They've said numerous times that the votes are around 25-30 million.

If Howard Stern was the only one doing this, I would agree with you but, he isn't. There is a cumulative effect on all this hosts and all these websites touting Femjaya and trying to make him the next American Idol.

Howie Mandel is filling in for Regis and he even predicted Sanjaya would win because of everyone voting for the worst.

Amen! Blake and Chris Sligh get ripped for what they did to Diana Ross songs, but the "Divas" compeltely disregard the British Invasion theme and they are lauded. Melinda in particular is being put on a pedastool by the show when she is absolutely out of tune with what an American Idol winner should be. She sings music no one cares about, she is a trained and paid professional, and she has little to no charm (the "who? me?" routine is quite tired and irritating).

I thought Simon's comments to her about whether she really is that nice were odd. He has said that at least twice before to her, and you're right, it's getting old. That, combined with the fact that she seems immune from criticism (of her clothing, style, and song choice, if not her performances)...maybe she suffers some backlash from it all.

I'm still not sold on the "ringer" thing, though. Both she and Brandon were essentially backup singers who got a shot on the show. They had no idea how they would turn out, and one of them showed why he was a backup singer, and the other is flurishing. I don't mind professionals who never got a shot being on the show, the problem with this season is simply that she has no competition - from a purely technical standpoint. She's still not really AI material, though. Simon has jumped on others for this in the past, and his refusal to even broach the subject with her is starting to tick me off.

I have little doubt that I do not share musical tastes with the majority. This, I am not uncomfortable with.

There's a place for niche AI singers, even the winners. I had no clue how well Carrie Underwood had done after she won, since I hardly ever heard from her outside of the show. And Josh Gracin, who didn't even come close to winning, has hit it big on the country charts. I think AI's problem is that they really haven't had anyone replicate Kelly Clarkson's success on the general pop charts. Discounting the first album from each winner, which ordinarily flies off the shelves based on the simple herd mentality, most follow-ups haven't done that well or were targeted at a specific demographic or genre, as opposed to being across-the-board pop hits. Melinda would be like a Reuben, I guess, but maybe even more confined to her style than he was.

That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure if that number was for votes or for viewers. They seem to throw both out at you at different times.

I don't think it's anywhere near impossible for 5% of those votes to be coming from Stern, primarily, plus all the others combined as it was pointed out by someone.

Adding 5% onto any of the 11 left would be enough to keep them around for awhile.

I also don't understand why it's believable for someone who loves Sanjaya and wants him to stay to dial and vote nonstop for 2 hours, but someone who hates him and wants him to stay can't do the same.


Well, that's really impossible, unless he suddenly became a great singer. Eventually you're going to get to the point where there's not many contestants left, so while the people who are only voting for Sanjaya in a Vote for the Worst sense might marginally grow over the next, let's say, 8 weeks, you're going to have the "true" voters stop spreading their votes around to a bunch of different people, and it will basically end up as (Entire Nation of Voters - Sanjaya Fan Nonstop Voters) being a much larger percentage than (Sanjaya Fan Nonstop Voters + Sanjaya Hater Nonstop Voters).

History shows that he won't stay on the show long enough to affect the legitimacy of the competition (see: Scott Sabol, Chicken Little, John Stevens, John Peter Lewis, Mikaylah Gordon), so you're right.

I just don't see how keeping "interesting" people on the show is akin to sabatage. IMO, if people wanted to sabatoge the show, they would vote down to Melinda, Lakisha, Chris Sligh and Stephanie and we would get essentially the same bland show every week regardless of the "theme". Keeping people like Sanjaya, Jordin, Chris R and Blake around give a chance that atleast each show is different and potentially entertaining (for different reasons, of course).

If the final 3 gets down to any combo of Melinda, Lakisha, Chris S and Stephanie - I will stop watching and not care one bit about who wins.

I'll be surprised if Stephanie lasts more than 2 or 3 more weeks unless she steps it up. I also think Chris S has very little chance of making it into the final 3. Right now, I'd predict Blake being in the final 3 along with 2 of the girls.

I don't care who wins regardless of who makes the final 3 or 4, so that won't affect my viewing habits one bit. I think the issue with keeping crappy singers/performers on the show is the idea that they should have some value to the competition, as opposed to the show. You're right, though, that for someone like me, as much as I bitch about how bad he is, for AI as TV show, he is one of the few pure entertaining parts left. But it's difficult to separate what is good TV and what is good for a supposedly legitimate talent competition. As we're seeing with Sanjaya, those two interests can be mutually exclusive.

Stephanie is the most overrated contestant this year. Maybe it's her style that keeps me from "getting it," but she has never been in tune to my ears. She flops around the melody too much to consistently hold the correct pitch.

I would have to think it is in the tens of millions at least. I know the comment a few years ago was that more people voted in the Reuben/Clay AI final than the presidential election, and that's around 100 million I think.

I'd be real disappointed if Lakisha and Melinda were both in the final 2. Maybe they've both "earned it", but having to sit through their "theme independent" and repetitive songs for the next 8-9 weeks would be extremely aggitating. I think that having one of them (prob Melinda), Blake and someone out of Jordin/Chris R/Gina would make for a much more interesting finish.

Chris R. won't make it that far...I have Jeff Gillooly's cell number in case he lasts another 3 or 4 weeks.

Yeah, I said 2 of the girls because I'm hopeful that Jordin will continue to step up and be in the final 3 with either Melinda or Lakisha. I think most likely Lakisha as I think Melinda's personality will eventually hurt her. We are already starting to see some backlash on here re: Simon's repeated comments about "how nice" Melinda is - which I find sort of odd. If she is really nice, Simon doesn't need to keep saying it. I don't think it should hurt her in the voting, but I suspect it will.

My prediction for the final three is Melinda, Blake, Jordin.

My theory on this is that Simon doesn't have anything else to say because he won't criticize her and there's nothing else to talk about with her. The only identifiable personality trait she has is her niceness. She apparently has no backstory other than the professional background singer thing, which has been run into the ground. And if Simon truly wants the best singer to win, he refuses to criticize her in any way because he knows she is hands-down the best singer.

That would be my guess right now also.

I have a different theory. I think there is a growing theory out there in the masses (i know for instance Tony Kornheiser has said it on his show multiple times) that the "Golly Gee" stuff from Melinda is all an act.

I think AI has shown in the past that they try to address things like this indirectly - so I think that's what Simon is doing.

I don't know, hard to see how it could be a total act. With McPhee, you could pretty much tell she was probably a bitch backstage, but I don't see Melinda pulling off an act like that. The reason I say that is that she doesn't seem to be putting it out there herself - I don't see it as blatantly as Pickles "calamari" routine, for example - but rather, people around her are raising the issue. And what's she supposed to say - "No, really I'm just a stuck-up bitch looking to make millions and this is all an act because I have no personality other than this made-up good girl persona"?

Mcphee is goofy/smily/sexy. Don't you dare start saying things like she's a bitch. You know what that can do to a man who just had a relapse of McPheever since her album/music video came out? So just stop it.

As for Haley, I don't see Kitaen at all. A little Osmond. But I think she's looks more like Christina Applegate or Mira Sorvino. Both of which are good for me.

I understand that people are interested in this sort of thing, but I personally don't care about personality at all. Melinda could infect teenagers with aids and eat their little sisters and it wouldn't change how she sings. That's all I care about. I mention it if someone is hot, but I try not to let that factor.

Last season I didn't care what on earth Pickler thought about calamari. She couldn't sing in tune.

Mira Sorvino? No way do I see Mira Sorvino.

Research psychologists say you can't fake a smile. It's too complex a mechanism. Melinda seems genuine in her reactions, and that's an important part of her on-stage personna.

I don't think she's particularly shy, that's just an interpretation of her behavior that's convenient for the mass audience (much like an idiot sportswriter calling his favorite star player "clutch"). She is, however, a polished professional singer in an amateur competition. She stands out for that reason, and her pleasant personality helps fuel the votes. I think she'll win in the end.

Stephanie is more the true, raw amateur. There's a lot of talent there, but she simply has not learned how to sing. If she finds a good mentor, I think she'll end up a success. If not, she's doomed to a life of second-rate night clubs.

Sanjaya is a mess. I liked him last night because he took on a band I've considered among the most overrated group of hacks ever to take the stage and did a credible parody. Most of the time I don't like him. Obviously, my score was based on personal biases. He has good pitch but usually doesn't sing well. Yet every once in a while he surprises me - just as he surprised the judges with a good Stevie Wonder in auditions. I don't want him to win, or even come close to winning. But I'm glad he's out there. He, too, is not remotely shy.

Katharine McPhee was an interesting case. Kind of a reluctant participant. She has loads of talent and a beautiful voice, but I get the impression that she does not enjoy performing and particularly hates attention from fans. I understand that. I'm very uncomfortable with praise myself. I really identified with her last season and feel bad when I read the endless criticism she generates.

I hope to fuck you are referring to Van Halen and not the greatness that is the Kinks.

My comment about McPhee is based on some of the backstage stuff that came out about her. But you can tell that she is a, um, demanding kind of girl.

Just to be clear - I don't think Melinda is faking, but I know that thought is out there a lot.

BTW - has anyone looked at DialIdol? There's one element that totally baffles me.

Of course, last week it was off on Sanjaya - I wonder how accurate it is this week, particularly with one specific contestant.

Yeah, not gonna happen.

LOL! Yeah, as much as I respect the Kinks, there's going to be no Lola action going on here...

Hey, we can use spoiler tags to discuss DialIdol numbers!

Sweet, didn't even think of that!

This is going to turn into the "subliminal message" board.

Any links to Haley's peformance? Got in late and she had already been on.:(

Here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smWQRXG7sHg

Edited to give a better quality version.

Here's another shocking development this season: Lulu at 80 is hotter than Pickler at whatever age she was when she appeared on the show a few weeks ago.

Hopefully she continues to go bra-less for the rest of the season!

That made my pants fit funny...

On paper this sounds good but how do you enforce it? How do you handle people who pick a song in a certain genre and change the song drastically so that it's a whole different genre (i.e. Blake last night)?

I don't think that's the problem. That song Blake did was in the theme - I have no problem with him changing it up a bit (although I don't think he did anything but modernize it, it was still the same song). The songs Melinda and Lakisha picked were really not within what would be classified as British Invasion by any stretch. I think you enforce it on a case-by-case basis. For someone to suggest a Broadway song from Oliver is in the same genre as music spawned by the Beatles' takeover of America in 1964 is ridiculous.

Get it while it's hot!

I think I just threw up in my mouth

there went my lunch

You explained it better than I could. My issue is less with the final product (although it is a factor) so much as the song selected in the first place. It's not that LaKisha/Melinda didn't sound like British Invasion so much as the original versions of the song were not truely "British Invasion" so much as Broadway songs by British Artists.

You do what they did to Blake and Chris Sligh last week. As a judge you say, "That sounded good, but I'm not really sure what it has to do with the 'British Invasion' theme."

It also isn't fair, overall. Last week's theme being Diana Ross automatically puts the guys at a disadvantage, and gives a clear advantage to the "diva" singers. Allowing some people to go on a tangent with what is considered a "British Invasion" song isn't fair to the people who now are more in their element.

Basically, either make it easy for everyone to find something for them (I believe someone suggested last week's theme should have been "Motown," which would have made sense), or be tough on what songs may be performed. I think the former makes more sense...would I ever want to hear Gina sing during "Show Tunes" week? No, but would I listen to her sing based on a theme of "Songs that may be performed in concert halls/theaters in New York City?" Well, not really, because I hate her...but you get my point :).

I don't think it should even get that far. They shouldn't approve the song choices to begin with. I didn't see last week, so I can't comment on how Blake/Chris S. were treated compared to Melinda/Lakisha this week.

Heck, just go to allmusic.com and use their genre definition and list of bands, and if someone wants to deviate, deal with it on a song-by-song basis. But if you want a British Invasion theme, stick to it. British Invasion has a specific meaning beyond "song written by a British person during the 60s."

Agreed. They can go on to bash the song choice all they want, but if they're not doing it for a reason like "that choice wasn't good for your talent" and it still sounded good to everyone, they're not gonna be penalized when it comes to the voting.

I'd be ok with that. I wonder if they ever reject songs. They must need to clear that they have the rights to the song and such, so the should check for theme too, take it out of the contestants hands.

Last week they told Brandon, "You need to make it your own." 30 mins (or so) later they tell Blake and Chris Sligh that they ruined the songs when they tried to make it their own (because they were forced to do Diana Ross songs).

That would be the ideal situation. However, if it doesn't happen, the judges should be calling it out.

I know they have rejected songs that haven't cleared, but it seems pretty obvious they allow contestants to stretch for genre. Some are pretty easy to check, like a Bon Jovi song or something. But others are open to interpretation and they seem to let pretty much anything slide. Which is where Blake and Chris S. were probably more harmed than anything versus Melinda and Lakisha, because the judges called the guys out for what they did to the Diana Ross songs, while Melinda and Lakisha got free passes for not really stepping outside their comfort zone.

I agree with that. I think she is probably genuinely nice, but I do think she is much more polished with presentation than she lets on as well. The whole bit a few weeks ago where she talked a bit on camera with her choreographer and fashion consultant showed that as well.

Schwing!


I am thinking she looks more now like a younger brunette version of Nancy O'Dell from Access Hollywood. Also, one of my faves.

hxxp://www.exposay.com/celebrity-photos/nancy-odell-cinderella-man-los-angeles-premiere---red-carpet-1SOaHV.jpg

Apparently, the songwriting contest is being shelved indefinitely.

So now we can look forward to, as Butch Walker says, yet another rewrite of I Believe I Can Fly for the finale.

:eek: :eek: :eek:
Look, I'm not a huge fan of Melinda's songs either, but let's not be hasty...

Stephanie = Gone. Not really a shocker, four divas this season was just one too many. I'm kinda surprised bald rocker dude wasn't in the bottom two.

I was a little suprised too, but if you follow the DialIdol stuff, they had him as safe.

Stephanie is not a big loss, she was a noncontender in my mind and sufferred from being the worst of the 4 people in her genre.

No surprise at all and we get the Sanjaya train wreck for another week

I predict Sanjaya will be the fourth or fifth one eliminated, meaning that we'll likely have another two to three weeks of Sanjayamania.

I agree. I think alot of the girls are stealing each others votes.

Thanks, Matt. She's so hot!

Not only did we get rid of one warbler, the other one was also in the bottom two. Score! And that was supposedly his best performance. I hope he goes next.

You have no taste, and you have no concept of music, and that's obvious.

Thanks for crap like Nickleback.

I hate you and your anti-Richardson! ;)

Who was the other in the bottom three? I didn't get to see the show.

They only gave the bottom 2. They're looking for more and more inventive ways to throw us off, so tonight they had them stand up as groups of 3 to tell them they were or were not the bottom 3, and when they went through the first 3 sets of 3 (the last being Gina, Sanjaya, and Haley, which was a pretty good bet to be the right answer) with no one being in the bottom 3, Ryan told Stephanie and Chris R. to stand and that they were the bottom 2. Tricksters!

BTW, was anyone else as taken by how out of touch Peter Noone seemed while singing his song as I was? With his huge head, the way he kept swaying back and forth, and the general child-like quality of his performance, I couldn't help think that he was channeling Herman Munster during that performance. It also seemed like about 100 years, not 40, have passed since that kind of "no worries" type music was popular. To most people, Herman's Hermits is the soundtrack to that montage from Naked Gun where Nielson and Priscilla Presley fall in love.

Peter Noone is what John Lennon would have been had Bob Dylan not introduced the Beatles to drugs that one day in NYC.

Peter Noone and Lulu sang tonight. While I knew Peter Noone from Herman's Hermits, I had no idea who Lulu was until she sang "To Sir, With Love". Even then, I only remember the song from the movie (years later on cable).

Sanjaya not even in the bottom two. He picks a pretty easy song to remember, and jumps around some. Any knucklehead could have done that performance.

Sanjaya had to make the top 10 - now AI is guaranteed sellouts of the tour that will be infested with Tweens. Disney is probably kicking themselves that they didn't discover this goofball first.

discover?

Thats like looking back in the toilet and going, "I dont remember eating that." Discoveries can be overrated.

There is little doubt that he is a moneymaker if marketed to the right target audience. As sad as that might seem.

perhaps in the same vein as William Hung but by no means in an admirable way, no?

Yes and no. I don't think he's exactly like William Hung because he does have some talent, it's just overwhelmed by his lack of maturity, experience, stage presence, and general way he acts. But that childishness is a plus for marketers of non-threatening entertainment. Honestly, assuming they can straighten (no pun intended) him out, I think I'd rather have my 7 year old listen to him than, say, Hilary Duff. He seems like the stepping stone between grade school-type entertainment and high school entertainment. And as a father, that's perfectly acceptable to me.

My impression has always been that his voice is not that bad - it's just the delivery, stage presence, etc. that have suffered.

Almost sprayed the monitor and keyboard w/ Diet Pepsi.....

I think most of us were generally positive about him during the auditions. That was before we saw him perform on a real stage, though.

Right. I think I'm supporting you here ;). There's something to work with there if he were with like say a Disney. He's got a good voice, they could mold him into that Disney image pretty easily and work on his "stage presence".

:D :D :D

1) Lulu freaking ruled

2) How can 9 out of 11 people not be in the bottom 3?

MJ4H - Post #966.

Technically, they didn't say they were going to tell us who was in the bottom 3. All they did was tell each grouping of 3 that they were not the bottom 3. That doesn't mean one or two couldn't theoretically be in the bottom 3, just that those particular 3 people were not, collectively, the bottom 3. Obviously, 1 of those 9 got the third-least votes, but they're not telling.

And we (at least I) underestimated his sister's...talents...based on Tuesday night's show.

Same here - made me do a double take.

Next week's guest is Gwen Stefani, and the theme is 90's songs. I guess this means Melinda will be able to sing something from Rent, Cats, Hairspray, Beauty and the Beast, or Lion King, huh?

I found these comments from MJ at MJ's Big Blog particularly interesting...


Chris Richardson and Stephanie Edwards are left. Ryan asks them both to stand. “You are the bottom two this week.” Ryan tells us. The bottom two what, Ryan? Notice he never mentions the word “vote.” It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Stephanie is probably going home–a victim of vote splitting between the 3 R&B singers and 2 lackluster performances in a row.

Chris Richardson? Just thrown into the mix for drama. No way this kid is actually in the bottom. Not after Tuesday night’s personal best performance and tons of praise from the judges. It’s widely rumored that the producers get creative with the bottom three for the sake of good TeeVee. They don’t screw with who actually gets eliminated–but everyone else is fair game.

I was being a smart-ass. I guess you can play, too, though.

:D

You guys just weren't paying attention. :)

(and apparently, she worked at Hooters?)

she certainly is qualified

I couldn't tell. When I saw the technicality your statement raised, I was obliged to answer as a lawyer.

Perhaps I'm naive, but that just looks like someone looking for drama where there isn't any. Does Ryan really have to use the word "vote" to get the point across? Maybe Chris didn't really finish 10th in the voting, but I don't have much reason to believe that. If I'm falling for the producers' tricks, so be it, but that blurb you quoted just kinda looks like somebody hunting for monsters under the bed.

cue bucc

Agreed. For one, Chris isn't good. And you can make the same argument that he is splitting the "fairly good looking white boy" vote with Blake. I wouldn't have been surprised if he was eliminated. Anyway, I agree that this is probably semantics and someone looking for something when there's really nothing there.

Hell, Ryan could have said they were in the top 2, and that wouldn't have meant anything different if it was a list of people who had received the least number of votes.

edit: Also, I've only been watching for this season and last, but I don't ever remember Ryan saying "you are in the bottom 3 in the number of votes received." Hasn't it just been a very undramatic "Brandon.....you are in the bottom 3" all season?

To be fair, I've had the same thought as the person who posted that when I hear (or don't hear) certain words used. It may be nothing, but if something ever got out, this is also a way to cover themselves after the fact - "That particular time, I didn't actually say these were the bottom 2 vote-getters like I did in Week X, which was true." Might be my legal training to assign significance to minutia like that at work, who knows. I'd be interested to know the genesis of the rumors. The "rumors" about how they screw with the auditions (once claiming all of them were in a particular city and none of them were) turned out to be true, so I'm not giving them a break just because there's no specific info to suggest this is definitely happening.

No, I'm quite sure that sometimes - no always - he references bottom 3 votes at least once. When he didn't specifically say that last night, the thought crossed my mind, and then MJ picked up on it as well.

Just to update this, the theme for next week is not restricted to the 90s, it's just 'pop.' :rolleyes:

She could be singing the phone book for all I care.

There are very few vocalists I would be willing to say that about. It's all about the music for me; the vocals can enhance great music but could never be the only reason I listen.

Yeah, me too, usually. Really the only vocalist I can say that about honestly (and I mean literally singing the phone book, I would be enraptured) is Chole Agnew.

She's that teen Celtic singer, right? I've heard the name but don't think I've ever heard her sing.

hxxp://www.myspace.com/starvationforsanjaya

Starvation for Sanjaya

Hi, my name is J. I have always been a big fan of American Idol, so like many people I was excited for the 6th season to start this year.

Aside from the initial debacle with contestant Antonella Barba, season 6 was starting to look like it may be actually very good. The big voices of Melinda Doolittle and LaKisha Jones, the innovative styling's of Blake Lewis, and the smooth R&B of Phil Stacey are just a few of the hopefuls with immense potential.

However, there is one hinge in this broad spectrum of talent this year ... Sanjaya Malakar.

We have no problems with Sanjaya personally, he seems like a very personable and charming young man. However, he does NOT belong on American Idol. The judges faltered with their decision to place him in the 24, and American Idol voters have done even worse by keeping him on.

So until the day that Sanjya is no longer American Idol, I will be going on a hunger strike. This means I will refuse to eat anything until American Idol voters wise up, and stop voting Sanjya through each week.

*UPDATE* 03/22/07

I am mid-way through my 6th day of fasting and I am determined not to give up until Sanjaya is off American Idol. I would like to go on the record right now that despite our initial claim, and after going through it myself, we not recommend long-term starvation for anyone. If you choose to do so, please do so at your own risk and digression.

If anyone is looking to lose weight or get fit, there are many things you can do. Personally, I would recommend Fitness-Singles.com, a site that I've had a profile on for a while now.




And yes, she's a fat chick.