Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine American Idol

Yeah I'm kind of surprised Sundance is still around too. Dude better learn some humility, and toute suite. America doesn't like a show-off .

Did Ebony make it? Bailey blew it, her age was definitely showing,her attitiude was wayy too cavalier.

I agree that Sundance is lucky. They're letting him through on his potential rather than what he showed in Hollywood. I hope he makes the next cut.

I never saw beautiful Ebony or that spunky young New York girl who's supposed to be studying opera. I wonder if they couldn't make it for some reason or if they just never got filmed?

Looking forward to tonight! They'll identify the top 24.

They were wise to have the phone polls, I think. It's a decent, if not comprehensive, way to see who is coming across well to the public.

The top 24 have been chosen. I think it's kinda weird that the majority of the girls chosen haven't really been shown very much before. Well, maybe just not that I recall.... My favorite is *Former* Back Up Singer girl. (I'm sure I'll get better with names with time.)

The guys seem to have a bit more character. I was glad Sundance made it, but I hope he quits that shout singing! I was glad that Jack Osbourne Look Alike made it, too!

I'll have to go to the AI website now, and check out the profiles!

This week has been reallllly good... I half-expected them to drag out H'Wood week for 4 episodes, but it all came down fast and furious! Good call!

My most early-favorite chick, Lip-Ring Lass, didn't make top 24! So I'm going to root for Backup-Singer Damsel and Funny-Hair Lass who also auditioned last year.

The guys DO seem to have a lot of personality. I was rooting for the other guy to make it over Sundance. He was super-cute!

Early favorite guys include Jack Osbourne's Clone (he's freakin' hilARious!!) and beat-boxin' Blake. They had an AWESOME group round. I also like that hottie who dropped out last year and Just-Had-A-Baby Lad!

I'm really looking forward to next week-- I hope a few more of the girls stand out for me!

The AI website is up to date with this season's contestant profiles. So helpful!

Couldn't help myself... I had to count up how many contestants came from each city... See, Simon said that Seattle had some of the worst talent ever...

Memphis has 6 contestants
Seattle, LA and NY each have 5
San Antonio, Minneapolis and Birmingham each have 1.

So, actually, Seattle's talent ended up doing pretty well. Did ya realize that, Simon?

(Disclaimer... not every contestant is from the town where they auditioned. I'm not trying to say I'm any kind of brainiac, here! Just a fan of singers.)

Just watched Rewind... Christina Christian, EJ Day and Nikki McKibbin just earned their spots. This was the episode where Simon was calling people losers and Randy wanted to fight him!

So, the top 9 are set. Next week, it's the judges' Wild Card pick. (They're going to choose RJ Helton. Hey, it was 5 years ago!)

They used to choose the finalists so differently back then. I like it better now.

So my roommate is a rabid Idol fanatic and forces us to watch it every week.

I've watched episodes here and there in previous seasons and have always quite enjoyed it so I was looking forward to getting into a season from the beginning and finding some faves to cheer on to the end.

I was especially looking forward to tonight because I usually prefer male solo singers to female ones and thought that out of 12 I would find at least 5 or 6 that I would really like.

My reaction to tonight - UGH! Send them all back! Those are the best guys they could find?!? There wasn't a single good performance among them. Sure, some were better than others but there was not a single voice or presence on stage that was anything close to unique or interesting.

And their song choices were B-A-A-A-D! It's opening night - they should've been there bringing the PAR-TAY and rocking us. But nearly every one of them bored with some weepy ballad that felt dated 15 years ago. You could tell the judges were disappointed. That weird angry vibe they were giving off seemed more directed at themselves for slipping up and letting these losers through.

My reluctant choice for the best of the worst - Blake, who stayed contemporary with a Keane song and showed us he can more than just beat-box despite a few pitch problems.

Hope the girls are better or I'm gonna be done with American Idol before I've even had the chance to join in on all the fun.

Well, I have to admit that I was hoping for a better show than what was presented.

My favorite way of commenting on the performances is to go from worst to best...

12. Rudy. I never cared for that song and I don't think it fits at AI. His delivery really wasn't all that bad, but like Randy said, it was a corny performance.

11. Paul Kim. Okay, I like that he wanted to be barefoot, but he didn't do anything with that song.

So, those would be my choices for elimination.

10.Sanjaya. I didn't think it was as bad as the judges made it seem, but it was rather dull.

9. Sundance. Of course I'm very disappointed because I really like him. I thought he was gonna really make that song awesome, but he was off most of the way through it!

8.Jared. I didn't even remember him, so when he was up there, I had no idea what would happen. He seemed to be pretty good.

7.Nicholas. He sounded fine, but the song was so dull. Doesn't he want to be a star?

6.Phil. He really started off bad but he did improve through the song.

5. AJ. He was fun and sounded good. A tad safe.

4. Chris Sligh. I liked this performance a lot. He has charisma and a good voice. I think the judges (particularly Simon) will change their minds when they hear this again.

3.Brandon. At first, I thought it was going to be a cool slow version of Rock With You, which I was excited about, but then it turned into the typical version. Still, well done.

2. Chris R. He really did bring some attitude and appeal to his song (which I love! Bo and Elliott have done it in previous seasons). He's cool.

1. BLAKE!!! I love that Keane song! I thought Blake did an excellent job. I was SO glad there was no beat-boxing. He gets points for difficulty too, because even though he might have missed a note here and there, he showed a lot of range and made some very difficult transitions! He looked great, too!

Summary: My top three really showed some star quality. My previous favorite, Sundance, really disappointed me.

Looking forward to ladies' night!

OMG, you CAN NOT get Sundance off my screen fast enough! <shudder>

I too was disappointed. Hated AJ, mostly cause he looked like crap, he was dressed like he was going to a frat party. COme on, you go on national television and THAT'S what you wear to represent yourself, ugh. Paul Kim made me wretch too. Rudy seemed like a real-live version o "jack McFaland" kept waiting for the jazz hansd to break out with a "just Jack".

Blake is my fave, and I loves me some Keane, but I couldn't beliee how positive the feedback was, dude was missing those high notes all over the place.

Liked Chris R, but though Simon was totally on w/his comment about his voice sounding small on the song. I think a lot of it had to do with his bopping his head up and down and thus losing the mike because his voice was moving away from it every 3 seconds.

Phil's first 15 seconds were horrid, song was completelly unrecognizable until he hit the chorus, then he hit his stride and finished really strong.

Really liked Chris Sligh, was surprised he didn't get better feedback. Thought Sanjaya was boring but didn't sound as bad as they made it sound.

What an overall suckfest last night was!

The first six guys left me nothing but disappointed.

Then Blake-- whom I had high hopes for-- was the first to actually wow me.

Sanjaya fell short (though they were WAY too overly harsh on him because they know he might cry).

Chris Sligh was good but then he lost me with his smartass "teletubbies" dig toward Simon.

I thought Jared (tall guy who sang "Back to One" was really good.

AJ bored me, but Phil wrapped it up nicely enough.

So basically out of all 12, I only liked Blake, Jared and Phil. Chris Sligh too, if he will refrain from further smartass cracks (no pun intended).

Just read everyone's comments... Blake looks like our unanimous early favorite. Cool.

I think it's funny how similar our comments are, too. At this point, I almost don't think I should number them from 12 to 1, I should have more grey areas like: Yuck, Okay, Good, Great.

WOW!

It's pretty obvious the ladies are the more talented bunch. This may have been the best ep of AI I've seen yet.

I can't even find 2 picks to go home Thursday. I can, however, pick out one... the unfortunate lass who chose "Brass In Pocket" to sing.

Favorites:

Stephanie (1st performer), Leslie Hunt (..."Natural Woman") 'cause she's geeky, Jordin Sparks, Melinda Doolittle, Gina Glocksen (though, like Chris Sligh, she'd better watch that smarty-pants mouth) and Lakisha.

And even though I was prepared to HATE that Jersey chick (I thought it was a crime she went through to top 24 instead of the other chick she was against), I rather liked her sweet rendition of "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing". I found it endearing. The judges hated it. Oh, well.

Insanely early prediction: The finale will be between 2 lasses this year as male frontrunner Blake exits in 3rd place.

I missed all but the last 3, but luckily I taped it, so looking forward to reviewing it, but in those last 3 I saw the best, the good, and the ehhh. Lakisha brought down the house, Simon obviously adores her and with good reason, she's got it all, I heart her.

My only concern is that Simon may be jinxing her. So many like to go against him just because he is so disliked... I swear that's why Paula was telling him to be quiet. I actually think the reason that he was so harsh on Sanjaya the other night was because he actually does like him and was try to get him the "spite" vote.

Well add more once I see the other 9, but it almost seems like a waste of my time given how it ended. If nothing else, it'll be anti-climatic.

Some AI album news:

Upon checking out BILLBOARD, I noted that Taylor's CD, despite it's low current ranking and quick drop on the chart, has been certified platinum. Kellie Pickler's CD (actually currently ranked a few notches higher than Taylor's; both are in the 80s) has been certified gold.

Chris' CD (which I told you ages ago went platinum, like, overnight) is still rocking the # 3 slot.

And coming in March: Elliott's 1st CD!

I wasn't really that excited about the girls tonight. Still though, I thought Lakisha really 'knocked one out of the park' to end the show.

I'm in agreement with the opinion that a lot of the contestants this week played it safe and did songs they knew they could cover with ease even if they had a severe attack of stage fright. A few risked it and went all out and it showed in their performances.

Randy sure had a lot to say about that in both shows this week...and I wind up agreeing with Simon a lot more often than not...much to my surprise.

The girls were *FAR* better than the guys tonight! Some really great singers in that bunch. I wouldn't be surprised if the Top 3 are all girls this year.

The girl who opened the show, Stephanie, and the girl who closed it, Lakisha, were the best singers but I also really liked Melinda, Sabrina, Jordin, Haley and Leslie who has got this adorably endearing cute/nerdy thing going on, most exemplified by that totally bizarro/whacked-out/bat-tusi style dance she was doing in that montage of Top 12 girls dancing that they've showed a couple of times. She's such a goof. I heart her!

Without doing the math, I'd say that about half the time I was kinda cringing along with the girls and the other half of the time I was thrilled! That's a lot better than the guys, for sure. Even though I like my hot, warm and cold idea for judging, I think I'll stick with bottom to top...

12. Antonella. She did seem really, really nervous. I think she should have done that song really sweetly and whispery. Also, why did she wear that Mom outfit with the ponytail? She needs to be using her looks, especially now in the early stages of voting.

11. Alaina had really pretty hair.

10. Amy. Boring. Sweet. Boring.

9. Haley. Seemed like a beauty pageant performance. I agree with Simon about her, she seemed 40, not 24. You can be young and sing Celine songs and not be Celine's age.

8. Gina. She did fine, but I can't help but recall the stunning version of that song by Latoya London in season 3. Latoya made it more soulful (by nature). Gina played it straight. I think she did hit the note.

7. Nicole. It was weird and not very catchy, but her voice was clean and clear.

6. I like how Leslie seemed to embrace the fact that she's this skinny white girl in a gang of stong black women! She held her own by being herself with an Aretha Franklin song. Ballsy!

5. Jordan. She was sweet, but powerful. Great combo. I think she could have been stronger all along. I think she was trying to make the first half of the song tender and the second half have the POW! She's still awesome, especially for 17!

4. Stephanie. I love how she just stepped out there and gave it! Way better than I expected.

3. Sabrina. Another surprise! I don't think she's been given much screen time yet, so I can't recall much of her, so I was open to hear/see what she had to offer, and it was great! She really impressed me.

2. Lakisha. She did a phenomonal job with that song, so she deserves all the praise she got. She's got an *adorable* personality, too. Lovely!

1. Melinda. I've liked her since her audition and this performance just totally reinforced that. She delivered SO well, and the reason she takes my #1 spot is because I don't know that song. She's introduced it to me. I love it when I learn a new song on this show. It's happened a LOT, actually.

Well, I feel like it's ON. Those girls will be *bringing* it! Should be fun. Hey, maybe the guys'll step up now!

SPOILER ALERT!

I'll be discussing the eliminated contestants...

Looks like I called it as far as the guys go. It was a surprise that Sanjaya was in the top 4 guys, but like I said in my review, I didn't think he was *that* bad, just a lil dull. I bet a lot of younger girls think he's cute. I bet a lot of younger girls take the time to make a lot of calls.

As for the women, there was no surprise there, either. Amy and Nicole this week, Antonella and Alaina next week. Whatever! I really wonder which six will remain, because if it's different than the top six in my review, I'll be disappointed! Oh well, we'll see.

Fantasia sounded SO great! Broadway! That'll be cool.

The group number was SO corny! eeww!

We haven't seen one episode yet this week. Too many scheduling conflicts. And if they continue attempting to show this against Survivor and Earl/The Office on Thursdays it'll lose me. Why drag this out a third night? Fox is just being greedy.

I think it'll only be on Thursdays until the top 12 are identified. That's still a couple of weeks from now!

Yes, 2 more weeks of AI thrice a week.

I for one was not disappointed or surprised by any of the eliminations. I was surprised (but glad) Antonella DIDN'T get the boot after the thrashing the judges gave her.

Oh Antonella (nasty, nasty personality and an awful performance this week) so deserved to get the boot. She's one of the only girls that i really don't think deserves to be there.

Early favourites for me (which probably means they'll get the boot early) are Lakisha, Melinda, Leslie and big Chris.