Other Great Reality Shows > American Idol
American Idol Season 7
marigold:
Alot of Love on yesterday's American Idol, I like that :girly
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20007164_20171835_20175054,00.html
I'll have what Paula's having! And for that matter, whatever's in Simon's and Randy's big red Coca-Cola cups, too. As American Idol stopped in Miami tonight — sweet use of the Miami Vice font in the opening sequence, by the by! — the show's judges turned the audition process into an audacious, flirtatious party. And though I'm not certain that the business of finding the nation's next great singing sensation was priority No. 1, the assorted high jinks made for a pretty terrific hour of television.
Paula set the tone on day one of the auditions by arriving in a minidress that may have been leopard print but was also 100 percent cougar, and Simon's amused, slightly lascivious reaction — ''That's a very short dress, Paula. Very slutty'' — was the kind of brash assessment that fans of the British judge have been missing a little bit these last three weeks.
Although we've gotten used to the Simon-Paula pas de deux over six seasons of Idol, I can't say I'd ever have predicted that Randy would also get caught in the show's web of awkward sexual tension. Then again, I'd never been introduced to the hilarious duo of Corliss Smith and Brittany Wescott, a pair of curvaceous 20-year-olds who've perhaps maintained their close friendship by virtue of their very different tastes in men. You see, Brittany likes her conquests skinny and therefore directed her lovely rendition of ''My Guy'' toward Simon, who enjoyed himself so much he followed Paula's lead and clapped along (!) to the beat. Corliss, on the other hand, prefers her men a little meatier and had Randy squirming down to his outrageous red loafers during her performance of ''Take Five.'' Suffice it to say that by the time the ladies got their golden tickets, a round of enthusiastic hugs for each of the judges was an inevitability.
Now, one could argue that if you removed the ladies' sparkling personalities from the equation, only Brittany would've scored a golden ticket. Corliss hit the notes of her tricky jazz standard, to be fair, but her interpretation lacked the precise phrasing and emotional wallop delivered two seasons ago by a teenager named Paris Bennett, whose version is on my new list of the 12 best Idol auditions ever. But if you take away the bonus points Corliss gets for her mischievous humor and infectious smile, then you'd also have to rethink all the Hollywood-bound singers who advanced at least partially on their bulging biceps (Drew Poppelreiter), Pantene-ad blond locks (Brooke White), or commitments to sexual abstinence (Amy Flynn).
Of course, even when you factor in looks, personality, and vocal merit, I'm still not sure how Venezuelan-born Ghaleb Emachah got past the judges tonight. For starters, I'd like to see him get strapped to the Moment of Truth lie detector and then try to convince America that he's only 27 years old. (No, you should not infer that I jabbed a Botox needle into my soul and watched Fox's abhorrent new reality hour tonight. Only the first six or seven minutes. I know. Gross.) And second, Simon was being far too kind when he said he'd have to be drunk in order to enjoy Ghaleb's intensely mediocre rendition of Marc Anthony's ''You Sang to Me.''
Unless, of course, Mr. Cowell was making a veiled dig at Paula's loopy demeanor throughout Ghaleb's audition. The way she stumbled around the room humming to herself while trying to decide whether or not to send Ghaleb to Hollywood reminded me of watching my two-year-old nephew discover the joys of helium balloons at a birthday party this past weekend. The way his little eyes glazed over, the way he cooed and gurgled to himself while ignoring the calamity around him, and also the drooling — it was all just a little too similar to Paula's behavior tonight. Simon had me howling when he held up Paula's beverage container and yelled, ''I need someone to check this cup,'' but I'd say it's no better than 50-50 that he was actually attempting a punch line.
No worries, though, Hollywood week is fast approaching, and all the hugs and kisses in the world won't help Ghaleb crack the top 24. Likewise, I'm guessing the bulk of tonight's successful auditioners will be lucky if they even get a mention during the group-elimination bloodletting that starts in a couple of weeks: I've always cringed at the sound of Rihanna's ''Unfaithful,'' but Ilsy Lorena Pinot's rendition had even less melody, if that's possible; former boy-bander Robbie Carrico showed about as much charisma as the One Not Named Lachey from 98 Degrees on his version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's ''Simple Man''; and Ramiele Malubay's attempts to hit the big notes on ''(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman'' made me feel a natural urge to hit the mute button. How totally not patronizing, though, of Paula to utter a big, gooey ''Awwww'' as the diminutive singer strode into the audition room. I'm surprised she didn't give the short lady a cookie and pat her on the head!
marigold:
American Idol Season 7 Top 24 Idols
http://www.buddytv.com/
Here we go, tonight American Idol whittles down the final 50 to the top 24, 12 men and 12 women, who will sing for your votes starting next week. It might seem a bit anticlimactic, because more than a month ago a list of the top 24 was leaked, and pretty much everyone has seen it and knows exactly who will be making it through. I'll be here all night providing live commentary with a printout of the leaked list by my side to see how accurate it is.
To follow along at home, here is the Leaked List of the American Idol Top 24. To date, I can safely say I recognize 17 of those names, which doesn't bode well for the other seven, who have yet to get even a sliver of quality screen time.
Carly Smithson, the tattooed Irishwoman, is up next, and she IS on the list. Paula Abdul gets the honor of playing it down, making Carly think she's gone. These judges are so manipulative and cruel at this point. She is finally told she's one of the top 12 women. The list is 1/1! She cries in the Elevator of Happy Tears. Same elevator, same tears, completely different story.
David Cook, one of the two billion people who sang a Bryan Adams song in Hollywood, makes it through, because he is on the list.
Amanda Overmyer is also a rocker, and a nurse. She's on the list, which is correct once again.
Two random people and the dude who collects his fingernails are all cut.
David Archuleta, the adorable 16-year-old vocal paralysis dude, is the second of three Davids on the list. He's in the top 24, and he'll be making it far because those teen girls are the biggest voting bloc this show has.
Kristy Lee Cook, on the list, is up next. She's one of those anonymous pretty blonde girls who will be eliminated early on, and probably won't even make the top 12. But she does make the top 24 and hugs the judges.
Brooke White is another anonymous pretty blonde girl. She's on the list, and alongside Kristy Lee Cook, they'll totally cancel each other out. She makes it through.
Danny Noriega, who belongs in Menudo, is this year's Sanjaya. I'm calling it out right now: don't fall for him, America! He makes it to the top 24.
Then we see three people who make it who are destined to fail because the show doesn't bother to spend time on them, and we've never seen them before. Their names are Luke Menard, Alexandrea Lushington, and one of the Jasons. There are two on the list, and I have no idea who either are.
Ramiele Malubay is put through as well. That puts this list at a perfect 11 so far.
Now there's a montage of gracious losers. Hey, I recognize one of them, that religious farmer Drew Poppelreiter.
Aussie Michael Johns is up next. We all know he's going through. We all know he's going very far in this competition. I don't even need a list to tell me that. He makes it, as expected.
Syesha Mercado is on the list. She has crazy hair, a bit like Parker over on Big Brother 9. Hey, when you finish reading this recap, why not go over and see what's going on in the BB house by checking out Oscar Dahl's live thoughts and recaps. He goes through and Paula has a meltdown because her first name has the word "yes" in it.
Robbie Carrico, the former boy bander, makes it through, because he's on the list.
Garrett Haley, Kady Malloy, Chikezie Eze, Amy Davis, Alaina Whitaker and Jason Yeager all make it. Some got a tiny bit of screentime during the auditions, others we're meeting for the first time. They're all on the list.
Asiah Epperson's dad died the day before she left for Hollywood. She makes it. David Hernandez also makes it, though Simon Cowell was against it. Both are on the list. This leaves just two spots left, one man and one woman. Thus far, all 22 finalists were on the list.
Josiah Leming, who lives in his car and sings with a British accent, is cut. Aww, I really liked him, but seeing as how he wasn't on the list, I'm not surprised. The Elevator of Broken Dreams is particularly cruel to him.
Now is time for the final two guys: Colton Berry, who I'm pretty sure plays Ryan Evans in the stage version of High School Musical, and Kyle Ensley, the nerdy politician who is still in this competition for reasons beyond my comprehension. Colton is through, as the list says, and somehow Simon says that Kyle is the one who should've made it through. Typically I agree with Simon 110 percent, but man, he is way off base. It's all very civil unlike the typical pressure cooker of emotions they usually save for the end.
Cardin McKinney, a struggling musician, goes up against plus-sized model Joanne Borgella for the final female slot. Big girls don't cry, and since she's on the list, we know that Joanne is gonna put the musical smackdown on that skinny white girl sitting next to her. She does, because every season needs a big black belting woman.
So the list was 100 percent correct. That was a waste of a month. But more importantly, we now know the 12 men and 12 women we'll see singing next week for our votes, the guys on Tuesday for two hours, the ladies on Wednesday for two hours, and then it's the first American Idol elimination next Thursday.
marigold:
American Idol Season 7 Girls Also Disappoint The Judges
“The level of talent is higher.” “…the best top 24 in Idol history.” No matter how often Ryan Seacrest repeats things like this on American Idol 7, they’re just not coming true.
For the second night of the semi-final round, the top 24 mostly failed to impress, although the women did better as a group than the men. While the judges liked just three guys on Tuesday, they were happy with five of the female contestants: Alaina Whitaker, Amanda Overmyer, Asia’h Epperson, Ramiele Malubay, and Syesha Mercado.
While he was critiquing Joanne Borgella, Simon said something that was clearly directed at all of the top 24. “It was very, very substandard. I don’t accept this thing about nerves at this point,” he said. “Every one of you’s got a head start to become a star through this show. If you don’t grab hold of it now, then I don’t think you deserve to win this show. Sorry.”
Randy and Paula were both happy with Alexandrea Lushington and Carly Smithson, who Simon did not like, dissing her by saying, “there’s so much hype about you.” Earlier, the show finally admitted that Carly Smithson produced an album. In her clip package, she said, “When I was 15 years old, I was signed to a major label here in Los Angels. My first record came out when I was 17, and finally the record company actually imploded and they don’t exist anymore, so I kind of got left. So I definitely feel that trying out for American Idol is like a second chance for me.” There was a clear break in her discussion before the “and finally,” so the editors and producers cut something out, perhaps just for time.
At the end, Simon said that there are “three, maybe four great girls,” and Randy said that “season seven is turning out to be the year of the young ones,” as the younger contestants are outperforming the older ones. The most amusing exchange of the night was when Ryan, perhaps forgetting that he was supposed to keep insisting the top 24 are the best ever until we believe it, blamed the judges for the suckiness. “Didn’t you put these people through?” he asked. “Then obviously they’re capable of better,” Simon said, and Ryan replied, “But you’re somewhat at fault for this.” After tonight, he can start to blame viewers.
Source: http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/
TexasLady:
Thanks for the posts ca! Looking back, the guys did better the first night for me than the girls last night. There were a couple of standouts, Ramielle Malubay for one. She looks like a star already. Even Simon liked her.
I thought Simon was pretty brutal last night, particularly with Kristi Lee Cook, who obviously was sick.
My hubby and I didn't like Alex Lushington much, we agreed with Simon while Randy and Paula raved over her.
tanbuns:
So far my favorites are Michale Johns and David Cook for the guys, and Brooke White and Syesha Mercado for the ladies.
I predict that David Archuleta and Danny Noriega will stay in for a long time. My youngest daughter likes David a lot. I haven't quite got a handle on the females just yet.
Cannot stand Amanda Overmyer!!! I will be glad when she is gone!!! :ron:
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