American Idol returns tonight, and last night’s Golden Globes could not have been a better promotion for it had the awards been held on Fox. The Globe for best supporting actress in a film went to Idol also-ran Jennifer Hudson for her work in Dreamgirls. And not to take anything away from Hudson’s acting, but let’s face it, in large measure the Globe was really awarded to That Song. And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going, the show-stopper and unofficial national anthem of American Idol (tied, maybe, with Ribbon In the Sky) was, more than any acting scene, the hallmark of Hudson’s performance that critics cited over and over.
Of course, it’s probably unfair to talk about performing a song in a musical as though the singing were something separate from acting. Singing is acting, really–as important as hitting any note is convincingly selling the emotion behind the lyric. The judges don’t talk about this often on Idol, and the singers’ training doesn’t seem to emphasize it, but a convincing emotional performance on stage is probably more important than technical talent: if it weren’t, Katherine McPhee (who could belt a tune but was a mannequin onstage) probably would have beat Taylor Hicks last season.
Perhaps the best actors of all on Idol, though, are the hundreds of fame-seekers who convince the judges that they are actual, genuine horrible singers–it has to be an act, right?–and who will dominate your TV starting with tonight’s two-hour premiere and continuing through the 500 hours or so of audition shows until the actual competition begins. Who knows? Maybe someday one of them will pick up a statuette for Best Actor/ess, Comedy.