Nigel Lythgoe Confirms that Jeff Archuleta Is a Bad Stage Dad

I love the graphic here... he reminds me of Joe Simpson or Oldface Lohan, Lindsay's mom... I don't really get why they are putting their children through hell. Well actually, it's probably because they had no talent or platform to exploit their own bodies and personalities for money, but they were still chomping at the bit as parents and saw dollar signs when their kid showed any ability whatsoever.

I think we all went to high school and college with at least one or two people that had insane parents that pushed them way too far. A girl I went to high school with did national Neutrogena commercial campaigns and her mom was pushing her into a recording studio and trying to sell her into Disney.

Hell, there are moms of kids at my daughter's preschool that I know for a fact are thinking about little girl pageants and wondering if they can get their baby to "model" (one lady drives to auditions every other week with her 16 month old baby, trying to get her into commercials and stuff). The kids don't want it, they're set up from a young age to feel like this is what's natural and what they should be doing. I literally feel that most of these stage parent's kids never had much of a say because by the time they were old enough to "decide", they were raised on nothing but innuendo and suggestions that they should be a model or singer or actor.

I think it's just a sign of the times. Greedy people will find any way they can to milk their assets for money, and their kids are just that, assets.

"No, no, no. It has nothing to do with fairness. We just want everyone to have an equal opportunity, and if that's fairness, fine."

Excuse me Nigel, huh?

Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that. - George Carlin

deathingrasp,
I think we all know parents like this...stage moms, pageant moms, sports dads, valedictorian moms, cheerleader moms - yikes!

Kids if you're reading this, please please for the love of god, start thinking for yourselves. Tell your parents you expect their unconditional love and be the person YOU want to be.

Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that. - George Carlin

One of the comments on the EW story brought up an interesting point that skewers Nigel's bag of bullshit quite neatly....

...If American Idol was so interested in "fairness" or "releasing pressure" then why didn't they keep MasterBeater Archuleta out of the process from the beginning? Why only now is this an issue? I would be not at all surprised if poor li'l David wound up in the hospital with "exhaustion" like Christina Christian from Season One did when the pressure got to her.

And WHYYYY does he think that cap is so cool looking? He looks like an extra from an extra-special episode of "Little House On The Prairie"!

love, J-Mo :)

See more of the Wacky World of J-Mo at http://blog.myspace.com/jman987654

It's official....I can no longer drink anything while at this site ever again. One look at the pic and my coffee went all over my monitor, I was laughing so hard! LOL! That pic is dead on!

They did a report on "The Today Show" this morning about Daddy Dearest Pimpleleta and AI....THEIR take on it was that since Daddy was a musician, his helping Gaspy with arrangements and song choices gave him "an edge" over the other two contestants. You've GOT to be kidding. They ALL suck.

I totally think AI will throw Gaspy and his daddy under the bus tonight. I won't be surprised if he gets voted off tomorrow.

Stage parents are awful...and until you've seen kids really caught up in it it's hard to grasp. I once worked on an off broadway show with a bunch of kids. The kids worked half a week (4 shows + some rehearsal) and there was this one poor kid, who at first you thought was a total brat, but then you talked to him. Turned out in addition to working half of an equity schedule he was in callbacks for a major feature (among other auditions) AND was figure skating competitively. Poor kid was always half sick with dark circles, and you soon realized he wasn't an immature brat, he was just exhausted all the time. It was really sad.

Archuletta seems like he's lived that kind of lifestyle for quite some time, and the really idealistic part of me hopes that Nigel is not lying and that they are actually doing this for the kid rather than their pocketbooks (the pragmatist in me just rolled her eyes).

I've never done Botox in my life. But I've probably tried everything else under the sun.
Ryan Seacrest

deathingrasp,

Not all parents are like that though. I was getting hit up back in the 80s when my daughter was an oh so cute toddler to let her model for Benetton Kids stuff. We were in Germany at the time. I flat out said 'no' to it. Now her father wanted to do it, but he DID finally listen to me. I figured if she wanted to do something like that it should be her choice, not mine or her Dad's.

But yeah I've seen parents who did stage manage the kids and the kids usually hate it, eventually.

I had to look really closely at the pic. For a second I thought Dudchuleta and Davey we're actually photographed making fun of VFTW by dressing Davey up like a puppet.

Yeah, it's been one of those days.

This sock head would like a window seat on the bus to Hell.

Count me in as one of the parents who said "no" to the lure of their child being in the spotlight.
I had one man cross the street yelling after me to give me his card and my father had sent in pictures of my daughter because he thought she was beautiful and the agency called for a meeting. Both times I politely declined. Although the money would have been nice for her college fund, I just couldn't bear the thought of being one of "those" moms.

Save for a few, none of these kids gets out unscathed or well adjusted and we ALL know it, especially in this day and age when everything they do it publicized for the masses to read in the National Enquirer or watch on YouTube. I don't really understand why any parent who loves their child would even consider putting them into such a precarious position. If it's to live vicariously through their children, then I think money spent on weekly meetings with a professional Dr would be better spent than the cost of trying to put your child into the spotlight to live out the parents dreams.

I watch these shows like "I know my kids a star" and what really strikes me is that neither the parent nor the child are having ANY fun. They are wasting their lives chasing a dream for what? A little money, your picture in the gossip rags maybe even a little gold statue. A lost childhood isn't worth any of that stuff. And then their cuteness fades and they are left with nothing, not even the memories of playing with their friends in the backyard or riding bikes to the park. Poor kids.

"Mutainted dog shit throwup face!"-Brittany 4/30/08 Mailbag

Why is it whenever there is a funny picture or something on the internet, someone invariably spits whatever they were drinking all over their monitor? I never understood that all-too-common occurance. Anyway, when I saw the photo-shopped pic, I laughed so hard, shit came rolling out of my inner anus and all over my brand new $350 computer chair! Thanks alot, assholes!

I'm actually hoping the puppet goes home this week just so I can hear the swooping sounds of panic and sorrow followed by the outcries from Archie's fantards.