American Idol, Season 12

It's official.  I've stopped watching this season of American Idol.  Can you blame me?

I got tired of it after the "drama" of Nicki and Mariah in auditions and I stopped watching those.  I started again at Hollywood week.

But here's the thing.  This year and last year both had absolutely horrible production of Hollywood week.  You didn't see a third of the hopefuls sing.  By the time we got to Vegas, there were people we had never seen, not in auditions, not in Hollywood, and not in Vegas.  It's a singing competition show.  I want to see them sing.  And then America voted on the top 20, having seen some of them every performance, including their auditions and the rest, maybe one performance.  More than ever, this show felt less like American Idol and more like Producers' Idol.  In the past, the producers have manipulated America much more deftly.

The judges are reading straight from their notes.  The performances are fine, but come on, do we really need a two hour show for 8 songs?  I don't mind that it's two hours, but I want to actually hear them sing.  12 songs in 2 hours?  That would be 1 song every ten minutes.  That's reasonable, right?

So, goodbye American Idol.  Maybe next year will be better, but the ratings reflect more and more people like me.  People who have watched American Idol for years, but why bother?  There's no suspense.  The producers could just crown the champion and I guarantee, the champion will be who they want.