How Can You Call Someone America's Next 'Top Model'?

Kara Rozansky SoundsOff In Response to Max' SoundOff about American Idol and America's Next Top Model:
Read Max' SoundOff below Kara's

I understand Max' frustration with American Idol and America's Next Top Model awarding people certain titles in the same industries where other legitimate idols and top models have taken years to gain their status. However, I would point out that I've always thought the creative forces behind these shows have been looking for people with the potential to become an American idol or a top model, not simply declaring them one because they've won a contest.

These shows are unique opportunities for people who might not otherwise have the means to share their talents with a large audience. What the winners (and in some cases losers) of these shows do once the cameras leave is up to them. Kelly Clarkson took advantage of her success on Idol and went on to win Grammy awards for her music. The first ANTM winner, Adrianne Curry, went on to carve her own niche in pop culture history.

These shows are nothing more than vehicles. It's up to the participants to figure out how to drive them. If some of us want to watch them while they work it out, what's the harm in that?

Max SoundsOff - America's Next Top Model
How can you call someone America's Next 'Top Model'?
My problem with this show is: How can you call someone America's Next 'Top Model' or for that matter an American 'Idol' if they don't actually go on to be top models or famous singers?

Heidi Klum, Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, etc., are top models because they've risen through the ranks of modeling and actually have the talent required to make it to the top. And I'm not sure that just because some girl wins a stupid TV show where the prize is a modeling contract that it automatically qualifies her as a model, let alone a 'top' model on the same level as Heidi. I mean this is what, the third or fourth season? That means that there have been at least three girls who have previously won the title of America's Next Top Model and other than the chick on the Surreal Life, I could not pick any of them out a line-up. And the same goes for American Idol, other than Kelly Clarkson. I have no idea who any of the other 'winners' are.

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Heidi Klum

I'm not saying that these people don't have talent, or the looks, to achieve stardom. My problem is with the show's creators, producers and the network executives who feel it's ok to merely create a 'top model' from scratch, bypassing the years of hard work that others have put in and tell us, the general public, that the winners of these glorified Real World contestants are in fact 'stars' and should be treated as such.

If someone who doesn't watch either of these shows (yet has a pretty good sense of what is going on in the entertainment industry and pop culture) has no idea who any of these people are, then how they can honesty be called America's anything? They have not achieved any form of success other than winning a contest; and that doesn't make them 'Top Models'… it simply makes them reality TV stars who aren't able to achieve anything past their 15 minutes of fame.