Tim has a thought provoking post about why we should be more discerning when watching American Idol. He should have posted it weeks ago, before the competition moved on to the serious stages (about when I start watching). I did catch bits and pieces of a couple early season episodes. They were dreadful. Simply awful. Boring, actually. But also a royal wincing pain. As someone who feels embarrassed for people who are being humiliated on television, not to mention crying at the movies, I spent a lot of time walking out of the room and doing other things (i.e., couldn’t bear to watch).