They Cracked Us On The Head With A Beer Bottle

Jimmy Carter in his homebase Nashville.

I'm off to the West Coast for a week ... NAB in Las Vegas, then to Hollywood where I may pick up a sign and protest in front of "American Idol."

Now some of you are too busy or too cool to Watch "Idol." Twenty-three million others do and that audience freaked out this week. It was like the time JR got shot on Dallas. Now one saw the dismissal of contestant Pia coming. Sort of like walking in an alley and a mugger cracks your head open.

The result was followed by loud boos, cussing, shock, tears, disgust. Did the mob hang the wrong person or what?

If "Idol" had any credibility left, that train left the station last night. A real shame, too. That young woman needed those upcoming weeks to get even better. She was growing stronger and stronger each week. She was simply a new Ferrari on a used car lot.

Wrong car for the wrong customers.

Audience disconnect is a huge issue if your job is to get an audience. Who is the insane producer who approved the booking of an Iggy Pop performance on "Idol?" Possibility the worst musical guest on American network prime time EVER! He was never a mainstream act by anyone's imagination . In the '70s he was still an underground but popular act. Today? With no shirt ... horribleeeeeeeeeeee ... disconnect.. You won't find many women in Middle America who I've ever know who liked that ... Facebook,Twitter were all repeats of YUKKKKK..

Mob rule has never been a good way to make a decision or run a business/TV show. The U.S. government works where the one lone voice can be more powerful than the mob. The Civil Rights Law is a prime example of that concept.

Shows such as "Idol," with their wild fan voting are screwed up ...Yes, fan voting as an element, but it's like radio contests. You have them for image and many other reasons. Very few people have ever called a radio show. Talk shows. Same problem...

The mob...

The ACMs had a dose of this too. The Taylor Swift win was met with split reactions. 100% fan voted. LA Times got fans to vote to see if the ACM fan voters got it right.

The results were mixed. It has been suggested to let the fans have a category and the so-called industry voters have another. I personally am over award shows.

These shows are infomercials and I enjoy watching them. The award part is the trouble. Can any of us watch the singer do the perp walk past his just beaten co-workers one more time? Get on stage to thank the agent and bookers. And forgets to thank the wife or cousin George, who gets mad if you leave his name out. It's boring and tedious. Award shows are a work in progress that need more work.

Hopefully the ACMs will give the sales a bump. The show was not boring. I enjoyed it overall. I think the youth movement push has been taken too far. I still don't know how you do a big Country Show without acts that had a career before 2007.

Making an award show is very difficult. I've worked on them and co-produced some big multi act-shows. They are like taking care of 100 babies in one room at diaper change time. This one ran smoothly on the air, which is all that matters.

I don't understand why Carrie and Tyler were just tossed out there. Teasing that performance in hour one and putting it in hour ttwo would help been a ratings-gainer. Jennifer Nettles sure got a lot of air/face time.

Thirteen million is not a bad number, but Trump was real close in demos and "Idol" had almost twice as many eyeballs. There is a lot of room to grow. Vegas is a good spot, but the show needs more Country singers.

Country music sales, if you just look at the Top 100 sales chart, don't look too good. You don't see too much on that subject written maybe because it is an obvious ... 20,000 units as a #1? Sounds anemic to me. Who knows why? It is sort of an "American Idol" Pia issue again. Lack of energy or passion.

New fun Summer music is on the way, I hope..

West Coast ... been a little while but ready to see what's going on in Vegas and the California coast ... Hope my Southwest plane keeps its lid...