Parents, a question for you, sorta inspired by American Idol.

[Swimnoid]

I truely believe that they receive a range of talent. Bad--mediocre--OK--good--great. The first audition, the one we don't see weeds out the mediocre and the ok. They let the bad ones go through b/c it's entertaining to watch theese inflated egos fall "flat"(haha music humor) on national tv. I love watching it myself. I feel bad for some of them and laugh at the rest. Honestly some people truley believe that they sound good. Try singing in the shower or with the radio, not too bad huh? Add delusions of graduer and parents that constantly tell their children how wonderful they are and bam there you have it. I could see planting some acts....but I don't even think those kids could act good enough to make those auditions look as bad as they are!

They definitely pick bad people on purpose because that gets big ratings. Of course some of those people think they are great just like in any other aspect of life. Also the producers tell them to act up other wise the show would be boring. One of the auditions was held nearby. My DD's college friend (who received a $10,00 vocal music scholarship) got through one round. Another friend we know who is also very good didnt even get the chance to sing. They had them sitting in the stands and came around and had them stand up in groups of about 10 or 12 and said, "you stay, and you stay, the rest of you can go. You are not what we are looking for."