Judging Singing Competitions on TV Shows

Every channel on the Television seems to have been bitten by the American Idol Bug. All of them are organizing competitions for singers and the competitions never seem to end. Interestingly, all the channels have roped in eminent personalities from the music fraternity, music composers, lyricists, singers, et al. Quite an illustrious array at that. Somewhere one would see Asha Bhonsle (my all-time favorite), elsewhere Alka Yagnik, somewhere Anu Malik, elsewhere long lost Bappi Lahiri. And what do they do?

They judge. They judge the singers whether they can win it at all. But hold it there. Soon enough and quite expectantly, you would see a singer speaking to you directly. Please vote for me so that I may go into the next round, so that I may win. I have never voted, yet. Give me the power of veto and I will use it for a larger proportion of those wannabe singers. And when people vote, it isn't so much a contest on singing abilities, but rather of looks and popularity.

But if we are voting and making them win, why have they hired judges? To add to the attraction of the package? To fight amongst themselves and make it appear spontaneous? What is the purpose of judges when people would decide? More importantly while awarding points for individual performances, I am sure a sheep logic is at play at times. And the variation in the points, at times, also brings in a lot to discuss and comment upon.

The variations, I have noticed are, at times, big. For instance, Judge A awards 9 out of 10 to Singer S, and Judge B awards 5 out of 10 to the same singer. And to make matters more suspicious, Judge A awards 7 out of 10 to Singer T, and Judge B awards 9 to singer T. I don’t get it. Surely, the evaluation is subjective. But what makes matters worse is the fact that there are no norms laid down for the evaluation process. Each judge looks for something he/she thinks is more important. And in the process ignores all else.

And it looks so ugly when they fight. They think they are standing up for what they believe is right. God! Respect each other’s opinions, and get on with it. Surely, 20 judges will not come to an agreement that easily, but they could just respect each others’ opinions and not invade all too frequently on their spaces.

And honestly, give the audience a break. A long one. Not the kind which says, “ We’ll be right back, kahin jayi’ega nehin.” But the kind which says, “See you next year, till them, relax and watch sensible programming.”