feeling listless

TV The only episode of 'Pop Idol' I watched featured the sweary spat between Simon Cowell and Pete Waterman over Darius (I believe). I'll never forget the look on Ant & Dec's chipmonk faces as they realised they would have to issue an apology. But the format was a success, and the progeny too (although I suspect if Jim Morisson was alive he would have gone after Will Young with a paint gun for the travesty which sits at number one in the UK Top 40 this week), so it's no surprise that it's been transplanted wholesale to the US. One of the judges is Paula Abdul and Cowell is there too, much to bemusement of Television Without Pity, whose blow-by-blow account just proves that some things are universal:

"In the very first group is Jacquette Williams, the super-extra-plus-sized woman who never thought she'd even make it past the first round. Well, I hope she liked her stay in Pasadena, because this is where the Train of Diversity disembarks. She sings a verse of "Respect" fairly well. After yanking her chain back in Chicago, Simon simply tells Jacquette that "[she doesn't] look like an American Idol." Jacquette responds, "Says who?" Simon gives another spiel about how the "record-buying audience around the world" expects a certain image from their idols. Randy asks Simon what "the look" of an American Idol is and points out that she just sang Aretha Franklin, hardly a svelte pixie of a pop icon. Simon argues that if Aretha showed up today on a show like this, she wouldn't win. Ouch. But is the problem that kids won't buy acts like Aretha, or is the problem that guys in charge like Simon have convinced themselves that kids won't buy acts like Aretha so never even give them the option? And also, why isn't anybody challenging Simon's creds? None of the acts he represents have managed to crack the American market. Why should we trust his judgment? The performers aren't the only ones here trying to make it big in America, are they, Simon?"

Reading such a thorough synopsis of the thing I still can't imagine what it looks like. Bad, I expect.