Posted Jun 1st 2009 7:31PM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, Celebrities, What To Watch Tonight, Predictions and Trends, News and Gossip
Here comes the response to
Mr. Zaino's prediction that Conan O'Brien Irish eyes will smile for a long time to come on NBC's
The Tonight Show. It's possible the whole deal could turn into a lament.
My argument:
- It seems more like The Tonight Show isn't the best marriage for Conan O'Brien, rather than the host being wrong for the show. From SNL to The Simpsons to his own Late Night, O'Brien was a driving force in some of the most cutting edge network comedy of the last 15 years. But, The Tonight Show isn't about "cutting edge." It's about something mildly entertaining to watch before folks tuck into bed. It's a waste of O'Brien's chops -- though you can't blame the guy for knocking down the paycheck.
- Due to lazy NBC programming ideas, O'Brien's popularity could be damaged by his predecessor. No, Jay Leno is in no way out to sabotage his protege. But Leno's upcoming prime time, pre-news lead-in to The Tonight Show seems like overkill. Will audiences want to watch "Leno's old Tonight Show" followed by "O'Brien's new Tonight Show?"
Continue reading Point/Counterpoint: The Tonight Show will fail Conan O'Brien
Posted May 27th 2009 6:07PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Alumni, Predictions and Trends, News and Gossip
Fans of Kris Allen feel justified that their favorite won
American Idol this year. Fans of the presumed favorite to win, Adam Lambert, have been lamenting his loss.
Looking for reasons why Adam lost, as Bob reported, they've put some of the blame on AT&T. I think it's more a matter of the jaded state of California, where Lambert hails from. They're not as impressed with a famous singer in their midst as the people of Kris Allen's Arkansas are.
People in the Midwest and South don't have celebrities around every corner, and we're not as "hard" as the East Coast. So we still get excited when a "hometown" boy or girl does good. Think back to Season Five when Katharine McPhee went "home" to Los Angeles to a crowd of hundreds while Taylor Hicks was blown away by tens of thousands in Alabama (and they already had one Idol!).
Continue reading Here's the real American Idol voting conspiracy
Posted May 14th 2009 12:22AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Music and Variety, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Alumni, Performances, Host, Predictions and Trends, Episode Reviews
It's getting down to the wire, and all three of the remaining contestants are certainly talented enough to be crowned the next
American Idol. While I've been an Adam Lambert fan all along, I'd be fine with whomever wins this season.
Things start off tonight with the Ford commercial, kind of a fun little cartoon-oriented ad with Adam, Danny and Kris singing "Break My Stride." It must be really fun to see yourself as a cartoon/comic book character.
Continue reading American Idol: 1 of 3 goes home
Posted May 13th 2009 7:55PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Contestants, Predictions and Trends
For the most part, people tend to make their picks for who should win
American Idol pretty early on. And for now the odds-on favorite remains Adam Lambert. Last night Simon told Kris that he'd all but written him off for the finale, but after his second performance he'd put himself right back into the thick of things. It's hard to argue that all three of these finalists are amazing talents. But has anyone done anything to make you change your mind about who should go to the finals or possibly even win the whole thing?
We've been building to a Danny/Adam finale pretty much since the beginning. Kris though, Kris kind of came out of nowhere early on, and I think he blew the other two boys away last night. Yes, I know Adam fans think he was amazing, but he again worked his patented "rock scream" into both songs and it didn't belong in either, particularly "One." Danny opened disastrously before redeeming himself, but Kris had that something special in both songs. Is it even possible to change people's minds at this point?
Posted May 7th 2009 12:18AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Music and Variety, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Alumni, Performances, Host, Predictions and Trends, News and Gossip, Episode Reviews
Yet another results show has come around, and Ryan starts things off by asking, "Who will graduate from the Idol school of rock, and who will just get schooled?" You know, Ryan, I'm available if your writers are on strike. Call me.
Anyway, sounds like it was a dramatic week on American Idol - a large column collapsed and in a separate incident, a staffer was injured on a stair mishap. Whew. But the show must go on, and we'll find out tonight whether Allison, Danny, Adam or Kris will be going home. The other three get to go home, too, but for a big hometown parade with cheerleaders and town leaders gushing praise on them.
Continue reading American Idol: 1 of 4 goes home
Posted Apr 29th 2009 12:22AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Music and Variety, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Performances, Predictions and Trends, Episode Reviews
The theme on this week's
American Idol is songs from the Rat Pack era, and the five remaining contestants are mentored by Jamie Foxx. I get that he's a classically-trained musician who also starred in
Ray and
Dreamgirls, but is he the best person to mentor on this genre? I get the feeling that whomever is getting bad press calls up the Idol producers and begs to be on the show. Well, that and I'm sure he's plugging
The Soloist, in theaters right now. Anyhoo ...
Kris Allen starts things off with
"The Way You Look Tonight," one of my favorite songs from that era. It's really nice having Ricky Miner and the band onstage, because it helps to put you in that era. The tune starts off slow, then picks up with a jazzy beat in the middle. Really, really nice.
The Judges: Randy says it's his best performance to date; Kris took his time, told a story, and added some R&B stylings. Kara agrees, saying Kris set the technical standard high for the evening. "You are truly a dark horse in this competition," says Kara. Paula says he's made an amazing transition from boy-next-door to sophisticated gentleman. Simon isn't quite as enthusiastic, saying it's "wet" and like "taking a well-trained spaniel for a walk." He doesn't feel like Kris can win the competition.
Continue reading American Idol: Top 5 Perform
Posted Apr 27th 2009 4:27PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Contestants, Predictions and Trends
You can say Adam Lambert is the breakout star of
American Idol this season, and you'd almost be right. But he's not. He's too over-the-top most of the time (keep your tongue in your mouth!) and though he's come closest, he still hasn't had that "moment" Simon is waiting for. In fact, none of them have. This is about as bland a "Final Five" as we've ever seen.
After all these weeks, there should have been a performance from almost everyone that forced me to back up the DVR and experience it at least once more. It hasn't happened.
Continue reading Where's the breakout star on American Idol?
Posted Apr 16th 2009 12:11AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Music and Variety, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Performances, Host, Predictions and Trends, Episode Reviews
I love the movie Flashdance, so I got all excited when the Idols started singing "Maniac" for their group number. But then I quickly deflated when I realized their version is nothing like the movie version with Jennifer Beals doing her butt dance. I'm not a lesbian, but watching that scene always makes me wish I was. Bring on the leg warmers and ripped sweatshirt.
After that, we had some footage of the Idols attending the red carpet premiere of 17 Again and getting to meet Zac Efron, Leslie Mann and the other stars of the film. Zac was in the Idol audience, too, wearing some goofy ski hat and looking like nine miles of bad road, but whatever.
Continue reading American Idol: Who goes home?
Posted Apr 2nd 2009 12:12AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Music and Variety, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Performances, Host, Predictions and Trends, News and Gossip, Episode Reviews
Well, most of you correctly predicted who would go home on American Idol this week. A whopping 1183 votes for the predicted loser were logged in our poll!
But before we got to find out who it was for real, a whole bunch of other stuff happened, starting with Kara saying she appreciates the audience and their passion for the Idols. That was in reference to the heckling she got last night.
And Paula tried to redeem herself by saying that while she put the spotlight on Adam Lambert (you know, that Mick Jagger/Steven Tyler comment), she knows that all of the Idols have something special. Alrighty then.
Continue reading American Idol: Results Show (1 of 9 goes home)
Posted Apr 1st 2009 12:15AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Music and Variety, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Performances, Host, Predictions and Trends, Episode Reviews
I kind of like the beginning of
American Idol these days. The judges enter on the stage, so we get to see whatever awesome dress Paula is wearing. Not sure about last week's tutu, but I like her tulip-inspired red dress tonight.
Then Ryan descends from a big long stairway on the stage, like he's some old-time movie star or something. It's a little weird and cheesy, but also kind of fun. The theme this week is wide open, with the contestants choosing any song that's a popular download on iTunes. Let's get to it.
Anoop Desai started things off with Usher's "Caught Up." He cranked the pop factor up a few notches and showed that he's got the chops to switch it up a bit. Randy's a little torn and doesn't like the song choice. Kara thinks it's like a bunch of "frat guys dared you to get up and do Usher." Paula loves his more playful side, but says Anoop's stage presence needs a little work. Simon thinks it's "a complete and utter mess," saying, "It actually gave me a headache."
Continue reading American Idol: Top 9 Perform
Posted Mar 27th 2009 3:25PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: American Idol, Site Announcements, Web, Predictions and Trends
In covering
American Idol for this site, there's one thing I've learned: You all have very strong opinions on who the next Idol should be. But the question is, do you know who the next Idol
will be? To that end, we've teamed up with
Buddy TV to create a TV Squad American Idol Fantasy League, and we want you to join!
All you have to do is
click on this link for the fantasy league and make your picks for elimination. Once you have, it will prompt you to login or register. Do that, and you're all set... to lose horribly to me (kona99). Oh, that's right. The smack talk is starting early, people. Let's go and see what you can do!
If you have any problems or questions, please feel free to comment below and we'll try to get them sorted out for you.
Posted Mar 18th 2009 12:15AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Performances, Host, Predictions and Trends, Celebrity Commentary, Episode Reviews
It's country week on
American Idol! It's always fun to see the country singers shine, and the rockers and R&B singers try and muddle through. Randy Travis was on hand to offer advice to the singers, and you can tell that most of them were star-struck about having a one-on-one with him. Let's get to it:
Michael Sarver sang "Ain't Goin' Down Til the Sun Comes Up." He did a pretty good job with it, other than flubbing the lyrics a little in the middle. Randy Jackson liked the song, but wasn't sure about the vocals. Kara thought it was fun, but she missed the big notes. Paula thought the genre suited him, and Simon said it was clumsy and he couldn't understand the words. On a scale of 1 to 10, he'd give it 1.2. Really? It didn't seem that bad to me.
Continue reading American Idol: Top 11 Perform
Posted Mar 6th 2009 12:15AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Performances, Host, Predictions and Trends, Episode Reviews
This episode raised the hopes of a few, while simultaneously dashing the hope of many. For some, I shudder to think what they did after the show (cough*Tatiana*cough).
There are three places left in the top 12 ... or... are there ... ? If you haven't watched the show yet, I guess you'll have to read to the end of this review to find out just how many people are actually in the top 12. Until then, the eight singers chosen to come back in the judges' Wild Card Round sang their little hearts out. Let's see how they fared ...
Jesse Langseth starts things off by singing "Tell Me Something Good." Her voice is bluesy, and she looks hot, too. You can tell she's really trying to bring it, and while Randy likes the song, he doesn't think she sang it that well. Kara likes her swagger. Paula is impressed with her tenacity and determination, and says she has a lot of soul. Simon says she's the last girl they chose for the Wild Card Round, and she sang a lot better than last time. But he thinks the song choice is "slightly indulgent." I have no idea what the judges mean when they say that, and Simon must be reading my mind, because he explains that it's all about the singer, when it should be about the judges. Wait...what?! In fact, WTF?! Moving right along...
Continue reading American Idol: Judges' Wild Card
Posted Feb 27th 2009 1:12AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Music and Variety, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Performances, Predictions and Trends
People sure take
American Idol seriously! 25 million voted last night, choosing the next three singers to advance to the top 12, joining Alexis Grace, Danny Gokey, and Michael Sarver. Based on the chosen three tonight, this is gearing up to be a great competition. So far, everyone can sing and there really aren't any Sanjayas in the group yet. Yes, Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle is a novelty act. but he can sing and he's really entertaining.
But before we got to learn which three went through, the producers tortured us with yet another group number, with the Idols awkwardly dancing and singing Neo's "Closer." I'm not a big fan of the group numbers, and the singers don't look like they're having that much fun either.
Continue reading American Idol: 3 of second 12 go through
Posted Feb 12th 2009 1:14AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Performances, Predictions and Trends, Episode Reviews
Hollywood Week continues, and the field has narrowed to 54 contestants, all vying for 36 spots in the official Season 8 lineup. But the
Idol peeps switched things up by putting the judges in this giant house called "The Judge's Mansion" (???), and forcing contestants to take the long walk through the mansion and face the judges in a European parlor-type room. It's all very Vanity Fair-meets-
Dallas. Anyhoo ...
Anoop Desai was first up, and the judges quickly moved him into season 8. "Love that kid," said Paula.
Von Smith addressed Simon's remark about his Hollywood Week song being "self-indulgent nonsense." But the pressure is off, at least for now, because Von made it through to the next round. And his mom couldn't be happier.
Continue reading American Idol: Hollywood Round #4
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