These reality shows are really bad and cheesy. They make the average porn film look like Citizen Kane. If Howard Stern wants to make fun of American Idol, I'm all for it. Personally, I'd like to see him fly down to the Idol stage as Fartman and fart in Simon's face. Kinda like this -
http://www.atomfilms.com/film/fartman_caught.jsp

There's always some kid being picked on unfairly on American Idol. That doesn't make it right, but it's not unique to Sanjaya. And it's always the kid who stays longer because of personality than talent. (From Nikki McKibbon in Season 1 to Kevin Covais last season.) That kid, whoever it is each season, becomes the focus of two opposing parts of the American psyche--rooting for the underdog and bullying. And the more some people root for the underdog, the more some other people want to bully him/her, and vice versa. So the cycle goes...

What is unique to Sanjaya are the tranny jokes, which are, of course, rude and inappropriate. That they're happening outside the show doesn't reflect poorly on American Idol, except insomuch as Simon's and Ryan's increasingly ludicrous homophobic banter being part of one of the most popular shows on television continues to facilitate a culture in which tranny jokes are considered acceptable. Frankly, the looksism and homophobia are growing intolerable, which is too bad, because I otherwise love American Idol--love to hate it, love to love it.

All that said, I thought Sanjaya was pretty good last week, comparatively.

Huge Idol fan here, too.

I couldn't care less about Sajaya's nationality, hair or gender. He has a winning smile, and seems very sweet.

But he can't carry a tune in a bucket. He's flat, every single week. How he made it this far is a puzzle to me.

I think Melinda will win, too. A class act. But who knows?

If Sanjaya lasts past tonight, America has a tin ear.

I've been accused of being a snooty indie rock fan, so I'm not allowed to like American Idol.

I dunno, a whole show that seems to take great joy in being mean to people, strives to be the center of mainstream, and has a target audience of junior high school students shouldn't really surprise people when it or its fanbase cross the line.

See? I can't turn it off! I'll go back to listening to Arcade Fire.

Sanjaya seems like a nice kid. He does have a good voice when he sings the right song, but I think he was chosen for demographic reasons (cute, young, non-threatening) at first and was slated for early dismissal. but the little girls understood.

Personally, I think he's doing pretty damn good against contestants who are much older than him but he really is out of his league.

What I want to know is why the celebrity coaches keep allowing him to pick such horrifyingly inappropriate songs to sing.

sanjaya is *not* always in the bottom two: last week he wasn't, and this week i doubt he will be, either.

the intense media scrutiny focused on sanjaya works to his benefit, and to the detriment of other contestants. the more everyone focuses on sanjaya, the more committed his fans become, and the more everyone ignores the boring middle-of-the-road contestants like haley, phil, etc.

sanjaya has become my favorite this year... i'll be sad to see him go when he finally gets voted off, but that won't be for a few more weeks now, as other, less-memorable contestants will get voted off before he does.