American Idol

With no offense intended, I would like to point out that my opponent does a terrible job of defining the scope of this debate. Thus I will assume that my opponent will argue why American Idol is good and I will do the exact opposite. No topicality arguments from my opponent should be accepted because as i've said she did not properly define the scope of the debate. I will now procced to show why American Idol is bad: First, the voting process is flawed. Trent Hensley writes, "The sister show, "So You Think You Can Dance" has it figured out. On the dance show, the judges put the worst contestants in the elimination bracket, and allow the audience an opportunity to remove contestants that the professionals have deemed acceptable for disposal. This prevents the likes of Sanjaya honing in on a particular audience that supports him, regardless of his "ghastly" performance. Although Simon, Randy and Paula rarely agree, they are paid professionals, and should help America weed out the less talented artists before they are carried toward the finish line by a fan base more interested in the contestants' lifestyle than their singing capabilities. Hey Simon, stop saying America always gets it right in the end: Ruben Studdard, Jordin Sparks, and that gray haired guy. " This shows that the show is simply a popularity contest rather than a singing competition. This can be further seen in the audition procedure when the producers pick which contestents get to sing for the judges. MSNBC Explains, "During the auditions, the judges don't show up until the last day or two, and only see about 100 people who have already been screened, first by producers (who see small groups and narrow the contestants to a few hundred) and then by the show's executive producers. So the wannabe Idols first have to try out in groups of four for a number of random producers. Then, they try out one-by-one in front of the executive producers. And finally, they try out in front of our favorite boozehound and her cohorts. This is why so many people lose their jobs to try out for the show; they have to attend auditions for a week before they even know if they're going to Hollywood. So what happens during these earlier auditions? Well for one thing, those obnoxious song montages that usually end the episodes are filmed then. It's not a coincidence that all of the bad singers decided to sing the same song. Jennifer Sieminski, who made it to Hollywood during American Idol's fifth season, admits that those segments are not "even recorded in front of Simon, Paula and Randy. " Apparently, each city has a "city song" that everyone must sing so that the producers can make the lame montages. The producers even force the people who audition to wear the same clothes to each audition so the viewers at home think the auditions all took place over the span of 1 or 2 days. They messed up with Crystal Parizanski, the overly tan girl who auditioned in Chicago for American Idol 5, who was wearing a completely different outfit during the "Lady Marmalade" montage at the end of the episode. This obviously showed that she had been there for at least a few days. " Another flaw with the audition procedure is that good singers aren't always picked. "As we previously mentioned, the first round of auditions takes place in front of a group producers at a table, who likely aren't even very qualified to judge a competition (then again, this never stopped Simon, Paula, and Randy). Each singer tries out with 3 other singers for these producers. After singing for a mere 15 seconds, you are told whether you're moving on or going home. The producers are usually only on the lookout for people with stories that will sell on TV or people who will make incredible fools of themselves. One auditioner figured out that there are good tables and bad tables, meaning that it's possible that the bad tables just pass on everyone and won't let anyone through to the next round. What if a good singer gets stuck at a bad table? Well, good luck next year! " Finally, I would argue that rejection is very hurtful to young contestants. Simon is extremely rude and this can have a detrimental effect on a young persons self image.