Sunday, January 13, 2008

American Idle scores big ratings

American Idle (not Idol). Get it? It’s the talent contest for the non-working class, our political leaders.

OK, it isn’t much of a joke, but I try. Anyway, it is certainly a more exciting contest than usual, and the American electorate is into it. About 8 million viewers watched coverage of the New Hampshire primaries, about double the coverage for that contest in 2004. The ratings for Iowa Caucus coverage were up a third from 2004 levels to 6 million viewers. Ratings among younger viewers (18-34) were up significantly.

Will a more engaged electorate make better choices? I hope so. I think so.

Music: I stopped in the Ace of Clubs last night and caught a couple sets by the Prowlers, New York’s best bar band. They do almost all covers, and while it’s not the same old stuff, you could wail along and dance to just about everything. Great time.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Naive me, astonished that baby boomers still gather at events like moths at a light in the night. Oh so good to actually know the names of the songs and appreciate the music, which was very good. The place was packed but the crowd did thin out towards the end. I suspect the truth lies somewhere between obligations and endurance. I do believe the house could have done better it they had at least one circulating waitress.

Anonymous said...

It was an pure endurance issue for me.