American Idol 6: The Worst Season Ever?

Recent reports have shown that ratings and voting are both down on this season of American Idol. As a result, FOX is pulling out all the stops to regain their lost viewers. Last week, the camera continuously flipped back and forth between the contestants and the 13-year-old girl in the front row of the audience who was so touched by Sanjaya's performance that she bawled uncontrollably while he screeched his way through "You Really Got Me." While his performance didn't make anyone else cry, the non-13-year-old voting population sat in tears the next night when, once again, Sanjaya was not eliminated from the competition.

Then, later that week, producers announced that it wasn't a coincidence that the crying girl had a front row seat ticket. Her parents had gotten tickets to a taping of Are You Smarter Than A 5^th Grader that came with tickets to a dress rehearsal to American Idol. When producers noticed that the girl cried throughout the performances at the dress rehearsal, she was given front row seats to the live taping.

And then there's the weekly contest. Every week during the elimination show, Ryan presents viewers with a question about a previous American Idol contestant. Viewers can either pay .99¢ and text their one letter answer or they can enter online for free. You can enter up to ten times -- the equivalent of almost $10 if you choose to text in all ten entries. Should you choose to enter online, you're forced to fill out an information form that includes your name, address, email address, phone number, birth date, and gender. And after they have all of your information, they spam you with emails about American Idol videos and ringtones for your cell phone, and even about Ford vehicles if you forget to uncheck the box requesting it. I doubt many people have the time to sit and fill out ten of these entry forms, especially when it's so easy to just text a letter and be qualified for the exact same thing with no information required whatsoever.