>Who do you think Elliott, Taylor
>and Kat fans would have
>been voting for last night
>with the speed dialing fingers
>of lightning?

According to FOX news, apparently Chris fans tried to get through and couldn't during the voting Tuesday evening -- due to busy telephone lines. Interestingly, I voted (many times I admit) for Elliot that same night. The line was never busy once when I called.

Also, some Chris fans complained of calling the number for Chris and getting Catherine's voice. This may or may not be accurate, but it will be interesting to see how Idol deals with the allegations.

I voted through 2 hours for Elliott and Taylor using all 4 phone numbers. I could seldom get through, most often got through when changing from one number to another rather than persistant redialing. However, 5 or more times on Elliott's second number I got a long silence: no busy signal, no answer, no nothin'.

Chris fans just believed the "annointed" stuff and refuse to believe that many of us just didn't like him all that much.

Chris being booted last night makes perfect sense to me. While he is clearly talented, not everybody likes rock. He's a niche performer without broad appeal. If America had to vote on which they preferred, I'm sure they'd pick Celine Dion over, say, Lou Reed any day.

For that same reason, I think Taylor will go next week, leaving a final two of Kat and Elliot, with Kat winning.

This is American Idol people, not Rock Star. Think of the demographic.

I remember being shocked in Season 2 to find out that people were power-voting, so that one person could cancel out the votes of 200 others who stupidly thought this was an actual democracy.

I felt guilty the first few times I did it, knowing that I was doing the same thing that bothered me.

Now I just think of it as part of the game, and vote a lot if I'm in the mood.

Now I've gotten jaded about the fact that it's NOT a democracy, that the entire show is controlled by the small segment of viewers who are willing to vote for two hours.

They should have fixed this four years ago.

I think American Idol is the ONLY version around the globe with free unlimited voting. some markets have a pay system, I think others restrict it some other way.

But then Ryan couldn't brag about how many votes they got.

And god forbid, their sponsor couldn't rake in the bucks with text messages.

I couldn't agree more with what you have said about the show going down hill. The judges spend more time making fun of each other than they do being serious about their role as judges. After all, these people have pretty impressive credentials, for celebrity judges, so why don't they act a bit more like professionals?

The voting system on American Idol isn't working. And despite what some people who have responded here have said, there has NEVER been more shock and controversy expressed over someone leaving the show early as there has been over Chris. He came out every week and performed well. He has a great singing voice. Yes, he is rock oriented. Big deal. Last year's Idol winner was a country western singer, and that didn't stop her from being successful. And Chris will, likewise, be a success.

I completely disagree with those who say Chris is not versatile. He can sing powerful rock songs and tender ballads with equal effectiveness. He is a great singer. The judges, the other contestants, and millions of viewers (read all the reviews of last night's show if you don't believe me) were stunned last night when Ryan Seacrest announced Chris would be leaving the show. Something isn't right here.

I've been screaming about the voting process for 2 years now and your idea sounds good. Another possibility would be to only let 1 vote per phone or computer. Sort of like voting for a politician. Register your phone # or e-mail and set up a pass code to vote. This will weed out the geeks and computer hackers from ringing up the votes. Why should 1 person be able to vote 1000 times a night?

The title of this thread is pretty ironic in light of the offer Fuel made to Chris on Extra today. Any true fans would rejoice that he has a chance with a 'name' band. He should be much better off than if he had stayed with AI. In this day there is no such thing as a perfect way to select in such a competition. I'd like to see the howls of 'foul' change to cheers, but some people are more interested in seeing 'their guy' win this particular contest instead of seeing him gain real success.

Senior Honey,

I'm not sure your charge is fair, considering the content of the thread. No one is questioning Chris Daughtry's future success. He will go on to be a success in the music industry, and all of us, his fans, will cheer him on and be extremely happy for him -- wherever he choses to go in his career.

That doesn't change the fact that what happened Wednesday night is highly questionable. And, if you take the time to read the reviews of the show on the many internet sites, millions of viewers (as well as the American Idol judges and remaining contestants) are shocked at what happened. Many many viewers agree with the American Idol judges that this should not have happened.

...from General Discussion, since Chris is an individual contestant.

Dear Bebo,

Did you notice all the specific postings about Chris listed on the American Idol General Discussion Forum -- just below mine -- before you moved my posting to the Individual Contestant and judge Discussion Forum?

No worries.... however, my posting was more focused on the problems with American Idol in general, and not specifically on Chris Daughtry. Even though, admittedly, last night's show prompted the posting. The real problem is with the show itself, and is not isolated to what happened to Chris -- who will, without a doubt, go on to great success.

I have changed the subject line to more accurately reflect the content of the posting and have re-submitted it to the General American Idol Forum, where I hope you will allow it to remain.

Thanks for pointing out my error -- that the subject heading did not accurately represent the content of my posting.

Soundesigner

In response to drooler (message #27 above), I voted for Elliot at least 100 times over the course of an hour and NOT ONCE had a problem getting through. I got through EVERY TIME, with no busy signal -- EVER.

I am an Elliot fan and a Chris fan, but I didn't vote for Chris Tuesday night. So I can't speak for those who tried to get through on Chris' lines and couldn't get through, or got Katherine instead. But I can speak from experience that there was no trouble getting through on Elliot's lines every time I dialed.

For those of you who are interested, REALITY TV writer, Ron Lemon, documents many specific instances of viewers who reported not being able to get through when calling to vote for Chris. You can read the entire article by clicking the web address below. I have also included a brief excerpt from his article, below the web address:

http://realitytvcalendar.com/recaps/ai5/commentary/rl-ai5-05-12-06-p1.html

"As I write this, a little over 24 hours since
Ryan told Chris he was going home, I have received over 2,200 emails
from fans of the show. They are still pouring in. I haven't read them
all, but I have read hundreds. The mail is overwhelmingly in support
of Chris. Overwhelmingly angry with the show. Overwhelmingly
frustrated with the voting system.

And that is the single biggest question being asked. What about the
voting? Over and over again the emails I have gotten say the same
thing. As one fan put it "I tried to get through for two hours and all
I got was a busy signal....for two hours!"

but busy signals are a function of the specific telephone market where you live.

just because you couldn't get through, that doesn't mean people in other markets couldn't get through.

and if Chris' line was pulling up steady busy signals nationwide, then the DialIdol results would reflect that. instead he had the fewest busy signals ....

I remain amazed at the immaturity demonstrated by the musically illiterate viewers who continue to whine about Chris. There must be other reasons behind the juvenile comments directed at Kat. Could it be that some females are jealous of her beauty and natural poise? Could it be that some sensitive beanie wearing male Ace fans are still pining for Ace and Chris was the substitute for their affections? Could it be that some amateur thespians covet Kat's stunning ability to command the stage? Let's all face it. Years from now Kat will still be a star while the others will be forgotten answers to a trivial pursuit game.

>I remain amazed at the immaturity
>demonstrated by the musically illiterate
>viewers who continue to whine
>about Chris.

Mickey,

My husband is a music recording engineer, and has been for 28 years. He records classical, pop, jazz, rock, choral..... you name it. Most often his clients rely on him to not only record and mix, but also produce, their albums. He has a University degree in music and acoustical physics. He is successful in his careder and has won many recording awards. So I believe he would qualify as someone who is anything but musically illiterate.

We have had many discussions about this year's contestants and he agrees with you about the quality and training of Kat's voice. However, neither he nor any of the Idol judges (read their bios - they have more than a little exprerience and success among them) agrees with you that Chris is not as credible a performaer as Kat,

However, the real question of this thread is, does the voting system work? There seems to be some serious doubt by many people about the effectiveness of the system. See the article mentioned in the General Discussion Forum (Credibility of American Idol Questioned).

There is nothing immature about all of the American Idol judges, the other contestants, Ryan Seacrest and millions of viewers being shocked over what happened Wednesday night. Maybe Chris' fans thought he was safe and didn't vote as much as the other contestant's fans did. But many Chris fans are saying they couldn't get through at all. While Elliot fans dialed multiple times with no problem (again, see Credibility of American idol Questioned). There has been enough concern expressed that these problems need to be addressed. So far FOX isn't commenting. It will be interesting to see if they continue to ignore the complaints. If they don't address the problems with the voting system, I believe they will alienate a great number of American Idol viewers.

Please read our guidelines - there's a link at the top of the page. Bashing other posters is not permitted here.

I've tried several Google searches to see if FOX TV is going to address the allegations that phone lines were inaccessable for Chris Daughtry voters Tuesday night.

Have any of you read or heard any response from FOX about this?

Please read our community guidelines. It is a violation of those guidelines to post the same message multiple times.