Stupid AI

5-21-09

In this world of the internet being our main source of information, I understand that often we learn things before we want to really know. Case and point, American Idol results. Even though the show tapes in LA, they air it on the East Coast live. This means at 8 o’clock when the show starts here, half of the country knows who won by 7 LA time.

Of course, there are the stupid yahoos that will post on blogs and message boards who won and not care on lick about the handful of folks that might see their mindless chatter about the winner. I think they are a-holes for posting it, but truly, it isn’t their job to keep us in the dark.

That job goes to major news networks. When you go to the CNN website, they will have links to stories that declare the winner of something, but the link title will not tell you who, and when you click on it, there is a full paragraph saying don’t read further if you don’t want a spoiler. This is fine with me as I have plenty of warning.

What I didn’t have warning for was when the CNN page on Facebook posted a status change congratulating Kris Allen as the new American Idol. This status was then broadcast to every single one of their fans. This includes us folks in Los Angeles who had not even turned on the tv yet to start watching. It wasn’t even like we had recorded it and not gotten around to it. It had not even aired!!!

I was appalled. It was like I had planned this elaborate Super Bowl party and the first guy who showed up told me the winner. I never watch this show. I watch highlights sometimes, I read the articles. I keep up for the most part. This was a year that in the auditions I fell deeply in love with two contestants and I opted to go ahead and follow at least until they were gone. I was pleased as punch when my two were in the top 3! My fav was projected to win, and I was ready to watch the big grand finale and cheer when my man Adam won, and I was even prepared to deal if Kris had taken the crown as I had grown to really dig him, too.

All of this was taken away from me. In about 140 characters, I found myself not nearly upset that Adam had not won. I was upset that CNN, a national news network would be so irresponsible. I was not alone. Several comments on this post screamed at the news network, also betrayed.

Apparently this is not the first time. The last Summer Olympics, when Twitter wasn’t as prominent so it probably wasn’t as crucial, CNN twittered the results of the historic Michael Phelps race in which he won his 8th gold medal. Mind you, people in the US would not be able to watch the race itself until several hours later when NBC was airing it.

As much as I am thrilled to be able to open my browser and know anything that is going on anywhere at any given second, there still needs to be discretion. Sporting events, competition, all of these are things that even though we as a public want to know the results, we also like to see the race. We want to know if someone out performed someone else, not just that they were made the victor. How many times have you seen a phenomenal match up that even though your team lost, the game itself was not to be missed? If all we had know were the results, we might not go back and watch the Dodgers in game one of the 1988 world series. Maybe we would have missed the amazing victory of the US Hockey Team in 1980. You might have missed Kerri Strug’s courageous vault on an injured ankle that gave the gymnastics team from America the gold in 1996. Sure, they won, but the game, the event, the sport, all would have suffered if we couldn’t be there with them, watching them struggle and yet succeed.

So last night, as I watched my glameriffic Adam grace the stage with Queen, clearly channeling the spirit of the late Freddie Mercury, as much as I loved seeing him in his element, all that went through the back of my head was, well, he loses. When Kris sang with Keith Urban, I might have been impressed, but I was more critical of every note that came out of his cute little mouth because I was still stinging from knowing that he was going to beat Adam. The fun of the night, an eclectic mix of old performers with new was sullied because of the premature announcement of the climax.

I congratulate Kris, I will happily be a shoulder to cry on for Adam, and I shake an angry finger at the media, especially CNN. Although I am glad that the season is finally over and I can go back to blaming something else for keeping me up too late during the week, I find the ending bitter sweet. The moment I looked forward to since January was ripped so unceremoniously that I feel someone disconnected with the whole show. I hope that enough voices are heard and that the powers that be understand that yes yes, we are impressed with your fancy new technology, but sometimes you just have to let things be the way they always were and let us enjoy the competition, not the finish line.