American Idol is synonymous with great talent, good music and lots of entertainment. All of these components make for an iconic television show that has produced hundreds of overnight superstars and millions of screaming fans. With something akin to 44 million votes during last weeks’ show, it not only proves its popularity but also probably rivals the amount of votes cast for president in the last election. (Gokey, Lambert, & Allen, 2009)
American Idol first began on June 11, 2002 as a spin off of a British TV sensation called Pop Idol. (Wikipedia, 2009) Idol attempts to discover the best singer in the nation by narrowing down the competition in weekly nationwide votes. Judges, Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and this season’s newest member Kara DioGuardi, help to influence voter’s opinions with their remarks on each song the contestants perform via their expert knowledge in the music industry.
Now in its eighth season, Idol has only become bigger and better by showing larger voting records than ever before. After a quick survey of 10 friends, I realized that American Idol is really one of those shows that nearly everyone at least knows something about. Most (8 out of 10) knew the names of the top three contestants, while only 5 actually watched the show religiously. (Earles, et al., 2009) All had of course heard of American Idol and knew at least one name of a previous winner. Only one friend cited their reason for not watching the show was that it got on her nerves. American Idol clearly is at the top of list in reference to today’s Pop Culture.
The shear number of people viewing and voting for the contestants has proven its popularity. After a personal interview, I discovered this phenomenon to be true in my inner circle of friends as well. Truly American Idol is an unstoppable craze.
Bibliography
Earles, B., James, R., Viera, N., Knudson, K., Knudson, M., Vilhauer, A., et al. (2009, May 17). American Idol. (K. L. Cuautle, Interviewer)
Gokey, D., Lambert, A., & Allen, K. (Performers). (2009, May 12). American Idol Top Three Elimination. Nokia Theater, Hollywood, CA, USA.
Wikipedia. (2009, May 18). American Idol. Retrieved 18 May, 2099, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Idol
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I have never really gotten into the "American Idol craze", but so many of my friends have. I do believe American Idol is here to stay for quite some time, because of it's popularity. I don't know anyone that has not heard of this show either, and I like the concept behind American Idol (how they search for the best vocalist). Many people even the ones that didn't win have become successful and had the opportunity to persue their dreams.
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