Posted on 05/14/2004 8:51:58 AM PDT by sathers
Hawaii's 1.25 million population completed a total of 1.23 million calls in their two hour voting period (6 hours behind East Coast Time) a large portion which were for Jasmine Trias says Kevin Laverty of Verizon Wireless.
That's 24,000 more than New Jersey which has seven times the population. Overall, Hawaii logged more calls than all of Verizon's 29 coverage states except New York and California in the post-Idol hours.
Though the island votes helped Jasmine Trias, they make up a portion of a national total that may top 25 million. Other theories abound about how the vote veered so wildly from the consensus of judges and qualified observers.
Many AI Folowers believe children and teens, who are more likely to be passionate and prolific voters, lean towards their own age group, which includes Diana DeGarmo and Trias.
Some fans appearing to be casting votes against caustic judge Simon Cowell. When Cowell ripped John Stevens, voters kept him. On Tuesday, Cowell told Trias everyone in Hawaii would need five phones to save her.
The question of racism: Much the same as when black women Fantasia Barrino, LaToya London, and Jennifer Hudson were in the bottom three, some fans wonder whether color is affecting votes.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.com ...
Whether you like their programming or not, Fox is running circles around the competition in terms of marketing.
For instance, ever notice how many stars of other Fox shows just happen to be in the audience to chat with Seacrest?
I even suspect that the guest judges (Manilow, Summer, etc.) have record deals tied to Fox, and thus get more publicity for upcoming records and tours.
Even their drama shows always point out that "this episode contained music from XXX" and show a copy of the CD.
They stuff in precisely the prime-time limit of 12 commercial minutes per hour. Aggravating this, however, is the fact that they can run as many minutes of PROMOS for other Fox programs as the audience will tolerate. So if they do six breaks per hour, that's 2 minutes (4 :30 spots) of commercials and probably another 1:30 to 2:00 of Fox promos per break. That comes to 24 minutes of non-program material per hour, which is really pushing it. Most breaks don't have that many promos, but I've seen some that have come close. SeeBS is the worst - I've seen them frequently run SIX show promos per break, albeit :10's and :15's.
Michael
That is obviously the only fair solution. The voting system is nothing but ballot-stuffing, as you say. Or, they could have a max of 10 calls per phone, allowing for different family members to record different votes. Anything other than the current system would be more fair.
I've also heard about computer programs that can automatically dial hundreds of calls. That reason alone makes the current system unfair.
That is just the way I felt about Rubin last year....and he won. So, I guess that is good news for Fantasia.
In comparing vocals among the four girls, Jasmine has a breath-control problem. She has a fine natural singing voice, but loses notes because she doesn't have the breath control to support long or high notes. It's been obvious in her singing from an early stage in the competition. She also is a bland performer. Very definitely a cut below the other three, Jasmine could benefit by some excellent vocal coaching.
La Toya's voice lacks a mellowness and roundness. That leads to a kind of slightly screechy, cold quality to her upper register.
In contrast, Fantasia has a beautiful, warm, full quality to her voice, plus all the power and control anyone can want. Although young, she's already on her way to becoming a true, original song stylist.
Especially considering that she's so young, Diana's vocal tone and control are magnificent. Right now, I think the only thing that separates her and Fantasia is three extra years of experience. Diana is still a perky, bubbly 16-year-old who hasn't found her own personal style yet. Fantasia, at 19, as I said, is already developing her own unique style. She is more able to bring a depth of emotion to her songs. Both girls truely are superior to anyone else who's been in this year's competition.
I disagree in the case of Jasmine. Despite the fact that I personally can't stand her, I would have no problem with Fantasia winning.
Makes sense to me.
Jasmine's "pitchyness" seems strange to me since I know she *can* sing. Early on in the competition (can't remember the exact song) she sounded *really* good. I'd have laughed at someone saying her pitch was off.
I thought the show was about TALENT and not popularity.
Why can't you stand Jasmine? I feel that way about Diana.
It wouldn't be the first time. However, with Donna Summer, it's different. Unless you live in Nashville, you may not be familiar with her situation.
Donna lives in Franklin, a well-to-do suburb of Nashville, and some time back, completely RENOUNCED her disco days, the music and debauchery that went with it. She still makes the occasional music appearance here and there, but she swore never to perform disco again. She says she's a Born-Again Christian, and doesn't feel comfortable with her old music.
Which brings us to AI. Why did she do the show, and a Disco Night to boot? There hasn't been anything about it in the local media, but one would guess that the income from appearances on the show might have something to do with it. Fox pays their guests VERY well.
And, the one song she DID sing on the show - Last Dance - has lyrics that COULD (with the changes she made to them subtly) have strong Christian connotations. And notice that she steadfastly refused to DANCE.
All of us in Nashville were very interested to see her appearances on the program. Very interested.
Michael
Diana, while younger, has more public singing experience. She's been performing since she was 6 years old. I will agree that Fantasia has a more defined style and personality, part of my problem with her is that I don't like the alternating thug/whining brat personality that she has.
Also, thanks for your "7:54" info. I had no idea why they were doing such stupid scheduling.
Certainly she demonstrated a very strong voice.
Gotta go. Someone left my cake out in the rain.
Jasmine has major technical problem in her singing -- pitch control, breath control (both of which lead to the ends of phrases dropping out). Plus, she doesn't have anywhere near the same stage presence as Diana; when Jasmine moves and sings at the same time, the vocal quality seriously suffers. I also have one minor pet peeve -- the way Jasmine taps the mike with her fingers is very distracting.
Didn't the standard used to be 20 minutes per hour? Now it's up to 24? That explains why it's so intolerable. You can really feel every excrutiating minute of non-show. I think the solution is to tape it and then watch it - that way you can fast forward through the interminable commercials.
Yikes, thanks for reminding me. These days I tend to ignore that syruppy Jimmy Webb concoction and blot it from memory. The only thing that made it a hit - other than the huge promotional push the industry gave it back then - was Richard Harris' performance and personnae.
And even he couldn't hit the last note. They brought in...ah, I forget who dubbed in that final note.
Michael
I'm anything but a teeny bopper, but I actually voted for John Stevens every week until he was eliminated.
I liked his voice, his style and his manner. He took all the criticism as constructive and built on it. He certainly isn't a dancer, but he's only 16. He was forced to sing songs that weren't his style. I thought his rendition of "She's Always a Woman" was great, but the judges panned him.
Simon was unfair to all of the young contestants.
Since John left, I've been voting for Diana and I think she is going to win. I love her voice and the way she connects with the audience, but her choice in clothing is atrocious and very distracting.
Like John, she's only 16. If she loses some weight she will be a very beautiful girl as well as a knock-out performer.
I like Diana. I thought she was good early on, and she has continued to improve.
I think Jennifer Hudson got a bad deal, or maybe that should be a bad 'dial'.
In MY opinion, John Stevens was not that good and should have been gone a week or so prior to Jennifer leaving.
I do think that when Simon Cowell gets really mean, that the public may be helping that contestant out.
I think LaToya got a bad deal too, but I doubt that racism is involved. If it were, why wait so long to start the elimination process. The first one to leave if I recall correctly was the gal from Romania?? Then there was the lady with the pink hair, then the ex football player etc.
I was torn between rooting for Diana or LaToya, now I'm rooting for Diana. Course, things could change. I suppose we need to know the next type of music involved.
I get disappointed when the more talented are eliminated before others, because the show is about talent. The popularity of a persons talent depens upon their abilities. Most of the contestants have been likeable, so it really boils down to their individual capabilities. Some are more versatile than others, and some have more vocal range than others.
Jennifer Hudson had good vocals and good range.
Fantasia is really good too, though I don't care for some of the vocals she uses. Just a personal perference.
I think Jasmine is good, its just that I thought LaToya may have been better.
Perhaps Simon will be a bit less caustic with his words next time.
I was stunned when Jennifer Hudson got bumped and I was stunned when LaToya got bumped. In the end, all but one will get bumped, so, hopefully the winner will truly be the most talented.
Oh, yes, there were cries of racism all over the place when Tamyra got voted off. But the show was still brand new then, and was not quite the widely noticed phenomenon it is now. So you didn't get so-called mainstream news debating whether or not it was racist. You did see very heated debates on the AI internet forums, though.
It still is the unofficial norm - around 41 minutes of program, 19 minutes of non-program. MOST shows in Crime Time hold pretty close to that ratio. There are exceptions, of course.
I tend to rent DVD sets of hit TV series, and shows like CSI and "24" normally run 41 - 41:30 of program per episode. An exception was the first ep of Season Two of "24" which ran something like 53 minutes. Fox gave up a lot of avails (commercial time) to hook the audience into the beginning of that season. They probably did the same with Ep 1 of Season Three, the current one.
TV shows are GREAT on DVD, being completely devoid of commercials and promos. Oh, they still go to black where the inserts are made, but a second later the show starts up again. With a show like "24," you can watch the entire 24-episode season in just a few viewing sessions. An entire DVD of 4 eps lasts less than 3 hours, a typical long movie. Plus the video and audio quality is better.
Michael
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