Article Review
Bad is Good
I am doing my article review on the Editorial: Bad is good by Gary Hoppenstand. This article is about Sanjaya Malakar being voted off of American Idol. As most people know American Idol is a contest where people sing a different type of music every week, then America votes for there favorites, and the person with the least amount of votes goes home. As an avid watcher, every year there is always one person who really shouldn’t be on the show, and this year it was Sanjaya Malakar.
Sanjaya was a young, fun, crazy haired guy who had a ton of charm. While he may not have been the best singer, he had a factor that for some reason America loved. Sanjaya stayed in the competition way longer then most people thought he would or should. Many people wondered why he was still on the show, when many other really good singers went home.
Every week after the votes were in, every talk show, radio show and news cast were wondering why Sanjaya was still on the show. There were rumors that people were voting for him because he was a bad singer. It was said that Howard Stern was encouraging people to vote for Sanjaya just to mess with people according to Hoppenstand (2007).
So what does this say about voters? It says that regardless of what is right or wrong, the voters are really in control. They will do or vote for whoever they want. At this point the voters were proving that they had the power to change the dynamic of the show weather its right or wrong. The voters basically were telling the judges and producers don’t think we do what you tell us to do.
According to Hoppenstand (2007), this example show why so many television programs fail in there first season. It’s because they lack the direct need for evolvement of the people watching. There is always a certain magic that makes a show stick, and if every show stuck, there would no room for anything else. When America chose to keep Sanjaya in the competition, they were in a sense saying we are taking back our role in choosing what’s right for us, not what they tell us it right for us. This has had an indirect affect on what is being produced for people to watch because they have proved they have the power to make or break a show.
So until producers and creators can see into the future and know exactly what we want, there will always be shows that people just don’t want to watch. With show that are successful its because the viewers want to watch them. Hoppenstand said, “In the TV industry, as in any form of popular culture entertainment, there are instances where bad can be good, or good can be bad (2007, p. 584).” This says it all.
So even though Sanjaya eventually got sent home, and all seemed right in the world again, Americans spoke up. They spoke up and took a stand to say that they were taking back the control of what they watched. Americans decided they didn’t want to sit back and be told what to do or watch anymore. They made everyone in the world say wow, things really can be changed if we ban together and say enough is enough. So, I say way to go America, it was time for us to take back control of the television programs we watch.
References
Hoppenstand, G. (2007). Editorial: Bad Is Good. The Journal of Popular Culture, 40(4), 583-
584.
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ReplyDeleteI found your article interesting! I do not watch American idol very often, and your article is a good explanation why. The only time I have watched was when there were interesting people on it. People have to have the personality to go with the voice.
I agree that there needs to be a certain magic that keeps a show on the air. People are tired of the Simon thing, so all they have left is the personalities of those people who make it that far. I believe those that have gone on to make a career and are hitting the misic charts are the ones that have the most personality. Not all of them made it all the way on idol. I guess the people have spoke.
I am not a fan of American Idol but you did an excellent review about the voting systems and the controls of the viewers. I do believe the voters are in control of who wins but ultimately the producers are responsible for the ratings. It does not matter who is the best singer, they have to have a great personality on this show as well. Sanjaya Malakar did just that, fans of the show enjoyed watching the show mainly because of his personality. Today’s singers have to be more than great performers; they have to be charming, diverse, and appeal to different audiences.
ReplyDeleteI got bored with American Idol about four seasons ago and even when I watched it I barely voted. I only voted if I really liked someone and they had what Simon calls the likeability factor. I would vote not only for a decent performer but also one that had a great personality or was funny. I have been completely shocked when a great performer that has the likeability factor gets voted off. I have had favorites that I voted for that don't make it. I am in shock that someone less likeable makes it. The other factor in this is who is voting? Is it teenage viewers, senior citizen viewers, or young adult viewers. Depending on what that generation likes and expects from a performer could be the reason that one wins or loses.
ReplyDeleteI think the same can be said for all television shows. What is the target audience that it is being directed towards? If the show is for children and it airs in the late evening, it will not be on long.
Wow! Where do I begin? Let’s get it out of the way right at the beginning, if you Googled “William Hung” as I did and watched the youtube.com video, there should be no conspiracy theorists out there claiming that the producers only want attractive WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) males or females to succeed on the show. I am a “fan” of AI (American Idol). I don’t know exactly why, but I enjoy watching what the producers like to portray as the best of the worst during the tryouts. I wish “Bikini Girl” could have had some of the same dynamics working for her as Sonjaya had! I also find it interesting to see how the contestants progress over the weeks with the assistance of their handlers and coaches. Nobody is ever going to say that AI is democratic. Thanks to technology, the deck is being stacked one way or the other (check out http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2002-08-16-american-idol_x.htm) and ultimately it is the “will of the people” that might be the ruin of the show. I don’t think there was any message that viewers were trying to send to network executives or producers through their votes for Sonjaya. After all it was the producers that allowed him to get to Hollywood in the first place. How is a vote for Sonjaya “sticking it to the man” to borrow a phrase from Dewey Finn (Jack Black) in School of Rock. I contend that it was the producer’s manipulation of the viewing audience with shots of the little girl crying over Sonjaya, and through their portraying him as the “great white hope” to topple the more “mainstream” contestants that kept him in the competition for so long. Who needs a crystal ball when we have networks playing the role of John Bulushi at the Olympia Restaurant serving us “cheeseburger, Pepsi and chips” (http://www.hulu.com/watch/3533/saturday-night-live-the-olympia-restaurant ) all the time.
ReplyDeleteI am not a huge fan of reality TV, not even American Idol, but I do find myself getting sucked into it every once and awhile and even voting on a very rare occasion. I do find that talent has a way of shining through on American Idol or reality TV on a very rare occasion, Sanjaya not being one of those rarities. However, he is the perfect example of pop culture. Sanjaya who was famous for no other reason other than the fact that the voting public wanted him to stay on American Idol for whatever reason.
ReplyDeleteHUMN 341-E1WW, Response to Assignment 1-3, Week 3, Nicole Hayward
Interesting way to look at this article. I am not so sure it was America speaking up for all that is right in the world. I see it more as Sanjaya represented the freak sensation and we were all mesmirized on what he would sing next, how would his hair be done and what would he wear. We were all freakishly curious on how this guy survived from week to week.
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