For whatever reason, the papers picked up on his story and more of it than normal. Every year, there are contestants cut between the auditions and Hollywood week for a variety of reasons, after they do interviews, etc. That story made it seem like his treatment was unusual and there was some mystery to it. I guess we don't know exactly why they cut him, but it isn't unusual.

The way this played out was that she had already been cut by AI before she ever attempted to win whatever reality contest the Grammys staged. Otherwise, there's no way she would have been able to be a contestant on the Grammys. Did anyone even know about this thing with the Grammys?

Plus, I don't really see how the two compare. The Grammys thing was a 5 minute, one time performance, right? With AI, they've got to think about a 5 month long show, and even if she could sing well enough, maybe there wasn't enough personality and backstory to sustain her as a "character" on AI. That's largely irrelevant for the Grammys spot.

Read in the Chicago Tribune today that she has already signed a record deal with JT's record company. Not bad. Prolly means at least one guest spot from him plus not having to go through the whole competition.

Reason quoted for her being cut was her voice "needed to mature". Something like that would be exposed on AI with the live performances but can easily be fixed in the studio. Given her hotness also, I could easily see her being successful.

I haven't watched it this year... I'm still recovering from my McPheever.

imo, there's no one that can even begin to approach McPhee's hotness this year. There's a couple of pretty girls that other people will think are a lot hotter than I do, but on the hotness factor I think there were like 4 or 5 girls in last years top 12 girls better than the top girl this year.

I saw Justin Guarini (#2 in first season) on Hollywood Squares. Not sure how he qualified to sit in a square.

There are a couple of chicks who are, um, not so pretty. Specifically, there's one chick with some weird looking jaw thing going on. I couldn't believe they put her through...she reminded me of Stan's sister from SP, without the headgear.

Interesting bit of info I found out yesterday...I went to the dentist for the first time since we moved and found out that my new dentist is Josh Gracin's aunt. Now I'll never let another dentist touch my teeth again! :rolleyes: :)

What is this... Top Model? ;)

Pop quiz: Which one do I like?


She also sang horribly. The last chick they cut should definitely have gone through over weird-jaw-chick.

Haley Scarnato or Alaina Alexander...

If I were to have to bet, I'd say probably Haley Scarnato.

While I agree that none of them approach McPhee at this point, sometimes, there is quite a bit of a makeover during the season. A few of the girls are pretty enough that they have potential. However, I'm not sure if any of those girls are good enough singers to make it far.

The girls with potential are "not my type", so there's little hope for them in my eyes to get much better.

That being said, agreed, the best singers seem to be the less attractive one.

Of course, the females suffer for me anyways because I tend to prefer male singers.

Man. First, I'd put Alaina above Haley, second it would be Antonella Barba.

I'm kind of a fan of Gina. The picture on the site isn't all that flattering, but what I've seen of her on the show I've liked...

She certainly isn't the classical beauty. But I think she has potential, I like her personality, and I think she is the best singer of the potentially hot girls.

Antonella is my favorite as far as pure looks, but I don't like her personality (from what little they have shown) and I don't think she is that good of a singer.

I thing Gina is my favorite female, but I don't see her with the potential to be hot.

Antonella's personality probably turns me off a bit too much, but I would certainly say she's the most attractive.

yy, Antonella's the one with the legs.

I like Antonella as well, she's my second favorite female...

I'm also rooting for Melinda. I think it's because of how withdrawn she seems, very introverted (kind of like I can be), yet she can belt it out. The only thing that bothers her about me is her lack of a neck...

Gina is definitely my favorite as far as singing goes, thus far (for the females).

I like Gina, too. In the immortal words of Martin Lawrence...

DAMN, GINA!

"I'll tell you who's the hottest. You're gonna think I'm crazy...let me tell you. Gina!!"

Antonella's the bitch from the group where she and her best friend screwed over Bailee Brown (although I realize she forgot the words by herself, but still, the rehearsals didn't appear to go well at all). And anyone who's best friend says, after getting voted through, "I guess God just likes nice people," and doesn't automatically recoil and give her a "what the hell kind of statement is that?" look, drops to the bottom of my list...legs be damned.

Plus, she's from NY, so she's automatically not my type of woman.

Never said she was my type of woman (or that she was nice, or that she could sing)...just that I liked looking at her legs. :)

I was so upset to see Baylee Brown knocked off, She could have won the whole thing if she knew how to remember the words. And I was shocked to see Sunshine get in over that last tall guy. Sunshine sucked in all the clips we saw of him at Hollywood week. But in my opinion Melinda Doolittle is the best singer of the group, but she wont win because America wont like her as much as they do Lakisha (the mom) Chris (the comedian) or any of the hot girls

I thought from the beginning that Sunshine was going to be in the top 24 regardless. And then he had a bad Hollywood week and really test that theory. Not sure how far he'll go, though. Brandon Rogers is still my pick at this point.

I suspect he did well in the piano + backup singers audition. They didn't show a single second of it, but harped on his bad group and first solo hollywood performance. I think they are trying to paint him as an underdog. If you saw his audition he can definitely sing, he just had one or two bad performances in hollywood. They know he has talent, and maybe even saw more than we did (definitely one of the flaws, as we've beat to death in this thread, with the way they cover the auditions).

True, and with Bailee Brown, one of the things that stuck in my mind from before the performance was when she said the other girls kept messing up so often that she never really got to sing her part while they were practicing. At first I though that might be a valid reason why she forgot her lyrics - and it still might be - but it also dawned on me that they could have taken those comments from after she got kicked off and placed them before the performance on the show. Obviously, if those comments came after the fact, she had a reason to be making excuses.

I also like Sundance, so I'm biased in my wild speculation. :)

Fixed that for you! :D

Sorry, that was just too easy, couldn't let it go.

I'm not sure they're painting him as the underdog, but rather a villain. He's connected to the music biz, he performed poorly during Hollywood week (and that's all they keep showing), and he made that horribly insensitive remark to Tommy as they left - something along the lines of, "If I win you can be my bodyguard." Um...nice! :eek:

Oh, and here's some more backstory stuff we never got to hear about. Some good reading on MJ's Blog about how it sucks for the 5-10 people who made the top 40 but not the top 24 and were barely or never seen on the show. Apparently, once you've made the top 40 (or 44 in some years), and you don't make the top 24, you can't come back to compete.

I wonder if that was part of the strategy of that guy who quit last year after he screwed up, but came back this year and made it. Maybe he was afraid he'd get just far enough to be precluded from competing again, but not get chosen for the top 24. If so, good move on his part.



Eric Davis - Eliminated. Eric has a giant backstory. For reasons, we’ll never know, TPTB decided not to reveal his story on the show. Eric had spent 7 years in prison where he found God. He eventually became a youth minister. You can hear him sing “His Eye is on The Sparrow” and his testimony here.

I don't really see the villain angle. I also didn't hear that remark -- I was too busy paying attention to him cussing at and flipping off the camera, showing how classy he is.

Agreed, Tommy was being an ass.

Nicely played ;).

dammit, why didn't the picture show up... oh well

I believe this is why Tommy was cut before Sundance. Tommy had zero likability factor. Sundance knew he f'd up baaaaaad at the group song and he was shocked he wasn't cut so, gotta respect him at least for that since he blamed himself.

The top 24...plus 1:



Cowboy Matthew Buckstein, who was eliminated Wednesday from the Top 40, has come up with an idea to stretch his time in the spotlight. He plans to continue competing in the competition–from a karaoke bar in his hometown. Matthew explains on his My Space page:

I’ve decided to compete… as the lost contestant. “The lost Idol” is what I’m calling it.
Here’s how it’s gonna break down: Every week, I’m going to film myself singing down at the same Karaoke bar I’ve been going to for the past seven years; Denver’s Old Hole down on Leetsdale and Oneida. I’ll choose a song in accordance with the rules for that week and I’ll have one shot at it just like my once fellow contestants. No second takes, no fancy editing and even though it’s Karaoke, no words on the screen. If I screw it up, you get to see… just like it was live.
You’ll be able to see the video on YouTube and myspace video, and with your help, you can plaster is all over the web. But the voting… the voting will take place on my myspace music page at www.myspace.com/mattbuckstein. Every Tuesday after the live performance show of American Idol airs, I will put up my performance for that week up, along with a vote counter. All you have to do is click on the link to vote. Now just like the show, you can vote as many times as you like. And just like the show, I’ll leave the counter up for two hours after the show airs in each city. Vote as many times as you want until the counter comes down.
Now, I won’t have any judges to critique me so I’m going to rely on all of you for your feedback. I want you to leave comments on my myspace page about that week’s performance. HONEST OPINONS; good and bad. I wanna here them all (just please keep it clean, this is a family show). If the voting results and the feedback are good in comparison with the show, I’ll perform the next week. The first week the results aren’t sufficient… then I’m out. Simple.

So tonight begins a 5 hours over 3 nights marathon of AI. Are there 2 hour episodes next week, too?

Dola

It's the guys tonight, btw.

I'm excited for the "real" AI.

It's funny how up until last season I only watched the goofy stuff and lost interest.. and now that I've watched a real season, I really don't like the goofy stuff.

"

NSFW

hxxp://www.idontlikeyouinthatway.com/2007/02/american-idol-wannabes-are-potty.html

OMG, Antonella on the pot, drinking while underage, and topless (kinda-sorta)!!11!1!

I heart Jersey Shore girls.

edit: also, more pics at hxxp://www.votefortheworst.com


In all fairness, damn near every girl I know could have a potential career ruined because of pictures that were taken in the past.

Ugh, through the first four songs and the guys are pretty rough.

Yeah, none of them have impressed to this point.

The first dude was alright.

I thought the Chris Richardson guy looked like he had Tourette's (no offense).

Ironically enough, the guy who I thought was the worst singer (Nick) has sang the best so far.

As an aside, what's up with the AM Gold lineup? Richard Marx, George Michael/Wham, Moody Blues... I'm a big 80s guy and all, but, jeez, is this "AM" Idol now?

I think Blake was the first to have a decent audition..

I thought the chicks sing tomorrow?