American Idol Returns for Sixth Season, Brings in Over 37 Million Viewers

American Idol began in 2002, as a spin-off of a popular talent show in the UK, and immediately it took America by storm, producing successes like Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood, and Jennifer Hudson, who just recently won the Golden Globe for her performance in the film version of Dreamgirls.

Yesterday marked the season permiere of the show's sixth season, bringing in a record 37.3 million viewers. And yet, fans are complaining that the good singer to bad singer ratio just isn't what it used to be.

"They're spending way too much time on the bad singers," said one viewer on the Yahoo Message-boards. "I don't know if it's because there just aren't enough good singers or if they think that the bad singers are more entertaining, but a person can only hear so many screeching renditions of Somewhere Over the Rainbow before they just change the channel." Another new complaint is that the judges are spending too much time per singer. "It seemed to be longer segments of individuals," said one viewer at the Americanidol.com website, "I'm not going to waste my time tonight."

Viewers also complained that the judges were too cruel in letting down bad contestants. I questioned several viewers who watched both Tuesday's and Wednesday's episodes and this was a common complaint. "They literally laugh in people's faces," said one viewer. "It's just wrong; plus you can tell that Simon really enjoys hurting people's feelings. I don't think that's right." Simon Cowell, of course, is the king of nasty who everyone has loved to hate since the show's first season. His brutally honest method of letting down auditioners has some contestants leaving the talent show in tears. On tonight's episode alone, Simon made fun of several singers' looks, telling one young man that he looked like a creature from a jungle. He also insulted another female singer (a very good one) but not until after she'd been accepted and left the room, by saying to his fellow judges, "You just let in a giraffe," commenting on the girl's incredible height of 6'4 (without heels).