I'm not sure why I'm doing this

So, I'll never claim I'm a good singer. Not once. I promise. But do I have to keep watching this show?

Sorry, I'm not bailing that easily. But I'll tell you right now, after my first American Idol experience... I'm certainly not impressed. I guess I got over the "reality" buzz pretty quickly. I'd been watching Real World for years before Survivor... um... "changed" television. Anyway, I watched Idol last night and I have some observations. More of a list than a dissertation.

First off, the show is really full of itself. We've made all this hugely popular musicians, they start off by claiming, pointing to Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and more. Personally, I'm not a fan of any of them, but that's not really my musical style anyway (making this little project of mine even more annoying, I suppose). I guess it's something to be proud of in the grand scheme of the entertainment business, but they aren't really doing the music world any favors in my personal opinion.

The hosts are probably the real reason to watch the show at this stage. Simon's a great instigator and is focused on making good TV -- whether he's trying to or not -- even though he comes off as unnecessarily patronizing at times (even with contestants that were just OK). Randy, who's a lot more entertaining than he's made out to be by SNL and the like, did the same thing. And who doesn't like I-look-like-I'm-drunk Paula?

For the record, Simon gets the inaugural "Line of the night" here on the blog with: "You were confident without being irritatingly precocious."

Another downside to the show is the little stories they plug in, with Ryan Seacrest voice-overs, that may as well have been produced by Extra. They're there to give you a closer look at some of the contestants and make you feel for the contestants they spotlight. A tabloid-TV feel works for the Idol audience, I suppose, and Seacrest does deserve credit for his funny little one-one-ones with the contestants.

But what you're watching right now is a show based on failure, the complete opposite of what you'd expect from just seeing the title. The producers found this was something they could use to their advantage: They force you to like the people who get to go to Hollywood because you're so tired of hearing all the bad ones.

They're working off their audience's cringes more than anything -- just like The Office (not that this is anywhere near the caliber of television that The Office is). The common man (or woman) loves to see others fail and loves even more to see their dreams crushed -- it's programmed into us. It's a completely different show right now.

It's probably a closed-minded opinion, but I would stop watching now if I hadn't promised to go the whole season. I'm in it with you people (whether you like it or not... the show, I mean).