American Idol: What Say You?

What do I like about American Idol? I used to be able to answer "everything," but familiarity does seem to be breeding some contempt in me when it comes to this show. Especially the last couple of years. (I think my loss of enthusiasm began with Sanjaya and went on from there.) Still, something about the show pulls me in, and unlike most of my friends, I am still watching.

This year, I'm even enjoying it. The talent is better than ever before, though some of them seem to be getting worse each week rather than improving. Matt, for instance. When he's good, he's very, very good...and when he's bad, he's pretty mediocre. I think Simon has him psyched out––or maybe it was almost getting voted off last week after one of his best performances––but whatever it is, he needs to figure out what's up with himself and fix it.

Here's my take on all of the contestants, including my two current favorites, Adam and Kris:

Anoop - nice ballads last week and the week before, but I still don't know why he's so popular.

Megan - a great look, and I still like that funny quality to her voice, but she's lost her way on this thing.

Danny - the guy can sing, but he seems a bit smug (or maybe just icky), and that puts me off.

Allison - amazingly talented, a real natural, and I look forward to her performances.

Scott - nice guy, nice-ish talent, and better last night than he has been, but I think at this point that he's getting a sympathy vote.

Matt - lots of talent (love him on the piano), but in need of a confidence boost...fast.

Lil -  another one who seems to have lost sight of what got her into the competition in the first place. She chose the wrong song last night, that's for sure, and is trying too hard when she doesn't need to. 

Adam - crazily talented and creative, bordering on genius...or maybe he's already crossed that border.

Kris - talented, appealing, and getting better by leaps and bounds every week.

I'm beginning to think that the contestants who succeed are the ones who don't listen to the judges. Those who do listen and try to adapt wind up turning themselves into caricatures of somebody else's vision of them. (Which is even a little worse than being a caricature of yourself...At least in that case you're still in the ball park, since you actually are yourself and might discover that while you stumble around faking it.)

Anyway, that's my take on Idol. I wouldn't be sad to lose either Anoop, Megan, or Scott this week, and by all rights one of them should go...which means Matt will probably be the one booted off, because that's how Idol works.

The good thing is, I don't care as much as I did when Daughtry got sent home. Over time, the show has kind of inoculated me against itself. 

Which, on second thought, is probably not a good thing...

=)