Rooting for the Reality Locals

Oddly, we're not ashamed to say we're watching American Idol this year. Maybe because they've given away with all pretense of being a legitimate competition, we can give up on thinking of it as a guilty pleasure. There's a subtle wink and a nod between the tv and us every time we sit down and speed through the boring parts to get to the drama. Last night, Simon, Randy and Paula finally widdled it down to the 24 finalists. Twelve men, Twelve women and only one that we can really consider a hometown girl. Amanda Avila is from Rowland Heights which, after we looked it up, we realized can reasonably be called part of LA. LAist doesn't know much about Amanda, she's one of the finalists that hasn't had much screen time until this point, but she graduated from Los Angeles County High School for the Arts so we hold out hope she's worth our love.

Even though secretly, we're rooting for the scary looking but incredibly soulful voiced Scott Savol.

American Idol is essentially just getting started as our other favorite reality show, Project Runway, is finishing up on the other coast. Runway is, perhaps, the bizarro world version of American Idol complete with judges, short deadlines, amazingly bad performances, and that competitive oomph that gets viewers hooked. But it's in New York so there's a lot more backstabbing and drinking and a lot less sappy faux-togetherness and sunshine.

There's a reason for Angelenos to have a rooting interest in the show, though, as Kara Saun, who has spent most of her professional career in Los Angeles, is one of the finalists. We love Kara Saun's work and fully expect her to take the crown next week but we'd also be fine with Jay McCarroll.

Just as long as Wendy Pepper doesn't win.

That's all we ask.