Idol moments

The American Idol behemoth might be showing signs of running out of steam, but it's not quite ready to be reformatted as a daytime show yet. Not while local papers like Houma Today still gets excited by local people taking part:

The popular singing competition, which is entering its eighth year, attempts to discover amateur talent and make them into superstars.

And it was this opportunity that led Golden Meadow native Jordy Rousse to make a nearly 2,000-mile trek to Salt Lake City.

To get this sort of coverage, Rousse must have done pretty well, right?

While he didn’t get a chance to sing in front of celebrity judges Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul or Kara Dioguardi, that doesn’t mean Rousse failed miserably.

Rather, Rousse made it to the final part of the preliminaries before a contestant is sent in the room holding the quartet of celebrity judges.

“I got to meet with the producers,” Rousse said. “I sang for them, but it ended with them telling me I was a bit too theatrical for the show.”

Too theatrical? For American Idol? Given that most people turn up with a pantomime story of heartbreak and deliver the songs like they're attempting to launch Whitney Houston covers into space, how theatrical must Rousse be, to be "too theatrical"? Bloody hell, he must have his own atrium and team of stagehands, with Abe Lincoln being shot someone in his belly.

Still, nice try. It's not like you've thrown away a great chunk of your life to pursue going on a game show, is it?

“I ended up taking basically a semester off of school to pursue it,” he said. “I might wait to after college and give it another shot. I’ll just have to see. It was memorable and I did have a good time, but I can’t say right now whether or not I’d tryout a second time.”

A whole semester? I suppose it's lucky it wasn't The Price Is Right. How can you spend months preparing to sing a song for Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson? Most of their winning acts don't last a semester, never mind train for one.

Still, it's not like Rousse's life is over, is it? He's got a wide range of opportunities and excitements and surprises ahead of him. Right, Houma Today?