Television: So Bad, It's Good

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By Marc Peyser

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American Idol" is the Mae West of TV talent shows: when it's good, it's very good, but when it's bad, it's better. "Idol" is the first program since "The Gong Show" to understand that talented people are fine, but it's the terrible performers who are truly entertaining. That, and the meanest judge to hit TV since Judge Judy. While "American Idol" hopes to turn a nobody into a star--the winner gets a record contract--the show's true celebrity is a deliciously nasty Brit named Simon Cowell. Cowell is the anti-Ed McMahon, a guy who gleefully tells a performer he was "dreadful" or "horrendous with a capital H." He advised one woman to call a lawyer--so she could sue her voice coach. "He doesn't go out of his way to be horrible. He's just very sort of forthright," says Simon Fuller, who also produced "Idol" in Britain. "In England, this [singing] kickboxer went up to Simon, and said, 'Come outside. I want to kick your ass.' Now Simon has security."

If only Fox had more of Simon. As the show weeds out the weak performers, the judges are supposed to fade into the background--the viewers ultimately pick the winner. But now that the network's got the summer's big reality-TV hit, it wants more of Cowell (and his kinder cohorts, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson) on the show. Fox just added a feature that allows the judges to bounce a performer even if the audience has voted for him. They also plan to sprinkle the old, bad auditions throughout the shows. In the meantime, Fuller's planning the next installment of "American Idol." "Next time," he says, "we'll use even nastier judges."

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