'American' idle: This year's finalists are just boring

Atlanta | Are we bored yet?

While American Idol remains the top-rated show in America by a huge margin, this year's crew of contestants isn't generating remotely the level of excitement last year's class did.

A year ago at this point, the "Soul Patrol" was waving the flag for eventual winner Taylor Hicks. Fans of Katharine McPhee were spreading "McPhever." Elliott Yamin was the lovably soulful, snaggletoothed underdog. And Chris Daughtry acolytes were still steamed the baldheaded rocker had been shockingly eliminated a week earlier.

This year, there was barely a peep of protest on the Idol message boards after LaKisha Jones was cut last week. And while there appears to be basic respect for this year's three finalists - beat-boxing Blake Lewis, backup singer Melinda Doolittle and upbeat teen Jordin Sparks - passion is largely absent.

"The show has absolutely no spark," wrote Dave Della Terza, founder of the popular Web site www.votefortheworst.com, in an e-mail. "Who knew Sanjaya was single-handedly keeping things interesting?"

Ah ? Sanjaya Malakar. Never in the history of "Idol" has one contestant so overwhelmed the pop culture conversation as the grinning teen with the wispy voice, pliable hair and oddly charismatic air about him. But he was cut a month ago.

"This crop is so mediocre," said Catherine Dunne, a local vocal coach who helps out Season 5 Idol semifinalist Kinnik Sky and got a kick out of Sanjaya. "What else is there to get excited about?"

Some fans are blaming the Idol producers for failing to flesh out the backgrounds of the contestants as much as in years past.

"I think Idol has paid so much attention to other things like the charity event and the guest coaches, we never got a chance to see their personalities offstage," said Deidre Crescimanno, a Georgia resident who has followed the show since Season 1 and is a regular on an Idol blog.

Donna Reynolds, a Syracuse, N.Y., freelance writer who does regular columns for Idol fan site www.foxesonidol.com., said the show, for instance, could have noted that Doolittle has worked with big stars in Nashville as a backup singer and has even crossed paths with past Idol finalists Mandisa and George Huff.

"I don't really care who wins," Reynolds said, "and I've always cared before."

Idol has added a feature during the performance show in which contestants answer fan queries, but the questions (and thus the answers) tend to be milquetoast. Last week, Sparks informed the world she was getting A's and B's in her schoolwork.

Recently, Idol flew the final three contestants to their hometowns, where at least the residents showed some love. In Glendale, Ariz., where Sparks lives, more than 5,000 people reportedly showed up to cheer her on. Video of these visits will be aired Wednesday.

Nielsen ratings for Idol are down slightly from a year ago, and an odd pattern has emerged. In past years, the performance shows would draw 10 percent to 15 percent more viewers than the results show, which is often criticized for being bloated with filler.

This year, it's been the reverse. Last week, the performance show drew about 24.5 mllion while the results show brought in more than 28 million.

David Bloomberg, who has helmed www.foxesonidol.com since 2002, said the fact that people are less interested in the performances is a sign of ennui, but he's flummoxed by the popularity of the results show.

"Maybe it's because the producers have turned the results show into more of a variety hour," he noted, bringing in the likes of Pink and rap star Akon to perform.

This year's class also suffers from comparisons with last year's exceptionally gifted group of singers.

In past seasons, maybe three or four of the finalists received record contracts. But eight of the top 10 contestants from the class of 2006 have deals and seven have CDs out. Out of the gate, Daughtry has sold more than 2.4 million copies of his debut CD and six finalists have debuted in the Top 10.