Yes...I like American Idol

It might be cool to be one of those people who can honestly say, "Oh, I don't watch much TV." But I am most certainly not. I watch TV. I watch TV when I am eating, I watch TV when I am driving my RV (please don't tell the police), I watch TV as I fall asleep and I watch TV when I wake up. Now even though I watch a lot of TV, I do feel I am somewhat selective in what I watch. I have never, and I really mean never, watched an entire episode of The Bachelor, Biggest Loser, Amazing Race, Survivor and any of the seemingly hundreds of annoying "reality shows." I rank most of those shows right up there with Beauty Pagents and Award Shows (Oscars, Emmys and even the ESPYs). I find them self serving and banal.

Then there is America Idol... I am addicted. I have watched almost every single show since season one (I thought Justin was better than Kelly. Shows how much I know about talent). Now I don't go so far as actually voting, but I am hooked. Take tonight for instance. First show of the top 12. Well, Tuesday is also my racquetball night. So after playing racquetball for two hours, I come home and before taking a shower I had to watch the entire two hour show. In fact I just finished watching and as soon as I am done with this blog entry, I will indeed head upstairs for a shower.

So here is what I think so far.

• Ellen is worthless. Please kick her off the show now. She says the same thing everyweek and has no real information to provide to the contestants. Then there is the "normalization of abberant behavior" factor (that will have to be an entire blog for a later date)
• Crystal is very talented and until tonight was way ahead of the rest. I think her problem lies with the fact that she has less improving to do. The other contestants will improve each week and it will be noticable. However Crystal will be the same.
• Siobonah or whatever her name is, is my 2nd favorite. She is 'quirky', but I was telling Jacqui for a couple of weeks now that the girl can sing. By a long way she had the best performance tonight.
• I was worried the "Big Mike" would wear out his act real fast, but each week he keeps on entertaining me. He is not the best singer, but he connects with the crowd. I like Mike.
• I would pay $10 dollars if either Lacey or Didi would sing some Cranberries. I would prefer Zombie but settle for either Dreams or Linger. Lacey would be my choice, and if she did I would actually vote for her.
• The rest can go home. They are all more talented than I will ever be and I believe that several of them will have some recording success, but I don't think they have a shot.

Of course those are just my opinions and I could be wrong.

As far as the rest of my TV watching here is my list....

• Battlestar Galactica - I know the series is over, but while it was on I was absolutely addicted.
• The Office - Hooked since the first season. I fear the series is getting close to jumping the shark but I hope we have a couple of more seasons left.
• The Big Bang Theory - My wife turned me on to this for the 2nd episode and it is without doubt the best sitcom on now and perhaps my favorite in the last 10 years.
• Top Gear - I love cars. These guys love cars. They drive them fast, they tell the truth about them and the challenges are over the top funny. If you haven't seen the VW commercial episode you must find it on YouTube. Just search for TopGear and VW. Airs on BBC America
• Grey's Anatomy - Don't ask, but I can't stop myself...
• The Mentalist - Clever writing. Waiting for the episode where Jayne is wrong.
• Auto Racing - If they race it, I will watch it (except for NASCAR). DirecTV just added Versus so know I get Indy Car racing too. Sweet!

I have more that I will watch, but those are my shows.

Tell me what you think or watch.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Gary.