AI Conspiracy Theories
I started writing the following entry as a comment at Kiihnworld, which was itself responding to a posting over at Everyone Is Entitled To My Opinion, wherein it was offered that (to distill the post to its essence) the AI producers are giving Bo Bice an unfair advantage. I disagree with this assessment.
After checking out Terrie’s posting, and the comments, I’ve got to say that I really don’t think that there’s any undue rigging/influencing going on. At least not unless the producers are doing some really bizarre things to try and cover their tracks. Before further developing my own assessment, let me offer this caveat: The only way I think that the producers might possibly manipulate things would be if they totally disregarded vote totals. Now, the only way they could disprove this would be to release voting totals every week, and they have not seen fit to ever do so. I’m as much of a realist/fatalist/pessimist as the next guy, but for some reason I just don’t think that such fraud is being perpetrated. To think that it was happening, you’d almost have to think that the re-vote earlier this season was engineered as a way to throw us all off of the scent! You’d also have to believe that the producers’ active work against automated phone voting (which riddled Season 1 in particular) being able to skew voting results has also been disingenuous at best. Nope, I don’t think so…
Some Past Examples:
- Season 1: Tamyra was widely regarded as the singer to beat, and was (IIRC) clearly a/the favorite of the judges. She was, however, waylaid by the horrific Nikki & her inexplicable voting bloc — inexplicable, that is, except for the fact that Simon savaged her in reviewing her performances & said she should & would be voted off. For several weeks, America proved him wrong. Kelly, the eventual (and deserving) winner, was not (IMO) a favorite of the producers, but was someone who improved every week, and built a following.
BOTTOM LINE: If the producers were wont to meddle, Tamyra would’ve lasted longer than Nikki, and would’ve won, not Kelly. - Season 2: It was argued that Ruben was the “chosen one.” I’m sure that Kimberly’s fans & most certainly the ClayNation would agree to a not-insignificant degree. Some of Ruben’s & Kimberly’s fans were mightily put off by the star treatment that Clay got during Neal Sedaka week, where his performance of Solitaire was so good that it caused Sedaka to gush, and enabled Clay to eventually release it as a single. And, of course, the ClayNation would point to Simon’s outspoken support of Ruben as being the better choice for Idol as being a driving factor behind the Velvet Teddybear’s razor thin margin of victory. BOTTOM LINE: Just because your favorite doesn’t win (and Clay was my favorite! :-D) doesn’t mean that the vote was tampered with, even it if was close.
- Season 3: Again, much like in Season 1, several contestants who were viewed as superior (LaToya & Jennifer) were eliminated before contestants who were generally viewed as inferior (John, Jon-Peter, & Jasmine). Good Lord, I remember the conspiracy theories that rose up in the aftermath of the 3 Divas being in the bottom 3! Regarding Fantasia singing Crazy Little Thing Called Love during Big Band week, I must agree that it was an odd choice; however, a quick check of the archives at RealityNewsOnline shows that the top 5 that week each sang two songs, and that the song that Fantasia really blew folks away with was her second song, What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life. BOTTOM LINE: While I do think that Fantasia was the judges’ choice, and I know that I never really “got” her (personally, I liked either Diana or LaToya more…), I have no problem believing that enough of America really did like her, wasn’t coerced into liking her, and that she won fair & square. Besides, Season 3’s Top 10 was, IMO, the weakest of the 4 AI’s, which further explains why Fantasia seemingly had an easy path to the top — because it was (relatively speaking) easier than the challenges faced by Kelly, Ruben, and this year’s winner. (FWIW, I’d say that Season 4’s Top 10 is clearly/easily the most talented, top to bottom, followed by Seasons 2, 1, & lagging way behind, 3…)
So, I guess the overall bottom line is that I really don’t think there’s anything untoward going on with the proceedings this season. Sometimes, America just votes stupidly, where “stupidly” is most easily defined as different than I/you/whoever would. 
I don’t think that Bo is pegged as the winner, at least not by anyone other than me… 
So far, the only singer who, IMO, has gotten the true “star” treatment in the production of their song was Constantine when he sang Bohemian Rhapsody. I truly think that any of the singers left in the competition, save Scott, are viewed by the producers as having tremendous upsides — each of them are very talented & could be easily marketed, although Bo might actually be the toughest sell to the mass market.
Nope, I just hope that the remainder of the competition goes as well as it has to this point. These people have put on some very good shows, and it’s been quite enjoyable. I’m looking forward to what’s going to happen as the endgame unfolds!
-ghp
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