Reality Check - The Cruelty Bus of Shame, and Are Guitars Unfair? - Video
TVLine.com's Michael Slezak returns with American Idol Season 6 finalist Melinda Doolittle for an all-new Reality Check, dissecting the week in reality singing competitions!
Michael and Melinda analyze week one of American Idol XIII's Hollywood Round: was "The Cruelty Bus of Shame" really necessary? Are the excessive guitars unfair to the other contestants? And which singers should have been cut? Which others should have been saved? And have Spencer Lloyd and Jessica Meuse done serious damage to their chances due to the Group Round shenanigans? It's my favorite episode of Reality Check so far this season. Seriously, I found myself laughing at an uncomfortable volume in the cafe at which I'm watching this. You can get your laugh on too by watching the full video below via TVLine:
Credit: TVLine
Thoughts
While I, too, am completely onboard the Majesty Rose train, I feel it's a bit too early to be talking about a girl winning this thing for the second year in a row, now that White Guys With Guitars are back in play. This isn't to say that a female won't win this season, or that a female couldn't, but we've seen seasons of immense talent ultimately devolve into snorefests when America drops the ball. (This is pretty much the only way to describe Season 9, to me; what could have been the most incredible season in the history of the show ultimately became one of its worst, as Lily Scott, Katelyn Epperly, and Alex Lambert fell by the wayside for reasons I still can't fathom).
I also love that there are others in this world who are in love with Jena Asciutto and Kenzie Hall, as their solo performances were fantastic. As was Keith London's, honestly. This video went a long way in reminding me just how angry the judges' complete dismissal of his "If I Were A Boy" was, as they pretty much ignored the entire thing over a simple change of pronouns. You'd think we'd be a lot farther along in general acceptance than to get on a guy's ass for changing up a gender lyric, but then, I imagine J-Lo would have been the type to talk through Candice Glover's entire performance of "When I Was Your Man" if she'd been a judge last season. Hopefully, the judges can take a page out of Keith's book and actually pay respectful attention. I mean, it's not like they're getting paid in the tens of millions of dollars to do this or anything...
What do you think of the video? Did you agree or disagree with Michael and Melinda? Sound off in the comments!