As we all know, the American Idol audition episodes spend more time focusing on the worst of the worst. Only a small portion of the show is spent on the auditioners who actually make it through to Hollywood. And that is why I just don't understand AI's decision to spend time focusing on Akron Watson.
If you don't remember who Akron Watson is, or didn't see his audition, you can catch his audition with his cousin William Green below.
Wait a minute, here. Akron Watson actually made it through. He got his golden ticket and is on his way to Hollywood. So why am I confused by AI's decision to spend episode time on him?
Because Akron isn't going to Hollywood. His golden ticket has been unceremoniously ripped up.
And I've known about his disqulification since Tuesday, January 31, a full week before the San Antonio auditions aired. That was when a Texas TV station aired a news segment about Akron's dismissal.
After the episode, some TheOfficialSoulPatrol.com members mentioned how much they liked Akron Watson and his song choice of Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come. Unfortunately, I had to break the bad news to them that he was not going to Hollywood. Needless to say, this news did not sit well with them.
Because American Idol doesn't comment on such issues, we only have one side of the story. All we can do for now is take Akron at his word that he disclosed his possession arrest years ago to AI producers. And it appears that a lot of AI's viewers are landing squarely on Akron's side. Though it's too late for AI to make it up to Akron this season (the Hollywood round has already ended), pressure is mounting for them to reveal the reason for Akron's dismissal.
Which brings me back to my original statement: I don't understand why AI would show Akron's successful audition during Tuesday's show when they already knew he would not be in Hollywood. What was the point? The episode had originally been scheduled to air on January 31 and ended up being pushed back a week at the last minute. Did they add Akron's audition to the show during that time as a way to make it up to him for being let go? Was he already in the episode and they chose not to remove him? I just don't get it.
And for the record, I thought Akron had one of the best voices among the auditioners we had been allowed to hear.
UPDATE: Almost immediately after I posted the above, the following news story from Reality TV World came across my e-mail inbox.
'American Idol 6' producer sheds some light on Akron Watson's ouster
Akron Watson is still wondering why his golden ticket isn't a valid pass to the Hollywood Round of American Idol's sixth season -- and unfortunately for the 23-year-old Dallas, TX singer -- Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe couldn't provide a definitive answer.
"We are informed at the end of the day [by Fox] that you can't invite this person or persons, and we don't ask why," Lythgoe told reporters during a conference call on Thursday, according to Newsday. "To be frank, we're not interested [in why]. If Fox believes it will damage the show... then it's best they just don't come along."
Last November -- less than a week before he was scheduled to travel to Los Angeles for the next level of Idol -- Watson reportedly received a phone call from a representative of the Fox mega-hit telling him he wasn't being let through despite receiving a golden ticket from Idol judges during Tuesday night's broadcast of auditions from San Antonio. It's been reported that Watson was arrested in April 2003 for misdemeanor possession of marijuana -- the only thing that would seem to explain why he was uninvited from Idol's Hollywood Round.
So if Watson was told last November he wasn't going to Hollywood, why was his audition still part of Tuesday night's broadcast?
"Because it was a very important part of the show that week, it showed something that was unique. ... [Viewers] have got another 174 people to get invested in," Lythgoe told reporters during the conference call, according to an article published on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's website. "I don't want to cut out what is a good story for that show. ... Investing in [Watson] at that point is what I'd like you to do. I would've liked to have done that with a lot of other people who are going to disappear during Hollywood week."
Lythgoe added he could only conjure up one possible scenario that would have kept Watson off the air -- and it was far worse than being arrested for possession of pot.
"If he'd have murdered someone, we might've thought twice," Lythgoe told reporters. "We would certainly attempt to stop him being on television."
Say what? FOX gets the last word on who can go to Hollywood? I just don't get it. And was the last paragraph in the article really necessary?
Tags: Taylor Hicks, American Idol, Birmingham, Alabama
