BEAVERS ON IDOL

LaToya Is the Latest Victim of the Three Week Cycle Shocker
by James Shepherd (2004/05/16)

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Last month I devoted a section within the article, "There Is a Solution to Achieving Better AI Voting Results: But Who Will Listen?" to a three week pattern that I thought I had identified. You can find a description of this pattern under the heading, "The AI3 Current Pattern," within the article. Apparently, with the elimination of LaToya, this pattern has now repeated itself three times. Perhaps this is just a coincidence, but since it really did happen three times in a row, perhaps there really is something to it.

Basically, the pattern I discovered was that for every third elimination on AI3, someone really good gets cuts and this causes a flurry of speculation on conspiracies by the producers and vote manipulation because a good one goes and the marginal remain. Amy Adams was cut on the third week of this competition and this caused the first rumblings. Then three weeks afterward, Jennifer Hudson was eliminated and this caused quite the concern again. Now this past week, the third week after Jennifer was cut, LaToya is gone. However, the ones that were eliminated in between these three ladies, caused very little concern.

I doubt very much that this pattern has anything to do with vote rigging by the producers of AI3. Instead, I believe it has everything to do with the boredom factor of the voting public. After two weeks of vigorously voting for your "favorite," you simply get tired of doing so on the third week, thinking that "well, she is just so good, I don't need to vote any more; let the other people vote for her."

Besides, why in the world would the producers of AI3 bother to rig the voting? What is happening is that the very best are not ending up in the final competition, and this is making for a very boring finale. Why would the program be rigged to produce such an uninteresting television program?

Contrary to Randy Jackson's statement that the AI3 group is the best so far, very few seem to agree. The AI2 group was by far so much better in singing talent. I have yet to find one person to disagree with this claim, and not one person who agrees with Mr. Jackson. It is because this AI3 group is so wanting in talent and star quality, that it is of the utmost importance that the best do survive to the end. Well, it just is not happening and this is setting the program up for a very uninteresting finale, in my opinion. About the only aspect left that I still find interesting is whether or not the regional voting from Hawaii for Jasmine will take her to the finale, and, will it be powerful enough to make her the winner.

Because I run a website devoted the Idol programs, I feel obligated to watch AI3 to the end. However, this does not mean that I will enjoy it or even care what the end results are going to be. If the final two competitors are Jasmine and Diana, this will make for one ho-hum finale because the best will not be there. The only interesting combination at this point would be Diana and Fantasia. Are we going to see it? Who knows, but this is the best we can expect right now. It would have been far better to have seen the battle of the divas: LaToya vs. Fantasia, or, LaToya vs. Jennifer, etc. But, we are not going to see it, and this is really quite a "disappointment."

If the producers were really rigging this program, we would see a battle between two divas, because this would be a fine competition and excellent entertainment. What we are going to see is a less than perfect finale no matter what happens from here on in.

The fault is found in the producers, for that is without question. And, the reason for this fault is for their not being willing to change the voting system to end this anarchical voting. Maybe they will decide to do this for AI4, but I doubt it. Perhaps the only thing that would force them to reconsider a voting system change would be finding Jasmine as the winner. This is not meant to be a put-down of Jasmine. I think she is a beautiful and talented girl, however, she definitely does not have the singing talent and star quality of Fantasia, LaToya or Jennifer, not to mention that Diana can sing rings around her in genres like disco - if disco can even be considered a genre. I regard disco as an unfortunate musical aberration from the 70s, but I guess that's a bit off topic.

Maybe if a muzzle can be put on Simon's mouth, better voting patterns will be realized, but it is really too late this year. I think that people love to vote against Simon and his comments just because they detest him so much. His "judicial" comments to Jasmine last Tuesday night were unnecessarily cruel. In fact, all the judges had a go at her and this drove her to tears. Sympathy votes are easily generated - she is only seventeen for Pete's sake. Where did this all lead - the worst performer of the evening receives more votes that two of the best, forcing one of the best to be eliminated. It's just plain stupid, and the voting system is in need of revision if this television program is to make it through another season.

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not totally relevant to my point, but it does explain why it's stupid to accuse the producers of rigging the show...

posted by Yee 12:37 PM

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