The wife made me do it

Tonight marks the end of the freak show portion of American Idol….or does it? The only reason to talk about this is because the show is an inescapable vortex of lite rock and power ballads that imposes itself upon all American life whether you want it to or not. Seems like they kept a lot of people in because they were “entertaining”, which doesn’t necessarily mean “good singer”. At least they haven’t spouted my favorite line yet, where some judge scolds a contestant by telling them, “This isn’t a popularity contest!” Really? Winning something by majority vote means you’re pretty damn popular.

My interest usually drops off pretty steadily from here on, but I continue to watch because my wife is a fan. Sure, I pick my favorites. Right now, I’m rooting for Jackie Tohn and a few others whose names I can’t remember. (Don’t feel bad, Idols. I forget the name of the winners about two days after the finale.) It was pretty easy to predict that Tatiana would make it through, just to keep a villain on the show. Judging by the chorus of eye rolls and floppy applause when she came prancing through those doors, nobody else was overly surprised, either. If the producers are playing her up so people have someone to hate, then they’re doing a real good job.

Ok. Enough of that. Let’s cleanse our palette with some genuine coolness.