Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, March 9, 2011, TV Embraces Its Senior Moment.
It seems the median age for American Idol viewers this season was 44 years old. I accept this factoid as true, since anecdotally the only friends I could find, who would recap each week's events with me, were other mom's on Matthew's soccer team and my forty-something year-old friend who lives in Georgia.
I don't know when or why my younger friends stopped watching American Idol since, ten seasons later, I am still an avid fan.
In fact, maybe it is because of my age that I think American Idol shines.
At forty-five I applaud the contestants' sense of adventure. I have been hard at work since I graduated from college and, in retrospect, a short detour would not have been detrimental to my life or career and, in fact, might have made me more interesting.
I am invigorated by their reckless abandon. Somehow this special lot of young people has drowned out the cynical voices around them and, instead, has chosen the road less traveled.
I am inspired by their leaps of faith. One day they are mixing paint at a paint store or bagging groceries at their local supermarket and sixteen weeks later they are living their dream in front of millions of people. The older you get, the more you believe is at stake and the longer that leap of faith looks. Instead, you learn to be patient and settle for incremental improvements.
I am intrigued by the contestants' physical transformations. Somewhere along the line I made all kinds of decisions about what I could and could not wear. No to hats. No to any clothes that accentuate my tree trunk legs, including - of course - skinny jeans, short skirts, knee high boots, leggings, and a long list of other things. No to most hairstyles. Yes to the "classic" look. And, because I never learned how to apply it, no to eye shadow. On American Idol, stylists give contestants makeovers that are based on who they could be - not that are rooted in contestant's insecurities. It's fun to watch their transformations.
For those reasons and more, the median age of American Idol viewers will continue inching upward with each year older that I get. It's because I will never get tired of watching idealistic people reaching for their dreams.
How about you? Visit us in the Comment Section and tell us about a show that you think shines and why.
Shining off until tomorrow when I clear yet another article from the shrinking stack that is sitting on my desk.