(S07E32) Well, I think the Mariah Carey performances went better than expected. We got slid vocal performances from all three guys and at least half the girls. I'd predict a three-female "Bottom Three," but last week showed us just how unpredictable this show can be. And Mariah Carey performs because what better way to whore her new album, E=MC2, than to do it on the largest stage in America. Join us, won't you, to chat, chat, chat live during tonight's episode, starting just before 9:00pm ET.You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.
Can you believe we're at the Top 6 already? This week they hit a new high in votes with 36 million. And Ryan had another chance to apologize about teasing Michael Johns so cruelly last week and didn't.
Group Number - "One Sweet Day," Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men
We're down to few enough finalists that these can be an opportunity to showcase individual solos, and that's what Idol did tonight. And both Jason and Kristy did really nice jobs with their opening bit. I'm surprised nobody told Brooke that she accidentally put on Kristy's sparkly top, certainly with their anatomical differences, it was hanging way too low on Brooke. This song is a powerhouse showcase and I have to say that I think the Idols actually handled it very well. VFTW might need to drop Kristy in favor of someone else because she's actually growing as a true performer and singer.
Ford Commercial - "I Want to Break Free"
This week, the Idols were puppets on strings in mundane lives until they were set free to drive in a Ford. Yeah, that was the concept. I don't really know what more I can say about it.
Elliott Yamin - "Free"
Elliott had probably the purest and most accomplished voice on Season Five, but when he started here I wasn't feeling it. I do prefer him with a slightly shorter 'do than he's been sporting in recent videos, but it was great to see him performing again on the Idol stage. And his new teeth are just beautiful. Our hearts at TVS go out to Elliott over the recent passing of his mother. She was a fun presence in many of his video packages and seemed to enjoy his growing fame even more than he did. Did I mention that the boy can sing! I think he may have just blown away the entire Top 7 of this season with that performance. He closed with a message on his hand to her: "We Miss You Mom."
Stupid Live Phone Calls Segment
Can we just retire this already. I don't even want to talk about it. A bunch of regular people asked questions and we learned that the guy who bought Kristy's horse so she could audition won't sell it back to her. We learned that the first records Randy bought were Zeppelin, Beatles and James Brown. For Paula it was The Jackson Five, Earth, Wind & Fire and Carole King, and Simon said it was Paula Abdul's Straight Up when he was ten (funny guy, that Simon). We also learned that sometimes when someone gets on the line they won't shut up. I did like the woman who wanted Simon to differentiate some of Simon's various performance descriptions (karaoke, cruise ship, bar, hamburger without meat). And of course, he had no answer to differentiate them. And most importantly, we learned that David Cook is single. Dammit, I talked about the segment anyway.
Mariah Carey - "Bye Bye"
Speaking of glittery things, Mariah's mic stand was glittery. She was beautiful, her breasts were bursting just the way she likes them and her skirt was so short it's surely illegal in the entire bible belt. I'm not sure if this is going to be her next single, but I found it to be a bit boring. I'm not going to take away anything from Mariah, though, as she has one of the most impressive vocal ranges and voices I've ever heard. Now I've never seen her live before, but she barely moved around and just didn't really sell the performance for me. And her background singer was ruining the end of it for me. Then in her after-performance banter she shamelessly plugged her album and gave Randy to much credit for her success, meaning he'll be insufferable now.
Building the Top 6
Again we decided to do this one by one, and first out of the gate was Jason Castro. And I guess we've reached the point where Ryan makes groups on the stage. Jason went to his left. Does that mean we have a surprising Bottom Three and elimination this week? He loves to make two groups of three on the stage and have the seventh contestant pick which group they think is the "safe" group. You know, those cruel tricks the Idol producers love to play. Bastards.
The next victim of their little game was David Cook. When Ryan talked to him about the emotions he felt the other night, he acknowledged vaguely that there's been a lot going on his life without overtly discussing his brother's struggles with cancer. Ryan sent David to start a new group to his right. Then, he invited Carly Smithson to the stage where she called Simon out for being extra harsh on her this season. Simon said he was trying to push her to be the great singer he knew she was capable of being before Ryan sent her to his left to join Jason.
Kristy Lee Cook said Simon can be a butt at times and was sent to join David to Ryan's right. At this point, they broke for commercial and moved to Elliott Yamin performing. This is great, but somebody needs to explain to them that when you make two pointless (thus far) groups of two on a stage and then abandon the concept for awhile, the impact of what your doing is diminished.
After the Yamin break, the groups reformed and Syesha Mercado joined Ryan at center stage. She was sent to join Jason and Carly. Next, came Brooke White who was sent opposite to join the Cooks. So, as expected, David Archuleta was safe and as he was the youngest and most naive, let's put him in the horrible position of having to pick the "top" group. Idol cruelty at its finest. But before that, another musical number; this time Mariah.
Your Bottom Three
So David came out and, as expected, was told straight out he was safe. Then to make things interesting, he switched David Cook and Syesha Mercado to the opposite group. So now, which of the two groups is the Bottom Three? Is it Jason, Carly and David Cook? As it stands, Carly must have resonated more than we thought and it was her group that David joined as safe.
So the Bottom Three was Kristy Lee Cook, Brooke White and Syesha Mercado.
Going Home
First back to safety was Syesha Mercado, leaving Brooke and Kristy vulnerable to the vote. In the end, Kristy was again certain that she was leaving, while Brooke was insistent that we couldn't be sure. But she was right and Brooke was safe. Kristy can be tremendously proud of how far she made it in the competition, just as far as Sanjaya did last year (*hee-hee*).
Much love to Kristy for singing her final song directly to Simon at the beginning. I do think she might be able to make a run for it in Nashville. I think more country singers have been able to come out of the Idol machine than any other genre.
My Picks
Hey, look. I picked Kristy Lee Cook again and this time I got it right! And if we pretend that I said Brooke instead of Carly we can pretend I got the whole Bottom Three right. Okay, but still I'm moving closer to .500 for the year, reaching 8-10 now.
YOUR PICKS
Well, it didn't go quite as well for you guys. Your bottom three was Syesha, followed by Brooke and Carly coming in with the lowest votes. You had Kristy right in the middle of the pack at fourth. Might I actually be able to catch up to you guys? You're at 11-7 now.
Next Week: It's Andrew Lloyd Weber, and I think we've got a great Top 6 left to tackle it.
Giveaway Tuesday: Signed True Blood promo poster
TV Squad is now iPhone-friendly
Giveaway Monday: The Shield season six DVD - VIDEO
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
4-16-2008 @ 10:03PM
Rmpr said...
it was kristy's time to go. She was doing overtime...
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4-16-2008 @ 10:04PM
Caroline said...
Wow, I was totally wrong about Kristy Lee. Jason, you really had it right!
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4-17-2008 @ 11:13AM
dt3 said...
you know what they say... 7th times the charm
4-16-2008 @ 10:07PM
Jimmy said...
I'm not sure if Kristy Lee's performance this week should have gotten her thrown off, but she went out with class, her head held high, and a jab or two at Simon (well earned, by the way).
I'm interested to see how the remaining six perform Andrew Lloyd Webber. This could actually do in Brooke White. I can see her performing something acoustic from Jesus Christ Superstar, but I'm not sure she has the vocal range for most of Webber's songs. I would love to see Carly perform "Memory." David A will probably pick "Music of the Night" or some other breathy ballad.
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4-16-2008 @ 11:03PM
jake said...
After NOT being a fan of kristy lee cook early on -- i'm so angry because of all the singers who sang Mariah -- I think Kristy sang it best and blew everyone away -- even Mariah was brought to tears with her song. I don't understand the love that people have for syesha -- who should have been gone a long long time ago. Kristy escaped death several times, most often she was deserving to leave, but these past few weeks had turned me around -- with her God Bless America performance being the beginning. Glad you stayed Kristy so that we can see how talented you really are.
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4-16-2008 @ 11:04PM
Phish said...
sad to see KLC leave before syesha. yes, syesha prob had a better voice, but KLC was soo nice to look at.
i really have a thing for tall blondes!
look, neither of them was gonna win this thing, so why not keep the eye candy around a bit longer, and dump that hag syesha!
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4-17-2008 @ 3:10PM
Dan said...
How is Syesha a hag? If there's one thing you can say about her it's that she's gorgeous. You must just not like any girl who isn't white. KLC was about as wonderbread as you could get and she's long deserved to go ever since she butchered 8 Days a Week (and before that when she could only sing "Amazing Grace" to stay alive)...
4-16-2008 @ 11:33PM
Jim said...
But didn't you guys feel that Kristy felt it was her time to go? She sang a song that began "those days are gone..our time is through", that's like saying "get me outta here!" I remember when Kelly Pickler felt that she over stayed her welcome a couple of seasons or so ago and she said "i butchered that song!" after her performance, and she was voted off. Though, I don't think Kristy deserved to go, she apparently felt otherwise either purposefully, or in her heart. And votefortheworst was telling people to vote for her, and I don't think Kristy had the stomach to be part of a Sanjaya-like controversey. Ok, well that's my point of view on this American Idol craziness. There is another good article on American Idol here http://jviz.blogspot.com/2008/04/young-stars.html
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4-16-2008 @ 11:45PM
vacelts said...
I loved the way Kristy Lee sang her farewell song.
http://redlightnaps.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/american-idol-7-top-7-results/
I have gotten used to her surviving so I was a little shocked to see her finally go.
With six left the pickings for the actual winner are getting slimmer.
http://redlightnaps.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/american-idol-7-winner-speculation/
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4-16-2008 @ 11:59PM
Lucy said...
I think that Kristy Lee is beautiful....she has an amanzing stage presence and personality. Her voice will win in Nashville. We have not heard the last of her.
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4-17-2008 @ 12:21AM
Chuck said...
Regarding last week, is it possible that Ryan had explained to the contestants before hand that someone would still be going home that week, and he was just teasing us? Doesn't anyone think they, at least, would have asked before hand? So then Ryan wasn't teasing Michael, because they already knew how it would go? I mean, I'm sure they all saw it last year, so they would've probably asked already if there was going to be an elimination.
regarding this week: it wasn't surprising, but I was sad to see her go. Not only was she (extremely) easy on the eyes, but int he last couple of weeks she had become one of the better performers, and was improving every week.
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4-17-2008 @ 12:49AM
jenny said...
Regarding last week -- i'm positive contestants were NOT told that someone would be going home last week -- even Michael Johns said that and it was incredibly cruel of ryan to word it like that. If they did ask, do you think that they would have been given an answer? There are no hard feelings between johns and ryan by the way.
Regarding this week -- Kristy Lee Cook was the best of the ladies and actually best of the night and it comes down to people voting for the bottom two of the week before thinking that they would go. It's funny, i always thought that cook should go a long time ago, but now think that america got it wrong.
4-17-2008 @ 12:55AM
seth said...
Two weeks running i've been so upset with who got the ax -- people need to stop saving people and start voting for their favorites. Kristy's performance was the best of the night and should have been in the top three performances. She is the only idol who has grown as the weeks have gone by.
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4-17-2008 @ 1:09AM
sthompson said...
American Idol: Kristy Can't Carey Country
Maybe I should've listened to the voices in my head. You know the ones. Those voices who tell you obscure arcane information. This week, I should've thought about how Sanjaya left the show at this time last year-- and his fellow votefortheworst.com candidate gets to tie his longevity record.
Alas, I have learned not to listen to the voices. Those same voices that whispered "Simon just killed Kristy's chances by calling her performance (in a roundabout way) karaoke hell." At least I mentioned that one in my last blog.
So our only true country girl has left the building. Watch this space. She'll be in Nashville soon. When you consider the progress that Kellie Pickler has made, I would think Kristy is ready for her second shot at stardom. (Recall that she was once signed to Arista Nashville.)
Best line of the night. Someone wrote that Mariah's dress was somewhere north of the Bible Belt.
A commercial non-sequitur. Why would one of the Pussycat Dolls be singing a Brazillian remix of the old Duran Duran song Rio? Does someone somewhere believe the song is about Rio in Brazil? The lyrics plainly say "across the Rio Grande".
So what does this mean for the final six? Three guys and three girls. Do we continue to eliminate the opposite sex every week until we have the usual (or so it seems) boy-girl finale? Or is this a repeat of Clay-Ruben? I suppose the plot possibilities are endless. Perhaps even mindless.
Here they are, listed from least favorite to favorite according to the latest AOL poll...
06. Syesha Mercado has more lives than a cat. Every poll I looked at this afternoon had Syesha as the Idol most likely to leave. Granted, she's been decent from time to time-- but never consistently. I didn't care for her take on Vanishing at all. In fact, the poll in the TV Squad section of AOL Televison has had her at or near the bottom for weeks.
05. Carly Smithson ultimately made a wise decision to sing Without You. Most people have heard at least one version of that song, so it was a song that most of the voters could easily identify with. Frankly, I didn't think she nailed the song as well as she must've thought she did. I guess the American people have spoken, but I wonder if all it took was her to wear something to cover her tattoos.
04. Brooke White has almost as many friends as she does enemies amongst the folks that vent their opinions online. I don't know why people don't like her. Could it be that they just can't identify with someone who has a sense of morality that might make them feel uncomfortable? (Remember: Brooke said that she has never seen an R rated movie.) I actually liked her take on Mariah this week-- of course, I'm not a Mariah fan. I guess the degree of acceptance might rely on your own personal like or dislike of the featured mentor. I was able to listen to the song without wanting to pierce my eardrum with a flaming hot poker. To me, that meant Brooke was the best singer of the females.
03. David Cook apparently has learned alchemy. I realize there are detractors who say that "all he does is take a popular song and make it sound like rock." Okay. If that's such an easy proposition, feel free to try it yourselves. The best news for me is that when he's on his game, he's the last best hope for defeating Ballad Boy.
02. Jason Castro has been wildly uneven with his performances. To paraphrase an old saying: when he's good, he's very, very good. But when he's bad, he's just plain awful. Lately, he's returned to the very, very good phase of his performances. I find it interesting that he seems to be the stalking horse of the final six. You really won't know he's there until he passes you.
01. David Archuletta. I can't take credit for this one, but I like it too well to pass it by. He's really Clay 2.0 Really. The difference, I suppose, is that I recall liking Clay during the season he was competing. Archie? Not so much. There's just something so Stepford about the way he approaches his songs. With the exception of Imagine, I haven't ranked him very highly at all.
So our Superlative Six get to meet and greet with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber next week. This could be interesting. I've been hearing Carly sing Memory, Brooke sing I Don't Know How to Love Him, David Cook sing Superstar and Jason Castro sing I Only Want to Say.
Yeah. It's the voices again.
We'll see, won't we
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4-17-2008 @ 11:19AM
ORKMommy said...
Get your own blog. We already got a review at the top of the page. Or did you not see that?
4-17-2008 @ 3:09PM
Dan said...
Shut up ORKMommy, some of us like seeing people who can formulate real opinions without having to search for blog after blog. Just because you're not intelligent enough to write your own review doesn't mean people here don't have the right to do so. You're probably one of the people keeping David Archuleta alive, right?
4-17-2008 @ 1:23AM
Lucas said...
After the early release of Michael Johns last week - its much easier to see who will come out on top, so in a way its clearer to see who the next 4 that get kicked off are - and the poll above pretty much confirms who will be the 2 finalists.
After destroying everyone with a Mariah Carey love song of all things - I too and Hook'd on Cook - I'd actually pay money to buy a David Cook CD and I think that is who should win the contest - whoever I give my money too.
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4-17-2008 @ 3:02AM
eugene said...
I like Brooke, she has a shawn colvin kinda vibe that I really like, but in a sweet innocent sorta way... which shawn colvin definitely is not.
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4-17-2008 @ 8:10AM
S John Massoud said...
Sorry Jason but it is wrong to compare Sanjaya and Kristy Lee Cook. He could not sing and made up for it by having as much stage presence as I have the ability to flap my arms and fly.
Kristy had a decent voice and stage presence. She was just not as good as the other contestants. I really thought she was improving. And actually I'd have preferred that she stay around another week or 2.
(I am no fan of Syesha or Castro).
But Kristy has nothing to be ashamed of. She had a good run and it was getting close to her time to go.
Hope that Syesha is next though.
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4-17-2008 @ 8:25AM
K.B. said...
I wasn't surprised that Kristy Lee went home. However, I was disappointed. I thought she was improving each week and looked forward to hearing her sing (although I'm not a fan of country music). Brooke and Jason just do the same thing week after week. I think they are the next two to go...
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