TVSquad

In AOL's interview with Jason Yeager, the Branson performer struggled with how to interpret his elimination. On the one hand, he feels that the lack of screen time he got prior to America voting (said screen time being essentially zero minutes and zero seconds) hurt his ability to connect. On the other hand, his son's first words to him moments after his elimination were "I love you dad and I'm proud of you."

As usual, those contestants who get very little screen time do seem more prone to early eliminations (see Garrett Haley and Colton Berry), but Jason failed to connect with a contemporary audience with his overly dramatized cheesy performances. Those kinds of theatrics play very well to the midwest Branson, MO crowd, but not so much on the intimate stage and television cameras of the American Idol machine.



In Reality TV World's interview with Jason Yeager, he said that he focused too much on what the judges were saying, letting it influence him. "That's where my flaw was, that I tried to make it about trying to please them and you just can't do that. You just have to worry about your fans out there and who are voting." That may have been part of it, but for me it's still that his theatrical style wasn't a good fit for the show. Here's his elimination and final performance where you'll see what I'm talking about:


Honestly, I think Jason really had bigger problems than what he purported in his interview, namely a lack of screen time and trying too hard to cater to the judges. I get that he believes in himself and his style, and I agree that there should be enough room for a variety of musical backgrounds and styles on American Idol. For me it was always about the hamming it up he did during his performances that set off my "corn-dar." Here's his Top 20 performances of The Doobie Brothers' "Long Train Running." Tell me if the smiling and gestures aren't corny with a capital C.:


Jason was much more at home in his Top 24 rendition of "Moon River." This is definitely the style he feels most comfortable with, and yet his performance still ached from the corniness, especially by the end. It's the smiling and the pointing and really every motion he makes:


See, now this is exactly the kind of place that was made for performers like Jason. Here he is performing in "Hot Rockin' Country" at Six Flags Over Texas. I'm not saying he's not a good singer, because he is. He just belongs on a live stage doing fun skits and over the top singing. Wait, he belongs someplace like Branson. Looks like Jason Yeager had it figured out all along.:


Hopefully, when he goes back he can move on to some higher profile gigs, like his run with Shoji Tabuchi, rather than back to his most recent gig as a singing waiter. "I'd kind of given up on everything," he explained regarding where he was mentally when he auditioned. "I had lost my show in Branson that I was starring in out there, so I was just waiting tables. I just wanted to give it one last go-round ... I still think that something great is going to come out of this. I'm looking forward to whatever opportunity arises out of it."

Jason Yeager's MySpace blog thanks his fans and discusses his appreciation and joy at having made it onto the show and as far as he did. He shows both incredible poise and grace in his placement, as well as true optimism for the future. I can't help but think that the exposure he got on American Idol and the vocal ability he showed there will help him find work again in musical theater. He has a very nice voice and a good stage presence for a particular type of show and audience, and he's a good-looking guy. I think the show will do for Jason exactly what he needed it to do. Get him back on track and able to do what he loves doing.

IDOL SEASON 7 FAREWELLS
#21 - Colton Berry
#22 - Joanne Borgella
#23 - Amy Davis
#24 - Garrett Haley