Snapshots from the world of live TV in recent weeks:
American Idol judge Paula Abdul, looking dazed and confused, critiques a song yet to be sung by contestant Jason Castro. Painfully awkward hardly starts to describe the moment.
Another contestant, Brooke White, forgets the lyrics to a big, loud ballad and brings the orchestra to a crashing halt by turning to the conductor and saying, "I'm sorry."
Chilean film star Cristian de la Fuente blows out a tendon in his arm and, with a grimace on his face, stops dead in his tracks while doing the samba on ABC's Dancing with the Stars.
Forget the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination and the war in Iraq, no topic last week was more discussed in the blogosphere than Abdul's Tuesday-night goof on live TV before 24 million viewers. A night earlier, de la Fuente's real-time injury in front of 18 million fans was all the buzz.
While much of the online discussion in recent days has focused on Abdul's mental health and possible fallout for Fox's American Idol from her gaffe, pop culture analysts and reality show insiders saw another larger lesson to be learned from Paula, Brooke and Cristian: the enduring power of live TV, the oldest form of network programming, in an environment that is supposed to be all about new media and monumental change.
"In many ways, flubs on live television have always been the most exciting thing on television, because it's at those times that it becomes crystal clear to viewers that they are seeing something that is really spontaneously happening in real time, as opposed to something that is staged or scripted as are so many parts of our culture these days," says Paul Levinson, professor of media studies at Fordham University.
"So, Paula Abdul somehow having access to a time machine and being able to see that the guy had sung his second song, when in fact he didn't, is a very sweet moment. It's clearly personally embarrassing for Abdul, but I would bet that the number of viewers for American Idol will increase for the next week or two or three. And a large part of the reason for the rise will be the unspoken hope among those viewers that maybe another big mistake will be made, and they'll be there to witness it."
For the record, Abdul, one of three judges on the Fox competition series, has since explained her confusion in two different ways -- mainly adding to the confusion.
