Brothers In Blog

Nearly every reality television show is some sort of game, and to succeed at any game a player must develop and implement some type of strategy. Up to recently the only strategy that existed for contestants on American Idol was to “bring it every week” and select songs that best showcased their talent; however, now that Vote for the Worst (VFTW) and Howard Stern have joined forces and demonstrated their power to control the vote, two new strategic moves for idol contestants have emerged: be an awful singer, or suck up to VFTW and Stern.

On American Idol no one expects terrible singers to make it to Hollywood week least of all to the blessed top 24; however, Sanjaya Malakar’s substandard singing got him to Hollywood, the top 24, top 12, and as of 3/22/07, the top 10. Perhaps I’m being too harsh. Sanjaya isn’t a terrible singer. He wasn’t bad during the cattle call city auditions, and certainly deserved a ticket to Hollywood; however, that’s where his journey should have ended. Oddly enough, he made it to the top 24. But if American doesn’t vote at that point in the show, how did Sanjaya make it? Two reasons, he added ethnic diversity to a show that has been criticized for being racist, and he had a compelling story that made for good reality television: he auditioned with his sister who made it to Hollywood but didn’t make it to the top 24. Gasp! How will his family survive? Will he still love his sister?

Okay, you get the point. A compelling story can get you far on American Idol (e.g. poor little Kellie Pickler from season 5); however, once America starts voting a contestant needs to stink enough to get the attention of VFTW and Stern because that’s when the votes really start to roll in. Sanjaya has implemented this part of the newly emerging vote strategy to a tee whether he meant to or not.

So, if a contestant makes it to the top 24, 12, etc and is a good singer, then what? Easy, implement the second newly emerging vote strategy by doing exactly what Chris Sligh did the other night (3/21/07): Give a slightly disguised shout out to VFTW (e.g. Hi Dave! Vote Patrol! Vote Patrol!) and you’ve secured your place in line to get Sanjaya’s votes once he’s gone — if ever.

I’ve got to vote for Sanjaya out of loyalty since he’s the VFTW pick, but I don’t see how Chris Sligh can’t be our backup when Sanjaya leaves if he loves VFTW so much. And we love him! Chris, you are the man.

– Vote for the Worst

Will either of these new strategies be enough to take a singer all the way to number one? I doubt it but I am dying to see exactly how far both of these singers can go in the competition.

Barry’s 2-Cents:

Bro, I cannot believe you are still watching that show. I’ll admit I got caught up in it 2 seasons ago and only because that chick from Hawaii (our former home turf) was in the running as well as a North Carolinian (my new home). I got tired of seeing more commercials than actual show content. One could only take so much of Fantasia’s screeching before I said “ENOUGH!” From past history, it appears that the contestants that do the best are the ones that don’t win the top spot regardless of what that fate may be. Personally, I think the show has become a joke but there’s obviously a lot of folks that disagree.