Originally Posted by Jordana Camerman, TVGuide.ca

'Canadian Idol' pulls its punches – and I like it

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By Jordana Camerman



Reality TV with a conscience is music to my ears

Contrary to my colleague Greg David, who found the Canadian Idol audition shows to be a major snooze-fest, I enjoyed them.

This was surprising to me, because I don’t usually watch the show. “I will not watch this,” I would declare, “for it is nothing but the poor man’s American Idol.”

But you know what? I thought the American version’s audition shows were pretty repellant this past year, so much so that I barely tuned in for the rest of the competition. The Canadian auditions, however, set a classier tone for the show, and differentiated themselves from, and, dare I say, surpassed, the watchability of the original.

Simon Cowell’s acerbic act used to be a novelty, as was the treat of watching the really bad singers and their delusions of tunefulness. But last season, the mockery of the awful contestants crossed some line into nasty territory.

Suddenly, it was OK for Simon to tell some kid that he looked like a cave-dwelling monkey. Contestants were paraded in front of the TV panel because they were odd-looking, and we were supposed to enjoy laughing at them because of this. As a viewer, I felt manipulated because it became so obvious that the producers were screening contestants for the freak-show gawking factor.

Simon, Randy and Paula also developed a tangible smugness as they berated these unfortunate characters. My favourite moment was when one contestant flipped out at Randy, yelling, “Who are you, anyway?” to which a visibly agitated Mr. Jackson responded, “Look at the charts! Look at the charts!” Oh, Randy. Is someone insecure about his tenuous claim to be a qualified judge of talent?

This is not to say that the judges of Canadian Idol scream “best man for the job” either. I know Sass Jordan has a singing career, but the thing from which I remember her best is a performance of The Vagina Monologues that I saw in high school. Jake Gold was on Cribs, so that’s something. We were treated to some footage of Zach Werner and his one-time band sporting serious 80s hair on last week’s Idol, and Farley Flex rocks a mean colourfully-printed hoodie.

But fashion sense, 80s hair, tastefully decorated homes, “my vagina is angry” speeches – these are not what give our Canadian judges the upper hand. What does: something called “tact.”

Case in point – an older, heavyset dude comes in to audition. He does a hilariously bad singing routine, accompanied by a lot of snapping. Do the judges tell him he’s awful and deluded? No. They snap along, thank him for being so entertaining, and politely suggest that perhaps he’s not quite right for this competition. The laughter his performance induces is appreciative, not mocking.

Canadian Idol judges set a tone of inclusiveness and respect. They put kids through that American Idol would have sent packing – not for lack of talent, but for lack of fitting in to the rigid “pop star” niche Idol refuses to deviate from. The emo-looking kid with the guitar who sang, not a Dashboard Confessional chanson, but “This Magic Moment”; the girl with the red hair and crazy shirt who played the keyboard; they got their gold tickets. Those who were rejected didn’t have expletive-laden tantrums or throw water at the judges (or if they did, it wasn’t televised).

What a boring show, right? Wrong. It was fun and entertaining, and didn’t make me cringe.

You have secured another viewer for your television program, Canadian Idol producers. You have won me over with a delightful, dare I say “Canadian” mélange of kindness and discretion. I hope you will continue to learn form the missteps of our neighbours to the south, because I will turn the TV off like that if you do a Bee Gees tribute episode.