Has 'Idol' met its match?

Does Simon even love us anymore?

Look at his face as he watched Susan Boyle, the dowdy never-been-kissed global singing sensation, onstage in "Britain's Got Talent" (about 70 million have already).

No smirk. No sneer. No boredom. He believes. He is nearly transcendent. He is not wondering why he is sitting there. He is not doing anyone a favor.

He likes "Les Miz."

Whereas we, "American Idol" nation, are like cynics in the headlights, caught midsnark, yukking it up over the blind guy, voting for the worst, clucking over our tattoo Barbie Megan Joy, choosing from a pool of people who seemed to have already formed their back story on YouTube.

We were still living for Simon Cowell's next witty takedown, the next "Idol" train wreck. Meanwhile, over in Britain, a lonely but chipper, dowdy but defiant, ordinary but extraordinary 47-year-old ("and that's just one side of me") woman, Boyle, was changing all the rules, rewriting the fairy tale.

Could it be that "American Idol," for years the zeitgeisty show of the moment, has fallen out of step, left behind like a haughty stepsister (and registering on Tuesday night its lowest ratings since 2002)? Since when did looks cease to matter? Since when did we value innocence over experience? Success over train wreck? Were we really supposed to be having a singing competition all along?

Susan Boyle backlash, where are you already?

Boyle is "either campy or an extraordinary sign of hope in our times," said Henry Jenkins, director of the Comparative Media Studies Program at MIT, who is writing about Boyle as a global "spreadable media" phenomenon that has raced ahead of broadcast television's outdated protectionist policies and as an example of differing "genre expectations" between "Idol" and "Britain's Got Talent."

"'American Idol' this season has seemed conservative," he said. "They look like pop stars already. 'Idol' has just become a star factory. Susan Boyle wouldn't qualify because of her age. And if she did, they'd play it for laughs for a couple of weeks and cut her out."

But the clip has obviously struck a chord, pointing up as it does its American counterpart's obsession with star packaging, youth ("Idol" won't even consider anyone over 28) and all the superficial elements the public supposedly requires to anoint a "Pop Idol," as the British version is called.

TV critics are calling for a return to the simple pleasures of the undiscovered gems of the earlier Clay Aiken era. Feminists are charmed. Priests are seeing God's work. As for age, Barack Obama already made 47 sexy and powerful; now Susan Boyle is standing up for the unlucky-at-love set.

Still, "AI" judge Randy Jackson seemed cognizant of the shifting paradigm of reality talent shows this week when he told contestant Kris Allen that "we're looking for the best undiscovered talent." Thanks for reminding us, Randy.

Jenkins says translating the Susan Boyle formula to "American Idol" is not that simple -- and it's still the most popular show on television, even if we're stuck on snark.

He says Boyle plays right into a British myth of the working-class hero bursting into stardom, territory well worn by "The Full Monty," the calendar girls and "Billy Elliott," among others.

"USA Today said [the Boyle clip] looked like a Disney movie waiting to happen, but it doesn't. It looks like a British movie waiting to happen," he said.

Jason Mittell, a professor of American Studies and Film & Media Culture at Middlebury College in Vermont, sees this summer's "America's Got Talent" as the show to be most affected by the Boyle story.