I got to see Blake, whoever that is
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on May 12, 2007 
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I was writing the lineup in my scorebook before the game last night when people in the crowd started screaming.
Yes, screaming.
Being the professional journalist that I am, I looked for the source of said screaming and saw dozens of teenage girls (and their moms) pointing at some kid with a bad haircut who was about to sing the national anthem.
Turns out it was Blake who is apparently a finalist on American Idol.
I’ve never watched the show and never plan to. In some circles, perhaps yours, Idol may be a big deal. Derek Jeter, yes, that Derek Jeter, is consumed by it. But I consider such shows the beginning of the end of civilization.
At some point, we ran out of things to entertain ourselves with so we rounded up people off the street and had them sing, live on tropical islands together or eat bugs for money while we watched. Somehow, it all gets great ratings.
Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised at the dumbing-down of our population. I received an e-mail yesterday from somebody named Tim who said he was a 23-year-old finance major who loved baseball and wanted a job in the industry. What advice could I offer him?
i suggested sending a resume and cover letter to every team in care of the general manager or one of his assistants then going to the annual winter meetings to try and make in-person contacts. Be friendly, but persistent.
Tim wrote back asking who the GMs were and how to get their addresses.
So you’re 23, in college and can’t figure out how to get the mailing addresses of major league baseball teams? Here’s a hint, the Yankees play at this place in the Bronx called Yankee Stadium. Their GM is Brian Cashman; you may have seen his name in the papers.
Better yet, try singing. Blake is a finalist and, frankly, his version of the anthem wasn’t that good.
Back later with the lineups. I’ll try and cheer up before then.
Pete, where are we going and what are we doing in this handbasket?
I watched Idol a couple of weeks ago because it was Bon Jovi week. That Blake dude absolutley murdered “You Give Love a Bad Name”. I was pretty angry after that because that’s a song which should never be altered and this guy was adding all of this crazy stuff into it for no reason, not to mention it sounded terrible. He should have been kicked off the show just for that alone. I don’t see how he’s a finalist.
HI Pete – I’m with you on the reality shows. It’s called the ‘dumbing down’ of our culture.
Right, things were much better, say, 20 years ago, when we watched good television, like Star Search!
C’mon, Pete, this is nothing new. These sorts of public competitions have been going on for as long as civilization has existed. Eighteen hundred years ago, it was watching lions chow down on Christians. Two hundred years ago, it was watching a guy drive a spike through his tongue and bare-knuckled fistfighting (seriously, you ever want to be grossed out, read up on carnival acts in the 19th century). I’d say we’ve come a long way….
Pete – I was in the dentists office a while ago an tried to strike up a conversation with the receptionist about politics – very very broad stroke stuff. She was clueless.
A few minutes later while waiting, something spurred her into a conversation (more like a lecture) with me about American Idol. The detail to which she knew the contestants was unreal.
So yes, you are right, this is the beginning of the end. Hopefully we can with the Series a few more times before it’s all over.
Pete –
Also caught you on FSN as they panned through the Yankees press corps – it looks like you trimmed the beard a little. I think your barber took it down a little too much, tho.
Pete’s in a bad mood this morning, huh? Geez, bad coffee out in Seattle?
Pete I was going to tell you to go to Salumi (if you haven’t been before) for a nice sandwich to cheer you up, but I remembered that they are closed on the weekend. Anyway, have you ever been to the Experience Music Project? Worth checking out if you haven’t.
salumi: http://www.salumicuredmeats.com/
geeez pete, sorry we’re not all as sophisticated as you. some people enjoy watching a tv show to relax, or simply out of amusement. it doesn’t mean our society is about to collapse.
in fact, some might say watching 18 men run around a field trying to hit a moving object with a wooden stick is kinda stupid.
correct me if i’m wrong, but i believe that the ‘magnificent’ idol franchise was spawned over here in england. if so, clearly the output from over here has slumped since the days of basil fawlty and david brent.
certainly, that goon simon cowell is unmistakably english, and i can only apologise for his bad hair, tight trousers and the shocking repertoire of lite-pop that he has inflicted on the world.
besides, it’s only housewives that watch it, isn’t it??
Pete’s right, these shows stink. And 20 years ago there weren’t 20 reality shows on every major network and every cable network. TV has gone downhill big time. I guess the writers out in Hollywood can’t come up with anything original. Don’t get me wrong, there are some quality shows out there, just none of that reality crap. Back in the day there used to be 4-6 comedies on a night to choose from and now there is 4-6 a week.
Beavis, when more people vote for Sanjaya than for President, our society is in trouble. I have never once watched the show, so how do I know who Sanjaya is? Oh, because our local FOX affiliate opens their newscast with the most important news of the day – that nights “Idol” results. Somehow, this is now “news.”
Sad thing is, in my opinion, Pete is right. My whole problem with the Idol concept is that it doesn’t create artists, it creates market products. Now that wouldn’t be so horrible if I didn’t have people all the time telling me how great this is, what amazing singers (some even say “artists”) these people are. Yet when I try to engage in a “music” conversation, it turns out these people have no clue what is out there besides what TV offers them (e.g. “Bob Dylan?” – “Who??”). And I don’t know about the US, but here, it doesn’t stop at “Idol”. The main networks have so many rip-offs of the same concept that there’s one of these talent shows running every week. If Idol finishes, something like “X-factor” starts up. You got to hand it to Simon Cowell, he basically came up with a concept that makes millions that want to win adore him, sell a guaranteed number of records all over the world, and have the show be its own advertisement for the singers, in primetime! Entertainment? Fine. But this all-invasiveness (in Pete’s case, a somewhat botched anthem), this worship of a feat of advertising and marketing strategy? Spare me.
“Beavis, when more people vote for Sanjaya than for President, our society is in trouble”
…and double trouble when the president votes for sanjaya.
We finally agree on something, Pete….
Americal Idol is for losers.
J-
so how cute was the dental receptionist?
Derek Jeter is consumed by Idol, Oh nO! I thought the cologne was bad enough. Well, atleast he never dated Anna Nicole Smith…, or did he??
Peter,
“dumbing down of America”
this is gonna be tough, unless you really know how to work your tivo, but you can’t miss Sunday’s edition of “The Family Guy.” Its all about the dumbing down of America, and how a candidate can openly *brag* about not reading any newspaper or watching any newscast can become commander in chief. Mission accomplished.
p.s.
in a brilliant piece of casting, Keith Olbermann makes a guest appearance as the voice of Jack Abramoff (for those following at home, he was the GM of the D.C. team)
Pete,
What’s wrong, my man? Idol sucks, we have to live with it though, which is easy if you tune out. And moreover: to each his own (within reason). In any case, you do seem a bit down. Why so blue? Sure you aren’t covering the 2007 World Champion Yankees (I’ve already concluded that the Yanks miss the play-offs altogether), but you’ve got an exciting job and baseball is your living. How cool is that?
Have fun at the game. I’ll be watching at 10pm.
Pete, quick question here….
How is watching people sing on TV, the dumbing down of our civilization? Throughout the history of the earth, people have used singing as entertainment. Concerts, orchestras, church choirs, and dance clubs are just a few examples of music being used as entertainment. Why is it so “dumbing” to watch someone sing on TV?
And your claim that “we ran out of things to entertain ourselves with so we rounded up people off the street and had them sing” is false. Singing competitions have been going on for centuries, all over the world. We didn’t just now run out of entertainment and start watching people sing.
I can understand your dislike of certain music genres, Blake’s style of singing (beat-boxing), or even watching TV. But I don’t understand what you have against discovering new talent and singing competitions. It’s not like it’s a brand new concept.
Hope you cheer up!
well said zachary
Like your friend Tim, I too want a career in baseball. Unlike Tim, I am 58 years old and about to retire. However, fate has given me some help because I live in Scranton and know where to apply for a job with the SWB Yankees. So, next year I will be scanning tickets at PNC Park for the AAA team. Then, maybe, if I do a good job, they will make me GM of the big club. Or not.
Wow,
Pete that was a spot-on assessment of the modern western world. In fact I thought the same things about “survivor” when i first heard about it…the end of civilization.
I was never a stephen king fan (even less when i learned he was a sox fan), but the only book of his i ever read was +the running man+. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if 20 years from now tv networks run shows that hunt convicts for the entertainment of everyone else…
people don’t bother to think…that would be work.
But I consider such shows the beginning of the end of civilization.
Hey, there’s good and bad. Dancing With the Stars has been incredibly engrossing this season. I started watching because Drexler was on, but way after he got the boot I’m still hooked. Also good is Last Comic Standing. (Well, the format is assinine, but the stand-up is great.)
Idol’s kinda dumb, IHMO, but a civilization ender? Nah…
You know, Pete, it would kick a lot of ass if simple tags like italic and bold worked in this comments section.
Sure, Zachary, singing competitions have been going on for ages, nothing wrong with that. But, like I said, I don’t know about the US, but I believe in the past year over here have been about 6 of those competitions (not counting spin-offs such as dancing etc) for 8-10-15 weeks on prime time TV. That does seem like running out of things to entertain ourselves. Btw, another thing about all these programs is that there’s less chance for creative artists to break through, simply because a lot of time on music programs will go to these “Idols”. U2 for instance, have said themselves they probably wouldn’t even get a record deal now (regardless of whether you like them or not, can you imagine the landscape of music of the past 25 years without U2? No “One”, no “Sunday Bloody Sunday”) Could you see someone like Björk breaking through in this day and age?
Joe Santorsa,
That sounds like a great job! Once everyone is in I hope you can grab a seat and watch the game.
Zach: All I know is that there used to be a lot of good, entertaining comedys and dramas on television. Rockford Files, Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Seinfeld, Cheers, MASH, etc.
Now it seems like every other show is either signing, dancing or assorted dopes trying to beat other dopes up a mountain or whatever.
I love music. I have several thousand CDs and I’ve been to probably as many live shows over the years. But watching some guy with weird hair murder old songs then get judged by the likes of Paula Abdul is entertaining?
Hey, to each his own. But I don’t see this going down as the golden age of TV.
The only good reality TV show is Dog the Bounty Hunter. Women love him….men want to be him.
Other than that, I once watched the first episode of Survivor. I thought they were going to throw 20 people on an island, hand them all a Rambo knife and a cell phone and tell them, “Hey, you’re on your own….you get one call….and it’s to us when you wuss out”.
I would watch that. Survival of the fitess….not all these stupid challenges and voting off people. You leave when you think you’re going to die.
Networks love reality TV because the profit margin is huge for those shows. They cost next-to-nothing to produce. No actors, no unions, just a bunch of fools looking for their fifteen minutes of fame and doing it for free!
Pete:
You are good humored, well read, and a very convivial fellow. You are also absolutely correct. AI sucks and along with Borat contributes more to greenhouse gas than anything else on the planet. Strictly for losers. My apologies to Derek, but he needs some guidance if that balderdash “consumes him.”
You know what pisses me off? Those all you can consume hot dog shows!
Derek likes American Idol? Uggh, he’s getting moved down to my 2nd tier of favorite players.
I agree with Peter. This reality TV stuff is the lowest form of television. It disturbs me that so many people are entertained by it. I especially hate those shows where they have cameras in celebrity homes. Are we that consumed with these people that we would rather watch them live their lives instead of living our own?
Haha Dustin that would be an awesome show to watch but somehow I don’t think they can leagally do that.
Unfortunately, what reality TV really is is the cheapest form of TV production wise. As less and less people actually watch TV networks are looking for cheap production costs thus the spaun of such shows like American Idol, American Next Top Model, Deal or No deal etc etc. I believe actually I pray that this is just a phase like anything else and will go away. Although if you have a chance to watch the Amazing Race it is one of the better shows of the genre.
American Idol is also one of the reasons that the music fan has been dumbed down.
ON a better note read today that NBC has renewed Friday Night Lights (a great show)
Flava Flav-
what time is it?
and isn’t 911 a joke?
gayle-
I always like the anti-reality “Gong Show” and the artist n me loves Project Runway.
Seattle radio play by play on XM, “Everyone wants to be here tonight because it’s the Yankees. They’re like the Beatles or …” (some other group I couldn’t hear). “Even someone from Idol is here.” First, Phineas T. Bluster Olney et al. call the Yankees ‘staggering,’ ‘the end of the dynasty,’ etc. Olney already wrote a book about the end of the Yankee dynasty. He said it ended at the end of the 2001 season, but he can say whatever he wants, so he tries ‘death of a dynasty’ again in 2007. For those of you too young to know who the Beatles are or were, they show up in google. Peter may have seen some good television shows. Sometimes journalists inform themselves about a variety of topics and their relation to society, eg. the tv show Idol.
I happen to agree with his view, have adjusted my opinion of Derek Jeter’s off the field persona accordingly and continue to wish him nothing but the best.
Quoth DC Yank: “And 20 years ago there weren’t 20 reality shows on every major network and every cable network. TV has gone downhill big time. I guess the writers out in Hollywood can’t come up with anything original.”
Actually, the reason why you see so many reality shows is because the TV industry was expecting a writers strike and they needed programming for when that happened. And then two unexpected things happened: 1) the writers didn’t go on strike and 2) the reality shows were immensely successful, and at considerably less cost. Reality shows cost a tiny fraction of what dramatic television costs, so even though their popularity is dimming, they’re still a good idea for a network, because they get a huge return on their minimal investment.
Quoth our host: “But I don’t see this going down as the golden age of TV.”
I’m sorry, but there’s been =NO= age of television that has had as much quality as we have now and in recent times: The 4400, Battlestar Galactica, Blood Ties, Bones, Carnivale, The Dead Zone, Deadwood, Doctor Who, Eureka, Gilmore Girls, Grey’s Anatomy, Heroes, House, Lost, Monk, Nip/Tuck, Rescue Me, The Riches, Rome, The Shield, The Sopranos, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG1, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Supernatural, Thief, The Tudors, Veronica Mars, Weeds, The West Wing, The Wire.
Sure, there’s lots of crap, but as Theodore Sturgeon once very wisely pointed out, 90% of everything is crap. The reason why it seems like there’s more crap now is because there’s more TV available.
But we’ve never had an era with this much quality in it, and to think otherwise is to indulge in revisionist history.
RE: susan mullen
Robert Stanbury “Buster” Olney III
HA!
never trust someone who butches up by adopting a blustering nickname.
I’m surprised he doesn’t call himself Nails Olney or Hellcat Olney.
moreover, never trust someone who wears a tropical shirt to a baseball game.
http://www.thenyrm.com/Olney.jpg
Baseball is the *original* and still _best_ reality show on television!
Way to out Tim, Peter. Just plain mean.
You are fat and ugly and the yankees suck ass. Can’t wait to see them NOT make it to the playoffs!