Did Seattle deserve the dissing it got?

While the auditions they showed certainly were not the best, a couple items stood out. At least 3 of the really weird were not even from Seattle, but flew to the auditions here from other places. Also, they sent the exact same number to Hollywood from Seattle as from Minneapolis the night before - 14. Seems like they should at least tie with us for the worst city. Finally, the pre-judges purposefully look for the unusual to put through to the judges, I'm sure there were plenty of good singers that were not "good enough" in their minds to be put through over the "weird" and "unusual" that they choose. It is all for ratings and what makes for entertaining tv.

If last nights episode is an accurate representation of what type of talent auditioned for American Idol then I would have to say that Simon is absolutely right. The last contestant named “Red” was by far my most favorite. His voice was a dead ringer for Freddie Mercury’s! lol!

I was very happy to see Jonathan from Renton,WA last night.
He is an exceptional guy and has a lot of courage and personallity. I really congratulate him for believe in his dreams.

I agress with Janelle, I think they put some of the weirdest they have to entertain us, I'm sure out of the 9000 people that showed up there were better ones that were better then some of the ones we saw.

Some of those guys were pretty bad singers but I wasn't laughing. The software guy who sang Unchained Melody, the guy who Simon called a bush baby and his friend who sang right after him - I was proud they were from Seattle. It doesn't take anything to have a good voice. You got it or you don't. What takes something is stand up and put yourself out there. Their auditions were bad but from another perspective, pretty magnificent.

As I understand it, contestants had to go through a preliminary screening before they even got in front of the "judges". The fact that they were awful was why they were there. That is all by design... the "angle" for the episode.

Are you getting this? That little piece of fiction was "produced". Those "losers" were hand selected from thousands by the folks at Fox to represent Seattle.

Why does a supposedly responsible and honest media organization such as the Times "play along" with this disgusting deceit?

Yes, if we really do sing like what they showed in idol auditions aired, we deserved that and more. 'We' stunk! But luckily for us, we really don't care what 'they' think about Seattle.

Absolutely! Sorry Seattle. You are king cheese when it comes to music talent but... what happened? There were 17,000 'so called singers' and only 14 got picked. I felt kindof sorry for some of the wannabies, but I taped it all anyway so I can have a good laugh whenever I want! Sorry Seattle ...

Maybe it's the venue. The Sonics don't want the Key Arena. American Idol doesn't want anyone there either. Coincidence? Hmmm.

You get what you deserve when you put yourself out there. Everybody knows the show is built around trashing the people auditioning.

I was quite pleased with the way Seattle was portrayed. Maybe it will help to stem the tide of people moving here. One can only hope.

American Idol!! Shame Shame on you. I think that the comments where un called for. It shows America just how unprofessional and vain Simon,Paula and Randy are. What makes them think they can get away with making fun of ordinary people. They are just people too, just with more money. So, does that make it right. We need to make a stand and say enough is enough. Show what America is all about. Loving you neighbour as thy self.

Although I wasn't expecting the "best" Seattle has to offer being shown for the auditions. We as a city should be embarassed and ashamed of who was shown. I wasn't expecting people who's appearance looked like a remake of Courtney Love or Kurt Cobain. When people think of Seattle after this show they're going to think of the slobs that were shown.

This fictional "talent show" is a prime example of why we have to teach media literacy to adolescents in public school.
Not only is it false, and hollow, it's exploitive. We work hard to teach respect for individual differences. Do you see what we're up against?
I will do my best to enlist young people in protest against this so-called entertainment. I hope everyone that thinks will boycott it.

I'm not from Seattle, but during my visits there, I have heard a select number of people singing around the Westlake Monorail Station or the Pike Place market who would have likely done extremely well on AI, where were these people? Seattle certainly has some very talented singers, including the Smoosh duet, but I wonder if even they would have been dissed by the AI judges.

Seattle can't sing..., How about "America can't sing"... most of the "bad" singers portrayed were from out of state..! Typical manipulation by the producers to generate interest in their show...duh.

Does anyone really care what Simon Cowell thinks about us?

Simon has some growing up to do. His manners stink.Go Johnathan and his friend!

Didn't watch, don't care...why is this front page news?

Interesting the Times publishes two articles about how terrible the treatment of the entrants was and then turns around and solicits videotapes of bad singers with the warning "Your entry becomes the property of The Seattle Times, so we can trash it, podcast it, poke fun at it or do whatever else the heck we please with it." What hypocrisy.

i think simon was sooooo wrong. we have lots of talent here in seattle! seriously, do they really think that people here with "talent" would waste our time freezing out in the rain for them. pls...it's not worth it! even if we did they wouldn't pick us, they'd pick people who can't sing (ask anyone who was really there). this isn't sunny hollywood where people can pretend to be something there not! we actually have real lives and better things to do than have some stupid british guy tell us how we really aren't. c'mon, we shouldn't have to prove anything to american idol...it's just another reality show, nothing on there is real but the people who audition.

AI has gotten away from being a talent show and has become a freak show. They didn't even show the auditions for most of the Seattle winners, just 4-5. Simon can control this - he has a huge stake in AI, and could bring it back to it's original talent show format if he wanted to. AI has lost my viewership.

I thought Wed.'s show was terrible! It's obvious that Fox was looking for the "weirdest" people they could find to make fun of. I just listened to the audio slideshow on this site and there were some good singers. Did we see them on the show? No. Out of 9,000 auditioners, probaby 1,000 were really good, 1,000 were really terrible, and the other 7,000 were mediocre. Long live mediocrity!

The American Idol talent pool has been significantly depleted over the years so all the cities suck. Seattle is no exception. However, Seattle being the most educated city in the country was misrepresented. We are not a bunch of dumfounded, back-water, inbred half-wits. Seattle is a major trend setting city with the coolest folk. The kid from Salt Lake made me spit out part of my candy bar though - Ha Ha I went.

Not only could the contestants from Seattle not sing, all of them were heinous!
Where did these people come from?! I love our city and the contestants looked like they crawled out of the depths of the Ozarks ... In my opinion, they do not represent the Seattle that I know and love. The only contestant that I cheered for was the larger gentleman that performed after Mr.Jayne. He seemed sweet and he really tried hard to impress the judges.
American Idol is about ratings, so yes, they probably choose to film the most "unique" contestants. Although, the jugdges appear to go out of their way to critize the most unfortunate looking people- talented or not.

I have a limited knowledge of people with disabilities and certain syndromes. The comments Simon made to a few contestants were unacceptable. The comment about looking like a bush baby was the harshest. Obviously that contestant has genetic issues. I didn't know it was "in" to make fun of a person and their looks.

Its all about $$ M O N E Y $$ & the RATINGS(+-).

Seattle can sing, we are just not cheesy enough to audition for American Idol.

Seattle was terrible! Do these people really believe they can sing?

I thought the whole show was hilarious.

When you audition in front of a national audience, expect to be critiqued and/or ridiculed.

Simon is doing those with absolutely no talent a favor by encouraging them to move on to a different career path.

For many of these contestants, and "wake up" call is needed and I can't see a better way to do that than humiliation on national television.

What a great show.

From my point of view, the people that came to Seattle and were featured were particularly awful. That being said, I don't recall that many featured contestants actually from the Seattle area. Being from the Seattle area I just find it funny that some people take offense... does it really matter?

I'm from Seattle living in New Jersey. I watched American Idol for the first time Wednesday night to catch a glimpse of home - I stayed too long. I won't watch again, not because of who was selected for us to see, whom I assumed were chosen based not on "talent" but on what the producers thought the American people would watch, and, sadly, they were apparently right. I'm also not concerned that most people will equate what they saw on Wednesday night with who they're going to bump into in Seattle; after all, we have an MLB moose. I'm not going to watch again because I do enough things to embarrass myself without having to be embarrassed for other people (and I'm not talking about the contestants - I was embarrassed watching Paula convulse and Simon for almost everything. Ultimately it's you and I who decide what Fox or anyone else puts in the media - and we are the ones who should be ashamed of ourselves for watching.

A friend of mine was one of the 9,000 who auditioned. She is an incredible singer - has been the soloist for NW University's jazz choir and she's incredibly gifted.

She auditioned and observed that none of the good singers seemed to be chosen. The guy who was screening her bunch of 1,500 was only picking out the strangest people to move to the next round.

The whole experience has left a very bad taste in her mouth. Rigged? Yes.

Seattle was really bad. I currently live in the Dallas area and always talk about how great Seattle is to everyone I meet. I had co-workers teasing me the next day about the episode and how awful Seattle contestants were...and I agreed. But I still love Seattle and will continue to tell everyone about our great city.

The only reason I watched was because it was in Seattle. Never watched before & am not going to again. What a joke. I'm sure all the cities in the past have had the same types who thought they could sing. I think it is disgusting that Simon, Paula & whats his face sit there & make rude comments to people. What is wrong with society that this kind of behavior is now acceptable?