They’ve done this before, right? On “Idol Gives Back” night, they say they are going to eliminate a contestant and then they say they can’t on a charity night, and eliminate two contestants the following week. But not last night. Last night after a heartwarming (and I’m sorry, most of the time, DRAGGING) 2.5 hour show, Ryan Seacrest announced that one of the contestants was going home…..in effect, they were “giving one contestant back,” right? At least that’s how I was looking at it.
Anyway, before we get to the results, here is a blazing fast summary of guest appearances and funny moments…
As guest blogger, I will open in the only way I should: by offering my sincerest apologies for not getting the blog for last night’s “American Idol” completed in a more timely fashion. I’ve been battling an allergy attack since yesterday (the result, I feel certain, of all the dust I kicked up in my office while scouring the joint for tax receipts), and, quite frankly, I feel like crap. But I know Mike’s got a lot going on these days, what with his big move and all, so I was always going to do this for him. I just had to build up my strength, which I have now done, so with my cup of hot lemon tea with honey sitting by the keyboard, let’s get to talking about who got the boot.
Things kicked off last night with a medley of Elvis Presley songs – “Burning Love,” “Teddy Bear,” “Return to Sender,” and “Viva Last Vegas” – which neither did damage to the reputation of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll nor did it any favors. The best part about “Burning Love” was the cute moment where we saw Katie working her knees for all they were worth, and Lee’s vocals on “Teddy Bear” sounded like those of a lounge singer, but I actually kind of dug it. Otherwise, though, I was pretty underwhelmed by the performances, and when “Viva Las Vegas” kicked off, all I could think of was how much better the Dead Kennedys did the song.
From there, the program went green for a minute or so as we were treated to a Ford-sponsored commercial with several of the contestants performing a version of…wait for it…the Polyphonic Spree’s “Light and Day / Reach for the Sun.” How completely and utterly surreal, but it sounded a damned sight better than any of those Elvis covers.
Moving on to the first of the night’s departures, Cap’n Seacrest narrowed down the playing field to three contestants:
* Casey, whose version of “Lawdy Miss Claudy” Mike described as “not bad at all vocally, but just a so-so rating on the entertainment meter.”
* Aaron, who offered a take on “Blue Suede Shoes,” which Mike called “cheesy but not horrible.”
* Andrew, who Mike buried in the Not So Good column last night, saying, “It wasn’t awful, but not at all star quality and easily the worst of the night.”
So long, Andrew…and, really, was there ever any doubt that you’d be one of the two players leaving the game tonight? But, hey, at least we got your version of James Morrison’s “You Give Me Something” as a farewell, which served to remind us that, all things considered, America probably made the right decision.
Last night’s episode of “American Idol” was mercifully 90 minutes instead of the usual 120, meaning the judges’ snarky comments and Ryan Seacrest’s annoying banter were kept to a manageable minimum. After Crystal led off, it all kind of was just, as Simon would suggest, like bad karaoke. Of course, they propped up a few that didn’t deserve it, but really, this is still Crystal’s competition to lose now. And the guest mentor? Adam Lambert. Remember him? Here is the recap:
I’m not going to hide the fact that I like “American Idol” or that I watch it religiously–of course, enough to blog about it. But I’m getting tired of how predictable it is sometimes. Last night’s results show was proof of that. As the show began, and Ryan Seacrest mentioned the “judge’s save” again, I turned to Mrs. Mike and said that tonight was the night they were going to save someone. When Seacrest announced that the producers had told him the results were “shocking”…well then, we all knew for sure the judges would use their save, without even knowing who had the lowest number of votes.
After all that, Seacrest introduced the Top 9 and they sang a Beatles medley, pre-recorded and auto-tuned for our listening pleasure.
We’re down to the final 9 on “American Idol” and the competition is really beginning to heat up. In fact, if you take into consideration the entire season, the judges’ comments, and the performances last night, most of which were pretty good, it’s near impossible to predict who might be going home this week. And as always, I agreed with the judges wholeheartedly on some, and not at all on others. The songs were from the great songbook of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, meaning they could sing Beatles songs or Lennon or McCartney solo stuff. Paul McCartney delivered a good luck message by video before the show, but thankfully they didn’t (and I’m sure couldn’t afford to) bring him in to mentor the contestants. With that, here we go….
