I think many of us can look back in our lives and find an "American Idol" moment. Mine came many years ago, before I was in Akron, when I heard about a TV critic job at another newspaper. I thought I was pretty good. All right, I thought I was really good. So off went my clips, and my resume, and my cover-letter vow to be fabulous. Some time later, the clips came back, with a terse letter from an editor saying my writing "needed development."

Ow. It's not as harsh as Simon on a tear, perhaps, but it's about as unsubtle as Paula saying "Honey, you're just not right for this competition."

I was thinking about that today while catching up on the last couple of "Idols. Other issues came to mind, like the way Bonnie Raitt's repertoire has become so popular. (And, on a side note, take a look at this story — which I found on TV Tattle — about where the Austin judging really took place. But I thought a lot about the last contestant on Wednesday's show, Tessie Mae Reid. She was a bad singer, all right? I'm not arguing that. I still felt bad for her when she was rejected by the judges (if mildly relieved that Simon for once held back on his hatred of big girls until after Tessie had left the room). She came in there wanting some love, some admiration, some freakin' respect — and she got none of it.

As I said, she didn't deserve what she sought based on her singing. But you also know that she was set up by the show, that they looked at her in the early audition rounds and began anticipating an on-camera Simonizing so thorough that viewers would be talking about it for days. It's one of the frustrations of good singers who audition that bad singers can last a bit longer in auditions just so the producers have red meat for the judges' segments.

And, as I have said before, I have some compassion for these singers after seeing so many of them go through this process in Cleveland. Sure, at this point, you could wish that parents and friends were more willing to be honest with people about their lack of vocal ability because they know what awaits on "Idol." But love isn't only blind; sometimes it's deaf, too.

Just as I have admitted to an "Idol" moment in life, you can probably remember a time when someone was more bluntly honest than you expected. Stung some, didn't it?

I know, this sounds weird coming from someone whose job involves trashing TV shows and actors and all that, at least some of the time. And you could make the argument that anyone who goes on "Idol" knows it's a risk, that they could be stepping in front of a train. And yes, there are times when I enjoy the crash of unrealistic ambition against the barrier of "Idol" judges. But some contestants bring out my underlying ambivalence. Tessie was one of them.

I'd like to think that some of these singers get over the crushing, that they find ways to get better, that they even find some measure of success. I didn't stop writing because of that long-ago letter. I don't know if my writing developed in the way expected. But I have had a pretty good career — and kept doing something that I loved.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 2nd, 2006 at 1:56 pm and is filed under American Idol, Television. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.