...has a classier look that’s more conservative than postmodern, along with some deep thoughts about some of my favorite topics: humiliation, contingency, and AMERICAN IDOL. They have caused me to distinguish between the earlier and later stages of the IDOL competition. I’ll admit that the pre-Hollywood road show is mostly the pointless humiliation of the clueless and fairly repulsive. That’s why I don’t watch it. The show only gets good when it’s clear that all the contestants are actually quite good at singing.
It would be interesting to know 1) if the audience for the humiliathon is the same as for the horse race, and 2) the size of respective ratings.
I cant cite anything specific, but its always been my understanding that the ratings are higher for the humiliathon (a great word, incidentally), which is why the shows producers keep drawing it out longer and longer. In the initial season, I believe, there was only one audition show. This year it went on for four or five weeks, with multiple episodes each week.
Theres a research agenda for popular culture social scientist! Humiliathon is a fine word.
Why, thank you...perhaps Ive coined a word...although I expect Ive just reinvented someone elses wheel. With billions of chimpa...er, I mean people pounding away on keyboards 24/7, Im sure someone has already patented "humiliathon." Viacom, probably.