8:55 PM: Okay, it's been a lousy day for me. Late last nite, I took ill, and I was not able to update my report with the DialIdol numbers. Also, a pipe is leaking in my walls, and I've spent the whole day and evening worrying that my ceiling and/or my wall is about to collapse.
Plus, my ex-wife broke my heart, stole my pick-up and ran over my dog.
Okay, I made that last part up, but it's still been a lousy day.
I'm doing a little better, and I've decided to try to liveblog the results show tonite.
9:00 PM: Two faithful readers commented on my liveblog last nite:Anonymous said...
Your faithful reader has some nits in no special order:
The judges did not all agree that the second round was a tie. Randy said he would give it to Melinda.
Simon was already pissed at Jordin when she said "I've actually never heard that song before"" after singing the song he selected for her. Following it up with the crack about him choosing a 70's song shows just how stupid she is, or as she likes to remind everyone to explain her myopic exposure to pop culture, "I'm only 17!" Liking Hansen speaks for itself. I hope she goes home. Write THAT down.
My clock disagrees with your clock. I tuned it at 8:02, and Jordin's first song was already done. (Not that I am compiaining about missing it.)
FR KG.
ANDKimberly M., a.k.a. KimberlyKnits said...
Faithful Reader KM has some nits as well.
-- On watching it back, I give the first round to Melinda (but "ouch" on the wrong notes in "I Believe In You And Me"), followed by Jordin and Blake in a virtual dead heat.
-- The second round I call a "tie", but not the way the judges did--I think Melinda and Blake tied and Jordin was way back (Jordin should never sing a fast-tempo song and move around the stage again--she has bad breath control and wheezes into the mike).
-- The last round was no contest. Blake won it by a mile on the virtue of actually learning a third song (and performing it excellently), while the other two repeated their songs. Jordin's "I Who Have Nothing" was very nice but the wrong choice for exactly the reason that Simon articulated; she's a teenager singing ancient songs. Plus, it's not cool to diss Simon on air. As for Melinda, she actually forgot the words to "I'm A Woman" but covered well. But, boo to Melinda for not picking something new to "wow" us with. The order for the final round: Blake, Melinda, Jordin.
So, who should go home? Jordin. Who will go home? Well, Blake is obviously vulnerable because he was bookended by the obvious choice (Melinda) and the producer favorite (Jordin), but DialIdol has Blake's raw vote totals about a mile in front of either lady, so I think Blake will squeak in and leave either Jordin or Melinda on the wrong side looking in.
My clock was slightly off yours as well. They started about 30 sec. late, but missed the 9 PM upcut by almost 2 minutes. Shocking, I know.
9:02 PM: Okay, my clock must be off. But I LUV the Homer Simpson doing the "THIS...IS AMERICAN IDOL!!!" intro tonite. Luv that!!!
9:02 PM: Ryan tells us that Elliott Yamin and Maroon 5 will be performing tonite. Surprise, surprise...
9:11 PM: After the replay from last nite, and the break, we pimp the "Top 10" tour...Ryan -- thank you for reminding the potential ticket-buyers that Sanjaya WILL be part of the tour this summer...
9:14 PM: I am reminded why I realized that liveblogging the results show is a waste of time. As we recap Jordin's homecoming this week, the montage is set to a song I don't recognize but which sounds like Bo Bice.
9:16 PM: Is Ryan really this short? Don't we ask this every season?
9:17 PM: Ryan yanks Jordin's chain yet again..."America voted...we'll find out how you did later in the show..."
Yep, waste of time...
9:21 PM: As we'll have nothing else of note about which to blog for a bit, we'll note that DialIdol's final numbers have the Idols in this order: 1) Melinda; 2) Jordin; 3) Blake. But everyone is within the margin-of-error. So, no one is predicted as safe.
Astute Idol watchers may recall that in every previous version of AI, the Idol who performed first in "Top 3" week ended up going home that week...Paging Jordin Sparks...Paging Jordin Sparks...
Right on cue, Ryan presents this weeks "Idol challenge", which is, "Which of these Idols was not in last season's 'Top 2' "???
a) Elliott Yamin
b) Katherine McPhee
c) Taylor Hicks
Guess which one performed first AND went home that week???
9:28 PM: It's now Blake's turn to have a Ryan-fucks-with-your-head moment.
Blake, have a seat..."we're not THAT predictable around here..."
9:30 PM: Ryan introduces a singer he says he no longer recognizes. But I do -- it's Usher inhabiting the body of the son of Andy Samberg and Adam Sandler. No, wait -- is that Elliott Yamin??? IT IS!!! And he's singing "Wait For You".
9:37 PM: I'm sure that no one has mentioned that watching -- or liveblogging the Results Show -- live is a waste of time, but I'll note that we have 20+ minutes to go, and we still have Maroon 5 to hear from...plus we have no idea who our "Bottom 2" is -- unless, that is, Ryan's singling out of Jordin and Blake is a "hint"...
9:40 PM: This week's Ford commercial "video" is the Idols' take on Billy Squier's "Everybody Wants You". I wonder if -- before they filmed this -- AI knew about BS' current fight with recent AI "mentor" Bono???
9:44 PM: It's time for Ryan to fuck with Melinda. Don't worry -- we won't learn anything until after Maroon 5 performs.
9:49 PM: We pimp both On The Lot and and the new American-Idol-but-with-bands show.
9:50 PM: Ryan tells us that the band they're looking for could be "as big as" Maroon 5, who are most famous for winning Kanye West's "Best New Artist" Grammy in 2005 and for sleeping with Jessica Simpson in 2005-06.
Yeah, I guess you could call that "big".
Adam Levine and crew sing their new single, "Makes Me Wonder". Shockingly, their new album comes out NEXT WEEK.
9:57 PM: Some of my Faithful Readers tell me my clock's off, but my clock says 9:57, and still a commercial for 24.
9:58 PM: We're back. Ryan tells us "almost 60 million votes".
Jordin: SAFE!!!
9:59 PM: Blake and Melinda are Bottom 2.
Melinda: GOING HOME!!!
Our biggest shocker of the season!!!
Blake and Jordin next week in the finals!!!
10:02 PM: Melinda gets the mic and sings "I'm A Woman"...Is my clock still off???
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
This Week In Tonight In American Idol [16 May 2007]
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5 comments:
I am really glad I had out of town guests over for dinner last night and missed this. I don't think I will be watching this show ever again. Melinda should not have gone home. Perhaps the kiss of death was Simon saying he wanted to see her in the finals. Your FR KG would like to know, what did the judges have to say about this?
This from FoxNews
"With Melinda gone, "Idol" promises to be a showdown between the phone-dialing abilities of the tweens who want to be just like Jordin and the Blaker Girls.
Melinda, it's probably good you left before things get ugly."
The article points out that the home footage showed that Melinda had not garnered sufficient crazy loyalty from the AI demographic.
Hey, dude, sorry I'm late to this...
I called a Blake/Jordin final at least 4 weeks ago, and I was still shocked that they eliminated Melinda. I think what happened was a combination of things:
-- Blake is a lot more popular than most people realize; he's got a fanbase (they call themselves the "Blaker Girls") that is almost as big as the Claymates (Clay Aiken's fanbase, of which I am a member) but not quite as obnoxious/visible/militant/{insert description here}. Blake's home visit reminded me so much of Clay's home visit in AI2--the crazy crowds EVERYWHERE, the screaming girls, the proud family, etc. According to both DI and insiders who post elsewhere, Blake's been leading the voting for three weeks now, despite the show's penchant for sticking him in the bottom 2. He wasn't going anywhere last night.
-- Jordin has been steadily climbing the voting charts since IGB week. Even when she stinks, she gains votes. She wasn't going anywhere, either, and I think that's why the show stuck her in the #1 slot--it was a test to see if her fanbase was strong enough to overcome the traditional 3rd place boot position (Nikki, Kimberley Locke, Jasmine, Vonzell, Elliott). In fact, probably her best comparison is to Elliott, who was also gaining in votes as the show entered the round-of-3. That year, even the Yaminions couldn't put Elliott over the top (though he was mere tenths of a percent behind Kat for that spot).
-- Melinda had, as you pointed out, the unfortunate position of being the best singer but having zero personality upon which to hook a rise to the top. She was clearly the most vulnerable, and the voting showed it.
Now, as to KG's kiss-of-death theory, I think it probably didn't help matters--audience votes tend to shift away from anybody Simon says is guaranteed a spot or "should move on", etc. That said, veteran AI watchers have noted that there seems to be a split between the obvious producer wishes (Jordin gets featured in the commercials, group sings, etc., and she's had the so-called "pimp spot"--going last--more than any other contestant this season) and Simon's wishes (constant pumping up of Melinda, comments like "you're too young to be singing such old songs" to Jordin). This is likely due to one of the artists Simon has recently signed to SyCo (his new production group)--Leona Lewis, winner of The X-Factor in the U.K. Leona, according to AI watchers from across the pond, is pretty much the U.K. version of Jordin--young, pretty, mixed race, sounds great on standards, etc.--and the theory goes that Simon Cowell is going to try launching her in the U.S. like he did with Il Divo, and thus he can't afford to have an AI winner in the same kind of demographic. TPTB, on the other hand, have no interest in furthering the career of a singer they themselves hold no financial stake in (SyCo is independent of the 19Entertainment structure that produces AI) and see Melinda as essentially a female Taylor Hicks, and since they have one of those already (Taylor), they don't need another. They'd like a Blake (cute white boy-band type), but they really need a teen pop girl for capturing a share of the growing tween market; thus, they back Jordin.
So, the round-of-three was really all about who was more powerful--Simon Cowell or TPTB. The day after the show aired, Nigel Lythgoe (ExecProd) was all over the place doing damage control about Jordin considering that Simon had trashed her to bits during the show; Lythgoe said that he didn't agree with Simon's critique and thought Jordin was just what "America" is looking for and that "sometimes you have to make sure the public understands what your idea of an American Idol should be". Read into that what you will.
One more item of note: After the show aired, the audience got to see the coin toss to determine who would get to choose who goes first. Blake won. However, Blake could read the tea leaves and declined to choose his position, instead offering "The Producers" the chance to stage the show how they wanted. According to witnesses, Ryan made eye contact with Nigel in the audience, then turned to Jordin and offered her the chance to choose instead. She, obviously, chose to have Blake go first so that she would get the pimp spot one more time. It should be noted that Ruben Studdard is the only Idol winner who has ever won from the first spot; that said, that contest was a virtual tie, so it will be interesting to see if Blake can overcome the producer manipulations.
That's an interesting bit about the coin toss. Just another reason to dislike Jordin in my book. Oh, to watch or not watch tomorrow. I am tempted to wash my hands of the proceedings, but I have come this far, so . . . . FRKG
Dear FR KG:
We talked about watching the finals together. Late notice and all, but are you interested?
Mail me if you are...
ciaobaby
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