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American Idol Finale Outdraws Oscars On TV

The finale of Fox’s “American Idol” averaged 33.7 million views. “That was a bigger audience than the 33.1 million who watched the Academy Awards in March, traditionally the most-viewed entertainment event of the year, according to Nielsen Media Research. During the last half hour of the 8 to 10 p.m. special, when the winner was announced, viewership climbed to just under 40 million people.”

Oooh, I’m Sooo Bad (Now Buy My Book)

“Performing shameful, humiliating acts and then writing about it for profit are not new, perhaps, but the trend seems to be accelerating with the recent crop of sinners clutching book contracts. Such books seem to revel in their authors’ surpassing badness, in an unashamed — indeed, almost gleeful – recitation of sins. The public, presumably, goes tsk-tsk – and then turns the page for more.”

Bad Writing – Not Racism – Is The Real Jazz Scandal

Is jazz critic Stanley Crouch right about racism and jazz critics? The issure recently got him fired from JazzTimes. “The real scandal in jazz criticism isn’t race – it’s bad writing. Jazz, which arose at the same time as that other revolutionary twentieth-century art, film, has failed to generate a comparable body of criticism. Most jazz magazines are only slightly more readable than airline glossies, and serve roughly the same purpose. Whatever one thinks of Crouch’s views, he is one of the few jazz critics worthy of the name. And this, sadly, is another reason why he no longer belongs in the pages of JazzTimes.”

TV: What We Watched This Year

The final numbers are in, and this season’s TV ratings champs can be declared. Wanna play “who are the big winners?” Okay – a hint – that series about the guy who was supposed to be a millionaire looking for a wife, only he wasn’t rich but the women didn’t know it? He landed at No. 2 for the season. Need to know more? Didn’t think so.

Secrets To Good Children’s Theatre?

Here are some rules: “The first rule would be to decide what story you?re telling and then get on with it; adults may enjoy the odd interesting digression, children simply lose interest and start eating crisps. The second would be to avoid irony and political point scoring at all costs; children can sense the strident negative energy a mile off and are bored by it. The third rule is to avoid deliberate artiness in design and to make things look like what they are supposed to be. And the fourth is to keep it simple and remember that less is more; children come to the theatre to be told a story, not to admire someone?s fancy set design or hard-won clowning skills.”

Paul Taylor At 72

“Scan back through his career and you’ll find that Paul Taylor has, across half a century of prolific choreography, managed to delight and infuriate almost every faction in the modern dance world. The 1950s found him hailed in avant-garde circles as a champion of radical ideas and unconventional work. A decade later and the establishment was triumphantly claiming him as a brave new standard bearer for traditional forms. In fact then, as now, Taylor was simply following his own inclinations; playing around with concepts as he pleased, ignoring trends, and thereby becoming one of America’s most distinctive and distinguished dance-makers.”

Reinventing Scottish Ballet

Scottish Ballet has a new director, new dancers and new choreography. “The dance world has moved on a lot in recent years, almost without Scotland, it seems, and we are now trying to close that gap. Not just catch up with the rest of the world but, I hope, be at the forefront of making interesting things happen.”

FCC Traveling On Media Company Dimes

“Over the past eight years, Federal Communications Commission officials have taken 2,500 business trips to global tourist spots, most of which were paid for by the media and telecommunications companies the agency oversees, according to a study to be released today. The report, released by the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, comes as the FCC is poised to relax or eliminate key media ownership rules, a step that has been criticized by some as putting too much power in the hands of a few media giants.”

The Great American Art Scam

“In the clubby art world where priceless works are entrusted to dealers and brokers on a promise and a handshake, Michael Cohen, a highly regarded art broker, borrowed millions from prestigious art dealers such as Sotheby’s and was handed a Picasso from another prominent dealer. But according to a complaint filed in US District Court in Manhattan, Cohen fled two years ago, swindling the dealers of millions of dollars and taking a valuable piece of art, as well.”