Anyone else think...

Hey guys, a few things are bugging me this season, and I thought I'd throw them out to the blog to see if any resonated. I keep meaning to bring them up, but always forget in light of all the train wrecks and teflon, and -gasp- good singers.

First, wtf is up with Ryan this season? He's acting kind of demented, what with his weird detached delivery & mechanical sentiment towards the contestants (going so far as to goad poor Didi to reveal something personal she obviously did NOT want to discuss) to his creepy badgering of Simon (who is CLEARLY over it, and even turned to Kara last night and said "what's the matter with him?"). And don't forget the Twitter blunder where Ryan FORGOT the West Coast hadn't learned the results last week. There are too many more odd moments to mention here. Is he stretched too thin?

Second, what's up with all the AutoTune? Seriously, EVERY group number is now AutoTuned, and 95% of all Guest Star performances are, as well. I expected Diddy, but Usher? Gotta give Ruben props for keeping it real. Am I some dinosaur who remembers the good old days when people had to actually SING, for better or worse, on a live TV show? Damn, this makes lip-syncing look better, at least the sound wouldn't appear to emanate from some alien robot approximating a human voice. (Ever hear of the Uncanny Valley Effect?) The Bud Light Super Bowl T Pain commercial really makes great fun of this over-saturation.

Finally, how can the # 1 show on TV have such horrible production value? Every week you are guaranteed to see: a)amateurish editing, to poorly aimed cameras, b) bad sound, from the performances or judge's mikes (sounds like they're holding rubber mallets) or c) this season's oft-seen screw-up, crew members running around in the shot. d) Can they get the frickin show to END on time? Ryan literally engineered a SECOND round of criticism (from all 4 judges) for Siobhan Tuesday; how is that fair, for one, and how did he expect to make up the time? Week after week, season after season they can't get it right.

Any thoughts?

-- K