There is a point to me talking about Coenbro and that is that I agree with you. The ratings, albeit still strong, are showing age and are starting to look like me after seeing an old picture of Rosanne, flacid as a piece of cooked spaghetti.

"LET'S SPICE IT UP AND ADD A NEW JUDGE." Fox is going to beat that dying horse long past it's expiration date. Side note: Just watched the documentary OUTFOXED and that confirms to me that they (meaning Mr. Murdoch and co.) are just out of touch with the real world.

Ban this article, redact this article, disavow this article,. Send it to the land where serialized juvenile novels go to fail.

While last year was successful, it was the first season to have a substantial drop in ratings - I believe, someone can correct me if I am wrong. I don't watch, but I read an article about 2/3 the way through last season commenting on the drop in audience.

And the show isn't a rip-off of Pop Idol: it IS Pop Idol.

Not even some hit series like "Friends" (which I, btw, despised) could do this, as they were pretty much focused on Gen-X.

The show is also a celebration of the greatest music in America's history, because if you can't get that specific person to do it, you might as well have some other great singer pay homage.

It's about music, and I have no problem with that. People who don't watch the show usually don't understand, but if you latch onto a true talent early on and watch them progress, it's more exciting than most shows on network television.

all i know is that the few times i tried to watch a single episode, i felt like i was dying a little inside. at one point, that lounge act guy with the salt and pepper hair was butchering a beatle song and that was it, i was done.

so until we get an "american idol" that looks, sounds and writes his/or her own music as well as....lets say.... tom waits, i'm gonna call this show as i see it: a hype machine for the lowest common denominator in the music industry.

And "American Idol" isn't the lowest common denominator. I would say that's the mainstream pop people who can't actually sing at all. At least people on Idol, for the most part, are musically trained and can actually carry a tune.

But fair enough, hating Taylor Hicks is plenty reason to not watch season 5. Let's see how season 8 does.

and what i mean by saying "lowest common denominator" is that idol speaks to the worst element of the music business. in that it tries to pre-package the product and sell it on "their" terms.

as a music fan and musician i just think that as far as important music goes, even important POP music for that matter, it's always better to give the people what the NEED, not what they WANT.