Newsday TV editor Andy Edelstein has been watching the tube for too many years that he'd care to remember.
He is the co-author of "The Brady Bunch Book" and two books on the pop culture of the 1970s and 1960s.
His favorite contemporary shows are "The Office," "24," "The Shield" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
His all-time faves are "Seinfeld," "The Honeymooners" and "All in the Family" (hey do we detect a New York sitcom thing going on?)
Comments (2)
I wanted to vote in your Online Poll but couldn't find it! My vote is for BBC America!
Andy! You could not be more wrong about AI this year (except for the results show length... hell, it *ought* to be 5 minutes long... "And this is who's out. see you next week!"
Anyway, I agree that Ms. Cook has been in there too long, but consider: in almost every single year (last year being the only exception I can remember) they've let one "crazy-haired chick" into the top twelve, and she always goes out in round 8 or 9. This year's crazy-haired chick got knocked out way too early, and I think that was the spot where Kristy should naturally have been eliminated.
But here's the difference between the last several years (and if you're going to complain about Cook still being in, I pray to god you complained about Sanjaya last year) and this year:
In the first two seasons, the top competitors brought it every single week. Clay and Reuben battled like vocal gladiators, to the point that Reuben blew his voice out trying to keep up (I still think Clay got robbed!).
But in the last few seasons, every competitor has been weak. Mostly weak. Only one or two good performances a night, and never the same performers. This season, finally, we're seeing 4-5 good performances and 1-2 great performances a show. Maybe it's, as you say, because they've added some more seasoned singers, but doesn't that already prove the point that it's a more talented field?
With the exception of Kristy Cook, every single one of the remaining nine could win this contest and it wouldn't be the wrong choice. Personally, I'm rooting for Archuleta or Dave Cook, but they're ALL really good singers, and this is the first year in several that I could say that.
Anyway, just my two cents worth.