Truthiness and American Idol Bandwagons

We interrupt our irregularly scheduled blogging for a little righteous indignation. . . .

Jessica Shaw of Entertainment Weekly is an example of the worst kind of entertainment writer - one with selective memory who confuses good reporting with her personal desire to look cool.

You might be wondering what inspired this mini-tirade against Ms. Shaw. A sentence. Actually, a quoted sentence of Shaw’s about Justin Guarini in a recent nationally syndicated article about American Idol. The article is a typical one that contains surface opinion, not in-depth substance, retracing - or more accurately, rewriting - Idol history. We’ve all seen them a thousand times by now. Anybody and everybody writes them, which means the writers eventually end up copying each other, repeating the same things over and over and over. Doesn’t matter if the first time something was said it was utter nonsense. If repeated enough, it becomes the truth (or, to borrow from Stephen Colbert, it's "truthy").

That's where Ms. Shaw comes in. Her quoted sentence became our proverbial last straw. So, we are speaking up. Might not be as galvanizing as Howard Beale’s rallying cry of "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!", but, well, it comes close enough for us.

Ms. Shaw’s sentence?

Someone like (runner-up) Justin Guarini, you knew this was never going to be someone who was destined for music superstardom.

As soon as we read it, a word flashed in our brain: Bandwagon. As in, “jumping on the bandwagon”. We looked up the word using Encarta dictionary, and found this:

jump or climb on the bandwagon; to join in something only because it is fashionable or likely to be profitable

Not sure “profitable” applies, but “fashionable” sure fits the bill. It has become fashionable to rewrite Justin Guarini’s history, to use him as the designated target for weak insults, unsubstantiated claims, inappropriate examples, and general fact twisting.

Ms. Shaw has the misfortune of being that one writer too many jumping on the bandwagon, tipping the balance, and spilling a sloppy mess of misguided entertainment writers in front of us. See, we remember what she said in real time, as she commented throughout the first season, and she was not short on compliments of Justin. She even rated his contestant's choice performance on the finale higher than Kelly's. We found a few examples of what she said then, to compare to what she says now:


Finale recap:

You had to know Justin would whip out Get Here for his song choice since his crooning of this lovey-dovey tune made Paula weep oh-so-many weeks ago. Though slightly less soulful than that tear-inspiring performance, Justin proved his vocal range and put every ounce of his soul into the song, proving that he picked the perfect song for his final show.

When Justin is on the stage, there is no way to not get sucked in by his Chippendale's dancer meets choir boy presence.

[T]the guy can hit those high notes and can belt out some impressive sounds. . . .

Final 4 performance of Get Here:

Singing Get Here, one of the original songs that landed him in the finals of the competition, Justin perfected his crooning, romantic voice and even impressed those of us who'd already heard him sing this one. Randy called it 'the best performance in this whole competition,' and Simon said it was 'a great song, fantastically delivered.' A

Route 66:

After last week on loser row, Justin needed a comeback song. He might have been served a little better by a slow, swoon-worthy Chet Baker number, but he performed the hell out of the ever-cool Route 66. He certainly looked the lust-worthy part in a fitted tuxedo with an untied bowtie, and the judges fell for him all over again. Simon hailed the performance as 'great,' while Randy pronounced, 'Justin is back. That was fabulous.' A-

Top 30 recap:

BONUS He's the only contestant whose voice has made Paula cry. Plus, it even seems like the other contestants want him to win because his voice is so awe-inspiring.

So it would seem she did take Justin seriously, despite what she may claim today. Jessica Shaw and those like her who assume the role of expert in the court of popular opinion are fortunate not to have to take an oath "to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth." Cuz, Ms. Shaw, et. al, your "truthiness" just wouldn't cut it.