My favorite parts of last night's show:

1. "Simon, you don't understand! I HAVE FOUGHT FOR THIS!"
2. "I am not a singer! I could be the first American Idol who is not a singer!"
3. Julie. I mean Isadora. Doesn't look good, can't sing, but hell, I was entertained.

I thought the Simon saying to the asian girl with the name Fong "Wong, Bong, Fong whatever your name is" what an asshole. I hope this all blows up on the network. Asshats.

Yeah, that has the potential to blow up more than the "bush baby" comment. Imagine if that Kenneth "bush baby" kid had been black - I think the reaction would have gone in a different direction than it did. Here, the Asian community could attempt to make an issue of this based on a perceived racial "slight".

what's wrong with ping pong? everyone likes ping pong.

i missed the first 10 minutes last night from new york...who in the blue hell was the guest judge, Carol ?

I wondered the same thing. Her name is Carole Bayer Sager, a songwriter who was once married to Burt Bacharach. She wrote That's What Friends Are For, in case her Joan Collins-circa-1985 looks and botox-wrecked face weren't sickening enough for you.

thats who i thougt it was at first...i looked at my wife and said "wtf is Joan Collins doing on AI".

we googled her (carole bayer sager that is) and she actually has an oscar, emmy, golden globe, and tony award to her resume, along with about 2 dozen nominations spread across the 4 awards...she primarily writes Broadway stuff, bue she also did Groovy Kinda Love for phil collins.

Yep, my wife was trying to make that connection too when I finished her sentence. Pretty scary.

Here are a couple of backstories about a few of the contestants we've seen so far. I'll leave a few lines in case you don't want to read spoilers, although I wouldn't necessarily call these spoilers since this information may never come to light on the show. As always, this info comes courtest of MJ's Blog...















Here’s an interesting story on the “Amish” guy Troy Benaham who auditioned in Minneapolis. According to this story, Troy is actually Mennonite. There is a big difference between the Amish and the Mennonites. Mennonites have electricity, watch TV and drive cars. Ok? In fact, Troy has a cell phone. So, there you go.

When I reviewed Sean Michel’s audition in my Memphis recap, I said there was probably a backstory we haven’t heard yet. Sean is the contestant with the long beard and even longer hair who sang Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” Sean does have a story, and you can read it on his MySpace. He’s a devout Christian singer/songwriter who has already released an indie album. You can also listen to snippets of his music there.

Ottawa, Canada native Jory Steinberg lives in Santa Monica now, where she’s been pursing a musical career. Jory sang “Chains” at her New York audition with incredible range and pitch. You can read about her here. In Canada, she was considered the “Next Alanis” and had a 7 record deal with Canadian producer and Idol regular, David Foster. Her deal fell through before her first record was released.


Finally, Kia Thorton wowed the judges in New York with her rendition of Aretha Franklin’s “Ain’t No Way”. Like Jory Steinberg and Tom Lowe, she is no newcomer to showbuisiness:

She was still in her teens when “Lately,” a single she cut while a member of the R&B trio Divine, peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1998. A second single, a cover of George Michael’s “One More Try” made it to No. 29 a year later. The group toured internationally, supporting ‘N Sync and Britney Spears, Thornton said.

It seems to me Idol is going by the way of survivor. What I mean by that is the first few seasons of survivor had "everyday" people. There were no ex-nfl players and such. Now it seems like the people on the show are more accomplished in life. It seems Idol is heading the same way.

I'd much rather see people with SOME experience rather than a bunch of noobs who sing in the shower. It's fun to laugh at the losers in the beginning, but when you get to the top 5 and nobody of any quality is left, it makes for some sad watching. That's why I prefer Rockstar who pretty much bypass the 16 year olds and go for people that actually planned on singing for a living before they came out to audition.

I thought AI wasn't opened for professionals or those that had signed professional contracts?

What the fuck is Paula on

Yeah, I've been a bit confused about that. But previous years' contestants had some professional background, too. I wonder if it's more about name recognition than having signed a contract. I'm not sure what the eligibility requirements are, quite frankly. Perhaps the hype about finding a nobody has superceded the reality of what the show has been all along.

Last night was OK. The last guy was not as good as I thought he was going to be. Personality-wise, he was great. But his voice needs a lot of work. Paula pushed him through simply because she liked him.

And what was with the Kellie Pickler-look alike with the cringeworthy family story? Holy crap I was praying she couldn't sing because that's just not something I want to hear more about - or at least, I feel bad for her that she's going to be bringing that baggage to the show. For those that missed it, this chick - who could have pulled the 'calamari' thing off if Pickles hadn't done it first - is from North Carolina (check), lives with a grandparent (check), and has a father with some 'issues' (check). In this case, instead of a father in jail like Pickles had, this chick's dad is paralyzed and lives at home with her and her grandmother. So Randy had to ask what the story was, and it turns out that he's paralyzed because he shot himself in the throat in an attempted murder-suicide in which he shot his wife (the contestant's step-mom) when he found her in bed with another man. Heartwarming, ain't it?

But as she said, "It's OK." :o

I nearly shot myself in the throat after that segment. I don't even have a gun. I was going to go out and buy a gun and three bullets, just in case my wife and the cat wanted in on the action, too. THEN I was going to shoot myself in the throat.

Bah, she didn't look like Kelly Pickler in the least. She was much cuter, even if she did remind me a little of one of the Chipettes.

I remember reading an article a few years ago. It was either after the 2nd year or 3rd year that they greatly softened the eligibility criteria and allowed people with a degree of professional experience to also apply. I forget the exact criteria, but it changed significantly from the first two seasons.

She seemed denser, though, if that's at all possible. The "he shot hisself right here" thing was Pickleresque. She looked a little less, um, inexperienced than Pickles. She looks like she can play the "dumb Southern girl" role, but I'm not sure she has the "innocent dumb Southern girl" role down as well as Pickles did.

On pure looks, I'm not really impressed with either of them, to be honest.

I believe they can't have a current contract, but I'm not sure.

I was going to say the same thing - this was my impression as well.

Um.....



Us Weekly reports that Paula Abdul is being replaced with Courtney Love on American Idol. Courtney says that American Idol's executive producer Nigel Lythgoe called her office last week inquiring if she'd be interested in sitting in as a judge.

"He called," Love tells Usmagazine.com. "He was wondering if I was interested. I thought it was kind of weird but brilliant." But a source tells Usmagazine.com that Lythgoe was considering having Love "replace Paula."

Now that would be funny.

I liked how Paula was "away on family business" for day 2 on last night's show. And there was no guest judge ready to go.

If this happens, Jeffrey Ross MUST be part of the package. In fact, dump Simon and Paula - I want me some Ross/Love!

Hell, dump Randy, too, and add Little Richard. They could air the show for 3 hours 3 nights a week to allow the judges ample time to speak, and I'd watch every second of it.

I don't think I could stand watching Courtney Love for an hour.

I've heard several things on the radio where the AI people have outright denied any chance of this happening.

As much as Paula has her issues, with her contract being extended after last season and Courtney Love being about the last person you could see coming on this show, I just think this is cooked up by Love's people.

I would hold more interest in the rumor if it was say Jewel - she is doing the Nashville show and did the guest spot on Idol, so they could see something they like... But Love just makes no sense.

yes Little Richard is a hidden gem of talent. maybe he can host a game show.

Paula isn't going to be replaced. She's the "nice judge" and does very well at that shtick... especially the conflict with Cowell.

I could see Paula being replaced as she appears to be intoxicated at times on the air, but I couldn't see them choosing Love to replace her - Jewel I could see (and enjoy.)


Also, Paula is clearly attempting to be much less of a nice judge this year.

I want Charles Barkley to be a judge. I don't know or care if he has any musical knowledge. He should be a judge for every competition ever.

I think Paula is just fed up... though hilarious how that dude that was horrible was using Paula and Randy's tape :D

Mashed potatoes, gr-a-vy, and cranberry sauce!

Woooooooo-hooo-ooo-ooooooo!!!!!

The old guy singing for his wife or whatever made my wife cry.

But she's on her period, so I'm not sure what that means.

He was actually pretty decent. My wife got a bit teary-eyed, too, so I lightened the mood by lamenting the fact that he failed to try out for American Idol 1953.

Way too much crap last night...the Birmingham show on Tuesday was the best one so far for them actually showing more of the decent singers than the jokes. Then they went right back to the crap last night. They spent way too much time on that couple who auditioned, and earlier on the Asian chick.

I will say, I think the black dude who they focused on is a real contender. Good looking, down to earth, good personality, and a great voice. He reminds me of one of my favorite singer/songwriters, David Ryan Harris - and much likeDRH, this guy has spent his career backing more successful artists. I'll be pulling for that guy to go far.

We all know that it is because all of the talent is in the South and the crazies are out there with the Yankees and the Left Coast ;).

Actually, I made the same comment earlier in the thread. In reality, though, I think it's because there were fewer obvious jokers in Birmingham (or maybe they just weren't outrageous enough) for them to focus on than in NY/LA, etc. They took almost 40 people from LA, so it's not like the talent wasn't there. They just didn't focus on 99% of the people who made it through.

The old guy made my wife and I both a bit misty eyed. He wasn't a bad singer and it felt more real than almost all of the other "emotion" I see on the show.

Ok, so the second part is only true... There just don't seem to be as many obvious jokes in the South for whatever reason. Maybe it's cause we respect ourselves down here? ;)

I didn't get to see last night's show, but I was wondering from the previous night's preview it showed last night's episode something big and then Simon chasing down after someone. What was that about?

Absolutely nothing. A REALLY bad singer had listed Paula and Randy's singing lesson video as part of his vocal lessons, and Simon didn't catch it until the guy was leaving, so they did a bit where he was trying to track the guy down and Paula/Randy were trying to stop him.

Much ado about nothing, and very likely a scripted moment.

This is the dude I'm talking about:

Brandon Rogers 28, North Hollywood CA - Holy cow, there are good singers in LA? Who woulda thunk it? Brandon, like Melinda Doolittle before him, is a talented background singer. Unlike Melinda, he’s got the confidence. He’s also intelligent and good looking. Brandon, does an R&B twist on Willie Nelson’s country classic “Always on My Mind”. So did Fantasia, memorably, Season 3. It’s obvious that Brandon has the chops. The judges are wowed and enthusiastically advance him to Hollywood. Watch this one.

So there were 42 people who advanced to the next round from LA, and they showed 3 on the show last night. Nineteen of them were from day 2, and they showed none of them. Putting aside the old guy's story, I don't think there were enough funny/ridiculous scts to fill half a show last night, so showing that few real contestants is inexcusable, IMO.

Where can you find a list of who was put through to Hollywood? Apparently a girl from my church made it to the Hollywood round but I didn't see her on the show last night.

From the ones we've seen, he's in my top 2 to win it so far. He seems very charming, humble, and talented.

I always try to keep a seperate list - those I want to win, those i think will win...

I generally get some potentials for who I want from the early episodes (for now it's the indian guy, the brillo pad head kid, sundance head, and this kid from VA that is pretty indistinguishable to most)... but I usually don't think about the people I think will win until after hollywood - but I think that young kid that looks like he was super-jock from NY has a good shot...

But I think it's hard this early, Hollywood always changes my opinion, although I like Yamin from the get-go last year.

I only keep up with mjsbigblog.com, and she doesn't have that info yet - just a smattering of "could be" rumors (relatives telling local radio/TV stations so-and-so called to tell them they made it, etc.). I suspect that once next Tuesday's last tryout show airs, the speculation/rumors will heat up, because the top 24 have already been chosen. As I think I posted above, the easy way of getting an idea of who made it last year, checking domain registrations, is more difficult now because they've taken it private.

What happened? I mean, the first week made news everywhere and people were constantly talking about the shows and the gong show contestants. But the last two weeks seem like the show wasn't even on - almost no news and even very little discussion here. Did the producers do some last-minute surgery based on what happened the first week or something else?

was pretty boring, honestly. i barely even watched. im more interested in the good singers than the numbskulls they usually show. im all about watching some horrible auditions. but not from the mentally challenged which seems to be their MO of late.

Even though there isn't much discussion here or news, check the ratings out, Bucc. I'm sure they are still through the roof. Hell, I definately watched.

I hate this show with a passion, but saw the old guy story on the news and then a clip of Paula crying. Does anyone really take that nutjob seriously? It's beyong me why she still has a job (not really, any PR is good PR I suppose, but still...).

Yes, still dominating. Interesting to see that it was down the second week but this week appears to up from last week.