American Idol Gives Back, But...

[Steve Peterson]

American Idol Gives Back, But...

Hello everyone:

With the amazing popularity of American Idol, I thought this might be an interesting topic to discuss.

Last week, the hit Fox reality television series American Idol premiered two special episodes in support of its Idol Gives Back charity campaign. The event aired April 24 and 25, and benefited charities in Africa, as well as here in the U.S.

Titled "Idol Gives Back, the two-night mega event featured appearances by some of music’s top performers, including Celine Dion, Pink, recent Idol mentor Gwen Stefani, Bono and Earth, Wind & Fire. In addition, the original Idol, Kelly Clarkson, performed at L.A.’s Walt Disney Concert Hall. Her performance was open to the public.

Also, Carrie Underwood, the Idol champion of season four was in attendance. Ellen Degeneres served as MC for the event.

For the most part, it was a worthwhile and entertaining event that reportedly raised between $30 and $60 million, which I think is fantastic. Here's the problem I had with the show.

It was announced during the event that Fox’s parent company donated $5 million...an impressive amount to be sure. However, the donation amounts of other corporate sponsors were not disclosed. My question is why not? What's the big secret? Don't viewers have the right to know what everyone involved with the program actually donated? After all, it was a charity event.

Here's something else that bothered me. It was supposed to be a charity event. Why not suspend the performances of the contestants for one week, since the show already had plenty of guest performers lined up for the event. I just think the focus of the program was split in too many different directions. Then again, not having the contestants perform would have almost certainly affected viewership. So I somewhat understand that particular business decision.

As for the performances by the stars themselves, they really weren't bad at all. Celine Dion performing with a hologram of Elvis was seamless and very interesting to watch.

All in all, the show was actually pretty good, and a huge success. And although there were a couple of things that bothered me, since it was all for charity, I'll give Fox an A+ for its effort.

Did anyone here watch the show? What are your thoughts?