We're down to the final (mostly correct) seven on American Idol, and tonight's theme is "The Great American Songbook", and what a coincidence, Rod Stewart is there to help the Idols during the week. (Note: If I'd been paying attention I would've linked to the Amazon page for the CD collection.) After the last few weeks, expectations are running pretty low in our house for tonight's show.
Chris gets to lead off tonight, choosing "What a Wonderful World". Apparently the Idols had to dress up this week, but Chris still has the hip chain working because he's all about the ROCK. Amazingly, Chris sings a surprisingly gentle version of the song, sort of channeling his inner-Scott Weiland, and does an AWESOME job, which the judges ALL love, although Simon tries to take credit for Chris' performance by saying he followed Simon's advice. Dude, you haven't GIVEN Chris any advice the last couple of weeks, unless "I hate the song but you were OK" counts.
Paris follows Chris and she's performing "Foolish Things". I was worried for whoever followed Chris, but if Chris' performance was around a 7 Paris' was a 9.5. Wow. That was DEFINITELY the best performance I've seen in the last four weeks, which isn't saying much but it was THAT good. Again, praise from all three judges as Ryan seems amazed that Simon is giving kudos so far. ("What's in his cup?") Geez, Ryan, maybe everybody has been lackluster for the last few shows and now they are doing well?
Taylor is up next, and I'm genuinely concerned for him because last week he got to bounce around like a madman and the two previous weeks he just stood there and sang to less preferable results, and this is a "stand there and sing" kind of week. He's singing "You Send Me", and it sounds like the arrangement is too fast at the beginning and it's really boring, but he picks it up toward the middle and REALLY brings it home at the end, and Randy is stoked because so far this whole night is "the bomb" and Paula is stoked because the fifth Vicodin has kicked in, and Simon notes "it started out as lame cabaret...then MAGIC."
Whoever picked this week's theme deserves a LOT of credit, and Rod looked like he had a great time with the Idols this week. PLUS, we got to see his little baby Alistair, who is ADORABLE even though you want to kick him across the room when you think about how lucky he got to end up as Rod Stewart's son (in a purely "he'll never have to work a day in his life if he chooses"-way). However, as we go to the break Ryan notes Elliott and Kellie are next and this show is about to take a turn for the worse, I think.
Also, that commercial where the guy sings "ring-a-ling-a-ling-tones", says "text 'A' to 8008", but on my TV it looks like "text 'A' to BOOB". Just saying.
Elliott is up after the break and he's singing "It Had to Be You". Cheesy start as he's leaning on the mic stand, but he's already got a better mic stand-gimmick than Taylor's mighty whiff of last week, and he actually looks LESS nervous than the past few weeks. He actually does an unhateable job, managing to not revert to head-bobbing during the song, and Randy liked the performance. Paula is predictably falling out of her shirt, and she was jamming to Elliott when they did the wide shot of the stage. Simon rightfully notes that the performance lacked personality compared to the first three and tells Elliott he's concerned he may go home. (Probably guaranteeing a safe week. Dammit.)
Kellie's up next to sing "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered", and the pressure is kind of on I think after four solid-to-very good performances so far. Fortunately for Kellie, she LOOKS incredible. Unfortunately for Kellie, she SOUNDS AWFUL. I think Chris really psyched her out, because she tried to be very understated like he was and I actually found myself wanting her to actually start singing BIGGER, THEN she started singing to fast (or forgot a line) and got ahead of the music. When we go to the judges, we get this exchange:
Randy: You know what I'm going to say, right? Kellie: Ah BUTCHERED it!
Thankfully we don't get to close the show with Ace, as he's next singing "That's All", which *I* only know as "the song Adam Sandler sang during the Bar Mitzvah-scene in "The Wedding Singer". Ace goes with slicked back ponytail (!) this week, so he kind of looks like Matthew Fox. He also isn't really very good, and I found myself wondering how Bucky would sound singing this same song. The judges are all complimentary, even Simon, which Ace absolutely eats up. He also assures America that the hair hasn't been cut, just pulled back. Well, thank GOD.
Katharine is the final singer of the evening, and her song is "Someone to Watch Over Me". It occurs to me during the performance that Kat doesn't really NEED to win this, and she's the only Idol you could say that about this season. She's an excellent singer, she's gorgeous, and she's got charisma. She blows all the previous performances of the evening away, which you could kind of see coming but was still something to behold. Simon says she's in a "different league, like a returning pro performing with a bunch of good amateurs". Katharine ALMOST passes out at the compliment.
That version of Idol was a complete breath of fresh air. Thinking about it, it SHOULD have been good with the Idols singing hard-to-screw-up-classics, but they've done it before. Obviously Katharine, Chris, and Paris should be safe, and probably Taylor, too, which would leave Elliott, Kellie, and Ace in the bottom three. Based on solely this week, Kellie is THE choice to go home, as she had one of the worst performances by a finalist in recent memory, but it really SHOULD be Acen if there is any justice because Kellie has been better than him for the previous several weeks.
"You know what you need? Some new quotes in your sig. Yeah, I said it." -- DJFrostyFreeze
My American Idol thunks for Songs from the Great American Songbook night.....
Chris - I expected the alt-rock version of a standard but then read that arrangements had to stay true to the original. I figured he was screwed but he put together a very nice rendition and performance. He was safe no matter what he did anyway.
Paris - So who are you playing dress up as this week ? Natalie Cole ? You don't look right in what you are wearing. The song was okay for me and better than some of your other weeks but I am just not a fan.
Taylor - Good thing that there were 2 halves to that song - you killed the ending and that was what they showed in the recap. The Soul Patrol should pull him through.
Elliott - eh. This could actually be a genre that you could make some decent coin in should you get a record deal. Nice enough voice but absolutely nothing remarkable about him in any way. Bottom 3 no matter what he does.
Kellie - Yikes !!! Bewildered is right. Good thing you have "great shoes". Her fans are going to have to do a lot of dialing......and Ryan said it looked like she was wearing her prom dress - wrong - this is Kellie's Prom Dress (dlisted.blogspot.com)
Ace - Double Yikes !!! You look ridiculous and you may have just saved Kellie Pickler from having the worst performance of the night. Time to finally go home - please !!!!!!
Katharine - No surprise that she killed here. I have heard better versions of the song - but then again, I am old so it makes sense that I have heard a lot of versions too - but this was up there. She looked great and sang beautifully. One problem that I could see is that I only got 5 busy signals - while voting for her about 15 times - 45 minutes after the show ended on the East Coast. She does seem to have a west coast fanbase so maybe they will pick up the slack.
Bottom 3 in reality - Kellie, Ace, Elliott - Bottom 3 per America's votes - Ace, Elliott, Paris - pack your bags Ace and give us one last pout as you sing yourself out......
(edited by dunkndollaz on 19.4.06 1017) Hey Crab Man !
--The line of the season so far: Kellie: "Well that's a load off my chest" Rod Stewart "....*uncomfortable pause*....." You could actually SEE the lewd thought go through Rod's mind.
--When Kat's doing her audition for Rod Stewart, he knows the camera's on and that he's being filmed -- and yet he can't help but sneak a look at her rack. This teaches us that Rod Stewart is a lecherous old man.
--When Kellie's performance starts going south, and the camera's scrolling behind the judges, you get to watch Simon's head flop on the table in disgust as she wrecks another note. I really wish idolonfox.com would give us a webcast of the judges' reactions to the performances, or maybe a picture-in-picture.
That being said:
FANtastic: Kat & Chris's performances were awesome. Great: Taylor/Paris/Elliott -- all were very nice Good: Ace -- I thought his job on the song was really good, and I was happy for him to get some praise from Simon. Ugh: Pickler tanked and tanked hard.
And, according to DialIdol.Com . . .
Spoiler Below: Highlight text to read
The one going home is Ace by a country mile, with some form of Pickler/Paris/Chris joining him in the Bottom 3.
Chris - yeah, this was nice. I like him better as rock guy, but he did more than enough to stick around.
Paris - This is what she's best at. But unfortunatly it's about all she's great at. And America doesn't seem to like her that much. So she's a middle of the pack, off a performance that should've have her near the top.
Taylor - It's finally starting to wear thin with me. He's ok, but just....I dunno anymore. He did a solid job for sure, but the magic is slipping away the more I see him.
Elliott - Poor guy. I love his voice and it was solid, but he looked like a dork with that cheap jacket and cheesy looks at the camera last night. He already was fighting with the bad teeth thing, he didn't need that. I think he'll be bottom three.
Kellie - You know it was horrible. Really horrible. But her reaction and comments after will save her. She might, maybe be bottom three, but I don't even expect that. She was just too cute and apologetic afterward and I bet it scored her back the votes her singing lost.
Ace - Well at least he tried a new look. Crappy look, but still. Why go with the classy look and then try to keep in the pop moves with the arms and such? Didn't work at all. Felt bad for him for the first time after his reaction to Simon's positive comments. You can tell he's working really hard every week and wants this, he's just not good enough. He could be successful in the business if he gets a great manager that doesn't let him think for himself.
Katherine - Eh, I'm so biased against her for no good reason at this point that I don't know what to say. She sang really well and looked great. But she was by no means far above the others tonight. I thought that was crazy talk by Simon. One of the best, not a clear cut best tonight.
Bottom three as it should be - Ace, Kellie, Elliott
bottom three as it will be - Ace, Elliott, Paris with Ace going home.
edit - Well right on the very bottom, but I just don't know how Chris could end up bottom three. Or really Paris after that performance. Taylor needs a trip down there I think. I guess when a somewhat popular person goes bottom three it seems to bump their votes for the next few weeks so hopefully that's a good thing. Though next weeks theme is gonna be a hard one. I'm kinda disappointed in it because I want to see Kat do something other than a slow song for once in the hopes it'll make me see her in a different way. Not happening next week.
Not much to say this week except...one of the best weeks ever seen, and I thought it was going to be a train wreck.
7 to 1 (best to worst, quick format [not much time])
Katharine, Chris, Taylor, Paris, Elliott, Ace (that hair had to go), Kellie
It took a week, but Ace is out of our misery. I think he just wanted to get out with a song named "THAT'S ALL". Any song with leaving, going, ending, etc. = a trip home
How Chris got to the bottom two, I don't know.
Next week: Love songs (Should be interesting), and Andrea Boccelli (Finally, someone that my mom really likes)
Six left. It should be a shootout to the end.
My thoughts on my own "Final Four", by way of times in bottom three.
1. Taylor - 0 2. Kellie - 0 3. Chris - 1 4. Katharine - 1 ----------------- 5. Elliott - 2 or 3 6. Paris - Seems like almost every week.
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Man I hate Bob Odenkirk's character. He just wants to close the case because they already celebrated catching the guy. So frustrating. Molly wanted to push it until she talked to the old Chief's widow and she just wanted to give her closure, I guess.