Joelle James

Vote Early and Often
The Californian, February 28, 2003
By John Hunneman

Try as hard as he might, my son was unable to vote for his former schoolmate last week on a television show that boasts it is "live" and whose host urges "come on America, choose your favorite now."

The CBS show "Star Search" which airs "not live" on the West Coast at 8 p.m. Wednesday and Friday is a talent contest with singers and dancers competing against each other.

As far as the current glut of television trash, this one's not bad. No one is eating bugs, canoodling in a hot tub or stabbing a teammate in the back.

On Feb. 19, Murrieta's 12-year-old singing sensation Joelle James appeared on the show competing in the "Junior Singer" category against another California girl. Both singers were great and my son logged on to the "Star Search" Web site to vote for Joelle.

Meanwhile, back in the "live" studio, "celebrity" judges added up their points. The sing-off ended in a tie. It was up to America to decide with their Internet votes, host Arsenio Hall said, which girl would move on to the semifinals.

East Coast America, that is.

For while New Yorkers, Bostonians and Delawarians sat snowbound in their homes in front of televisions at a quarter past 8 p.m. their time, most of the country was either at work or stuck on a freeway.

Television networks often treat the West Coast as a second cousin three time zones removed. Live shows from Los Angeles are shown as they happen to audiences back East, but air three hours later here. By the time we see the tape, the stars are canoodling in hot tubs, stabbing each other in the back and, by the appearance of many, eating bugs.

"Star Search" is broadcast from Los Angeles at 5 p.m. our time, shown live back East and tape-delayed here. It's about as "live" to West Coast viewers as the careers of the Star Search celebrity judges.

This gives an unfair advantage to contestants from the East who could have their entire hometowns logging on to vote while fans of West Coast performers are stuck on the 91 freeway.

Joelle's performance impressed enough East Coast viewers to give her the win last week and a spot in tonight's semifinals against Victoria Kelly of Canyon Lake and a boy from Utah.

So how can you vote for our hometown girls this evening?

Just after 5 p.m. log on to www.cbs.com/star. The site will show tonight's contestants and when their performance should be complete. About 5:15 p.m. click on "Go To Scoring" for the "Junior Singer" category. The screen will either tell you "scoring for this category is not yet available" or it will allow you to vote for your favorite performer, even though you will have no idea how they will perform.

It's kind of like voting for president.

Then wait three hours and see your results counted on "live" television.

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