In what might make Presidency of the United States a poor second to an
American Idol win, a record 63.4 million votes were cast to choose the winner of the popular talent show. Taylor Hicks beat Katharine McPhee to win the contest, which saw more votes than 'any president in the history of our country has received', host Ryan Seacrest said. The highest number of votes any US President has even won was in 1984 when 54.5 million voters rooted for Ronald Reagan.
The fifth season of the TV show on Fox saw greater participation from the audiences and a better crop of aspirants. Over 36 million viewers tuned in to watch the show's grand finale, which had Prince, Toni Braxton, Meat Loaf, Mary J Blige, Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick perform at Los Angeles' Kodak Theater before 3,400 visitors.
The popularity of the show also puts the spotlight on the lack of interest in the political situation of the country.
American Idol, which was earlier dismissed as a cheesy show, seemed to win more involvement from the public than do the presidential elections.
“It is getting to the point where the series has become a conduit for displaced political passion. It is an arena where young people feel that their vote counts. Idol may strike some of its fans as more genuinely democratic than the real democratic process. The popular vote carries the day without any interference from an electoral college. The judges give their assessments in their idiosyncratic ways, but cannot override the popular vote,” Alessandra Stanley said in
The New York Times while analyzing
Idol fever. In fact, almost 43 million viewers watched the last bits of the show's finale, research firm Nielsen Media Research said.
The show's significance in the wake of the political climate in the US has even spawned a satire
American Dreamz, which compares the series' popularity with the President's. In the film, starring Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid and Mandy Moore, a President whose popularity ratings are on the decline makes an appearance on a talent show to win some brownie points with his voters. It's uncanny that in reality, this season saw the President being outvoted by the finalists. Who won how many votes was not disclosed.
American Idol's climb has been a true success story. The talent show, which has Simon Cowell, Ryan Seacrest, and Paula Abdul dishing out insults and praises to contestants, had humble beginnings in June 2002 but gathered steam with subsequent seasons. Kelly Clarkson became the first ever
American Idol, followed by Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino and Carrie Underwood in the next three seasons.
Taylor Hicks, a 29-year-old grey-haired Alabama singer, however, won the fifth season and probably the maximum appreciation on the show, even though he was dismissed as too old during auditions. The number of viewers has also been climbing steadily. Last season's finale was watched by 30.3 million viewers as against 36.3 million this.
