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Saturday, May 3, 2008
5/5: Idol cliches
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I saw a headline on mjsbigblog about 11 major “Idol” cliches culled from seven seasons.
I decided not to read their cliches and see if I can come up with 11 myself. Feel free to add your own. These are off the top of my head and not in any order:
1-Ryan’s dramatic cold open, with the camera panning each contestant and him saying, “THIS…is… American Idol!”
2-Splitting the final seven into two groups and forcing the seventh to make a decision which one is the eliminated group. They’ve done it at least four years in a row.
3-Simon’s tight black shirts & his fake “sorry” apology when he’s saying something negative and the crowd is booing.
4-Cameras closing in on any surviving contestant crying after someone is eliminated. And if the contestant is crying, the others come on stage to join the person and console him or her (usually her.)
5-Paula’s halting, grammatically challenged, “Up With People” commentary.
6-Dawg, these cliches are hot! They’re da bomb!
7-Starting a ballad by sitting on the steps and gazing into the camera in close up, before pulling back, standing up and doing the “big” note standing up.
8-During auditions, those painfully stupid montages in which they have everybody sing the same song and do it badly.
9-The opening of the audition door and the contestant flashing the yellow piece of paper as relatives and friends leap and jump as if they’ve won the lottery, often with Ryan as collateral damage.
10-The endless archetypes during audition rounds—the country rube, the arrogant woman who talks back to the judges, the dork, the comatose dude, the military person, the gal whose relative just died, the man whose wife is about to have a baby, the little person with the big voice, the ebullient big dude.
11-The mentor enters a room with the contestants and they do a group sing of one of his/her famous songs. Then the mentors hugs the contestants, who express awe.
