American Idol 2008
 

I officially hate this fucking show. They set up these storylines to generate this temporary interest to drive ratings in the short term of their stupid auditions. Fuck them. It's a fucking joke.

Eat me Idol.

*no this isn't a complete surprise but fuck them anyway.

Ok, one dola.


They can eat me.

maybe you shouldnt have kicked the band off of the stage, eh?

ooh that was safe, take a risk, take risk.

fuck you

I hope that man/girl wins.

I wanted Josiah

see, he was interesting.

just interesting enough for you to tune into this farce tonite I guess

what a sham this thing is

Which one was that? I don't remember any obvious shemales...

oh come on

Dola-


I couldn't get past the fake british accent. I also couldn't believe how far Okie politician boy made it. And Simon liked him? He usually goes OFF on people who sound "theatre", and brother was he ever "theatre"...

Wait...are you talking about a man who looks like a woman, or a woman who looks like a man? I don't recall any of the latter but a couple of the former could fit the bill...

can't remember the guy's name but he's a guy I guess

some of the ones in the top 24 I've never heard of. that's great considering the face time given to others.


seriously, it was obvious josiah was out by the way the story was crafted and the play up.

the whole thing was bogus man. they really threw that kid under the bus the way it was produced.

Think he is talking about Danny Noriega.. (If I remember his name right)

His fans will be affectionately known as Danny's Fairies.

I figured it was him or the Garrett kid with the crazy blonde hair whom I had never seen before...

All I know is daddy likes Kristy Lee Cook

I actually know one of the people that made the top 24. Luke Menard, wish him luck. He's a great guy and comes from a great family.

Josia turned out to be a crybaby.

I'm glad he is gone. I could see getting very sick of him quickly.

dola-

Carly is teh hot. Chicks with tattoo's turn me on.

What the hell are you doing here at night???

Plus she's Irish. Giddy yup..

I liked her hoochie dance at the end when they were introducing everyone...


For some reason I also like the virginal nanny. She's cute and sweet, even though she doesn't have any boobs.

Dola-

I also think the laryngitis chick and the chick whose dad died just before her first audition are hot...

Word. Two sexy black chicks right thur

I thought the plus size model is hot.




















just kidding.

hells yeah

Kristy Lee Cook looks really... smart.

:D

Dude she does have a hot face

I could make a sacrifice

See, this is one of the reasons I like knowing the spoilers. They had them nailed, 100%, a few weeks ago (right after they filmed tonight's show).

A few comments:

What's with Leif Garrett Haley?

Do you realize we have a Castro and a Noriega? And a Chikezie Eze Amin?

Thank the Lord that Josiah dude didn't make it. I kinda knew he wasn't going to make it, but I wasn't 100% sure. I already had him lined up as my Chicken Little/Mikalah Gordon annual pick to receive buckets full of hate. Dude was nothing more than a Coldplay wannabe rip-off singer, and as if theaffected singing voice wasn't enough, he'd alread gone Madonna on us and incorporated the accent into his speaking voice. Go back to sleeping in your car, dude, and come back when you can be a bit more original.

You know a chick is hot when my wife mentions how pretty she is 3 times. Kristy Lee Cook better be around for awhile, or I'm going to be disappointed.

I think Danny Noreiga is pretty interesting. Obviously he's gay, so there's that wrinkle to see how that plays out in the competition, but he seems fairly talented.

David Archuleta won Star Search a few years back. Very good singer for 16, but what's bizarre is I can't stand his speaking voice. It's like he's got the Dick Vitale starter kit. It makes me cringe to listen to him speak. His singing, though, I can handle.

Will be interesting to see if there's any anti-foreigner sentiment in the voting. Carly Hennessy-Smithson and Michael Lee Johns are not only both industry vets, but they've been imported from Ireland and Australia. They are't the only vets (Kristy Cook, Jason Yeager, Brooke White, Syesha, Robbie Carrico (one of Britney's exes)), but this is about discovering America's talent, right?

Once again, there are several people who made it that we have seen maybe 1 fleeting shot of the entire season so far. Amy Davis and Jason Castro I'd never have remembered had I not seen them on the spoiler lists.

Seems like a decent, talented bunch, but I guess that's no surprise given the "experience" of many of them. Good news is that Jim shouuld be back with his rankings next week!

Archuleta has annoyed the hell out of me with his, "Golly, gee, they really like me!" after every audition so far. I can see that getting REALLY old REALLY fast...just like with Melinda last year.

Last year I had a couple of guy favorites at the 24 stage (Chris Sligh, Blake, Sundance) but this year the only one who really stands out for me is the Aussie...

And unfortunately, that Aussie guy is rumored to be kind of a jackass. His real name is Michael Lee, he was the lead singer of a band called The Film, and he is alleged to have stolen a bunch of songs he didn't write, formed his own band, and released an album with those songs on it. There's a website out there called therisingsucks.com about it (his band is/was The Rising). I guess in an attempt to distance himself from all of that, he changed his name to Michael Johns.

Feel good story of the year, right?

Ksyrup, it's funny you call him unoriginal when his first two auditions were with songs he wrote.

Archuleta's speaking voice just doesn't seem like it's fully matured yet, it's very gravely

And FTR, I like Johns on the male side and a ton of the women, notably the chick that's never seen an R-rated movie, and the black chick who lost her voice and the black chick who lost her father

I'm voting for Kady Malloy. I don't even care if she can sing or not.

i think archuletta is gonna win (please note i have never actually watched the show for the entire season before).

i think it is gonna come down to him versus syesha or asia (sp)

i was really, but very pleasantly (you know...in my pants pleasantly) suprised that kristy lee cook made it, considering she had to sing the same song she used in her first audition in order to make it through (can she sing anything but amazing grace)

and i am sure i am going to be in the minority on this, but i cant freaking stand the "rock and roll nurse" girl. her singing is possible the most annoying thing i have ever heard, and if she makes that index/pinky sign with her hand one more time i am putting out a hit on her.

I'm not sure I understand what one has to do with the other. Many people can write "original" music that's nothing but a pale copy of other artists. It's pretty clear that he has only one style, and he's copied it rioght down to the bloody accent. Listen to the way he phrases every line he sings - it's the same thing every time. Apparently all he's got to listen to in his car are Snow Patrol CDs.

I just didn't buy a single thing about him. Part of me thinks he did the whole "living in his car" thing as an attempt to gin up a story line to make it easier to get on this show. Maybe if he goes home and concentrates on developing his talent into something a bit more original - and stops crying for the camera every chance he gets - he'll get somewhere. But I was wholly unimpressed with his talent and the way he carried himself. Something about him just struck a nerve with me. Thankfully he compeltely blew Stand By Me and gave them no choice but to let him go.

Syesha was on NBC's attempt at an AI-type show called The One. I saw bits and pieces of it and remember her. As in her auditions, she has an issue with oversinging. I guess that's the best way to put it. Her final audition was excellent, I thought she kept control of her voice really well. But on The One and especially in that first audition, she did the same thing - over-sang it and really lost the tune. If she gets the chance, I think she'll come up with a couple of wow performances, but I also think she's capable of a couple of trainwrecks as well.

Saldana, as much as I hate to agree with you about the RnR Nurse (I guess that's her nickname), I do. And I really wanted the rock element in this show, but I think she's way too one-dimensional to be a good fit for AI. The only time she sounds good is when she's belting it out, and after awhile, it gets grating. But it seems like she only stands out when she's on 10. But we'll see.

I'm the type of American Idol viewer that you all probably hate. I enjoy usually all of the shows up until now.. Now its the final 24, I usually get bored as I just don't really like the type of music they generally sing and they are all decent singers at the least.

My wife is the opposite of me, she usually gets bored with the starter episodes, but this is the point she really likes AI... I guess I just like the freak shows :)

My interest starts before the show even airs, when the actual auditions and Hollywood Week takes place, and is greatest when the final cuts are made (which occurred, in real time, 2-3 weeks ago). As far as the competition, I agree that I can't stand most of the music, and for me, it's really only interesting until they cut down to about 7 or 8 people. At that point, my interest begins to wane and I'd be just as happy if they cut 6 people at once and got right to the finals. I usually don't even watch the finale, and I certainly don't care who wins. The process is the biggest reason I watch.

I could see her act getting old really fast, but I still dig her. Except that she looks and sounds like Jodie Foster and that distracts the hell out of me.

It's a sad state of affairs my friend.

I'm with your wife (not literally, of course). The early stuff is just a big long attention whore parade to me. I don't enjoy it at all. Now that they have it whittled down to people with actual talent, I'm more interested and I'll remain so until the last few episodes when they stretch stuff out way too much.

I enjoy it from here out. The auditions are very very annoying to watch anymore. I find myself getting ticked off at the nonsensically bad performers they don't immediately cut repeatedly.

From here out I get a kick out of hearing what the judges say about a performance. Randy and Simon are actually pretty good judges. Paula is ok sometimes, but most often not. Randy is the best musician of the three, clearly, but Simon seems to be fairly in-tune with what will work with audiences and what will not with a lower level of just plain old music knowledge than Randy has. I think that is why he always makes comparisons to other events, like "that was like a bad wedding singer" and stuff like that. He isn't really sure what exactly was wrong, he just knows it didn't work and is usually right.

From what I've seen so far, my 4 favorite contestants as far as looks go.

this show better give me tits

You know what I think she needs to sing, rather than Joplin/Morrison? Some Tina Turner. I think the raspiness might work a bit better there. She has the attitude for it too.

oh please no

and if they have that fucking bryan adams on during the live shows I'm cracking skulls.

enough with the brian adams songs on the list

Do I have the video for you!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Bryan Adams is awesome*






*i will fill his vagina with poison cement

You guys are SO going to have Simms, Maple Leafs, and bbor on your asses!

Just so long as no one pisses off Buddy G.

I figured Buddy hated Bryan Adams anyway.

I thought Buddy was Bryan Adams

nonono, Buddy is the guy from that HGTV wacky home show.

My choice to win it:

http://www.americanidol.com/contesta...ea_lushington/

She got no screen time really at all during the last episode.

For those who like American Idol and haven't seen/heard of Paul Potts, there's also this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya1xL...eature=related

Simon's face is just priceless.

There's a direct correlation between pre-top 24 face time and success in the competition. There are 4-5 people who have pretty much no shot at winning, or even doing well. Perhaps one or two of them will distinguish themselves early and hang on for a bit, but several people have done an "analysis" (for lack of a better term) of face time and finish, and the correlation is pretty much dead-on. Of course, there are several guys who got pretty much no face time, so I guess a couple of them will have to stick around for a few weeks just by the nature of the competition. Given the clear advantage it brings, they should really make an attempt to do a small feature on all of the eventual top 24 at some point before they are actually selected.

Exactly. The guy I am rooting for, Luke Menard, got absolutely zero face time. The only thing I heard they said about him was that he was "too good for the competition."

What's with all of them there for'ners? I think American Idol should require American citizenship.

Am I allowed to go compete on Canadian Idol?

Hahahahahahah!!! Sorry, I tried to say that with a straight face, but failed. I do think I'd do well on CI, since I do a really, really good moose call.

Just weird to see you on FOFC at night. ;)

I was distraught at the time. Momentarily lost my faculties.

This is something that kind of irritates me about this show, although funny enough that Kristy Lee girl didn't really get much face time but I imagine has a good position at this point.

My early favorites (for who I like, not who I think will win) in no particular order:

Irish chick
Long Haired Rocker
Asya (or however she spells it)
Kristy Lee Cook
Nurse Rocker

And if they never do an interview with him and I close my eyes I think I could really like Noriega.


From my experience at least a couple of my early favorites get quickly exposed in the first few weeks and I lose faith in them and a couple of others surprise me and make their way on the list. I think the two rocker's have the biggest risk of falling off of my list.

Kristy Lee Cook got a bunch of face time. In fact, it seems like they manufactured a backstory for her about having to sell a horse to pay for her trip to the audition. They went back to her farm and did a whole segment on her. Granted, that was for her first audition and they didn't focus on her as much in Hollywood, but still. She was the clear star from the first couple of audition shows.

The long haired rocker? Are you talking about the former boy bander Robbie Carrico? Marketing aside, I still don't see what he has to do with being a rocker - now he wears a knit cap and has a scruffy beard. Oh, and Ryan continually calls him a rocker. Woopee! Just a guess, but I think he'll turn out to be as much of a rocker as Constantine was.

Didn't she go audition in Phily? If she had to sell a horse to go audition, why didn't she just go to a closer audition instead? Then she would only have to have sold off a pony or something... I dunno..

THAT WAS ALL MADE UP. THIS SHOW IS FUCKING SHIT.

There are always several people in every audition city who geographically don't make sense where they auditioned. I guess maybe schedule matters, but otherwise...? And yeah, her story about the horse came off as forced when we learned about her background. They basically played her up like that Poppelreiter dude, fresh off the farm. She actually lived in Nashville for quite some time pursuing her career. You'd think if money meant that much, she'd have tried out in LA or something.

I was definitely referring to Hollywood. She was in the 1st or 2nd audition show, in the minds of america that was a loooong time ago. So to me she's at a bit of a disadvantage because of the low coverage in Hollywood. I was actually wondering if she would get cut because of that.


And thus the reason I think he's at risk for sliding off. They keep calling him a "rocker" and I think there's a decent sound to his voice, but I think wants I see him more I won't like him.

Teh hawtness was never far from my mind... :D

I won't post the entire article text here, but this is on the front page of Yahoo.com about Carly Smithson. I suspect this chick is going to get cut very quickly as part of an anti-vet backlash. And it doesn't help she's not from America, either. AI has really shot itself in the foot by not presenting these people in their true light. Maybe people won't care, but I suspect the cover-up is going to fuel an outrage if a lot of people (voters) find out about this. Michael Johns is in the same boat, except Carly's the poster child.

hxxp://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/realityrocks/13980/irish-idol-smithsons-secret-past

"American Idol is supposed to be all about giving undiscovered talent a chance. Please note I used the word "undiscovered." As in, artists who have not had record deals yet. Artists who need a show like this to GET a record deal in the first place. Artists who have not already had major labels waste millions of dollars unsuccessfully trying to mold them into next big things.

What's my point? Well, last night the visa-challenged Irish artist formerly known as Carly Hennessy--but now conveniently going under her new married name, Carly Smithson--made it into American Idol's top 24, despite having had a flop album out on MCA Records nearly seven years ago. An album that sold only hundreds of copies, despite the fact that MCA spent millions of dollars trying to promote it."

i think that was more because she is freaking gorgeous than anything....they did the backstories during the audition shows (especially when they were in one city for 2 days) on alot of people, some of whom didnt even make it to hollywood (the air force girl comes to mind)

Ugh. Yeah, not a fan of this. Meh - and I liked her.

Agree.

I think it is really really rare to have someone that can sing, hasn't done anything and walks into AI to audition so, I'd expect most people that can sing have done some level of singing be it at a county fair or singing a National Anthem at some sporting event.

Plus, one thing to have an album cut with a low print # that you were pimping on your own website (see Daughtry, Bo Bice and probably a bunch of others) But, completely different to already have someone throw millions at promoting you and you failed. Sounds like they are trying to recoup their investment now. I'd rather throw money at Josiah and buy his songs off myspace then buy some previously failed artist.

We need a Congressperson to investigate this process and the voting.

We have a right to an honest American Idol!

After looking into the matter, Commissioner Goodell and Simon Cowell have decided to destroy Ireland and remove any evidence of any prior wrongdoing.

I have evidence that I gave her a shot in the ass. I saved it.

I agree with this. I watched the top24 show and said to myself: Who the hell is that? Who's that? What?

Why did some of them get lead on on camera and some didn't? All i could think was wouldn't an equal exposure be nice? Good thing this isn't political.

Because it's fixed, goof.

Speaking of not being an true amateur.

Check out Kristy Lee Cook's myspace.


hxxp://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=305762194

There was actually an original AI thread that we were all posting in before rumsfeld smurf started this one. I detailed a bunch of info about the other plants. Here's a brief synopsis:

Carly Smithson - In addition to what's in this thread is this nugget:
Carly was signed to MCA records during the same time period that Randy Jackson was the senior vice president of A&R. Carly was at MCA in1999. Randy started at MCA in 1998 and was there for 4 years.

Michael Johns used to be Michael Lee and was in a signed band who alleges that he stole a bunch of their songs, changed his name, and went off to do a solo album. And he's Australian.

Kady Malloy released an album produced by Nick Trevisick.

Brooke White had an opening slot on a Phil Vassar tour.

Amy Davis was on Nashville Star and was in a band with members of Survivor.

Robbie Carrico was in the boy band Boyz and Girlz United (ha!) and is a former boyfriend of Britney Spears.

Kristy Lee Cook was signed to Arista Nashville.

Syesha Mercado was on the failed NBC AI rip-off The One.

Joanne Borgella is this year's Melinda Doolittle. She was a backup singer for Patty LaBelle and Bo Bice.

Jason Yeager was on Making the Band.

Jason Castro was on the MTV show Cheyenne.

David Archuleta won Star Search, and I believe his story is the only one they've told on AI so far.

Several others who didn't make it have experience as well, the worst case being Jermaine Paul who made the top 50 and quit to sign a record deal so they cut him out of the show completely. Paul was up for a Grammy for a duet with Alicia Keys and is on a Kanye West album.

I don't necessarily have a problem with them all being in the competition, but they are hardly worthy of being contestants on a show billed as finding "America's undiscovered talent." Truth in advertising, guys!

A friend of mine from another board who was a long-time DJ in Tennessee ran into your favorite almost-Idol contestant over the weekend:




He said the kid is unbelievably naive and starting to get some offers. Sounds like another sob story in the making, to be told 2-3 years sfrom now when the kid is still living in his car but made someone else some money.

The oddly sad part is that one of John's/Michael Lee's band connections, The Rising, really sounds pretty good.

Their MySpace is here: http://www.myspace.com/therisingband

Nothing groundbreaking, but decent enough for today's musical landscape.

(Heh. Talk about damning with faint praise.)

That's the band he started after he left The Film. Supposedly, he stole several songs and used them as his own with The Rising. Therisingsucks.com has the story (alleged story, I guess).

EDIT: Oh wow, that site worked as of last week. AI censors strike again. A day or two after Kady Malloy was outed, her album disappeared off a site you could buy it. Now this.

I will not be watching AI anymore this season however no one come over on Tuesday or Wednesday night's between 8 and 10pm....I have to fold some clot, er, wash my h, er, mow my la......sleep. Ill be sleeping, til 10.

This week is brutal - 5 hours of AI. Tuesday is impossible - AI, Biggest Loser, and Big Brother all on at the same time.

Syesha Mercado was not only on The One, NBC's attempt at an AI-type show, but she recently did a commercial for AI sponsor Ford. I'm surprised they didn't find a way to get her into the Knight Rider movie.

Yeah I was really surprised when I read that here that he used to be the singer for them. I was all about one of their songs, "Cradle" back in I think 2003 or 2004 when I was still in college.

Ksyrup - Immediately after you posted about therisingsucks.com I went there and it was down. However, in Google if you click on cached pages or whatever you can still get in and see the story (for whoever is interested).

Also, there was another girl who's name I recognized during Hollywood week... Nina Shaw. I knew the name sounded familiar every time I heard it so I fired up Itunes and searched and I definitly have a few songs from her as well. R&B artist but on some songs with some pretty well-known rappers but nothing that was probably ever "officially" released. Surprising though that she didnt make the final 24.

Anyway, very interesting some of the backstorys on these people as the actual undiscovered talent gets thinner by the year. Ksyrup, what sites do you use for your info?

I wonder what William Hung is doing these days.

The main site I check out often is mjsbigblog.com, since he/she links to EVERYTHING - major newspaper articles, local news items, other blogs, etc. I also read votefortheworst.com every couple of weeks, as they are really good at compiling all of the backstory info. There are some other really good sites, but MJ links to them and I just go to them to read specific articles/threads.

Your cousin Tanya? Oh, sorry, you said what. ;)

If you're looking for a run-down on the male contestants performing tonight, check this out:

hxxp://mjsbigblog.com/season-7-top-12-guys.htm

DAAAAAAAAMN

Holy shit. That long haired, hippy kinda, looking 17 year old is from Elida, Ohio. The Elida Bulldogs play us, the Celina Bulldogs in high school sports. Same division and league. Crazy.

Any Scott Baio lookalikes walking about that town too?

Jason Castro (dreads) is my new favorite I think - he turned that song into something where I could imagine a pop-rock band using it

My ranking:

1) David A. - the best....pretty goofy but will play well with teenybopper girls. Expect to see him for a long time.
2) Jason C - The better Jason. Took an old song and put a stamp on it.
3) Mike Johns - Light my fire is such a Jim Morrison classic, I was worried when he tried it but he did a solid job.
4) Luke - Liked him much better than the judges. Suprised they were so harsh.
5) Colton - this is where the performances stop standing out.
6) David C - 2nd among Davids
7) Robbie - getting the rocker label now buys you Daughtry comparisons, which is going to be steep for anybody.
8) Jason Y- The lesser Jason
9) Daniel Noriega - creepy.
10) David H - he kicked it off, and the kickoff went outta bounds.
11) Garrett - bad song, didn't show off his voice which had been strong in earlier performances
12) Chickeze - a poor man's Ruben. Actually compared to where Ruben was at this point in the competition, he's a broke man's Ruben.

Usually there's a performer or two hanging in the mid pack who's running a stalking race and breaks out. I didn't see much from 4-12 to show that they had the ability to do that.

I thought Chikeze was going to go into the Love Boat theme.

These guys...some of these guys are not too good.

Maybe it's just me but I thought some of the guys were just awful tonight.

Garrett, Jason Yeager and Luke made me cringe.

David Archuleta was the best of the bunch and I liked Michael John and Jason Castro too.

Menard, IMO, was BAD. Even the clips of his auditions they showed he sounded bad. I don't get how he made the top 24....