Me too. Glad to see that he is a good singer as well. Meanwhile Sanjayi (sp?) was just the worst of the night so far, which is sad because I like him.

Man, the judges were unusually cruel to that kid...

Looks like the John Popper clone took the lead

I love Chris

So do Seacrest and Simon really hate each other?

I doubt I am alone in favoring Chris Sligh and Blake from the guy pool.

He has a great voice, and he'll be good to have on TV for awhile...but did anyone else think he had some strange facial expressions as he was moving around and singing? Kind of freaked me out.

I can't get past this guys eyebrows

I have a feeling a girl will win it this year (and no, I don't mean Sanjaya).

haha

lol,

My fiancee just asked me if he was gay...

Damn it...I knew I should've been more specific :).


I mean no disrespect with this, but this is the gayest group of guys ever. I'd set the over/under at 9.5.

No

They are best friends.

This guys sucks

ok, he got a little better on the fast part but a rough start

Seacrest has to stop trying to be a tough guy.

I've heard they are friends off the set (and Randy joins them as well), but they like teasing each other on the air.

So does anyone have any idea what song it was that sundance Head sung?

good thing for those girls this isn't a dance competition

Ouch, tought night to watch this show. Funny how Ryan said good job Randy and Paula. Would also be funny if Simon fired him after the show. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nights_in_White_Satin

I'm on that bandwagon. I liked Sundance a lot in auditions, but he has to pick it up.

Pretty bleh overall. I've liked Chris Sligh the best of the guys since the beginning and tonight didn't change that any. But even he was a bit rough. Weakest was probably Sanjay and Sundance, but I could have picked a bunch of names there. Just wasn't impressed-none of them could compete with the top guys from last season at the moment.

Guttiest performance had to go to Boom Box Blake for abandoning the boom box and showing off his voice. I just thought it was a very odd song for him, sang it and looked very old fashioned to me. But had some good moments in it.

First time really watching this Season, but it seems this years pool of guys is much weaker than the last couple of years. Was tonight just an aberration?

At least Sundance didn't bust out into the Late Lament part of the NIghts in White Satin song.

Overall.. very very blah night. Seems like they picked the same guy and made 11 clones and then just picked different features. Ok, make that guy Asian, give him big hair, make him effeminate, clone Lurch..

Oh, and Chris, don't be a dick onstage to the judges... doesn't help.

I agree that Chris probably didn't help himself with his comments on stage, but otherwise, he is still my favorite. I like his sense of humor and I think he has a good voice.

who cares? At this point the judges opinion really doesn't matter. I think he earns alot more votes by standing up to Simon then letting Simon pick on him. That's the kind of thing people will remember when it is time to vote.

I may be wrong, but I believe that his behavior will actually cost him votes. Some other contestant tried to pull that stuff last season or the season before, and it did not end well.

Yeah, historically when contestants stand up to Simon they usually lose votes.

Is this show still on?????

thank you for your contribution

Worst Idol night ever, probably in honor of Freedom Day. These scores are inflated, if anything. The girls had better be good.

1. Chris Richardson. Took some chances, got off a couple of riffs, hate the Timberlake look. Score of 82.

2. Blake Lewis. Knows how to perform. The top two were the only two worth listening to tonight. Score of 80.

3. Chris Sligh. Not taking this competition very seriously. The song stunk, he didn't. Maybe that's a strategy. Score of 67.

4. Phil Stacy. Not much to say that the judges didn't already say. Started in 30s territory, finished in 80s territory. Score of 66.

5. Brandon Rogers. Completely mediocre, but likeable. Score of 65.

6. Nick Pedro. I think he can sing. I'm not sure I care. Just dreadful that this is in the top half. Score of 58.

7. Jared Cotter. Yo, Yo, Mr. Kot-ter. I, like, know your show was on in the '70s, and it was kind of cool, but it's like not half as funny in reruns. Score of 55.

8. Sanjaya Malakar. His smile scares me. He has killed before. But little girls and elderly virginal women just love him. Score of 52.

9. A.J. Tabaldo. I had a real disconnect with the judges on this one. It was a rambling, uneven imitation of something decent. Score of 50.

10. Rudy Cardenas. Pure, unadulterated, off-key karaoke. Score of 48.

11. Paul Kim. His feet are more interesting than his voice. Score of 42.

12. Jason Head. Affected, toneless and excruciating. Time to quit coasting on the one audition song you can sing. Score of 33.

Who should go: Barefoot and the Sundance Kid.

Who will go: Tabaldo and Cotter.

Just to chime in, I'll make it 3 that agree that when contestants "stand up" they are seen by the voters are being whining or bratty and gain less votes. AI is as much about who is the nicest guy/girl as it is a singing competition.

I think the reason that Katharine lost last year was that she lost the nice girl persona as the competition proceeded while Taylor was always likable throughout.

Damn, that was an awful night of TV. Sundance was terrible - it looked like he was singing a Pavorotti version of the Moody Blues. What was the song Sligh sang? Never heard it before. I thought his comment about Il Divo and Teletubbies was awesome. I honestly had no idea Simon was responsible for that abomination. If Paula's behind Barney, then it would all make sense.

I thought Blake was the best of a bad bunch last night. I was disappointed in Brandon Rogers. The song choice, overall, was pathetic. I give people like Luther Vandross and Stevie Wonder, et al, a lot of respect for what they do, but every time I hear one of their songs, the first thing that pops into my mind is, "There are people who actually like to listen to this crap?"

Agreed for the most part. This might be the worst group of men on Idol ever. There's not one among them who I can honestly say is good enough to win the whole thing. I like Sligh for his personality, but you're not going to go anywhere when you basically just repeat yourself in the same song.

Head's one of those guys who's got the talent, but I think he got some pretty bad advice. The men were so bad, I lost interest in the last three.

However, I do think the judges were pretty much spot-on last night.

dola,

I think Barefoot's got staying power and if there's any guy who I think can turn it around, it's him.

I agree. During his performance, I told my wife that I thought he was OK, but his movements were way awkward. He was like a strange combination of Justin Timberlake and Taylor Hicks.

Also, just thought I'd mention that I know several of you commented that Gina was your favorite chick looks-wise, but I didn't realize until I got a shot of her on the side of the stage last night how...thick...I guess that's the right word...she is. She's a hefty girl. I was kinda surprised.

I hate his kind of singing style. He's the poster child for the current crop of singers with a decent voice who try to overcompensate and make the song interesting by "warbling" (that's what I call it). Hate it, hate it, hate it.

The only comment I had last night that at least one of the judges didn't echo was that I thought Simon was going to suggest that Sanjaya never allow his sister to pick a song for him again. But I guess he got pummeled bad enough that there was no sense throwing his sister down the well, too.

I'm completely with Jim on this one... although I give Phil a bit of a jump for how he finished, even though he started out so rough. I think Chris Richardson got a bit of unfair criticism - biggest thing for him I believe is he needs to hold the mic if he's going to bob... the bobbing with the mic on the stand makes the audio really not good, but I think it's more because of uneven sound than his singing.

I'm partial to Richardson though because he's a local.

My favorites from last night:

1. Blake
2a. Richardson
3b. Phil

That being said, i think Blake was clearly the best imo. He is the only one that I would be completely shocked if he went home.

Yeah, I noticed that too. I don't know if she put on weight since Hollywood week or what, but she didn't look that big before...

Yes. Yes, she is. :cool:

She's always been that way, that's why I was surprised at the comments in this thread... fwiw, I'm generally a guy that well... "doesn't like scrawny girls" as a said to someone recently... but she just doesn't have it.. she can be cute, but she will not be hot...

I thought people mainly said she was top talent wise, not looks-wise?

Looking back at the comments, I think you were one of the very few not mentioning her for her looks. Most of the pro-Gina comments clearly seem to be referring to her looks.

Ouch. :) I guess I just forced my opinion into what other people were posting. I mean, she seems nice and all, but...

12 songs x 90 seconds. = 1080 seconds = 18 minutes ...

18 freaking minutes of performances in a 2 hour show...

thank god for tivo.

Guess they don't have to worry about those photos of Antonella being an issue and having to kick her off. She licked balls tonight.. and not the good kinda ball licking.

I'd imagine she will be gone.

Not if VFTW has anything to say about it. Ooof, that was bad.

if melinda doolittle doesnt win this, it will be a huge disappoint to me. she is by far the most talented singer there. there are a couple of other strong contenders, but nothing close to that girl. good god she is tight.

I would have agreed with you until Lakisha's song. She just mopped the stage with everyone else. That performance was fantastic.

Not a fan of Lakisha. She is alright, but her pitch isn't nearly as solid as Melinda's and some of her runs are sloppy. I know why everyone likes her, and I don't dislike her, but she isn't as good a singer as Melinda in my book.

Randy summed it up pretty well at the end of the night

I don't even think we need to drag on the voting to get to the top 12. If there was no dumb 6 guys/6 girls rule; only eight of the girls and four of the guys should be considered in this group for the top prize.

Melinda will suffer because she's just not "right" for this competition imo... She's too old, has somewhat of an abnormal look, and is too shy... She'll get far, but in the end all of this will come to be her undoing imo...

As for tonight... hell.. 8/4? I'm thinking more like 10 girls 2 guys - and this comes from someone that doesn't like female vocalists in general. These girls were far and above better than the guys last night. The worst 2 girls were as good or better than at least 10 or 11 guys.

My DVR seems to have crashed and I had the last two nights of American Idol taped. Is there any where I could get both shows? I looked at a couple of places and they only have clips.

I call it vocal masturbation.

According to dialidol.com, it's pretty wide open as to who could get eliminated tomorrow.

http://www.dialidol.com/asp/predictions/Predictions.asp

I trust these numbers pretty well, as they put it, they have 85% historical accuracy by using auto-dialers to each number, and counting the number of busy signals to use as a barometer of how many calls each person gets.

I was actually quite surprised on the guy's side that the #1 person got so many votes, and how overwhelming the voting was on the women's side. No details here though, this is going into spoiler land. If you want to know, check out the site.

If that site is accurate for the men, then it really solidifies to me how this is not a singing competition.

That was so cool tonight. As bad as the guys were yesterday, the girls were a breath of fresh air. There's a lot of depth to this group, and if they just cut all 12 guys tomorrow, I'd be happy.

Yesterday, I was wondering if it was worth while even continuing to write these summaries. The show honestly seemed like a bad version of Star Search. Today made me start looking forward to the rest of the season again.

1. Melinda Doolittle. It's hard to critique this performance, it was so good. She is a polished, professional singer and this is her competition to win or lose. Score of 94.

2. Stephanie Edwards. She led off the show with a rangy, talented rendition. For a teenager, she has an amazing stage presence and possibly the voice to do well in many different genres. Score of 88.

3. Jordin Sparks. At 17, she's already a better performer than the girls who played her role in past seasons. I'm not as confident in her range across genres, but she is both talented and stage-wise. Score of 87.

4. Leslie Hunt. It wasn't a confident arrangement, she let the background singers step all over the good part of the chorus, but what she did sing was very, very good. There's a lot of potential here. Score of 84.

5. LaKisha Jones. A big, big voice and a nice stage presence. I don't think she hit every note like it should have been hit. Still, better than any of the guys yesterday. And a local girl to boot. Score of 83.

6. Sabrina Sloan. A little arrogant for my tastes, but a solid rendition. Score of 81. No shame in being 6th among this group today.

7. Gina Glocksen. Some nice power in her voice, but the arrangement was a little bizarre and I have no idea what she was trying with some of those notes. Did she hit them? Only she knows what they were supposed to be. She's going to frustrate, and she's going to have her great weeks. Score of 78.

8. Haley Scarnato. So damned pretty, and a nice voice. But really out of her league today. Score of 66.

9. Alaina Alexander. She seems like a sweet girl, but that choice of songs didn't show much of anything and the judges were right to call her on it. Score of 56.

10. Nicole Tranquillo. If this were a yodelling competition, I think she'd be right up there. Score of 54.

11. Amy Krebs. She has to fight off not being featured at all during the show, and her performance tonight was very weak. Score of 47.

12. Antonella Barba. Just doesn't belong in this group at all. I can't think of anything nice to say - even her outfit was all wrong and she's supposed to be eye candy (overrated, really). Score of 43.

Who should be going home: Antonella and Amy.

Who will go home: Alaina and Amy.

LaKisha 5th? Glad you don't use the same logic to make your games... ;)

Don't confuse volume with quality. She was good, the score reflects that and 2-6 were very close. But she was not the best singer tonight.

It's interesting... Jordin is my favorite female right now... Your concerns about her crossing genres are concerns that I have with Doolitle and LaKisha way more than Jordin...

All-in-all I pretty much agree with you.. I might shift some of the top 5 or 6, but they were all very solid...

Agreed... I think LaKisha definitely gets a personality boost and she closed out the show with a very "in your face" performance, but I didn't think she was the best either.

My three comments:

I think Gina will do well, because I think she will be able to sing several different genres well.

Haley is smoking hot.

Leslie Hunt is one of those singers who sounds a lot better when you look away from the TV. She is not an overly unattractive girl, but her movements and faces were really distracting to me.

Wow, Lakisha knocked my socks off. I thought Sabrina was very good, too.

Wish we could just save time and get down to the top 6 girls. I'm not that interested in watching any of the guys from last night. I was a fan of Sundance, but not sure what happened to him.

Maybe not, but she sure as hell wasn't 5th. Good lord dude, I don't know what to say about that. Silly.

I will say that I agree regarding Melinda - She was the best of the night by far.

Thank God for the girls. In general agreement with Jim's ratings, though I think you could make any order out of the top 7 and be justified. Well except for Leslie Hunt. I did like her actually and was surprised the judges were so harsh with her. But she was a step below the top 6 I think.

And I agree with the Haley comments. My first comment when I saw her was, "wow, she's a pretty girl". I'm surprised they didn't highlight her more in the audition/Hollywood shows. I like her sticking to her guns about the type of songs she likes to sing. She's definitely aiming for that Celine Dion type of singing, but just doesn't have the confidence to pull it off right now.

Bottom 2 for me were Antonella and Alaina. I expected a lot better from Antonella, but she was probably the worst overall of the 24. I've never liked Alaina and couldn't believe they put her in the top 24 when I heard her singing during that selection show. Sadly I likely won't get my wish here and someone(s) more deserving like Amy or Haley will get the boot.

She's Abnormal Jaw Chick...something seriously scewy with that face. I thought she was pretty decent, despite her issues.

I think Melinda is by far the best singer, but as someone above said...and I hate to be mean but...she's weird looking, a little old (and acts older than she is), and very shy when she's not singing. A couple of off performances, and I could see her gone. But not until we're well into the competition, of course. She's got that ease of performance like Fantasia had (who will be on the show tonight, BTW), and although she doesn't have the "love it or hate it" voice Fantasia has, she's just a bit bizarre. Very short, huge face, no neck. She's right behind Leslie Hunt for strangest/ugliest girl in the competition.

I was thinking an 8/4 split would be about right. I'm assuming the rules aren't set in stone and they could do this is they absolutely felt like they needed to. And they could do it the last week before the final 12 is decided - at that point you'd have 8 and 8, and just use the votes to knock out the bottom 4 guys (or maybe 3 and 1 if one of the girls failed to deliver). It could be done. But it's only the first week and not all of the girls were THAT good, and not all of the guys are going to be THAT bad, so I'm willing to cut them a break for at least 1 week.

Alaina is probably the best looking of the girls for me, but she is really out of her league in this competition. I felt bad for her when all Paula and Simon would say is that she's a beautiful girl, and she responded with, "Nice," like she knew they were trying to be complimentary but it had nothing to do with her talent or performance. But..."it is what it is." :)

And Antonella...I've hated that bitch from day 1 and was pleased to see her butcher that song. God she's awful. Her dad looks like he could order a hit at any moment, so I'd better be careful with what I say. Something about certain types of NY/NJ girls that rubs me the wrong way, and she's clearly one of them.

That was me who said that - and I stand by it. We can all talk about how she looks shouldn't matter, that who cares if she's shy when she's not singing if she's outgoing when she's singing, etc... that's all fine and good - but that's not how America votes... I kind of view her like Mandisa to an extent... She will probably stay on as long as she continues nailing it, but as soon as she slips up and has a so-so performance it will be the "excuse" to get rid of her.... It's unfortunate, but let's face it - that's the way this show works...

Just like how there's a chance Antonella stays on despite her performance and how Ace Young overstayed his time last year.

Yep, I agree. Although Lakisha is clearly this year's Mandissa. Melinda may be more of a combination of Jennifer Hudson and Paris - superior vocal ability but not much else to offer, and a little lacking in some things. And both of them went off with about 4-5 weeks left, IIRC.

I would agree that LaKisha didn't have the most technically perfect performance of the bunch but she had much more stage presence and star quality oozing from her than the rest. For me, that gives her the #1 spot. Melinda was a very close 2nd.

I'm pulling for Leslie too, like the tone of her voice and she has a scary sexy quality.

Agreed on LaKisha. Right now LaKisha has the benefit of, for whatever reason, Simon absolutely LOVING her - and I think it's been pretty proven how that can impact the vote.

I think LaKisha, more than any of the other females, my struggle a great deal when forced out of her genre.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Jim's ratings are really focused on the singing performance over everything else. He may not even figure in the other stuff at all in the rating, but i'm not sure.

That's an interesting way of putting it. She does seem like the kind of chick who could to pull a hatchet on you after sex, or maybe mistake an off-hand compliment for a marriage proposal and end up as a stalker, doesn't she? She's definitely the leader in the clubhouse for "most likely to be crazy."

Leslie has lupus, which fortunately is no longer fatal. It might explain why she seems a bit different. If she lasts a while, they might feature it to generate a bit of fan support (like they always do right off the bat for the ones who have kids).

Antonella was featured so much throughout auditions that she already has a large fan base. That might get her into the final 12. I hope that doesn't mean losing someone with real talent.

Should I feel bad for cracking on Leslie now that I know that? Honestly, though, I'm glad there's some explanation, because she's been seriously creeping me out. I thought she was pretty good, though - better than the judges' reactions, anyway.

I was VERY happily surprised by her performance... Her voice was far better than I thought it was, even with her messing up a bit - the tone/quality/whatever (can you tell I don't know music?) really appealed to me...

As for her movements... I had a weird opinion of it... she had some awkward movements, but unlike Simon - I don't think she looked uncomfortable. I felt like she came on the stage confidant and owned it in her right way... I think she just is not that smooth in her movements, etc and that is showing - in fact, I think she tried to hold back... Even though I think Simon misinterpreted it, I think it will need to be worked on... in some ways her movements are pretty similar to Taylor's - but with a guy it's cooky, and a girl it's creepy... so, she has to be careful of that...

Anyway... I think she'll be ok if she sings well and doesn't get too wild up there, but if she has a bad singing performance - again, it will be an excuse for her to not be voted for.

When it comes to chicks, isn't that competition really just splitting hairs? ;)

As much as I like Gina, I agree completely with Jim's comments about her.

As for the others, I really, really can't tell some of these girls apart right now. Melinda stands out because of her personality/performance contrast, LaKisha looks way different from anybody else in the competition, Leslie looks crazy, and Antonella seems like a bitch. The others? I couldn't match a face with a name. I guess most of them have some sort of "cookie-cutter" look to them, and while I understand that the judges probably want something like that, it doesn't make it any easier for me to figure out who's who. In fact, I wouldn't be able to pick out Antonella either, except for the horns sticking out of her she-devil head.

So, anyway, I've decided to vote for Emmitt Smith and Jerry Springer, but I can't find the phone numbers for them. Can I get a little help here?

The one thing out of last night from Gina though is that she proved to me that she may have an easier time crossing genres than some of the other females.

She can cross my genre anytime. :cool:

(I'm not sure what I mean by that)

Oh, I know what you mean... :eek:

I don't know if this has been posted yet, but Nudography is reporting nudes from one of the finalists.

"American Idol - Antonella Barba, Jersey Girl Gone Topless Thursday, February 22, 2007
Antonella Barba American Idol semifinalist Antonella Barba's topless pictures surfaced yesterday. As if topless wasn't enough, one picture shows Antonella on the potty!

Antonella Barba advanced to the semifinals in Hollywood. Is it really Antonella in those pictures? Antonella's picturers were found on Bastardly.com.

The most embarrassing picture is the one where Antonella is sitting on a toilet ready to do her.....well, we've all been there so there's no need to further describe.

BetCRIS.com odds makers initially believed that Antonella is an outsider, her opening odds to win are set at +2500* ($100 bet on Antonella would pay $2,500 should she win).

Her topless pictures will seemingly give Antonella some instant publicity but we will all have to wait until tonight to listen to Antonella sing....hoping she doesn't need to be seated on a potty to perform."

Ok, it was. I'm always last to know shit.

I haven't seen the topless photos, but saw the toilet one linked.. if it's not here, it is someone that looks 99% like her... I'm not sure how that plays out or if it becomes a factor at all...

Apparently, God only likes nice people and drunken, topless crappers.

Nudography?

That was my nickname in college.

Having seen her last night, I don't think she's that thick and I still think she has potential. That being said, there were 3 or 4 girls at least who were better vocally. I think the top 6 girls are better than any of the guys at least from what we've seen so far. I also understand why they cut Baylee (sp?) now. She is commercial and had a nice voice, but I think the top 4 or 5 girls were probably much better than her. Better to cut her early and be able to bring her back in a future year where the girls' talent isn't so deep.

She is definitely thick. I have a general rule that if you use "that", then you really know it's true. :) I think the key to her, though, is her perceived versatility compared to some of the other top girls.

A couple of things I read elsewhere that I agree with completely:

About Antonella:
"She's this year's Mikaylah Gordon minus the humor, although she's better looking."

About Melinda Doolittle:
"An odd looking woman, kind of a cross between Jennifer Hudson, Lily Tomlin, and Gladys Knight, but without a neck."

Mix Mark Curry in with that, and it's right on the money.

and legal...
minor detail.

haha Quincy Jones = pwned

Okay, so are there any websites that you guys know of that you can see shows that you missed? Or am I SOL?

Yes. Put a www. in front of it and a .com after it and have fun. PS: Very NSFW.

I can't believbe sanjay? didn't get booted.

They said he was top 4!!!????

I don't mean this in a derogitory way, but there is a large Indian population in this country