ldquo;This whole Sanjaya thing rdquo; is the controversy swirling around Malakar, 17, the puffy-haired singer with the weakest voice. His androgynous looks and high-pitched sound appeal to preteen girls; his lousy performances have egged on ldquo;Idol rdquo; haters like www.votefortheworst.
com and shock jock Howard Stern, who think they can upend the series by voting Sanjaya to victory.
The show is sputtering - a little. ldquo;Idol rdquo; continues to dominate its time slot, but its ratings have slipped for the fourth straight week, according to Nielsen figures - 28.
8 million viewers tuned in last Tuesday rsquo;s show, down 3.5 million from the same show last year.
Still, most series would kill to have those numbers.
History shows that ldquo;Idol rdquo; winners - a la Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks - don rsquo;t always go on to superstardom.
ldquo;Americans really have short institutional memories, rdquo; said Andy Dehnart, professor at Stetson University in Deland, Fla., and editor of www.
realityblurred.com. ldquo;They forget that every season there rsquo;s some untalented teenager that people vote for longer than they should.
Season Three rsquo;s was Jasmine Trias, who came in third. rdquo;
ldquo;Producer Nigel Lythgoe (told TV Week) that winning isn rsquo;t everything, rdquo; he said. ldquo;For him to acknowledge that seems like there rsquo;s a possibility Sanjaya may win.
But I think Jordin Sparks is the dark horse here. She rsquo;s the most marketable.
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