Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Copyright 2007, Fox Broadcasting

This week on American Idol I was right about the bottom three but not about who ended up singing under the closing credits.

This week, host Ryan Seacrest divided the contestants into three groups of three, which made me nervous because I was expecting a surprise.

But this time, there were few surprises. Jordin, Melinda, and LaKisha were identified as the top three vote getters and prompted seated back on the couch. The middle group of Blake, Chris and Sanjaya was then designated as safe, leaving a bottom three of Haley, Gina and Phil.

Much to my surprise, Phil was the first singled out as safe, leaving Haley and Gina on the stage, both of them in tears. But the short dress must have done its work, because Haley was safe and Gina had to go.

Interestingly, as she began the song, tears streaming down her face, and really listened to the lyrics as she was singing them, she finally seemed to get the song. By the end of the song, her tears had evaporated into a genuine smile. If she had only sung with this sort of emotion the previous night, she would have been safe.

One interesting side note. Tony Bennett was scheduled to perform, since he'd been the celebrity coach this week, but he came down with the flu so a lesser known singer whose name I forget took his place. I don't know how last minute it was, but he certainly wasn't as seasoned as a performer and I kept thinking the judges would have torn him apart.

Even worse, after his performance he asked Ryan if he's wasting his votes by still voting for Antonella Barba. The director cut to a shot of the three bottom contestants, still waiting for news of their fate, and Nikki Cox... I mean, Haley threw him an evil look, as if to say, "Hey, I'm the T&A girl now. Forget about her!"

More on American Idol:

Musings on American Idol Season 6 (2007)

Musings on American Idol Season 5 (2006)

Musings on American Idol Season 4 (2005)

Musings on American Idol Season 3 (2004)

In other entertainment news, I've been watching the new FOX series, Wedding Bells, about a family of wedding planners. Since I'm planning my own wedding this year, I find it amusing, but I was bothered enough by a recent episode to send feedback to FOX. I haven't received any acknowledgment that they got my message, but it didn't bounce either, so I suppose they filed it in their "Viewer Feedback" folder.

Here's what I wrote:

From : Alyce Wilson
Sent : Friday, March 23, 2007 5:46 PM
To : askfox@fox.com
Subject : Gay images on "Wedding Bells"

So far I am enjoying your new series, "Wedding Bells," but I have some concerns over the images of gay people as portrayed in last week's show.

The episode features a groom who sports a feather boa, talks with a lisp and otherwise falls into every imaginable stereotype of a gay man as simpering queen. He contends throughout the show that he's really straight and that he's in love with his fiancée. Finally, in a moment of revelation, he tells the wedding photographer that he is straight but was raised by a homosexual couple. This presumably resolves the issue: of course he would behave this way if raised by gays!

Unfortunately, that sort of portrayal plays into the misconception that children raised in gay families can not be normal. I am very close to someone who was raised by a lesbian. She is straight and has never worn a lumberjack shirt or sported a butch haircut. What's more, her mother does not fit into the stereotypes and is indistinguishable from other middle-aged women who like gardening and singing in the church choir.

I did notice that the two fathers, as portrayed in this episode, are very respectable looking, wearing tuxes and looking just like any other proud father at a wedding. But sadly, this positive image was overshadowed by the purple boas on the groomsmen, the Liza Minelli impersonator wedding singer and the other guests on the groom's side, who were better dressed for a gay pride parade than a wedding.

Many of my friends and associates are gay, and while they enjoy Halloween just as much as anybody else, they would show more decorum at a wedding, unless for example, it was a theme wedding where guests were encouraged to show up in costume.

While this episode made a halfhearted attempt at teaching tolerance, it really did the opposite. By playing up outdated stereotypes about homosexual behavior, it only perpetuated those very stereotypes.

Please relay my concerns to the writers.

Alyce

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Alyce Wilson, Wild Violet editor (http://www.wildviolet.net)
http://www.alycewilson.com

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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