Tuesday, March 06, 2007

American Idol: Top 8 guys

I'm underwhelmed. Were you underwhelmed?

The final guys' night of the semi-finals featured only one really terrible performance -- by a person who, unfortunately, won't be going home -- but also lacked a single performance suggesting any of these eight men deserves to be in the same competition as most of the remaining women. There hasn't been anything close to "the 'WOW' factor" that Simon keeps talking about, as if each guy is just trying to play it safe and hope to impress people after squeaking into the final 12. The producers' insistence on an artificial gender split for the finalists isn't looking so good this season.

Song-by-song comments over at NJ.com (which is working now), then come back here to comment.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Definitely, zzzzzzzzzz all around tonight. Not one interesting performance, and most merely competent at best. The only real shock of the show for me-- and you mentioned it in your article, Alan-- is that Paula abandoned her usual lovey-dovey role and made some pretty strong observations. Simon looked shocked by her suddenly cogent criticisms, and his usual "I think what Paula was trying to say" bit didn't apply this time. We know what she was trying to say because, for once, she said it well. I can't say I've observed a great improvement from her overall this season, but for one half of one episode, she did all right.

As for the results, I'm guessing Jared will be most vulnerable, though I'll go out on a limb and say it's finally Sanjaya's time to exit, despite the Grandmother vote. He's ready to go, he's been resigned to go for weeks, it's pretty apparently he actively *wants* to go... just give the poor kid what he wants.

Undercover Black Man said...

These guys are weak. WEAK!

I'll go out on a pretty sturdy limb right now and say the ultimate Final 2 will definitely be two of the women.

If somebody wants to give me the right odds, I might even wager the Final 3 will all be women. I just can't imagine any of these dudes bringing something special.

And that Blake... I'm tired of the scratching already.

Anonymous said...

The guys were painfully bad. At least it was only an hour.

Alan, can you answer this for me...Why is the Idol results show going back to 8p (central) next week after BONES. IDOL is a much more family oriented show, and wouldn't the execs at FOX want BONES to have an IDOL lead-in?

Performances are at 7p, shouldn't the results be at 7p, too?

Our six-year old loves IDOL and can't watch the results show because it's past her bedtime. Of course, we put it on DVR and she watches it the next day lol, but still.

K J Gillenwater said...

Chris was the only one that entertained me to some degree. But, you are right, Alan, he is choosing these obscure songs. I really want him to choose something more mainstream, more in the now, and show us what a Chris Sligh version would be like.

Maybe we will get more of that from him when he's in the final 12 and they are into the theme weeks. I'd be curious to find out what kind of 50s song or disco tune he would choose to perform.

This was the first week I could actually listen to all of a Blake performance. From the gushing coming from the judges, I was hoping to be wowed, but he was so boring. Reggae? It puts me to sleep. That's music you drink to by the side of the pool in Jamaica. I wanted something stronger out of him.

I was disappointed with Chris Richardson. I liked that he was very modern in his song choices...and then he chose a country song? That he really didn't sing all that well?

These first few performances, I think it is crucial for singers to establish who they are, what kind of album they might want to make. Not show us they are diverse and can sing everything from folk to rock to hip-hop. We get to see that range when they make it to the final 12.

Changing styles a little too much from week to week confuses people...including me!

Taleena said...

I have not been watching idol regularly but thought I would give it a shot because I enjoy reading your takes. I watched some you tubes of the contestants and dove into the program last night when NCIS was a repeat. (Michael Weatherly is not that good looking.) The torture. I had forgotten the awfulness of the fluff in between the singing, and then the singing was terrible. I made it as far as Sundance and turned it over to Fraser repeats. Why aren't we making Gitmo detainees watch Seacrest and Cowell banter with each other?

Anonymous said...

Phil actually sort of reminds me of Clay Aiken. Both are skinny, pale, white men who have big eyes and look sort of scary. The producers gave Clay a makeover, plus he has hair and a far superior voice. Closing my eyes, Phil sounded like he has the same tone as Clay, just not the power and range. Anyway, I'm thinking it will be him and Jared going home. I would also get rid of Sanjaya and Sundance (who was seemed flat and shouty to me throughout the song). I think the other four guys are the ones that the judges would keep, as they said at the end of the show.

Anonymous said...

The producers did the best they could to boot Sanjaya. They stuck him in the number two slot and the judges toned their comments down from "awful, awful, awful" to "eh". They also fixed his hair into something I could stand, but which is probably too modern a look for the Granny's. Here's hoping!

I'd say that Blake, Chris, and Chris are in the judges top four, but I'm not sure who is fourth. Brandon is the most likely to be that so-so performer who just gets better and better each week until, wow! how did that happen, they deserve to be in the top five or so. But I suspect the judges have Phil or Sundance in mind.