‘Idol’ time: Watching the season finale

As a time-saving device better than TiVo, I have a habit of tuning in only for the very last episode of any major reality show. (It’s amazing to me how you can follow an entire series without ever actually watching it—just through media osmosis.) So it was that I watched American Idol last night to see who would win, Bo or Carrie. As I guess I expected, the show managed, in two hours, to be almost as excruciatingly full of time-filling devices as the three-hour finale of season two of The Apprentice. It featured: A mockumentary of ABC’s expose of Paula Abdul! Your favorite Idol contestants performing with their heroes! Hall & Oates in the audience for reasons I could not discern! A special appearance by … David Hasselhoff!? And the winning of two shiny red cars by Bo and Carrie without the brand name ever being mentioned! Ouch. After it was over, I thought of celebrating by eating one of our family’s remaining American Idol Pop Tarts. It seemed synergistic. But on reflection, it also seemed like a really stupid idea.

—Posted by Catharine P. Taylor

May 26, 2005 | Permalink