'Idol'atry has its disadvantages

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After "American Idol's" five years and six seasons on the air, all but the mediaphobes among us can recite the names of the national "pop"-ularity contest's victors: Kelly, Ruben, Fantasia, Carrie and Taylor -- to be joined on Wednesday by whoever wins this year's competition. (In Las Vegas, the money's on Jordin).

These winners have gotten their more or less fluky chances at stardom because some intern or executive along the way thought they'd make for good TV. Some are legitimate talents whom critics and the public alike have embraced -- such as season one champ Kelly Clarkson, a rising talent bent on forging a distinctive musical identity, and, most recently, Jennifer Hudson, who made the leap from season three's No. 7 to "Dreamgirl" incarnate.

Other "Idol" stars, however, have raked in millions and gotten a crack at the music industry's most prestigious awards without ever having developed the skills, craft and savvy that artists used to spend long years learning the hard way -- in cramped tour buses and smoke-filled bars. (Mr. Hicks and Chris Daughtry, we're not talking about you here.)

We know what these overnight sensations have won in taking a shortcut to fame and riches.

But what have they lost?

Let us remember that "American Idol" is a program based on pop music, which always has been more about commercial appeal than artistry. In these terms, of course, the show is a monstrous success: "A.I." is a $2.5 billion franchise.

But doesn't it seem a little unfair that someone like season five's Kellie Pickler -- a middling vocal talent with a certain charming, Southern-accented cluelessness and essentially no industry experience -- can waltz onto a TV show, earn just the sixth most votes, and sell more than 500,000 copies of her debut disc?

We don't mean to pull a Faith Hill, but, "What?"

"I don't know another way to get this much buzz before you even put out a record," says Bill Smith, program director for the recording arts program at Full Sail Real World Education in Winter Park, Fla.

Buzz, in "A.I." season four winner Carrie Underwood's case, translated into a debut album (2005's "Some Hearts") that went five times platinum faster than any female country musician's in Billboard history and scored enough trophies -- including the best-new-artist Grammy -- to warrant her purchasing a "gorgeous curio cabinet" to house them.