"American Idol" is the one reality show I allow myself to watch. In my previous life, I was a music journalist, and it was mandatory to be up on the latest pop fare, as well as the more "serious" rock and alternative music that I covered while living in Athens, Ga., during the heyday of R.E.M. and the B-52's.
I admit that I'm an "Idol" fan. It's musical "brain candy". After watching fabulous but emotionally draining dramas such as "Battlestar Galactica" and "House", not to mention the equally emotionally draining cable news shows detailing the latest casulty in Iraq or the never-ending Democratic Primary, a little brain candy is in order.
Since today is my birthday, as well as the final show of the 2008 "American Idol" season, I get to make a wish: that David Cook wins the "Idol" competition, and most especially, that he and his family have much health and happiness.
Now, of course I don't know David Cook, but he seems to be a genuinely nice person, who happens to be hip, talented, and smart. (Can I add that he's cute, and that I wish I had a boyfriend like him? Or, should I say, him as a boyfriend?). Okay. Okay. It is my birthday, after all...
After seven seasons, "American Idol" has now become a part of our zeitgeist. Despite criticism saying that the show has run its course, with all those millions of people watching this tv show, there must be something about it that captures our collective imagination. Something beyond reality-show voyeurism. Perhaps it is the good old-fashioned idea of the American Dream, the idea that anything is possible as long as you work hard and follow the Golden Rule.
Namaste.
