Idol Chatter & Voice Views

If, like me, you were fixated on the return of American Idol last week, you might have missed the return of another American Idol — Fantasia Barino.

The 25-year-old winner of season three of Idol now has her own reality show, “Fantasia For Real,” and the premiere episode aired last Monday.

Here’s the quick recap.

Fantasia, two years removed from her last album, which was hardly a big hit, finds herself supporting five other people — her mother, three brothers and her daughter.

One brother, “Teeny,” shows no sign of wanting to work or help support himself. So Fantasia calls in an aunt to deal with him.

But instead of job hunting, “Teeny” goes out and test drives a Ferrari.

And when he finally decides to get motivated, he begins by tearing apart Fantasia’s pool house in order to convert it into a recording studio.

Using whose money?

Fantasia, meanwhile, is working to obtain her GED, treating her daughter to everything she wants at a birthday party and obsessing over her new album.

“If you come out with some album that’s a rush job, and the songs are not that good, then you’re destroyed,” Fantasia tells viewers. “And I don’t want to lose everything that belongs to me.”

Oh, and she’s determined to convince her record studio to make a song called “Move On Me” the first single, though the execs are reluctant to do so.

Episode number two of “Fantasia For Real” airs Monday at noon, 10 p.m. and midnight. You can follow the show here.

I doubt I’ll be watching on a regular basis. Like so many reality shows, it looks like the characters on Fantasia’s plan to act out in absurd ways for dramatic effect, making the show anything but real.

At the same time, Fantasia was such a feel-good story in season three, it’s hard not to root for her comeback to be a success.

Apparently, lots of others feel the same way.

Idol is asking this year’s golden ticket winners about their favorite moment on the show. Twenty-four contestants received golden tickets in Atlanta; six cited Fantasia’s victory or performance of “Summertime” as their favorite.

Well, folks, whether you watch the reality show or not, the good news is that Fantasia should have new music out this year.