American Idol’s demise marks the folding up of "TV’s last cultural big tent”

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https://t.co/ua5EtDgsHL

At its peak, says James Poniewozik, Idol was “a weekly destination for all ages and many tastes. The series became an island of mainstream in a sea of niche by embodying contradictions. It grabbed a broad audience by bringing together singers from different pop subcultures — country versus bubble gum, R&B versus rock — and pitting them against one another in a battle of national preferences. It was simultaneously vicious and sentimental, a uniter and a divider. It changed the rules for making pop stardom. Then social media changed those rules again, giving musicians an even more direct conduit to audiences than reality TV did and contributing to the show’s eventual downfall.” PLUS: Idol was the “Death Star” of reality TV, Adam Lambert was last year’s highest-earning Idol alum, here are 5 things that killed Idol, Idol is the last singing competition to truly celebrate amateur musical performers, Carrie Underwood leads all Idol alums in record sales, looking back at Idol's best moments, and where did it all go wrong?