A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Crusade

Polimom watches very little television, and when I do, it’s almost always as something to do with someone else.

Dear Husband and I, for instance, set aside fall Sundays for the NFL, while springtime Tuesday and Wednesday evenings are family time with American Idol — and since I’m writing this in May, you can easily guess what I’m fixin’ to talk about: the culture wars.

(What? You thought I was gonna write about talent, or singing? Silly you…)

So. Tonight’s the American Idol season finale, and two young men — Adam Lambert and Kris Allen — will be vying for the title. They’ll each sing three songs, after which America will vote for the best talent the show could find this year.

Or at least, that’s the theory.

The reality (at least this year) is that Adam Lambert is possessed of a talent so otherworldly that he’s utterly dominated the entertainment industry for months. Even the chatter about his sexuality, from the New York Times to ABC News to Entertainment Weekly (Is he? Isn’t he?) was obliterated early on — a remarkable feat in this salacious, hyper-personal age.

He’s just that good. But a foregone conclusion doth not good ratings make… and television is all about ratings.

Unfortunately for Adam Lambert, tv ratings and ad revenue have been going down across the board, and since the talent disparity was obvious very early on, this left the producers with a problem: millions were tuning in to watch (and listen to) Lambert, but how to keep people engaged and voting? So they did what they pretty much had to do, and promoted the heck out of another young man in the competition — a worship leader at his church — and then sat back and hoped for the best.

In prior years, contestants whose non-mainstream activities hit the net were booted off the show — but not this year. Instead, when “on the edge” photographs surfaced featuring Adam Lambert, the producers were thrilled. A ratings bonanza! And they must have been downright ecstatic (dare I say orgasmic?) when Bill O’Reilly went after the Adam juggernaut in April.

As the show moved toward the final two, the emails and articles were flying, and online forums filled with calls for Christians to support the young “good guy” against… well… you know.

It was all working out so very well — right up until it wasn’t, because the producer’s “chosen one” did not make it to the finale to face Adam. Instead of Danny Gokey tonight, we have Kris Allen, who has been variously ignored, disparaged, and consistently underestimated throughout the season.

What we’ve ended up with is an incredibly nice, talented young man who is flat-out refusing to pick up the media and television producers’ ratings cross and carry it forward.

Kris Allen: I hope that having the Christian vote does not help with anything. I hope it has to do with the talent and the performance that you give. It’s not about religion and all that kind of stuff.
Adam Lambert: This is a singing competition, not a church thing.
Kris: Yeah, totally.
Adam: I would hope people vote based on what they like to hear. I don’t think it has anything to do with your religious background, what color you are, gender. It doesn’t have anything to do with that. It’s about music.

You can watch the interview here.

Nobody should be surprised by this, btw. Kris Allen’s been wearing nail polish on one of his thumbs the last couple of weeks, and Adam Lambert’s corresponding thumbnail has been polish-free. They’re apparently very good friends.

They, at least, couldn’t be less interested in the culture wars.

Following on the heels of that interview, though, the media is in an absolute frenzy today. “Will he come out of the closet” themes are everywhere (as if Adam Lambert’s somehow in a closet at all? Who are they kidding?)

Folks, it’s pretty obvious that, contrary to Bill O’Reilly’s second attempt last night to sound the horns, Kris Allen just ain’t interested in leading anybody’s Crusade. And although he’s clearly too nice to say it, he’s likely wishing the bigots and homophobes would just not vote at all tonight, thanks.

Funny how things work out sometimes. This year, again, it’s all about talent.

And from where I sit, it’s Adam Lambert for the win.

Cross-posted from Polimom Too