Idol Junkie.

So Disney is doing something or other to make more money off of American Idol. I can't keep track. All I can do is to go along with it and support AI's advertisers because I'm a mindless consumer (must drink Coke out of pretty red cups... and buy Ford). But forgetting the propaganda for a second, this photo is pretty slick. You've got the first seven winners of American Idol all together in one place.

There's Kelly, the first and best. I remember when she tried to distance herself from the show to be seen as legitimate (duh, when all it took was to be, you know, good). But her last album tanked, and she has a new one coming out in March, so why not play nicey-nice with some free publicity? I don't get why musicians try and distance themselves from Idol (see Daughtry). No one is ever going to be fooled ("oh, I thought you were a real artist, but then I found out that you got your start on Idol"). It's better than starting from a casting couch or nude photos. Plus, at this point, with megastars Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson embracing their Idol roots, where's the stigma?

I also wonder what Taylor and Ruben are thinking, and if David is worrying whether a male winner can actually sustain himself post-Idol. It seems like if you're a guy, losing the contest is better than winning it (see Clay, Daughtry, and even Josh Gracin--he's sold more than Taylor and actually has a continuing career in country music).

I still think that Fantasia is the most interesting winner of them all, and I love that Jordin has actually had a bunch of hits (including the good kind with Chris Brown!). In the end, putting the winners side by side like this is cool -- there are boys, there are girls, there are different races, and different music genres represented. At least three of them--Kelly, Taylor, and David--were surprise winners (meaning that they didn't get the super-pimp treatment from the producers until the very end when the producers finally realized they were going to win). For a mainstream TV show to produce this lot is what keeps me coming back to the show.

That, and kick-awesome interviews with cool contestants like this:



It's a word. It'll catch on. I'm a dork.

So two things concern me with whether Kris will do well this season.

• First, his lack of screen time. I get that he's too normal and laid back for TV, but so is Anne Marie Boskovich -- and they made it work for her. From my incessant surfing, I get the sense that Anne Marie and Kris share a lot of fans (duh, they all have my taste in awesomeness -- oh wait, kick-awesomeness), which makes complete sense given their personalities and styles.

• Second, I found this photo, which suggests that Kris had to do a sing-off to get into the Top 36. This means that he might not have the full support of either the judges or the producers. In a season with Wild Card and producers-on-full-on-Technicolor-Dreamcoat-pimpin' mode (Lil! Adam! Danny!), that's not encouraging. Arkansans et al, you've got your work cut out for you.