Finally, we get to the point where we're starting to see the Top 12. Based on last night's performances, America chose the first three contestants to sail through. But first, we had the requisite judge's banter, promotional spots, and torturous "after the break" moments.
Oh, and the musical number with all 12 contestants dancing and singing "I'm Yours." I'm not a big fan of the choreographed group numbers. They're just so awkward and weird. But whatever.
Then Ryan chatted up the contestants. Anoop Desai said that everyone was fairly relaxed, but then Ryan got all creepy on him and pressed Anoop into saying, "This is the most nervous I've ever been." Way to ratchet up the stress level, Ryan.
Then Ryan
The lights were dimmed, and Casey Carlson was first to be called into the spotlight (kiss of death). She said even though the judges were tough on her and said she picked the wrong song, she still had fun. But she'll have to continue having fun at home, because America voted and Casey is not in the top 12. Stephen Fowler was next, and given the boot just as quickly.
Alexis Grace was next, and she's such a sweetie. After being told she was the first to make it into the top 12 (yay!) -- and a few close-up shots of her weeping dad -- Alexis was asked to sing again. She's an awesome singer, and America definitely got it right.
Ricky Braddy and Jackie Tohn were next, and neither made it through. No surprise there, as neither one was particularly memorable.
Anoop Desai and Michael Sarver were brought up together. Michael said his heart was pounding out of his chest, but tomorrow's another day if he doesn't make it through. Then the news: Michael is going through, while Anoop heads home.
After a shameless promo for the American Idol Experience at Walt Disney Resort in Florida -- where season 7's Carly Smithson and Michael Johns sang "The Letter" -- Ann Marie Boskovich, Brent Keith, and Stevie Wright were brought up. Not surprisingly, none of them made it through.
Then the moment of truth. Danny Gokey and Tatiana Del Toro were brought up together. Tatiana, who was wearing Paula's star bracelet, along with the ring she gave her, could barely speak. And it was even worse "after the break," when Ryan said that Danny was going through, and Tatiana was going home.
Yay! America got it right! And let's hope Tatiana -- even though she did a pretty good job last night -- doesn't return as a wild card. And ... how to say this ... you could tell that the others were just consoling her to be nice. I get the feeling Tatiana didn't exactly win any popularity contests around there.
Next week, the next group of 12 will sing for their lives. Note that the show airs on Wednesday and Thursday.
The TV Squad Podcast: Linda Purl talks about The Office, we talk spoilers, and more
Ask TV Squad: Ghost Whisperer and more!
The TV Squad Podcast: Bill Scheft of The Late Show, Cake Boss, Mad Men and more
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
2-19-2009 @ 3:42AM
Robert said...
I hope Ricky Braddy gets another chance, I still think he had the best vocals of the night.
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 12:34PM
Dan said...
By far, he and Alexis Grace were the only ones who weren't painful.
I still don't get the Gokey worship. His voice is mediocre and I can't see him as a recording artist in any genre other than Contemporary Christian.
Michael Sarver proved beyond a doubt that he does not belong with that AWFUL performance. As usual, the Idol producers have their way with the stupid public by pushing the blue-collar guy while ignoring the one (Ricky Braddy) who can actually sing. If anyone thinks Sarver has a good voice, listen to that performance on your headphones and DONT WATCH IT (do that for Gokey too) and you will hear so many times when he is far off key and when he is clearly NOT a better singer than Braddy was.
Braddy just got the shaft from the producers COMPLETELY ignoring him and putting him early in the broadcast. Give him the closing spot and put Gokey in his spot and we'd have very different results. The way they pimp out the show-closer is just ridiculous. By the time 90 minutes have gone by, of course people are going to remember the song they just heard compared to one they heard that long ago...they also kept Tatiana to the end both nights to increase ratings.
2-19-2009 @ 4:39AM
Phish said...
i thought anoop was better than michael sarver, but i guess its america's choice. we voted for bush, so what should we expect!
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 8:19AM
Jimmy said...
America got it right? I don't think so.
Danny was a no-brainer; Alexis wasn't a surprise, even though I was pulling for Ann Marie.
Michael, on the other hand, was a big surprise. Ricky was the best singer this week -- yes, even better than Danny. If we had gotten to know him in the early rounds (instead of, say, Tatiana and Nathaniel), he probably would have advanced.
I'm curious to see how the "wild cards" will be chosen.
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 8:38AM
Kristen said...
I wasn't surprised at all by the results. Alexis was really the only good female singer out of that whole group while Danny was head and shoulders above everybody else. I figured the third spot would go to either Michael or Anoop. I like both, but based on Tuesday's performance, Michael definitely deserved it more.
I was sad to see Brent go home. I'm a big country music fan and I thought he had potential. Ricky had a great voice, but like Simon said, he had absolutely zero star power. Of course, I felt the same last year about David Archuleta. I hope Anoop or Brent gets a wild card spot.
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 10:19AM
Lando DeFree said...
Seriously Phish? You went there? Bush-bashing has become such a cliche...
Reply
2-21-2009 @ 6:54PM
Stuart Wing said...
Boy, that Bush bashing!! And just because he happens to be the worst American President ever! Couldn't people find a better reason to hate him -- like he left our country in a shambles that it will take our new President and a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get us out of! But at least we still have Bush's legacy with us, every time the Republicans vote to obstruct the change America voted for!!
2-19-2009 @ 9:07AM
Karen said...
I really though Anoop would make it. I suspect he will be the wild card unless the bring back Tatiana for the drama.
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 9:12AM
Michael said...
I hate to even bring it up but I have to believe that we haven't seen the last of Tatiana. This show LIVES on drama and she's about as close as they've got to a natural-born trainwreck this season. I wouldn't be saying this if she couldn't sing but despite all her character flaws, she really does have a great voice. Singing Whitney is almost always a bad choice for most contestants and she pulled it off - on the very first show! Simon nailed it when he commented that she wants to be a star more than anything - and it was quite evident last night. She kept primping and playing to the camera (ugh!) when she was up there with Danny. Even so, she's got a lot of talent and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if we see her come back as one of the wildcards.
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 9:17AM
gillygirl said...
Did anyone notice that Tatiana didn't shed one tear despite her body shaking from emotions and burying her face in her hands 'crying'. At least she could learn how to cry on cue to make it more believable. What a mess of a personality she is. Won't miss her, that's for sure.
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 9:39AM
Maria T C G said...
I turned it off after Anoop was cut. (By a mere 20,000 votes!) This so sucked. If he isnt brought back for the Wild card I am done. The crowd loves him-Simon said he has charisma. What a joke.
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 10:24AM
Fritz said...
I have to say that some of you are correct on the way AI is conducting the show this year. It is a shame that they are reducing the amount of contestants so drastically this early in the competition. I would rather see a reduction of 36 to 24 then cut the group by 2 each week until they get to 12.
As for the selections that were made last night by "public votes", I have to agree that the 3 selected out of this bunch did perform the best in this round. I also believe 3 other contestants did an equalivant job and deserved another week to gain additional public support and step up to these standards. That’s just my 2 cents for what it’s worth.
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 10:37AM
becky said...
I was hoping for a major upset and have the three be: Anoop, Alexis and Michael. I figured Danny could come back as a wild card. Hopefully, the judges will give Anoop another chance,IMO he is worthy of it!
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 11:54AM
Ryan said...
I bet you Anoop got more votes than Alexis.
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 1:42PM
Michael said...
I doubt that Ryan. Alexis showed again last night that she is the front runner in this competition so far. The judges have it right when they compared her to an emerging Kelly Clarkson. She's going to be tough to beat later on.
2-19-2009 @ 6:02PM
Nornny said...
Danny looked a bit...smug...up there next to Tatiana. Just how far they were standing apart and lack of eye contact, you could tell they were not getting along. The family putting up the photo to the camera was really shameless. The producers have basically killed Danny's chances by overrating him so much (pimp slot on Tuesday AND Wednesday? Unnecessary).
Wildcards in the first few seasons were always pretty fair. The ones with the most buzz generally got a second chance. Anoop will no doubt get a 2nd shot, and he'd have to royally screw up to not get one of the three wildcard slots. Ricky and Tatiana will probably come back too, but would need some crazy good performances for any of the three judges to pick them as a favorite. There are a lot of producers/judges favorites next week as well who the judges are just waiting to snatch up if they don't advance on America's votes.
I still stand by my opinion that this format is much more exciting. The number of votes this year (a few million more than last year or something) alone shows it's promoting people to invest sooner and more deeply into their favorites (or in my case, against the judges' favorites).
And we get to see much more people than 24 judges picks, which is good, because we always get mad at who makes it to the 24 anyways (we even got mad at their 36 choices). It'll keep things fresh to see new people next week rather than Casey Carlson and Stevie Wright again.
Everyone else would've lost eventually in the old format anyways. This way pretty much gets us to the same result, but gives us a stronger bottom-feeder pool.
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 1:51PM
jag said...
AnoopDog was bad but I think the judges like him and will bring him back. Tatiana will likely go postal.
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 3:09PM
vtracy said...
Michael Sarver ....stunk.....he knows it...this is not a popularity contest ...or maybe it is....I think anoop,brady and Tatiana were all better.....sarver was off key.There are allot more troubled people in hollywood than Tatiana......including simone.......
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 3:11PM
Jussup said...
They kind of took the suspense out of the Danny/Tatiana... who is going thru?... thing. Ryan had just got done saying that Anoop got only 20,000 less votes than Michael... since we know the top guy, the top gal and the next highest vote getter move on it was obviously going to be Danny because Alexis (top gal) already advanced. If they wanted to make it truly suspenseful they should have had it come down to Alexis and Tatiana then you really wouldn't have known.
Reply
2-19-2009 @ 4:48PM
alknows said...
I like Danny Gokey, but enough already with the dead wife. It's tragic, but it's a singing contest not One Life to Live. I think the wild card round should go like this: Each judge can bring back three of the top 36 who didn't get voted in originally. Then another 12 at a time show and the top three from there join the other nine in the Top 12.
Reply