“American Idol” is based on “Britain’s Got Talent,” whose season started a few days ago. Simon Cowell, in a long commute, is a judge on both shows. On the first episode, a 47-year-old decidely unglamorous Scottish woman named Susan Boyle took the stage to jeers from the crowd and rolling eyes from Simon. Then she sang. Note the varying expressions on the faces of the audience members and the judges.
UPDATE: And lest anyone think she just had a fluke good-voice-day on Britain’s version of “Idol,” a British newspaper has unearthed a track she recorded for a charity CD her community put together as a fund-raiser to support a local school. Listen to her bluesy, sexy, unutterably beautiful rendition of “Cry Me a River”.
UPDATE: I was wrong. “Pop Idol” was the British precursor to “American Idol.” The “Got Talent” franchise is another animal, created by “Idol’s” Simon Cowell.
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