Thoughts about pop idol

After yesterday’s lecture, a thought about pop idol shows suddenly jumps out of my brain. That is about the balance between judge’s power and audiences’ votes. The success of pop idol shows such as American Idol and New Zealand Idol is that it provides a big opportunity to the ordinary people to achieve their own “American dream”. Apart from the competitor’s performance, the judge’s comment is another highlight of the show. All the competitors are able to go to the next round only if they receive judge’s approval. Therefore, the judge’s power plays an important role in the show. On the one hand, if the judge’s power is way too stronger than the audience’s votes, the show would gain fewer and fewer interactivity from the public. Since the judge is the big boss of the show, then the “American Idol” is not “American Idol” any more. Maybe we can call it “Judge’s Idol”. On the other hand, if the judge’s power is too weak to impact the audience’s votes, then the whole selection system will out of control. As a consequence, “American Idol” will become a show which selects not the most talented singer of the country but the singer who got the most votes. Under this situation, maybe a daughter of a millionaire will be the winner in the end. Because she can buy as many votes as she needs. Obviously, the public is not willing to see this happen. Therefore, to keep the judge’s power and audiences’ votes on the same level is a very important job in the show.



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