Posted by Dustin on 03.19.2008 at 9:58 pm

As always, spoilers for the West Coasters out there!

First up, my plan was to switch between “Idol” and “Big Brother” tonight, but I lost power and was out both for thirty minutes. So whatever important news was announced in the first half, I missed it! Grrr!

The “Idol Gives Back” show will air on April 9th.

Amanda Obermeyer ended up in the bottom three, Carly Smithson (OMG) and Kristy Lee Cook all ended up in bottom three. Carly was safe, so Kristy and Amanda ended up in the bottom two. Amanda was voted off tonight.

*Addition* Per an anonymous shoutbox user, Dolly Parton, Mariah Carey, Neil Diamond, and Andrew Loyd Webber will be among the mentors this season. From what I heard, Mariah will appear on the April 15th episode.

Posted by Dustin on 03.12.2008 at 9:00 pm

The show tonight opened up with a tribute to John, Paul and the music of the Beatles with a medley by all the contestants. Ryan also announced that due to so many calls and emails, next week will be ANOTHER Lennon/McCartney show.

I have to say I’m having enough trouble getting into American Idol this season as is, this announcement I wasn’t too keen on. I mean the song choices made so far for me have been blahze as is, even on nights I should have been excited about (70s/80s). I’m not a huge fan of the Beatles and I really don’t know many of the Lennon/McCartney songs. So now I have to sit through another week. I’m hoping someone will pick some songs I actually know this time. Hello can someone please rock out to Sgt Pepper for me? Please?

The bottom three were David Hernandez, Syesha Mercado and Kristy Lee Cook. Syesha was safe, leaving David and Kristy in the bottom two. David was eliminated this week.

BTW quick shot of Sanjaya sitting in the audience this week!

Posted by Dustin on 03.06.2008 at 8:58 pm

If you are on the West Coast, as usual, this will spoil it for you . .. so stop reading!

First up, I have to say I’m a little tired of hearing Ryan Seacrest tell us how this season is the best yet with the best talent. No Ryan, it’s not! When I’m pretty sure David Archuleta and Carly Smithson will be the final two in the end, something is kinda wrong!

Having grown up in the 80s and loving that much as much as I do the 70s, I was once again disappointed in a big way, especially with the song choices. More than ever I think someone is steering them and certain songs are off limits. Where was Madonna? Michael? Prince? Hell where was Culture Club? Some contestants made great choices, once again though I questioned why anyone would pick some of the songs others picked. I’m also wondering if Phil Collins and Celine Dion are getting royalties for their songs being used as people seem to be singing their stuff by the boatload!

Tonight’s show opened up with Blake Lewis performing his song “How Many Words” on the brand new stage.

They then moved onto the recaps and then the eliminations. Gone this week are Kady Malloy, Luke Menard, Asia’h Epperson and Danny Norriega are going home.

Beginning next week now that we are finally to the top 12, I will post polls every week in the side bar to vote. Let’s see how close we match what America is thinking!

Posted by Dustin on 02.28.2008 at 10:01 pm

Okay the following contains spoilers for those on the west coast, so turn back if you don’t want to know!

Voted off tonight were: Alexandréa Lushington, Alaina Whitaker ,Jason Yeager and Robbie Carrico. I don’t have too much to say really, mainly cause I didn’t remember most of their performances to begin with!

Some announcements were also made about changes to come. Beginning with the top 12, there will be an all new set, intro and graphics. Rubin Studdard has recorded a new “goodbye” song for the season as well.

For the first time the Lennon/McCarthy song book has been released to the show, so expect a Beatles episode!

Finally they are doing another installment of “Idol Gives Back” with big name stars participating, including Maria Carey, Snoop Dog and Brad Pitt.

Posted by Dustin on 02.28.2008 at 10:46 am

Last night the girls on AI performed, and well, I didn’t think it was that good. Honestly I’m watching them and saying things that make me feel like Simon! Carly Smithson, who started with a Heart song, and Brooke White who did Carly Simon, were really the only outstanding performers of the night. A few others were good, just not great. Others were downright horrible.

I honestly don’t know what to think of the competition this year. I mean right now there are only a handful of people who I think should even be in the whole thing. I think I could not watch for about 3-4 weeks, tune back in and see everyone I expect to be there on the screen. I don’t know who will go home tonight for the girls honestly, there were so many to pick from.

Posted by Dustin on 02.26.2008 at 11:54 pm

So I watched the men on American Idol give it their all tonight. For the most part I wasn’t that impressed. Some where that’s good, a lot were just okay or “safe” as Paula and Randy like to say. I felt Luke Menard, who sang “Killer Queen” did a good job. Of course I love the song, so I may be a bit prejudice there. David Cook sang “All Right Now” and rocked on the guitar. I felt as far as the rocker went, he was the best. As Paula put it “you are the real deal.” Of course the performance of the evening went to the youngster David Archuleta who sang “Imagine.” Paula was in tears and Simon summed it all up, the other 19 are probably miserable right now having heard that performance. I think he may win this whole thing, and the fact that he’s so young is a bonus to him. Going home? I think we’ll be saying goodbye to the Jasons. Jason Yeagers and Jason Castro. Feel free to share your thoughts and you can also vote in the poll over at The Forums as to who you think will go home on Wednesday.

Posted by Dustin on 02.21.2008 at 12:32 pm

So I watched both the men and the women perform on AI. At this point I can honestly say without 1) taking notes throughout the shows or 2) going onto the AI site to watch recaps, I’m not going to remember all these people’s names and what they sang. As the season goes on, I see them more and more and of course the cast gets whittled down, it will be much easier to remember people. I’m not there yet.

 With that said, these are my initial thoughts on the shows. First, I have to wonder how much of a hand AI had in influencing the song choices. The men’s choices, for the most part, were just terrible! They had such good pop, rock and psychedelic rock songs to pick from and most of them chose crooner songs. Honestly, am I supposed to believe one of these kids decided to sing a Neil Sedaka song? The men’s night at least ended on a high note with someone choosing The Doors!

The women overall sounded better and made much better choices. The singing nurse continues to stand out for me with the women, because she has such a smokey and unique voice. I was glad she didn’t go for Janice last night, but wasn’t overly thrilled with her song choice. Too much skat and repetition of one line. Again how much did AI steer these song choices? Clearly they will be doing a Motown show again at some point, because I don’t think I heard anyone pick a Supremes song or anything from Motown really. I could be wrong on that though.

Posted by Dustin on 02.19.2008 at 12:49 pm

Fox and Apple are partnering up to bring the top 24 contestants nightly performances to iTunes. Performances will be available the day after the show airs for .99 cents a song. When the top 24 are narrowed down to the top 12, after March 11th, video performances will also be added for $1.99 a video.

Question: Will you consider buying performances of your favorite idol?

Posted by Dustin on 02.13.2008 at 11:11 pm

So tonight the final 24 were finally chosen for American Idol, and the competition and voting begins next week! I don’t have too many comments yet, I need to see the final 24 perform. The singing nurse is the one that stands out as someone I do remember well though. I just hope she can be more diverse with her voice and range.