How many people can we make fun of?

There were terrible auditioners before William Hung, but he was the first to take his lack of talent and make a little money off it. That gave the show the idea that presenting a lot of these no-talents would be a wonderful use of audition time, and ears around the country started to bleed uncontrollably.

And while we’re at it, who decided that showing so much footage of auditioners wearing ridiculous costumes was a good idea? That led to people dressing up in wacky getups just to get on television every year, and brought us everything from a male Statue of Liberty to Bikini Girl.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41043278/ns/today-entertainment/