Paula's Lost It

I've acted in a few plays onstage in my time and though I'm not a professional, I've had a few instances where a scene didn't go according to plan and it was up to those of us on stage to try and salvage the situation. It can be awkward and uncomfortable but sometimes you can just manage to cover up the mistakes before the audience has a chance to realize that anything's gone wrong. It's harder when you have someone making a huge gaffe in front of an audience of millions on national television and when the people sitting around you on television can do nothing but look on in horror as you continue rambling and dig yourself farther into a hole. That's precisely what American Idol judge Paula Abdul did this past Tuesday night on the show.

Let me break the story for a second and provide some background. Now I'm not a regular watcher of American Idol but I caught a few episodes this season and remembering the old stories about how mean Simon Cowell could be and how ditzy Paula Abdul behaves, I decided to check it out once in a while and I've come to some conclusions. Simon can be mean but I think his observations are astute and though they can be harsh, he doesn't try to coddle the contestants like Randy Jackson or Abdul attempt to do at times. I remember seeing the audition of Taylor Hicks two years ago and thinking to myself that this guy wasn't bad. Randy and Paula applauded him at the time and while Simon was complimentary he observed that though he was good, he wouldn't be very successful if he won the contest. When the others took exception to that fact, Simon pointed out that Hicks, while talented, didn't have the looks or charisma to be successful compared to previous contestants. And indeed, Taylor Hicks was one of the few winners on the show who hasn't been as successful.

So Simon is mean but smart. Paula Abdul... well... I won't call her stupid though she isn't helping her case with some of the things I have seen her do. She's a judge who can claim to have been a famous singer and has made money from albums and song hits but lately she seems to be going off on the deep end. Her comments are often meandering and incoherent, almost as if she is having trouble connecting two thoughts together. At times, her comments basically boil down to whether or not the contestant was dressed nicely or not (most of the times she believes they are) and then professing just how much she loves them. Now this is great and all but at times it just comes of as pandering to the audience. Of course the audience is another case. Most of the time they turn the singing competition into a contest to determine which contestant is cutest and therefore worthy of winning. Again, Taylor Hicks may have been the exception but every statistical survey has outliers.

I won't say that American Idol is in my list of favorite shows and while it's nice to hear some of the talent in our country singing their hearts out week in and week out, I honestly watch it for the comments from the judges more than anything else. Simon tells it like it is (or at least how he'd like it to be) and Paula? Well... Paula just says whatever she says hoping that it makes some sense to someone. Her comments on Tuesday left a lot of interpretation to be made. For the first time, the judges were asked to withhold their comments until after the remaining contestants had sung two songs. Of course, after all five remaining contestants sang their first songs, they were lined up and the judges were asked their opinions on the songs so far. Paula started off fine but then started talking about Jason Castro's second song. Only problem was that he hadn't sung his second song yet. There was a moment where the entire room was silent and then the laughter began. Paula admitted to being confused with her notes but even then, no matter how ditzy, she's got to realize that people have only sung one song. The show hadn't lasted that long. The question now is, how long will Paula last. There are rumors that she'll leave the show but I don't think they'll do that. While Simon adds the controversy with his callous statements, I think Paula adds to the comedy.