WELCOME TO THE REALITIES OF AMERICAN IDOL aka "The Saga of Sanjaya"

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Author: Viga Boland, webmaster IDOL DREAMS

WELCOME to the REALITIES of AMERICAN IDOL (aka "The Saga of Sanjaya")

by Viga Boland, webmaster of Idol Dreams

So, at last, voters have managed to boot Sanjaya off the Season 6 show of American Idol. And what a show it's been: full of controversy, surprise and now questions about the entire integrity and honesty of the show's producers and the voting system. Howard Stern set out to prove American Idol was rigged or could be, and now, after Sanjaya has suddenly been voted off at last, it's looking like Stern has proved his point: the results can be manipulated and easily.

First off, let's look at Sanjaya himself. There was indeed something endearing about him and actually, his voice isn't all that bad: it just needs a few more years to develop. After all, he is only 17. He has good pitch and quite a nice tone when he sings songs that work for him. In the long run, if this boy wants to sing for his supper, he's probably better suited to broadway. Or perhaps, with that killer smile, he'd be better off in commercials for toothpaste. But when it comes to 'showmanship" as a performer who could keep an audience riveted for song after song, no way did Sanjaya have it. No way! It takes years of performing to develop great showmanship and charisma even when you have it start with...and he doesn't.

Taylor Hicks had showmanship. Chris Daughtry was a showman. So is Rod Stewart, Shania Twain, Tina Turner and many more superstars who don't necessarily have the best voices but know how to keep an audience hanging on their every move and note. That most certainly isn't Sanjaya. So conclusion? The only thing keeping Sanjaya on this show must have been the Stern effect and/or Vote for the Worst.

But perhaps there's yet another reason i.e. American Idol execs themselves kept him there, not so much because he provided showmanship but because it was obvious from the time they picked the top 10 or 12 that the ladies had it all over the guys in talent, voices, and showmanship and that the show would indeed become boring and lose viewers if the winner was so predictable. Those top 3 girls aren't boring: they are fabulous singers and have showmanship. The guys that are left aren't fabulous singers but they have some showmanship. But if week after week those top 3 girls (Jordin, Melinda and Lakisha) consistently turned in solid performances while the guys kept feeding us mediocre and forgettable performances, we'd stop watching knowing we could tune in for just the last 3 weeks and miss nothing.

In short, American Idol producers and whoever else decides these things saw a huge need to keep Sanjaya in there so we had a reason to come back each week. They needed controversy to keep viewers watching the show. And let's not forget one thing: American Idol is about ratings and putting on a TV show people love to hate but can't stay away from. It's not about those individuals getting up there each week to play out their "idol dreams".

So now to the voting, the fine print in the contracts and the rest. For me, from word "go" the voting system has been ridiculous. You CANNOT choose the real winner when an ardent fan can vote 100 or 1000 times for their favourite. The only fair voting is one per person and it seems, that's impossible to set up and/or monitor. So the voting is never fair and has always been rigged, if not by the show then by the voters themselves who find electronic means to beat the system.

As for the fine print, it doesn't surprise me one iota that the producers have a rider in the show's contract that allows them to adjust, as it were, the voting results. Quite frankly, it's probably absolutely essential to the folks putting up all the money for this show, both before and after the winner is decided, to be able to manipulate results. Does John Q Public know the cost of turning an artist into a megastar? Let me tell you it's millions. Now who in their right mind would let a Sanjaya win? Who would be so stupid as to "let the public vote in" an American Idol who's a mediocre singer with minimal stage presence and showmanship? After the winner wins, they have to be able to sell tickets and CD's. Therefore, after the novelty of the show has worn off, the person who wins had better have more to offer than a nice set of teeth and a sweet smile.

So, in retrospect, rigged or not, I think it's probably imperative that American Idol producers and the money men behind it be able to over-ride the popular vote so they can invest in success rather than failure. I don't think, in any of the previous seasons, that the producers wouldn't have stepped in if they thought the winner couldn't sell tickets, let alone CD's. The judges manipulate the voting week after week with their comments. They know who should be in that final three and they do their best to make sure the final three are money-makers for them.

Or let's put this another way: if you had a million dollars to invest, would you sink it into anything not likely to give you the best returns? That's not good business sense. That's stupidity. And that's the reality of American Idol.

Viga Boland manages the career of

Canadian singer/songwriter and

international entertainer & impersonator, Victoria Boland (pictured on the left).

She is also the webmaster and editor of Idol Dreams & Entertainers Ontario