AI

I'm not ashamed to admit that we are big American Idol fans here at the Lawless home. I started watching the show at the beginning of Season 3, and after a couple episodes, I got Stephen hooked. (Muah-ah-ah!! ;-) It's funny, because Stephen just does not seem like the kind of guy who would watch this show, much less look forward to it and watch it with me religiously!

Last season (Season 4), I recruited another faithful AIer -- my sister, Cecilia. She got into it about halfway through the season. And this season, she's gotten her significant other, Ken, into it as well. He's another one who I never would have thought would give it the time of day, much less get into it. Actually, he did used to always scoff at us last season, saying how dumb and scripted the show was. Sister (Cecilia) made him sit down for the first episode this season, however, and much to our surprise, he liked it! He said that many people at work watch it, too -- educated, "cultured" people. Who'da thought? Ken still does say that the show's somewhat scripted, and I agree that it somewhat is, especially the scenes with Simon & Paula barking at each other, but oh well, it supposedly makes for good TV. I watch it for the competition and the seeking of talent. It's just a fun show to watch, plain and simple.

I know that deep down inside, I wish I could build up the courage to try out for the show (or at least something like it). I believe that I'm a pretty good singer, but I fear that if I were to ever get up on that stage (during auditions OR competition), I'd croak. There's also the issue of my weight. Of course, I could always lose some, but the idea of trying out for American Idol isn't incentive enough to get me motivated. Health and comfort should be reason enough, but that's another story altogether!

At this point in the season, Idol is showing us the audition part of the process. I'm not sure when we'll get to the competition, but it's okay, 'cause I enjoy it all. Many people (like my neighbor) only get a kick out of seeing the auditions, so that's all they watch. Many of them are amused by the surprisingly big number of people who go before Simon, Paula & Randy and make total asses of themselves. Quite a few of them say that they think they can sing, they know they can sing, or they've been told they can sing. Whatever made them think they can? Whatever made others tell them they can? So many of these people are AWFUL. Simply awful. I can't imagine getting up there in front of millions, thinking I can actually sing, just to end up sounding like a dying cat. How sad! Then again, some of them probably do know that they sound terrible, but just want to get on TV. Better yet, some of them probably sound terrible on purpose, just to get on TV. And the crazy thing is, it sometimes works!

Case in point: William Hung. Wow.