April 2, 2008

Idol Recap - 4/1

Alright, since apparently both J-Red and Jeremy are too incompetent to work a DVR, this week's Idol recap has fallen on my shoulders. For the record, my wife and I have to watch Idol on a small TV because we record "Beauty and the Geek" and "Biggest Loser" at the same time. Yep, we have no life.

I was a little disappointed that Idol didn't try any huge April Fools jokes. Here are some that I think would have been funny:

  • Simon and Paula will be singing a duet tonight
  • Carly is unable to perform tonight because of an infected tattoo
  • David Archuleta had to be kicked off the show after the producers discovered that he's really 40 years old (the white Gary Coleman)
  • We'd like to welcome tonight's mentor, Ozzy Osborne!
In reality, it was Dolly Parton night. I like some country music, but I wasn't familiar with a lot of these songs, so I didn't enjoy the night as much as some others.

Brooke White - Jolene
I liked the performance, but the judges didn't seem to care for it. It was good to see Brooke take on something a little more up-tempo than the last few weeks. I have a feeling she won't make the top 5 and I'll be pretty disappointed about it.

David Cook - Little Sparrow
Another good performance, but I thought it was a "typical" David Cook rendition of a song. He's in danger of falling into a rut. Every week he takes a song and turns it into a slow, brooding, rock song. Sometimes it works better than others, and last night it didn't work out that great. I'd like to see him mix it up with something completely different (a ballad perhaps?).

Ramiele - Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?
Ramiele bores me every week, and this was no exception. Everyone knows she's not talented enough to still be around, but the Filipino voting block is saving her each week. It can't last much longer, right?

Jason Castro - Travelin' Thru
I must not have been paying much attention during this one, because I don't remember it at all. It also must not have been very good.

Carly Smithson - Here You Come Again
I like Carly every week, but it seems I'm in the minority. This was a standard good Carly performance, she showed that she has a good voice, but didn't win over any new fans.

David Archuleta - Smoky Mountain Memories
Good singing, looks like a cute little elf, top vote getter again this week, etc. Why does David even have to perform each week? Couldn't he just get a pass to the finals? I'm not a fan at all, but the boy can clearly sing.

Kristy Lee Cook - Coat of Many Colors
She certainly didn't blow me

out of my socks this week, but the country theme probably bought her another week on the show. She was decent, which is a lot better than normal for her.

Syesha Mercado - I Will Always Love You
As soon as Ryan announced what Syesha was singing, I started railing about how bad a song choice it was. Of course, she ended up sounding like a second-rate Whitney. Trying to tackle an arrangement somewhere between Dolly and Whitney just made it sound like she didn't have the chops to go full-on Whitney Houston. After thinking about it some more, I'm not sure if it was a bad song choice. This was the one song of the night that everyone recognized. Even a mediocre performance of a familiar song might be better than a good performance of an unfamiliar one.

Michael Johns - It's All Wrong, but It's All Right
This was my favorite performance of the night. Michael is finally standing out from the crowd, and I loved the bluesy way he sang this. The Idol band leader (can't remember his name, don't feel like looking it up) was doing blues licks on the electric guitar behind him, which could have upstaged a lesser singer, but with Aussie Mike it worked perfectly.

My favorites of the night (and really, the season):
  • Michael
  • Brooke
  • Carly
The real top three:
  • Little David
  • Big David
  • Michael
The bottom three:
  • Kristy Lee
  • Syesha
  • Ramiele
I think this could be the night Syesha goes home.

6 Responses:

Jeremy said...

Thanks Brien. This was Comcast's penance to me for cancelling my service with them when we move out of our apartment. Cruel joke that means that my DVR recordings of Idol and The Hills won't play.

The Hills... what?! Who said that???

"ben" said...

I liked Castro. Ramiele is getting worse each week. Kristy Lee Cook was very disappointing. This was supposed to be her week, and she was utterly bland. It was also funny when Seacrest announced that Syesha was up next singing "I will always love you," and Kristy said, "Thanks, Ryan!"

I'm really sick of the judges now, too. They just throw out random, nonsense comments (although I give Simon lots of credit for telling Carly to have a word with whoever is dressing her).

Lastly, Idol did have a stupid April Fool's gag at the start. It was so obviously fake though that it wasn't funny...just like PTI's opening.

J-Red said...

I caught it on YouTube. I agree that Carly, Brooke and Michael were the three best, with David A. just off the pace. I think Syesha is in the bottom three for sure, but she might not go home because so many people aged 22-30 lived through the era when The Bodyguard soundtrack was the only thing on the radio.

Part of Kristy's problem is that she seems to be a bit dumb. She definitely has gotten oddly chatty with the judges and Ryan after she performs. She also thanked Simon for saying she was better last week.

For the record, Jolene is one of my favorite songs, and the White Stripes version is excellent. Dolly Parton is one of those people you forget until all of her songs are laid out at once. She really had an incredible career, especially since she wrote most of her own songs. Diamonds in the Stream is another great song, and would have been the perfect Paula/Simon duet.

Jeremy said...

"I Will Always Love You" = THE song of my 8th grade dances as well as on the very top of my list of slow songs to be played at my bar mitzvah.

Josh said...

I just watched the performances on video. A good week, overall. I do want to see both Ramiele and KLC go, but they keep on keeping on, so we'll see. Syesha is annoying if only for how highly she seems to regard herself...I'd have thought that her brush with the bottom would have humbled her a little, maybe made her less of a Barbie, but that's not the case, so she might wind up going even though she's the only black contestant left (but probably not).

I really liked David Archuleta's performance this week, but Michael probably had the best, with Carly up there, too.

J-Red said...

Two out of three ain't bad Brien, but I'll say again that it's a bitch going first. If it's Brooke, that's why.

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