Scott MacIntyre would not have been on
American Idol this season were he not blind. It's OK to admit this. No judgment is being made about blind human beings here. Scott MacIntyre made for a good story. You always want to root for the blind guy. Scott MacIntyre was an automatic underdog from the second he appeared on screen, and that's going to make for good TV. The question is whether FOX and the Idol judges did a disservice to the competition by allowing Scott into the Top 36 and, later, the Top 13, when there were better, more talented people left out. It's not an easy question. Scott MacIntyre never had any chance at winning American Idol. The judges knew this, the audience knew this, it was no secret. There's no denying that Scott had some level of talent – he was no Sanjaya. I could see the Idol producers hoping that Scott turned into a Billy Joel type once he got behind that piano. However, Scott's voice, as in tune as he might sing, was lacking. Couldn't the producers have anticipated the awkwardness of Scott's presence in the Top 13?
The judges, in line with their poor work for much of this season, thought Scott had a couple of good performances since the Top 13 got underway. In my estimation, he had no quality performances, and got worse as the weeks moved along. It's not that it was just bad, it was uncomfortably bad. Scott, being the incredibly nice, likable guy that he is, was immune to any schadenfreude. No joy was to be taken from his failure. The only thought I had during Scott's performances was “Please, let it end. Get him off the show.” But, the sympathy vote came through over and over. We like to vote for the underdog. We like to vote for the nice guy. It makes sense. It's not America's fault for showing compassion to a blind guy who made good. It's the producers' and the judges' fault for allowing him into the Top 36 in the first place.
American Idol focuses far too much on finding great stories. The audition episodes are filled with puff pieces on the various contestants. Why not find the best singers, and then find the stories later? Everyone has a story. It's sad that Scott MacIntyre was allowed entry into the finals of American Idol not completely on his own merits. Sure, America voted him in from the Top 36 into the Top 13, but that was to be expected. When we're unfamiliar with most of those Top 36 contestants, of course people are going to vote for the blind guy.
On a positive note, at least Scott was eliminated before he outlasted any singer with a real chance at winning American Idol. If you look at it that way, then no harm was done. The point, however, is that Scott potentially could have outlasted someone like Allison Iraheta or Matt Giraud. American Idol got lucky in avoiding a major travesty.
I don't want to take anything away from Scott. This competition had to be exceedingly difficult for him, and he kept his spirits up, and tried his best every week, in the face of much criticism and, I'm sure, the self-awareness that he was out of his league, talent-wise, compared to his fellow contestants. I like Scott. He had a sense of humor about him that was hard to resist. Scott MacIntyre will eventually become a footnote in American Idol lore, a trivia question. We probably won't hear much from Scott ever again.
Scott, it was fun while it lasted. And, by “fun,” I mean frustrating and difficult to watch. But, that's part of American Idol. You need people to root against, you need singers who annoy you, you need reasons to be mad at the voting populous because, otherwise, what the hell would we talk about?
Read More:
American Idol 8: Scott MacIntyre - Season in Review
American Idol: 50 Rejected Theme Week Ideas
American Idol 8: Adam Lambert Dominates, The Judges Kneecap Kris Allen
American Idol 8: Top 8 Performance Rankings
American Idol 8: Riding the Anti-Gokey Train
American Idol 8: Top 9 Fashion Rankings
Casting 'American Idol 8: The Movie'
Will 'American Idol Let Adam Lambert Be Gay?
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of FOX)