Nerve Endings Firing Away

It is not every day that I am called a specialist on American Idol opinions. But since Confused referred to me as such on DesiPundit, I’ll try to sneak in an opinion. Mera Gussa blogging on the O3 domain attributed Sanjaya’s continued presence as racist behavior by Indians. The blogger says:

The Indian/Indian origin population in the US is going all out to support Sanjaya. In fact there was even a blogger on O3 who promoted the idea of voting for Sanjaya even though he/she admitted Sanjaya had inferior talent. The rules of the game allow any person to cast as many votes he or she wishes to. The voter has to pay for voting. Everywhere I go the Indian community is all ga-ga about Sanjaya and their support for him. And yes, they even admit that he is not as talented as his competitors. Yet they vote for him, multiple times, paying for each vote.

Uber Desi who was one of the earlier bloggers to have promoted Sanjaya responds appropriately:

My contention is that Sanjaya does not possess the intangiables that make an American Idol. His performances are monotonous. He cannot dance to save his life, hit different notes, move and entertain the audience like a pop star is supposed to. He will be voted off at some stage but all this does not translate to “he is not talented”. He is just not American Idol talented (emphasis mine.)

As far as my ‘special opinion’ goes, I agree with Uber Desi that the blogger at O3 has it all wrong. If you count every motel-owning desi in the U.S., we are around 2-2.5 million and I’m sure not everyone is that enthusiastic about American Idol much less voting for a desi contestants. We may be all supportive and sing praises but vote we will not because it costs money. That said, there might be few thousand shrieking desi girls who go all awwwww when Sanjaya takes the stage and few of them might even instantly get on their cell phones to vote for him. But the bulk of the American Idol votes come from girls in the demographic group of 9-16 of all hues and shades. White, black, brown, they are largely color blind (racist attitudes come at a much later age, according to me) and vote for the cutest guy on the block. Few seasons ago, John Stevens who could sing only Sinatra well enough reached the final 6 dodging many raised eyebrows. I liked Sanjaya in the initial rounds but agree with the ‘critics’ that he has lost his edge among other versatile singers. I didn’t vote for him then and I don’t vote for him now.

I just take American Idol for what it is – yet another reality show. I watch it because nothing else is watchable on a dull Tuesday night and it keeps me away from my laptop – from one idiot box to another. To answer the question if it is racism that keeps Sanjaya on, the simple answer is, nope. Indians can hardly agree with each other on other important issues so why the hell would they for a reality show that makes them pay for their support? Those who vote for him think that he is a good singer and he probably is (don’t know much about music frankly) but as Uber Desi says, he simply is not American Idol material where you have to sashay around, make pouty expressions, and appear all dreamy which Sanjaya probably cannot. His long hair that even Ryan Seacrest envies has kept him alive so far.

If you really believe American Idol is about finding a good singer, then you better wake up. It is simply about creating entertaining reality TV, their donation drive for African kids later next month notwithstanding. If you are getting all riled up about racism on reality TV just the way you did when it happened on Big Brother UK, it is time for you to get a life. If I have one is not the question.

Update#1: Vote For The Worst is officially backing Sanjaya Malakar. And as far as I know, there is nothing desi about that site. So this might be one source of his votes.

Update#2: TV Squad, the blog that is one-stop shop for everything on television today strongly defends Sanjaya. It is one of the better defenses out there for the poor kid:

Sanjaya is also cute, with great hair and an awesome smile. He clearly has the teenybopper “crush” vote. Should young girls be voting for a guy just because he’s cute? Sure, why not? This wouldn’t be the first generation to make an average singer a pop idol because of great hair…In some ways, Sanjaya is totally Idol-worthy because he has amassed a huge fanbase despite some very flawed performances. This tells me that this kid does have something special — the elusive IT FACTOR. And more importantly, he appeals to the teenybopper audience — which makes him extremely appealing to record companies. He might not be there yet, but Sanjaya is young and has POTENTIAL.

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