French "American Idol"

American Idol first started when I was in college, but I never watched a single minute of it until just before John and I left for France in February. After a few weeks, both John and I found it to be a very nice guilty pleasure, but sadly we had to leave the country before most of the contestants had been eliminated. Once we got to Paris, however, we found that we could pick up where we left off...except with all French contestants and judges, including a much more likable host than Ryan Seacrest. Even the female judge had the Paula Abdul vibe going on as she danced and clapped to almost everyone's songs (except without being drunk). The French version of American Idol, "Nouvelle Star," was clearly just as entertaining as the American version, and I quickly latched on to both my favorite contestant as well as my most hated, Julien.

I couldn't stand this guy from the start. I honestly thought, after watching him for the first time, that he would be kicked off immediately--surely no one could put up with this sort of thing on a weekly basis:

(WARNING: this is hideous)


I mean it wasn't just the fact that Johnny-Shouts-A-Lot made a point to scream his guts out for any and every song, or that he wears WannaBe rocker outfits that he's just way too skinny to pull off, and even the beret in his hair I can kind of understand, but when he sang "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in jazz style I just wanted to rip my ears off--and man, you should have seen the looks on the judges faces.

And yet, inexplicably, Julien won. I don't see how, it's like some joke that I am not in on. I mean jesus christ, look what he did to The Kinks! (You probably shouldn't look.)



Whatever...at least it won't be my airwaves that I'll have to listen to him screech on when he starts making albums in a few months. By then I'll be safely back in the US where I can hear...some equally disastrous American Idols on the radio. So much for that theory.