pm- (New!) – Palmer threw us all of a loop last week when he took offense to being called chicken and ordered a nuke-launch on the Middle East. This week will continue down that disastrous path while Jack changes tactics on how to pursue Fayed.



’American Idol’ (Fox) 8:00 pm
(New!) – It’s Latin music week on ‘Idol’ so naturally they got one of the best Latin American singers to coach the top 8 contestants. Gloria Estefan? Nay. Jennifer Lopez, of course!

’House’ (Fox) 9:00 pm
Airborne (New!) – On a flight back from Singapore, House and Cuddy try to help a first class passenger who becomes ill. Soon other passengers, including Cuddy also start showing symptoms. Meanwhile, back at the hospital, the rest of the genius-team try to figure out what’s killing a 58-year-old woman.



’Jericho’ (CBS) 8:00 pm
A.K.A. (New!) – After learning that some of the other bombers were posing as FBI agents, Jake becomes more than suspicious of Hawkins and grills him about his past.

’American Idol’ (FOX) 9:00 pm
(New!) – Lopez performs and someone gets eliminated.

”Lost” (ABC) 10:00 pm
One Of Us (New!) – Juliet flashes back. Meanwhile, the Losties are reunited when Jack, Sayid and Kate return minus Locke but plus one Juliet. This aught to be interesting.

”Top Design” (Bravo) 10:00 pm
Lofty Designs (New – season finale!) – The final two battle it out by making over some LA lofts. One of them will be crowned the winner of the first season of the series.



‘Ugly Betty’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ are both clip episodes this week.

’The Office’(NBC) 8:00 pm
Safety Training (New!) – Michael and Dwight attempt to school the other Dunder Mifflin employees on understanding the importance of a safe working environment. Also, Andy’s back and ready to turn over a new, less rage-y leaf.

’30 Rock’. (NBC) 8:30 pm
Corporate Crush (New!) – Jack’s job is in jeopardy, Liz has a new man and Tracy tries to get his movie off the ground.



Painkiller Jane (Scifi) 10:00 pm
Pilot (New!) – She laughs in the face of pain (well, not literally but she’s pretty badass from what I hear.) The show centers on a former DEA agent who discovers that she has regenerative powers and becomes part of an organization that’s tracking down other super-powered people called “neuros.”



The Day After Tomorrow (FX) 8:30 pm
This movie is good for special effects but be sure to turn it off when you get to the part with the wolves on the ship. Trust me.




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