Chikezie-related stories
Posted May 27th 2008 1:03PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Judges, Contestants, Alumni, Host, Predictions and Trends, News and Gossip
We scoured the earth (and the archives at various record companies for failed projects that showed vocal promise) to create the greatest assemblage of singing talent
American Idol has ever seen! So what happened? After last year's virtual snooze-fest, how did a season that truly did give us perhaps the greatest depth of talent we've ever seen (an argument could be made for Season Five) give us such lackluster shows?
After Sanjaya-gate last year, the biggest controversy to come out this year was that finalist David Hernandez used to be a stripper and David Archuleta's dad might be a Mr. Meany-Pants. And we got to be pissed that Kristy Lee Cook outlasted the likes of Michael Johns. Not until we got to the finale of Davids did things get really intense.
Continue reading AI7 Report Card: The season that was
Posted May 21st 2008 7:45PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Episode Reviews, Episode Recaps
(S07E42) Forty-two episodes later we're finally ready to find out who is going to take home the crown of the next
American Idol. Look at all those faces up there, and now it's all come down to the Davids. The lingering question is if they're going to be Idols the likes of Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson; sales in the millions with mantles full of awards; or will they find mainstream success more of a challenge, like Taylor Hicks or Justin Guarini (I know he came in second but let's face it, at this point first and second are almost interchangeable as far as getting a shot at a career)? The show's an hour early and an hour longer, clocking in from 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Eastern Time. That means you have two hours to chat live right here with your friends and frenemies about which David should win and how stupid they are for disagreeing with you.
You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.Continue reading American Idol: Your American Idol Revealed (season finale)
Posted Mar 31st 2008 5:21PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Alumni, Performances, News and Gossip
Welcome back to "AI Aftermath," where we explore
Idol's past. Each week, as one more
American Idol hopeful is eliminated from the competition, we take a look back at contestants past who were eliminated in the same week. We'll examine how they did on the show and what they've been up to since their elimination. In honor of Chikezie's elimination last week we'll be looking at other tenthth place finishers.
And for the first time, we'll be able to look back at Season One as well. This week: 10th place finishers, featuring EJay Day (Season 1), Julia DeMato (Season 2), Amy Adams (Season 3), Jessica Sierra (Season 4), Lisa Tucker (Season 5) and Chris Sligh (Season 6).
Continue reading AI Aftermath: 10th place finishers - VIDEOS
Posted Mar 28th 2008 4:21PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Contestants, Alumni, Performances, News and Gossip
He dropped his last name because it was constantly mispronounced, as he explained in AOL's coverage of
Chikezie's exit interview. He also took his elimination from
American Idol this past week with grace and poise, saying that he was genuinely glad nobody else was cut because the goodbyes are so hard. I'm sure once you've made the Top 10, it's a lot easier to face the axe knowing you'll still get to go on tour and record a track on the
Idol album.
Chikezie was one of those contestants who never really made a connection with the audience. Even when he had amazing performances and got heaps of praise from the judges, he still languished toward the bottom of most polls. Personally, I think he was getting stronger and better with each passing week and I was really looking forward to seeing what kind of performer he could blossom into.
Continue reading AI OD: A farewell to Chikezie - VIDEOS
Posted Mar 27th 2008 3:41PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Contestants, Alumni, Predictions and Trends, News and Gossip
Welcome back to our weekly
American Idol polls round-up. Each week we look at various online polls that were conducted from the end of last week's results up to the performance show Tuesday. And then a few that were conducted after the performance show, but before the results were revealed.
This way we can analyze how the week's performances affected a contestant's overall popularity, and how well the internet can predict eliminations. We'll also see how each contestant fared week to week in each poll, moving up or down. And we can see how the polls compare to one another. Is one source generally more on-track, are there any that seem to be way off, and how different are they from one another. Can any of them be trusted? Everybody loves polls, right?
Continue reading Idol Polls: The Top 10
Posted Mar 26th 2008 8:45PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Alumni, Performances, Episode Reviews
(S07E25) Hey, let's just keep this chat love going and going and going. And I promise the link is there now. Go ahead, click it. If you haven't joined in on one yet, you should check it out. We're getting some lively and opinionated discussions going. What's better than real-time commentary from fans just like you? Tonight's live chat will start shortly before the 9pm ET elimination show. Watch the results and see what bizarre wardrobe choice Paula goes with tonight. Talk about Clay Aiken's BFF Kimberly Locke coming back to the
Idol stage. And see if America got it right ... or if Kristy Lee is still alive.
You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.
Continue reading American Idol: Top 9 Revealed
Posted Mar 26th 2008 1:20PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Watercooler Talk
Last night, we saw the
Top 10 perform on American Idol and I realized something: I'm bored. A lot of reality shows get this way during March and April. There are still a bunch of contestants left, but it's pretty obvious who is not going to be crowned the champion. Let's face it, these people aren't going to win:
- Ramiele
- Syesha
- Chikezie
- Michael Johns
- Kristy Lee Cook
- Carly Smithson
- Jason Castro
Continue reading This is when American Idol gets boring
Posted Mar 25th 2008 7:34PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Performances, Episode Reviews
(S07E24) Since everyone seems to like getting together to share in
Idol goodness, we'll continue running these live chats during both the performance and results show until the end of the season. We'll be hosting one during the live 8pm ET broadcast tonight. Watch the Top 10 perform songs from the year they were born tonight, and be sure and come back tomorrow when former contestant Kimberly Locke performs.
You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.Continue reading American Idol: Top 10 Perform
Posted Mar 19th 2008 8:45PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Alumni, Episode Reviews
(S07E23) Everyone had so much fun in the live chat during the Top 11 performance show that we're doing it again! We'll be hosting another live chat during the live 9pm ET broadcast tonight. And we may just do it for the rest of the season, too. Watch the results and sound off about the painful group number as it happens. Critique Kellie Pickler's return to the
Idol stage and vent about all the "filler" Ryan subjects us to before voting out ... well who do
you think it will be?
You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.
Continue reading American Idol: Top 10 Revealed
Posted Mar 18th 2008 7:45PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Performances, Episode Reviews
(S07E22) In response to the huge excitement and interest in this season's batch of
American Idol contestants, we'll be hosting a live chat during the live 8pm ET broadcast tonight. Watch the show and share your throughts with other
Idol fans in real-time. Don't agree with what Simon said? Speak out and be heard! Tonight, the Top 11 continue last week's theme by performing songs from the John Lennon/Paul McCartney catalog of classic hits.
You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.
Continue reading American Idol: Top 11 Perform
Posted Mar 18th 2008 4:43PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Contestants, Predictions and Trends, News and Gossip
Rather than have all these various posts about this
American Idol poll and that
American Idol poll, we decided to pool them all up into one delicious post each week. We will look at a few online polls that were conducted from the end of last week's results up to the performance show Tuesday. And then a few that were conducted after this week's performance show, but before the results were revealed Wednesday.
That way we can see how the week's performances affected a contestant's overall popularity, and how well the internet can predict eliminations. We'll also see how each contestant fared week to week in each poll, moving up or down. If you don't like waving at boring numbers, you might just want to move onto that nice article below this one. It looks friendly enough. But if you like getting mired in stats and rankings and seeing more than any sane human should ever need to about eleven singers, follow me across this jump...
Continue reading Idol polls: The Top 11
Posted Mar 18th 2008 2:39PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Contestants, Performances
The songs of Lennon/McCartney
again?! The "best" Top 12 -- okay, 11 now -- continues to tackle some of the greatest songs ever written. To celebrate enthusiasm for this year's crop of finalists, we're hosting a live chat during tonight's live performance episode (8pm ET). It's a great opportunity to sound off on the performances and offer your own critiques of the contestants ... and judges.
The chat will begin shortly before the show starts. A link to the chat will be provided in the recap post, so check the front page later tonight to join the conversation. See you tonight!
Posted Mar 14th 2008 8:09AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Contestants, Alumni, Predictions and Trends, News and Gossip
Well, the final results are in from AOL's Idol Poll, running from the end of the competition on Tuesday to the "Results Show" on Wednesday. While there's not a great deal of deviation from
the preliminary results we reported on Wednesday, it's interesting that David Hernandez actually went up slightly in their rankings, from 9th to 8th, before ultimately getting eliminated. They were way off on this one. What's the margin of error, I wonder.
The only other change of any significance was Carly dropping from the #2 slot all the way down to #4, allowing David Cook and Brooke to each move up a slot. This I can understand as both of them had really good nights. But what's up with all the Syesha haters? The final tally is "after the break."
Continue reading AI Poll final results, AOL users got it even more wrong
Posted Mar 12th 2008 11:00PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Episode Reviews
(S07E21) 
For the first in a season full of hour-long
American Idol results show, I'll give
Idol credit for filling it pretty well. It was nice to see past runner-up Katharine McPhee perform on the
Idol stage again, as well as the video footage of the
Idols reacting to their sudden fame. What they need to do is turn the Results show into more of a classic variety show. And keep those past
Idol contestants coming, too.
American Idol has been around long enough now that it has it's own legacy and tradition, so keep honoring that.
As for the results, while the person who left wasn't necessarily the consensus choice, it was someone that I'm perfectly alright with seeing leave at this early stage. In fact, I could have lost the whole "Bottom Three" tonight and not lost any sleep over it.
Continue reading American Idol: Top 11 Revealed
Posted Mar 12th 2008 2:40PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Contestants, Predictions and Trends
What a difference a day makes. After the surprising performances on last night's
Top 12 performance show,
AOL's American Idol poll has shown some significant shifts. While David Archuleta has been a strong favorite across most polls, I don't think anyone can argue that last night he had a pretty dramatic misstep, forgetting lyrics and generally turning in a pretty bad performance.
The question is, will the David A. faithful continue to flock behind their golden boy, or is one bad performance enough to knock him off the top perch. And what about Chikezie, who turned in his strongest performance of the competition so far. Was it enough to bring him up in America's hearts? I've got two sets of poll results for you. The first from the week prior to last night's show, and the second after last night's performance.
Continue reading America ranks the Top 12 (after they performed)
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