Good-bye and hello to Sanjaya

Judges Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell picked him out of thousands of auditionees to be one of the 12 finalists in the sixth season of American Idol (AI). They may have thought otherwise later but that was proof that they saw star potential in 17-year-old Sanjaya Malakar. They probably thought the handsome kid of mixed Indian and Italian parentage from Seattle, Washington, might just become the first American Idol who is not black and who is also not white. Interesting choice. Here is the face of new America.

Now Idol contestants are expected to grow in talent and confidence as the competition progresses. Some do. Think underdog Taylor Hicks who went on to win last year’s title. Some don’t, like Jennifer Hudson who did her growing into stardom and Academy Award glory after being kicked out of the show. Despite what the judges initially thought, Sanjaya was among those who did not.

For six weeks, viewers of the show agonized as they witnessed how Malakar performed below expectations, and in some cases was even worse than he was during his audition. The only time he passed muster was when he went Spanish and sang Besame Mucho and I tell you the only kid who successfully got away with that song was the great Luis Miguel.

It was clear that despite so much effort on Sanjaya’s part he was just not up to the demands of the contest. He was awkward on stage, did not know what songs were right for him, amateurish with his vocals and had this puppy dog smile on his face all the time.

Maybe it was the fact that he looked like he was trying so much to please everybody. Maybe it was because of the little boy lost look in his eyes. Maybe it was the verbal beating he was getting from Cowell and later on also from the other judges after every song. Maybe it was just plain star quality at work. I do not know the reason but whatever it was, it made Sanjaya look so vulnerable and more and more appealing every week. Truth to tell, he had become one of the most popular Idol finalists ever and showed himself to be a natural newsmaker.

I’m sure that for a while there, the people behind AI lived in mortal fear that voters will choose an Idol who cannot sing as well as his predecessors this year. And they will just have to accept it! Contest rules say so. But it could have sullied the reputation of the contest and raised questions about its system of selecting the winners. Something like that can lead to diminished credibility, low ratings and eventually the demise of what has become one of the most successful shows in the history of television.

No need for anybody to worry anymore though. Voters finally decided to once more stand behind the opinions of the judges and booted Sanjaya out of AI last week. It was an emotional moment as the new boy wonder shed tears after being given the news. Goodbye, Sanjaya Malakar. Allelulia! What a relief that was.

But it was hello again Sanjaya the very next night. What do you know, there he was being interviewed by Jay Leno and being chummy chummy with fellow guest Jack Black. The kid has arrived. There is no getting rid of him anymore. One of these days we will surely get news about a Sanjaya album in the works, his success on the Idol Tour, how he will be on Oprah or some other shows and maybe even dating Paris Hilton.

As for the rest of the competition, I have a feeling or maybe I should say that I believe that the last two finalists on stage should be 29-year-old Melinda Doolittle from Tennessee and 17-year-old Jordin Sparks from Arizona. Lakisha Jones and Chris Richardson are showing signs of faltering. Phil Stacey rallied too late while Blake Lewis must be on top every week from now on if he wants a crack at the title.

These will be very, very busy and highly pressurized times for the finalists. Then after all the hard work only one of them will be named American Idol. Meanwhile there is Sanjaya Malakar, looking like a cross between Rene Russo and Peter Frampton enjoying his freedom from the show and the start of his career as a teen idol.