American Idol: Unfair contestant exposure
Now that we’re seven years into American Idol, it’s time to point this out — Are some contestants getting an unfair advantage with earlier footage of their life stories?
During the first rounds of auditions, we see plenty of bad singers. But there are a few good ones, too. This week, for example, 29 singers were sent to Hollywood Week from Philadelphia and 24 from Dallas. There were not, however, clips of all 53 of those singers showcased during the two-day, four-hour premiere.
For contestants like Drew Poppelreiter and Kristy Lee Cook, though, there was extensive coverage. We already know much more about them than the other 51 people we’ll be seeing in Hollywood from this week’s premiere. Poppelreiter is a farmer, and cameras followed him back to his country home to get additional footage of him on a tractor and on the front porch with his family.
Similar exposure was given to Cook, a horse trainer and training cage-fighter living in Oregon. Her backstory already is in the front of our minds. In fact, so much so, I even said she’s one to watch.
As Idol moves forward in the season that’s promised to focus more on contestants than celebrity guests, what does this all mean? Do Drew and Kristy and others like them have a better chance of capturing America’s hearts? If you were asking me, I’d say it’s a definite “yes.”
American Idol, Drew Poppelreiter, Kristy Lee Cook
January 18th, 2008 at 11:49 am
A fan of the show e-mailed me this link about Kristy Lee Cook: http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/233653
It’s pretty interesting stuff, especially if you consider many people think of “Idol” as a singing competition for amateurs.
January 20th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Here is his Number 1 fansite on myspace.
be some of the first to join!
http://www.myspace.com/drewpoppelreiterfansite