American Idol Breaks Records Despite Lackluster Premiere

Even after five seasons this glorified karaoke contest continues to break records. Season six opened in Minneapolis, Minnesota garnering the attention of 57.6 million viewers. It was AI's highest rated premiere EVER and it was FOX's highest rated premiere EVER in Total Viewers. It seems clear that American Idol's fan base is going nowhere. What appears to be declining is the quality of the auditions.

What is it that generates these monster ratings year after year? Is it the desire to search for new talent? Maybe it's the fact that any person with the gumption to get to a city where auditions are being held and give it their all in front of the judges could go on to win the competition and be granted a career in music. This year indicates that terrible auditions may rate higher than good ones. You might be laughing at someone who seemingly has no idea that their voice is bad or perhaps cringing and feeling sorry for them. Whatever the case, you can't look away.

While the premiere in Minnesota didn't reach the lows that evening two in Seattle, Washington did, both cities had little real talent to speak of. Crazy costumes, cracking voices, drunken dance moves and tone deaf contestants were all in abundance. Randy, Paula and Simon had to muster all of their patience to survive the first two days of season six. By the conclusion of the Seattle auditions they appeared to be at the ends of their ropes. They all seemed to think Seattle was the worst round of auditions in Idol history. The natives braved the rain and cold for their chance to wow the judges but most of the people given golden tickets weren't even from Washington. We're left with nowhere to go but up as we move on to Memphis, Tennessee.

The power trio of judges may be the only ones left in the country who truly care about unearthing America's fledgling and undiscovered talent. The rest of the country seems content to giggle and wince their way through a season of weak auditions. Simon and company are going to have their work cut out for them. With any luck that work will include molding gifted contestants along with berating each other and insulting the hopeless. All these components make American Idol the huge success that it is. With an adequate dose of each, American Idol offers a little something for everyone.