Go Out There and "Come Back a Star"

ON Tuesday, the seventh season of "American Idol" introduced viewers to another round of poorly dressed auditioners, who in usual form were clueless about their ability to carry a tune
Today, these vast flesh-and-blood hordes striving for the freedom for which our ancient dramatic instincts yearn can be found in one place in our culture: the audition episodes of "American Idol."

As blasé as even the most hardened "Idol" fan may be sitting down for the start of the show's for-crying-out-loud seventh season, the sight of stadium after stadium filled with people -- 100,000 of them, each one certain that they were destined to climb from obscurity and achieve the highest honor our society can bestow, megastardom -- well, how can the heart but race at such a sight?

And as the Ryan Seacrest voice-over reminded us, somewhere amid this crowd sat one lonely singer who in a mere five months is destined for stardom. But more important, amid those ranks sat 99,976 people who are not remotely destined for stardom -- and breaking that news to them is the business at hand for the next three weeks.

True to form, the first episode -- two hours of highlights of the Philadelphia auditions -- featured the franchise's stalwarts of heart-rending sob stories, human oddities and a handful of diamonds in the rough.