The Thrill is Gone: The American Idol and Dancing with the Stars Backlash

Since the Industrial Revolution, our culture has been driven by consumerism and consumption.  VHS became passé so we culturally moved on to the "superior" DVD.  The same argument can  be made for American Idol and Dancing with the Stars this year.  For American Idol, my belief is that the argument holds true as early as Season 5, but I won't get into that.  I don't think American Idol's problem this year is a true lack of talent (there are certainly contestants on the show who have vocal talent) rather the problem is that culturally, we're simply over it.  The newness has worn off and American Idol has become just another reality show. 






I remember watching American Idol in its first season and getting goose bumps every time Kelly Clarkson sang a song (I still believe she is the best voice to come out of that show yet).  We literally watched a star being born.  Since then, American Idol has (largely) exemplified the law of diminishing returns.  With the exception of Carrie Underwood, none of the winners have really gone on to achieve commercial (and critical) success and the same "America" that crowned American Idol winners have failed to follow them to the itunes or the music store to buy their product.  

But this is all a digression -- just as many of the contestants have learned to "play the game" so to has "America."  During the first season, we were excited because American Idol was new and we, like the contestants, didn't really know the rules of the game.  Throughout Seasons 2 and 3, the rules were changed and kept us guessing.  Now, we know the game and with the absence of truly amazing voices and performers, we give a collective "Who Care?"  

American Idol has become less worth our investment.  The show hasn't produced a real "Star" since Season 4 of the show (Carrie Underwood). 

 Dancing with the Stars, I believe, has a similar problem.  The show has always had a very loose interpretation of the word star, but it seems that it has gotten even looser in recent history.  But the appeal of the show initially was seeing celebrities (and fauxlebrities) learn various ballroom dance techniques. The initial excitement was seeing people who had no dance training learn (with varying degrees of success) to dance.  Once the show started allowing Olympic ice skaters/dancers (I'm looking at you Kristi Yamagucci) and professional tap dancers (Mya and Nicole Sh*t Singer from the Pussycat Dolls), the game became less fun for us to watch (not to mention that we figured out that the cast would always include "the old guy/gal," "the comedian/enne," "the athlete," etc.).  And we're just over it.  


Similar fates have befallen TV shows including Desperate Housewives and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? to name a few.  American Idol and Dancing with the Stars no longer excite us and now we're on to the next new bright and shiny object.  Maybe Simon Cowell's X-Factor will be that next thing...