From the Archives: Darth Sanjaya

Season 6 will likely be most remembered for the phenomenon known as Sanjaya Malakar and how his very presence on the show almost brought down the American Idol empire. With all the attention that he was getting I couldn't help but comment on it back in April. So, seeing it is the time of year when we typically reminisce and remember the year that was, let's travel back in time and revisit The American Idol story of 2007.

There are a lot of links in the story, and surprisingly they are all still active, so knock yourselves out.

From April 9, 2007:

It appears that the greatest threat to American civilization is not terrorists, global warming, or the Republican Party. No, my friends, it's become quite clear to me over these last few weeks that the greatest threat to our life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness is American Idol contestant Sanjaya Malakar.

It started out innocent enough. Sanjaya went to the Seattle auditions for American Idol with his sister Shaymali. He started his audition by telling the judges that he thought his sister was a better singer than him. After his rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" the judges thought that he was the better singer and send them both to Hollywood. During the Hollywood tryouts Shaymali was sent home, but Sanjaya benefited from a much weaker male field of contestants this year and managed to get selected to the group of 24 contestants that would be vie for America's vote.

Early in the final 24 it became obvious that little Sanjaya did not have the vocal chops that some of the other contestants had. However, he managed to stay below the radar primarily for two reasons. One was that as bad as he was most of the other guys in the competition were about the same or only slightly better. The other was that the evil forces trying to sabotage the show were too busy trying to get Antonella Barba through to the finals to pay any attention to Sanjaya.

Who are these forces of evil? They are a small group of ner-do-wells who operate a site called Vote For the Worst.com (VFTW for short). This site started in 2004 with the expressed purpose of urging people to vote for the contestant who they thought the producers least wanted to see win. They believe that the Idol audition process is unfair and that people who are bad singers but could potentially make for good TV are invited on the show at the expense of more talented but perhaps less charismatic performers. In the past they have supported contestants such as Jasmine Trias, Scott Savol, and Kellie Pickler, who all finished higher than expected in part due to their support. However, while in years past their influence only went so far (none of their first picks has made it to the final 2) this season their evil has been amplified by the endorsement of America's shock jock, Howard Stern.

I probably don't need to explain who Howard Stern is. If I do then the rest of this blog won't make much sense to you anyway, so I'll move on.

Once Barba was voted off the show and VFTW selected Sanjaya as its pick Stern started a campaign on his radio show to urge people to vote for Sanjaya. Sanjaya also revealed that he once lived in Hawaii and could do the hula, and Idol fans know from Jasmine Trias' success in Season 3 how strong the Hawaii voting contingent can be. With all these powerful forces coming together around this kid Sanjaya has managed to stay on the show for 4 weeks now with no end in sight. He hasn't been in the bottom 3 since Week 1.

The growing threat that Sanjaya might actually win has led some to stage some rather drastic measures to try and stop this from happening. There are hunger strikes documented on MySpace to convince people to vote against him, a DJ in Philadelphia is living on the roof of a Toyota dealership until Sanjaya is voted off, hackers breaking into votefortheworst.com after each show to bring down the site, lawyers threatening to sue Stern and VTFW on behalf of the American Idol producers, and judge Simon Cowell saying that he would quit the show if Sanjaya wins. This is truly morphed into an epic battle of good versus evil, all over a 17-year-old with a semi-weak singing voice.

It's obvious to most, perhaps, that Stern and VTFW are in fact deliberately trying to sabotage the show. If Sanjaya does win you can all but guarantee that Idol won't last for more than another season or two as its credibility as a singing competition would be all but shot to Hell. The Times of London is already predicting this. This would no doubt please those who have aligned themselves against the show and are using Sanjaya as the conduit to try and bring it down. However, I doubt that such actions are illegal or are legitimate grounds for a lawsuit, nor are such actions justification for hunger strikes and sit-ins on car dealership rooftops. This is only a TV show, it's not like we're electing a President here.

It would not surprise me at all if Sanjaya quit the competition sometime within the next few weeks. He seems like a good kid. I doubt he expected all this fuss to be made about him or that he would be used by some to deliberately wreck havoc on the program. He claims that he doesn't pay attention to any of that but it would be hard for him not to, and how else can you explain the mohawk hairdo? It's a question of how far does he want to go and how badly does he want to win the competition. He's become in essence a circus clown, but with Stern, VFTW, and perhaps the entire state of Hawaii on his side he's got a legitimate chance to win even though every singer left in the competition is better than him. It'll be interesting to see just how this all plays out.

And I don't even want to begin to speculate what all this says about America. Maybe it's not Sanjaya himself that is the greatest threat to American civilization, but the reaction to him that is. At least, though, he is a rich source for blog material.

From the Archives: Season 6 Tony Bennett Week

A number of my posts from Season 6 had references to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, since I was a playa in the office pool and doing rather well despite not knowing anything about college basketball except that it is basketball played by college kids. Since my tournament discussions would be difficult to understand without all the other posts on that subject (let's fact it, you had to be there, man) I've been deleting them from these recaps where it is easy to do so, but you'll still see some of them still embedded in every once in a while.

I was nice to Tony Bennett because he is, well, Tony Bennett. It's hard to trash a legend. But as you'll see in my next post I more than made up for it when I went after the mentor on the following week's show.

From April 3, 2007

This week Tony Bennett was handing out advice to the youngsters, who picked songs from The Great American Songbook. I only capitalize that since I've always see it capitalized, even though I've never actually seen this book. Last season's kids had Barry Manilow teach them how to sing these songs, and now they're probably sitting at home all jealous now that this year's group got Bennett, except perhaps for Chris Daughtry who is too busy counting his millions.

Speaking of last year and singers named Bennett, anyone else noticed that 5th place finisher Paris Bennett has all but disappeared? Everyone else from last season is putting out albums or appearing on TV shows but there's been nothing from Paris. Just thought I'd ask.

So how did today's kids do with songs their great-grandparents listened too? Let's join my Mom and find out.

Blake: sang "Mack The Knife"
For the first time in this competition Blake sang a song straight without trying to shoehorn it into his "style" and did a surprisingly good job with it. Also surprising was that the judges didn't bash him for not being "fresh", as they seem to like it when he modifies a song. God knows why. Tonight was the first time Randy Jackson used the word "pitchy", which I've only been saying about him since his audition. Still, for someone whose vocals haven't been all that impressive so far he did a good job.

Phil: sang "Night & Day"
He was more pitchy than Blake, another first. He also had a hard time finding the rhythm to the song. Simon & Randy thought it sounded like a funeral dirge, which is a little harsh but not too far off the mark. It certainly didn't sound romantic and smooth. At least once each week Paula Abdul says something that leads people to suspect that she's drunk. Tonight Phil was the lucky recipient of this comment from Paula: "You remind me of Frank Sinatra." Even Randy did a double take to that.

Melinda: sang "I Got Rhythm"



How good is this woman's vocals? This song had not one but two rhythm changes and she aced both of them. Want more proof? Simon complained that he can't find anything to criticize her about. She is clearly in a vocal class by herself and if this is a "singing competition" as Simon keeps claiming it is it would be a crime if she lost. 4 weeks now and she hasn't slipped yet. Even Tony Bennett thinks she's the best singer on the show.

Chris: sang "Don't Get Around Much Anymore"
He wore a strange ensemble, a grey vest complete with a fedora, very apropos given the theme, but his bottom half consisted of torn jeans and sneakers. These kids today... He struggled with the rhythm but his performance had a lot of energy to it. Following the wonder girl isn't easy but he did OK for himself. For once I couldn't picture Justin Timberlake while listening to him sing, which might actually hurt his chances.

Jordin: "On A Clear Day"
Tony Bennett said that Jordin "sang in tune, which is really rare these days." So he really has been watching the show. This girl is really good. Lots of energy, spark, and emotion. She's really learned to keep her emotions under control as the competition has gone on. If there is anyone who can challenge Melinda for the title it's this teenager. Again Simon had to work really hard to find something negative to say.

Gina: "Smile"
It was probably her best vocal performance. That's the good news. The bad news is that it was in a song style that was the same as Melinda and Jordin and she just can't compete with that. She's better off being the rocker chick, which is hard to do with these types of songs. Chris Daughtry had the same problem, which is what eventually doomed him.

Sanjaya: "Cheek to Cheek"
Pretty much everybody now has figured out that Sanjaya's vocal ability is so much worse than everyone else's that the judges are not even bothering to comment on that anymore. Yes, even Paula. Still, his performance, as weak as it was vocally, was still entertaining and had a lot of style. He even pulled out a Taylor Hicks move and danced with Paula. He's still essentially a circus clown, but at least he didn't embarrass himself this week.

Haley: "Ain't Misbehavin'"
Pretty much the same thing we see from Haley every week. Listless vocal, great legs. Simon finally acknowledged what every man in the audience already noticed (the judges had a lot of revelations this week: Blake is pitchy, Sanjaya can't sing, Haley has nice legs, & Randy thinks Paula is drunk, just what was in those Coke glasses?). Haley opted for a sleeveless dress with a little bit lower cut than what we've seen her wear before. I'm starting to like this girl even though she has no chance of winning. I've written 4 reviews of her so far and I think in total I've only used 2 or 3 sentences to talk about her singing.

LaKesha: "Stormy Weather"
You may have heard this before, "slow start, big finish." I do love how she pours on the emotion, this week more than most others. You get the sense that she really feels the song, especially when she pulls out that Force of Nature voice of hers like she did this week. I would have liked to have heard her sing Bennett's signature tune "I Left My Heart In San Francisco", she's probably the only one who could have pulled it off.

Your 3 Stars of Tonight's Game: You may have heard this before too, Melinda, Jordin, and LaKesha. A shout out to Blake, though, for finally showing that he can actually sing without being Mr. Fresh.

The Fearless Prediction: Even though I was off on who would get voted off last week, picking Haley instead of Chris Sligh, I did a little better than the week before in getting two out of the bottom three correct. This week two really stood out in a bad way: Phil and Haley. Yes, even Sanjaya was better than them this week, which means he'll probably get voted off since he wasn't the worst one. But I don't think America, or at least the part of America with a twisted sense of humor, is ready to see Sanjaya go so I think he stays another week. Instead, I see Gina as the third Bottom 3 contestant based on comparisons to the other girls. That's what got Stephanie voted off so there is some merit to this train of thought. I get the feeling it'll be Phil who will be shipping out tomorrow night. Gina has done better in previous weeks and Haley's legs should buy her another week. This is the second time, though, that I've predicted Phil would be going home so my confidence isn't that high on this one, especially now that I'm below .500 overall on these picks. Perhaps I'll do better if I stop watching. It seems to work with college basketball.

From the Archives: Season 6 Gwen Stefani Week

The themes for Season 6 were much more mentor oriented than those in Season 5, at least it seemed that way to me. Thus my comments were also much more mentor oriented, as you'll no doubt see here. (pun intended). The songs were either ones that Gwen Stefani liked or sang, which led to some interesting song selections that said a lot about the contestants and about Gwen Stefani. Exactly what it said I'm not sure, but if you or I thought about long enough we might come up with something.

I also kept my comments relatively short this particular week since it was about 1 am when I wrote this.

From March 27, 2007

Gwen Stefani is this week's "mentor", though how much mentoring she can really provide is anyone's guess. It's not like she's known for her vocal abilities. Then again, maybe there is something that she can mentor the contestants on, how to be a really successful singer without being a really good singer.

I know, I know, I shouldn't be trashing a fellow O.C. homey like that, but it was just too easy.

LaKesha: Last Dance by Donna Summer
The judges loved it but I didn't think that much of it. The vocal was decent but I didn't think it fit her voice well. Although, it did sound better during the recap at the end of the show.

Chris S.: Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic by The Police
Probably his worst performance to date, and that's saying something considering how much he butchered "Endless Love" a couple weeks ago. The vocal was kind of flat and his timing was off. He has the best voice of any of the male contestants but we've yet to hear it in the finals.

Gina: I'll Stand By You by The Pretenders
Went away from trying to be the rocker chick and picked a more demanding vocal song, and it worked really well. Her best performance to date. No screaming this time and stayed in tune throughout. Nice outfit too. I think Chrissie Hynde works much better for her than Mick Jagger.

Sanjaya: Bath Water by No Doubt



One writer I read said that Sanjaya has morphed into a circus clown, and sure enough the dude comes out with a Mohawk hairdo that I can't do justice to by trying to describe it here. His vocal was decent but uninspiring. Whether intentional or not he's really making a mockery of the competition, and that alone will probably get him enough votes to stay on the show.

Haley: True Colors by Cyndi Lauper
Man, this girl has some really nice, supermodel style legs. Last week it was the short shorts, this week it's a short skirt. She's clearly realized what her best asset is in this competition. I can't think of anything to say about her vocal performance. I was too distracted.

Phil: Every Breath You Take by The Police
I thought it was his best effort in quite a while. It was a very well textured vocal, and this time he managed to keep it under control. Nice performance.

Melinda: Heaven Knows by Donna Summer
Usual stuff: started kind of shaky, finished very strong, professional vocal. It sounded like something from an actual record instead of a karaoke act. Not her best but still the class of the field.

Blake: Love Song by The Cure
Kind of flat but OK. Less pitchy than usual. The judges loved the hip arrangement but I thought it paled in comparison to the original. Maybe they just don't appreciate New Wave. Paula Abdul thinks he'll be in the final two. The rest of America wonders if there really is booze in Paula's Coke glass. Randy and Simon think he's the best of the boys. If so, it's only because the other boys look so creepy and sing so crappy.

Jordin: Hey Baby by No Doubt
I thought it was pretty good. She made it much more musical than the original. I'm not sure if that's a compliment for Jordin or another cruel insult at Gwen Stefani.

Chris R.: Don't Speak by No Doubt
Stefani thinks the Justin Timberlake imitator is a "vocal Olympian", though one wonders which Olympic sport Gwen had in mind. Synchronized swimming perhaps? (I've spent 10 minutes trying to think of a really cool Olympic metaphor and just can't do it, sorry about that). I didn't think much of his performance. He went back to being more like a Justin Timberlake imitator, though considering he was in the bottom 2 last week after straying away from the boy band sound perhaps going back to it isn't a bad thing.

Your 3 Stars of Tonight's Game: Melinda and Jordin as usual. I think Gina stepped up this week to claim the third star, I'm really starting to like her. Though not Top 3 material Phil earned a shout out.

The Fearless Prediction: I was way off last week, though I did think that Stephanie could be in the bottom 3. Bottom line on the Beyonce' imitator is that she was the 4th best African American girl with a big voice in the competition, and when the other 3 African American girls with big voices are arguably the top 3 favorites to win it all (Paula Abdul's opinion of Blake not withstanding) Stephanie was doomed. Maybe she can take comfort in the fact that the same thing happened to Jennifer Hudson in Season 3, and she's managed to do pretty well for herself since then.

On to this week, it's the hardest one to predict so far since no one really stood out as being really bad except the usual suspect, and there are too many people out there that want to see Sanjaya stay on to see him leave now. So, I think the bottom 3 will be Haley and the 2 Chrises. I'm tempted to go with Chris R. because he was in the bottom 2 last week, but I'm going to go with Haley this week despite the nice leg shows she's been feeding everyone the last two weeks.

Now watch, Phil or Gina will probably get voted off even though their vocals were 100 times better than last week.

From the Archives: Season 6 British Invasion Week

Here's where I started to realize that there was a gold mine of material available by focusing my poison pen on the mentors. We also learned many things about the competitors. For example, we learned that Jordin and Melinda were the best singers, that Phil was the best shouter, that Blake was the favorite of the pre-teen girl set, that Haley had great legs and not much else, that Stephanie didn't know that she sounded just like Beyonce, that Chris Richardson did know that he sounded like Justin Timberlake, that Gina was selected as the designated rocker, that LaKesha was destined to duplicate what happened to Chris Daughtry in Season 5, that Chris Sligh was trying to duplicate what happened to Taylor Hicks in Season 5, and that Sanjaya not only made little girls cry but posed a threat to all of Western civilization. And to think there were 10 weeks of this still to come. I also learned that this season was going to be hard to predict who would be voted off.

From March 20, 2007:

Here we are in Week 2 and everybody will be singing songs from the 60's British Invasion. One interesting note: while The Beatles were mentioned in the opening monologue not one of the contestants dared to sing a Beatles song. Actually most of the songs chosen were ones that were among the least popular from that era, though a few did dare to take on some more familiar material. Our guest mentors this week are Peter Noone from Herman's Hermits and Lulu from, I guess Lulu. It's obvious from their comments that Noone and Lulu have been watching the show. It was also obvious from the contestants' comments that most of them had no clue who these two were before meeting them.

Haley, "Tell Him" by Billie Davis
She showed a much better stage presence this week compared to last, when she looked like a freight train was about to hit her. She showed off some nice moves and some nice legs, thanks to some really short shorts. The backless blouse didn't hurt either. Some of her words were slurred, but at least she remembered them all this time. Upbeat and happy suits her much better than frightened, especially when she's showing lots of skin.

Chris R., "Don't Let the Sun Get You Cryin'" by Gerry & The Pacemakers
The (other) judges loved it but I thought it was a little flat. Still, it is a difficult song to sing well and he didn't do a bad job with it. It was the first time he demonstrated a distinctive sound instead of channeling Justin Timberlake again, so he should get bonus points for that. He also kept in tune and more or less on pitch. A decent performance.

Stephanie, "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" by Dusty Springfield
During the intro Lulu tells Stephanie that she sounds just like Beyonce'. Stephanie is surprised to hear this but the rest of America is not. This wasn't a very good song choice for her. Try to imagine Beyonce' singing it and you'd have a good idea how it came out. The song was too big for her voice and you could hear her strain to hit some of the big notes.

Blake, "Time of the Season" by The Zombies
You can tell he's getting the preteen girl vote by all the high pitched screams every time his name is mentioned. Unlike last week when he bastardized "You Keep Me Hangin' On" Blake played it pretty straight this week, though he did add some modernizing touches to it. His vocals were strained at times but much less pitchy than usual. Overall not a bad performance for him.

LaKesha, "Diamonds Are Forever" by Shirley Bassey
How successful is Idol? So successful that they were able to outfit LaKesha with a million dollars worth of diamonds just for this performance. It was a good song choice for her, and it was her usual performance, a little shaky at first but packing a wallop at the end once she gets into the song. Still, not her best. She may be suffering from Chris Daughtry syndrome. Like Daughtry last year, she did so well in her first performance (when she outdid Jennifer Hudson singing "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going") that she'll always be held to that standard, and when she falls short of that it'll be seen as poor even though it was still better than many others.

Phil, "Tobacco Road" by The Nashville Teens
It was a spirited performance but he shouted pretty much the entire song, and he had pitch problems on the parts that he did actually sing. He's demonstrated good vocals before but not tonight. It just didn't work for me, Dog. Plus, I didn't think The Nashville Teens were even from England.

Jordin, "I, Who Have Nothing" by Shirley Bassey



Best vocal of the night so far. It was a surprising song choice given that she's only 17, way too young to get into a song about a lost love, but she pulled it off very well. She seems to be getting better and better every week.

Sanjaya, "You Really Got Me" by The Kinks
It was either this song or Peter Noone's own "Something Good." Noone was encouraging him to sing the Kinks song, probably because he didn't want Sanjaya to butcher his own song. Even though he went with The Kinks Sanjaya didn't disappoint, it was still a vocal disaster. Ray Davies is probably calling his agent now, trying to get on Idol to encourage Sanjaya to sing someone else's song. Sanjaya also acknowledged that he's not the best singer in the competition, to which 90% of America uttered a collective "duh!" He does get some style points, though, for showing some enthusiasm in his performance. He even made a young girl in the audience cry tears of joy, though we found out later that she was crying for all the contestants.

Gina, "Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones
What an interesting song choice this was. She got the look and the mannerisms down, but we never got to hear the big rocker chick voice that she's displayed before because the song didn't really allow for it. It was actually rather weak. Her vocals didn't even come close to Mick Jagger's nor did she try to do something different to avoid the comparison.

Chris S., "She's Not There" by The Zombies
Excellent song choice, maybe the best pairing of song and singer all night. This time he didn't mess with the arrangement and it worked out much better. It was a full-on Taylor Hicks-esque performance, complete with the dance moves, the roaming through the crowd, and the goofy nickname (the "Fro Patrol"). Considering that those types of performances got Hicks a record contract and a boat load of cash it's probably not much of a bad thing to try and do something similar.

Melinda, "As Long As He Needs Me" from "Oliver"
As usual, the best is saved for the coveted final slot. She had some odd facial expressions and her neck seems to have disappeared below her shoulders, but once again her vocals were spot on. She is clearly in another league vocally. Phrasing, pitch, tone, once again it was all there. Even though most of the others upped their games this week compared to last Melinda is still the front runner, and may have opened up her lead just a little bit on her main competition.

Your 3 Stars of the Night: Melinda & Jordin again are the top two. I'd say it's a tie for third between Chris S. and Blake.

The Fearless Prediction: My guess for the Bottom 3 are Phil, Gina, and Sanjaya, though it wouldn't surprise me if Stephanie ended up there instead. If there is a God then Sanjaya will be shown the door, but there's still too many people voting for him just to torment the rest of America and relatively speaking he did better this week than last. So, my guess is that Phil will be headed back out to sea with the Navy tomorrow night.

From the Archives: Season 6 Diana Ross Week

So now here we are at Season 6. Unlike last year this season the themes were much more centered on the mentor brought in to teach the kids how to sing, which opened the door for me to start commenting on the mentors themselves. I was pretty easy on Diana Ross but others were not so lucky, as you'll see later on. Also new for Season 6 was Your 3 Stars of the Night, a feature that I borrowed from the NHL. To be honest, it's a stupid thing at a hockey game but somehow it works better when it's used to judge American Idol contestants.

From March 13, 2007:

It's that time of year again. Spring is in the air, March Madness looms over every office in the land (including mine, I just finished filling out my bracket), and the two American Idol tribes have once again merged into one to compete on one stage for the hearts and minds of America. The girls were the favorites going in, could they keep it up or could the boys take it to the next level now that they're on the big stage playing for the big stakes? And how may cliches can I fit into one paragraph? Oh yes, one more, let's go to the video tape.

This week's theme: The Songs of Diana Ross, with the original Diva herself giving out advice to the contestants.

Brandon, sang "You Can't Hurry Love": Dull and uninspiring at first, then he got caught up in the moment and forgot the lyrics. Not a good showing from someone already on shaky ground. To borrow a critique used by Simon Cowell in an earlier show, it sounded like something you'd hear on a cruise ship.

Melinda, sang "Home" from The Wiz: It was a little rushed at first, but she quickly recovered and made a strong impression at the end. Goosebumps all around. Technically she's the best singer in the competition by a country mile. She was the morning line favorite to win it all going in and did nothing to change that thinking. Indeed she may have enhanced it.

Chris S., sang "Endless Love": I didn't like his arrangement at all. It was clumsy and felt rushed. He's still got a good voice, even though he really didn't show it much tonight. He would have been better off singing the song straight, and this is coming from someone who's hated this song since I played it in my high school band.

Gina, sang "Love Child": It sounded alright at times, but not great. Perhaps not the best choice of song for the Designated Rocker. Her mannerisms were somewhat strange given the subject matter of the song. The lyrics demand almost an impassioned plea and she acted much more bland than that. Still, there were worse performances...

Sanjaya, sang "Ain't No Mountain High Enough": ...Speaking of which.... This song was way too big for his soft voice. You could barely hear him over the band. Thank goodness he didn't sing "Love Child". It was really, really weak. Sweet, but weak. Yet another hair style though. Some folks may vote for him anyway just to see what his hair will look like next week.

Haley, sang "Missing You": Of all 12 singers, she looked and sounded the least comfortable on the stage. The microphone covered her face for half the song and she apparently also forgot a lyric, though it wasn't as obvious as Brandon. Her performance had its moments though. While she may survive this week (when many predicted that she won't), she's going to have to get much more comfortable performing on that stage if she has any hopes of still being on the show after Easter.

Phil, sang "Make You Love Me": It thought it was a poor song choice for him. It was also pretty pitchy. He's still struggling on the low notes and still pushing too hard on the high ones. With all its problems it was probably the best performance by the guys tonight, though that's not saying much with these group of dudes.

LaKesha, sang "God Bless the Child": It was a little shaky at first, but I could actually hear her confidence grow as she sang the song. My goodness what a voice. She showed a lot of emotion while singing that song without allowing the emotion to overcome her. Thus far no one else has been able to strike that balance nearly as well.

Blake, sang "You Keep Me Hangin' On": No beat boxing this week. Instead he made some major tweaking to the arrangement to try and fit it into his style. It was only moderately successful. The arrangement was unique so he gets points for that, but his singing was once again weak and very pitchy. I don't know why the (other) judges seem to think he's such a good singer. I figured he was going to struggle on weeks where the theme doesn't fit well with his style of singing, which basically is every song done before Clinton was president.

Stephanie, sang "Love Hangover": Tweaking the arrangement didn't work for her either (what's wrong with Diana Ross' songs that so many of these contestants don't want to sing them straight?). Randy Jackson claimed she forgot a lyric but I couldn't tell if she did unlike Brandon and Haley, so I commend her professionalism. She also shouted part of it, which was much more noticeable. Not her best performance.

Chris R., sang "The Boss": Simon Cowell despised it but Randy Jackson and I thought it was pretty good. Not a strong vocal performance but he showed a lot of energy and emotion and was one of the few who actually looked comfortable on the stage. At least this performance sounded much less like a Justin Timberlake impression than his earlier performances have.

Jordin, sang "If We Hold On Together": She showed a strong stage presence for someone who's only 17 years old. It was pitchy in spots but strong in others, and she kept her emotions in check this time. While Melinda and LaKesha are still the favorites to win it all don't count this young lady out yet.

Your 3 Stars of the Night: Melinda, LaKesha, and Jordin. This may not be the last time that those 3 names are on this list.

The Fearless Prediction: There were lots of shaky performances tonight but only two that really stood out as being bad, Sanjaya and Brandon. Since Sanjaya has the support of Vote For The Worst.com, the same folks who kept Antonella Barba on the show for so long, my guess is that Brandon will be heading home tomorrow night. Me thinks he'll be the first of many guys that will be leaving the show over the next few weeks. The girls once again blew them away.

From the Archives: Season 6 Auditions

I actually posted two separate times during the auditions for Season 6 of American Idol. I'm contemplating making regular posts during the auditions for Season 7, because what else am I going to write about in during the auditions? I haven't quite worked out the format, though. It'll probably evolve like all my postings did, into something somewhat coherent and perhaps entertaining for one or two of you out there. Anyway, here are the audition postings for Season 6.

From January 19, 2007:

The Circus Is Back in Town

A lot has been made over the virtual freak show that has been the first two episodes of American Idol. Even America's most respected and self-appointed arbiter of good taste, Rosie O'Donnell, has commented on how cruel the judges have been to some of the contestants. This coming from the same person who insulted Asians, then excused her actions by saying in effect "that's just me!"

But getting back to the issue at hand, I watched the first two episodes and I could not help but wonder why some of these people even bothered to show up. I'm not talking about those who were a little off key or got nervous singing in front of the judges, I'm talking about those that were really, really bad. Dogs howling in pain bad. Deaf people cringing bad. People that I can sing better than bad. Why would people, thousands of people in fact, who clearly cannot sing show up the audition for a singing competition? Some of them even travelling thousands of miles to do so?

There are some, I suppose, who did it on a dare, as in "I dare you to go on that show." Perhaps they got a 6-pack of Bud out of the deal or a night in the sack with their favorite hottie. Them I can understand, and congratulations go out to them for a job well done. And I'm sure there were those who were only looking for their 15 minutes of fame or perhaps were hoping to duplicate the lightning strike that was William Hung, who was so bad that he's made a career out of it. Understandable, I guess, but honestly, how much lack of self-respect must someone have to seek notoriety by embarrassing themselves while millions of people are watching. Don't these people have any shame?

The ones that really get me, though, are the ones who really think they have talent when it's plainly clear that they do not. These are the ones that sing really bad and then argue with the judges when they have the audacity to point out that they were really bad, then storm out shouting obscenities at the camera, claim that the judges are crappy judges of talent, and declare that America hasn't seen the last of them. Either these people are very good actors or they are in need of some serious therapy, or drugs if they aren't already on them. I question the very sanity of these people.

Now, I'm sure that the producers feature the freaks and geeks during the auditions because it makes for great television (37 million viewers justifies this decision), but that doesn't explain the very low passing rate of the first two auditions. I believe in the Minneapolis audition 10,000 showed up but only 30 or so passed to the next round. Do the math, that's a 0.3% passing rate. The admission rate to MIT is higher than that. Can you believe that more applicants get into MIT than get on to American Idol? And the Seattle passing rate was even lower.

Sometimes the people who live in this country amaze me.

And from February 6, 2007:

Yet Another Cliched Title Using the Word "Idol"

I feel somewhat validated now that I've learned that I'm not the only person who thinks that some of the auditioners on American Idol appear to be delusional. Today's edition of USA Today asked psychologists the same question in this article. The professionals were much more kind to these crazy people than I was, but then perhaps that's why they get interviewed by USA Today and I just rant on a blog read by maybe 5 people.

Sadly, unlike last year when to me the auditions of Taylor Hicks, Paris Bennett, and Kellie Pickler really stood out as being good (Kellie mostly because she was cute, but she did have a good audition), no one's audition has really stood out thus far this season. Maybe they've saved the best for tomorrow's "best of the rest" show, or maybe the producers have come to the conclusion that the freaks and geeks who fail the auditions (and the judge's comments about them) are bigger rating winners than the real singers. I know that Chris Daughtry was still more or less unknown until the live semi-finals when he suddenly emerged as one of the favorites to win. My Mom is still upset about how that turned out.

From The Archives: Season 5 Finale

From May 23, 2006:

OK, this is it for 2006. Two contestants on the stage, one record contract at stake, three judges and thousands in the audience and millions watching at home. This...is the American Idol final.

Katherine McPhee and Taylor Hicks each sang 3 songs. 2 were repeat performances of songs they sang earlier this season, the third and final number would be their first original single. So, in order of their performances as determined by a coin flip:

Katherine, Black Horse and the Cherry Tree: I didn't get a chance to hear her first performance so I can't make a fair comparison, but this version was OK. It didn't knock my socks off, though. It was pretty safe choice, not very challenging for her vocally, though she again oversang parts of it. She showed more emotion this time, interacting with the musicians and such, and was much less robotic than she can sometimes be.

Taylor, Livin' For The City: A good song choice for his vocal style, and it was a really good performance. This performance was better than the first time he sang it, which wasn't bad either. He took a Stevie Wonder song and made it his own, which is not easy to do. I have no idea why he choice to wear a purple felt jacket, but I guess we should expect things like that by now.

Katherine, Somewhere Over the Rainbow: This was the ace in her hole and she played it well. While I don't think it was as good as her performance last week it was still stunning. She definitely has a God-given talent and it showed here again.

Taylor, Levon: Once again he chose a song that he likes rather than a song that is better suited to his voice, and it hurt him here. It wasn't a bad performance (it was better this time than when he first performed it back in February) but he could, and has, done so much better. I will say that he does know how to close a song strong.

Katherine, My Destiny: It sounded kind of uneven to me. Some parts were very good but some parts were not, especially the high notes that were kind of screechy. Overall, I think her performance was wooden in a Celine Dion kind of way, but that may be more because of the song than the way she performed it.

Taylor, Do I Make You Proud: Yes, he did. He saved his best vocal performance for last. Not much else to add besides...

The Fearless Prediction: I predict that Taylor Hicks will be the next American Idol. He was the favorite going in tonight (and has been since Chris Daughtry was voted off) and he represented himself well tonight with 2 strong performances compared to only one for Katherine. He was the most versatile of the 12 finalists (i.e. he was never handicapped by the theme when all the others were at least once), as evident by the fact that he is the only one of the 12 finalists who was never in the bottom 2 or 3 the entire competition. Based not only on his performances tonight but also on his consistency throughout the competition I think Taylor will be named the winner tomorrow night. He represented those of us with grey hairs well.

From the Archives: Season 5 Semi-Finals

I'll need to start posting these more quickly if I hope to have Season 6 online by the January premiere of Season 7. Not like anyone is really reading these anyway, though...

I read yesterday that Chris Daughtry's album was the biggest selling album of 2007. Taylor Hicks? Katherine McPhee? Elliott Yamin? No where to be found. Neither was the 2007 American Idol Jordin Sparks. But more on that when I start posting the 2007 recaps.

From May 16, 2006

I have to make this good (I even took notes this time), since my Mom is reading this to get the latest on American Idol instead of watching the show. She's abstaining out of protest that Chris Daughtry was voted off. I hate to say I told you so, because he was my choice too, but I told you so.

This week the 3 remaining contestants sang a song of their choice, a song chosen by one of the judges, and one chosen by music mogul Clive Davis, the main behind Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, and the resurrection of Carlos Santana.

Elliott Yamin: The Clive Davis choice, Journey's Open Arms, opened a little flat but he came on strong towards the end. I agree with Simon that his performance was a little stiff, somewhat reminiscent of his earlier performances. Paula Abdul asked him to sing What You Won't Do For Love, which he did better with than Open Arms but still not his best performance. Let's face it, it's a lousy song, but that's not his fault. He did about as well with it as anyone could have. He did loosen up a bit though and showed more emotion and passion. His choice, I Believe In My Soul, was OK but not great. He made a good choice to do the Donny Hathaway version instead of the original Ray Charles version and there were some strong parts, but there were other parts that were a bit disjointed.

Katherine McPhee: She really oversang the Clive Davis choice, the R Kelly song I Believe I Can Fly. Even Paula had harsh words for her, though Simon seemed to like it. To be honest, though, I think she was the only one who could have even made a reasonable attempt at that song. Simon Cowell selected Somewhere Over The Rainbow, and she hit it out of the park. The only goose bump performance of the night. It showed off her full vocal range, including some lower notes that she rarely sings but really does well when she does. Starting the song a capella (while sitting on the stage again) really sold it. Her choice was the Ella Fitzgerald song I Ain't Got Nuthin' But The Blues, and it was a lot like the first song. She oversang it too but not as badly as the first number. She gets partial credit for tackling a difficult vocal song but it was a bit of a downer after Rainbow.

Taylor Hicks: Clive Davis challenged him to sing Springsteen's Dancing In The Dark. He did a good job with it, though I don't think I would buy a record with that performance on it. Inviting Paula Abdul to dance with him (like Springsteen did with Courtney Cox in the video for the song) was a nice touch. Randy Jackson's selection was Joe Cocker's You Are So Beautiful. It was his strongest vocal performance to date, though he seemed to be really fighting the restraints that song placed on him. You can't dance to it, but nevertheless he pulled it off well. He chose to sing Otis Redding's Try A Little Tenderness, and rather than sing it straight he sang it in his own style which really worked. Maybe for the first time he chose a song that he and only he could do well. Often his performances degenerate into silliness (though very popular silliness) but this time he kept the dancing to a minimum.

Fearless Prediction: Last week Elliott Yamin had to hit a home run to stay in the competition and he came through. So the question on my mind was could he do it again, because he had to duplicate his performances of last week to have a chance and knock out another favorite. Well, he did alright but not good enough to stay in. Katherine's rendition of Somewhere Over The Rainbow sealed the deal for Mr. Yamin, which is too bad because no one has worked harder during the competition than he has. So I predict that Elliott will be voted out and it'll be Taylor and Katherine in the finals. Then it'll be Katherine's turn to try and hit the home run that she needs to beat Taylor and win it all, but my guess is it'll be the grey hair guy that Simon originally didn't think would make it past Hollywood Week.

From the Archives: Season 5 Elvis Week

I missed the show that Paris Bennett got voted off as I was at a dinner meeting listening to some boring professor brag about how he knew more about how the World Trade Center towers fell than anyone else. I would have been better off watching Idol.

I read a news story today that says that the debut album from Season 6 winner Jordin Sparks was the worst ever for an American Idol winner. Just another example of why Melinda Doolittle should have won instead. But I'm getting ahead of myself here, I'm still in Season 5. Speaking of travesties...

This report was the one that I feel I really started to hit my stride with these things. It was the week that I made my bold prediction that Chris Daughtry would be voted off, and sure enough he was. I was quite proud of myself for that call even though I felt that he was robbed (the aforementioned travesty). Of course my Mom was very upset with this development (not with me, but with Daughtry getting voted off), so much so that she stopped watching the show (a boycott she continued for all of Season 6) and instead just read my reports.

This was also the first time I mentioned the mentor who appeared on the show, a trend that I would continue into Season 6 along with mentioning Chris Daughtry at least once in every report.

From May 9, 2006:

Can you believe that American Idol airs in 53 other countries? Why don't these other countries have their own version of this show, since after all, American Idol is just the American version of a British show, isn't it?I was wondering if they were going to do an Elvis week. Wouldn't it be something if he showed up tomorrow night and performed like the other guest artists have done? I would bet at least one member of the studio audience tomorrow actually expects it to happen. I thought it was interesting that Priscilla Presley said that if The King were alive today that American Idol would be one of his favorite shows. Normally I dismiss such statements as hooey (you could say the same thing about, say, George Washington, Bing Crosby, or pretty much any deceased American, or for that matter any deceased citizen of the 53 other countries that air the show), but in the case of Elvis I could actually picture him being a fan of the show.Enough of the ranting and on with the judging.

Taylor Hicks: His first song, "Jailhouse Rock", was indicative of everything that is bad about him. He's out there dancing and having a good time and there's something to be said for that, but his singing was karaoke at best. His second song, "In the Ghetto", was indicative of everything that is good about him. Soulful, passionate, and that whiskey tenor bringing it home strong. I think on the strength of his second performance alone he's a shoo-in to advance to next week.

Chris Daughtry: "Suspicious Eyes" was a strong performance but was a little bit short of magical. He's certainly done better, though he did worse with "A Little Less Conversation". I agree with Simon, it was very flat for most of it until he picked it up at the end and showed off the rock and roll passion that he's known for. He was true to the song but I think that actually hurt him more than helped him, especially since in previous rounds he has altered a song to better suit his style.

Elliott Yamin: Needed two breakthrough performances to stay alive in the competition and boy did he ever deliver. "If I Can Dream" is a tough song for anybody because you really have to sell it like Elvis did. Elliott's performance was a little flat at first but he really hit it hard at the bridge when that song demands it. An impressive performance overall when you consider that he only learned the lyrics last week. His performance on "Trouble" was the best of the night by a mile. Strong and passionate, he has shown the most improvement over the course of the competition and he put it all together in that song.

Katherine McPhee: She strayed from her comfort zone by singing "Hound Dog" instead of her usual ballads. I admire her courage to do that this late in the competition but she really didn't sing it very well, including forgetting a line. One would have hoped she would do better with "Can't Help Falling In Love", a ballad that plays better to her strengths, but while she did do better it wasn't nearly up to par with her previous performances.

Fearless Prediction: The morning line had Elliott as the favorite to be the next one voted off, but it would be a crime if that happened given how well he performed tonight. Given that, it's hard to say who will be voted off. Any one of the four is a possibility, and I would have to go out on a limb to pick one. But then again, this is supposed to be a "fearless" prediction, so...I think Chris Daughtry's run will end tomorrow night. Yes, he has been the front runner for most of the competition but I got the impression last night that he's running out of steam while Taylor and Elliott are still on the rise. Katherine McPhee's performance was the worst of the four tonight but I think that the fact that she has by far the best singing voice in the competition, is the only girl left, was by her own admission forced out of her comfort zone by the theme, and fits much better into the classic Idol stereotype than Chris will all buy her one more week to find a ballad that she can blow everyone away with again.

From the Archives: Season 5 Love Songs Week

I kept the comments short this week since I was alternating between writing this and watching a San Jose Sharks playoff game. The Sharks won, BTW, though I think it was the last game they won that year. Sadly the same was said for Kellie Pickler this night.

From April 25, 2006:

Katherine: Having never heard the song before I thought she did a good job with it, though I agree with the judges that she could have selected a better song to show off her talent. In retrospect, she shouldn't have chosen a Whitney Houston song.

Elliott: A very strong vocal performance. It was strong, emotional, and technically sound. At times it sounded like he was channeling Donnie Hathaway. His voice was born for this music.

Kellie: Not a very good song choice, "Unchained Melody" is way too big a song for her and it was obvious, painfully at times. There were some major pitch problems. The only good thing about her performance this week was that it was better than last week, and she wasn't in the bottom three then...

Paris: The singing was kind of flat, but there was some strong moments, particularly towards the end. It was kind of disturbing, though, that was smiling while singing "The Way We Were." It's supposed to be a sad song, isn't it?

Taylor: Almost the same as last week, flat and karaoke at the start, much stronger towards the end, though not as strong as last week. Once again he hindered himself by his song choice. He too could have picked a better song to showcase his talent.

Chris: An excellent song choice and a very strong performance. I would buy an album with that song on it. I was wondering how he would respond to being in the bottom 2 last week. If he's there again this week there should be an investigation.

Predictions: Based on this week's performances the three girls would be in the bottom three, as the guys clearly outperformed them. If there is any justice in the world then Kellie Pickler will be voted off, even though she's really cute. Since she somehow managed survive last week (probably because lots of other people think she's cute too) my guess is that'll survive at least one more week and Paris Bennett will be voted off. If Chris Daughtry gets voted off then this will be my last American Idol report.

From the Archives: Season 5 Standards Week

I believe this was the first sign that Chris Daughtry may not win the competition and that Taylor Hicks could. Hicks was announced as the top vote getter that week, while both Daughtry and Catherine McPhee were in the bottom two. I think it was this week, anyway. I know there was one round when they were both at the bottom before Daughtry finally got the boot. In the end, though, it was in fact Ace Young who was voted off, much to the dismay of teenage girls worldwide.

From April 18, 2006:

Chris: My goodness what a surprise. Who would have thought Mr. Rock and Roll can sing a soft ballad, and sing it so well? Very professional, very solid, and clearly established him as the man to beat in this competition. Consider that hole filled, and I don't know if he has any more holes left.

Paris: Ballads have never been her strongest suit, but tonight she did a good job with one. It was probably her best pure singing performance. It was still a little shaky in spots but it was very strong in others, and once again she showed pose beyond her years.

Taylor: An excellent song choice. It was a little flat at first but man did he pick it up at the end. Like many of his past performances, I felt like he was this close to blowing everyone away, but unlike past weeks when he came just a little bit short of greatness tonight he made it over. I felt like we finally saw him at his best. A few more performances like this and he'll be a serious challenger to win it all.

Elliott: Another good song choice, as his voice is tailor made for this music. While I think he's sung better before, it was nevertheless a solid performance. I could feel the emotion in his voice, particularly towards the end. He's grown as much as anybody in this competition.

Kellie: The beginning was OK but it got really shaky there towards the end, and perhaps that's being too polite. With all the great vocal performances that preceded her it made it sound worse than perhaps it was, but it was clearly not a good performance. I was surprised that she didn't pick a Peggy Lee song or something with more passion and more opportunities to show off her performance skills. Not a good song choice.

Ace: It was a surprisingly good performance, one of his best in the competition. The falsetto parts were awesome as always, and the rest wasn't bad. It was an interesting new look for him with the pulled back hair and the suit.

Katherine: Best performance of the night by a mile. Her voice was born for this music and she was clearly the class of the field tonight. I figured that she would do well with standards and she delivered. Rod Stewart himself couldn't have done that song any better.

Predictions: Kellie Pickler's performance was clearly the worst of the night, so I would be surprised if she were not in the bottom 3 this week. As for the other two, it's hard to say because everybody else besides Kellie did very well. My guess is that the other two in the bottom 3 will be Ace and Elliott, two frequent bottom 3 occupants. It wasn't that their performances were so bad as much as everyone else's was so much better. Paris Bennett is a possibility but she did much better than I expected and thus should make it to the next round.

So is this the week Ace Young finally gets voted out? Maybe, but I have the feeling that it won't be. Clearly he needed a good performance to stay in the competition and he made it happen. It wasn't a home run performance but it was probably good enough to stay another week, though I still think he has the least talent of anyone still in the competition. Judging from this week's performance alone Kellie would be the clear choice, but I think her past performances will keep her alive in the competition just a little bit longer. So that leaves Elliott Yamin, and I think he'll be the one that will be sent home tomorrow night, though I would not be surprised if it were either Kellie or Ace.

From the Archives: Season 5 Queen Week

To this day I don't know why nobody chose to sing "Save Me". It's the perfect Idol song from the Queen repertoire. I also remember to this day how amazed I was that Kellie Pickler was able to pull off singing "Bohemian Rhapsody". Enjoy this blog entry from April 11, 2006:

Bucky: I though it was OK. I liked the way you tweaked the arrangement to make it work for you. The singing was decent, not memorable, but decent.

Ace: That was a poor song choice, especially for you. I don't think you sang it very well, if anything it paled compared to the original version.

Kellie: I had serious doubts that you would do well this week since Queen is so far removed from your comfort zone, and then when I found out you were singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" I thought that this had train wreck written all over it. But, I am amazed at how well you pulled that off. The beginning was a bit karaoke but it got much better as you went along. It was very brave of you to choose that song, and you showed us something that we hadn't seen from you before. From a pure talent perspective it wasn't the best performance I've seen, but given the context it was nothing short of amazing.

Chris: Quite the opposite from Kellie, I had very high expectations for you tonight given the theme, and you didn't quite live up to them. I thought it was a bad song choice, though I will say that you performed that song better than Queen does and it definitely got better as you went along, so you deserve kudos for that. Your vocals were as strong as always.

Katherine: You made the right decision to change songs. That was the best vocal of the night. No one else in the competition could have done that song any better. Power ballads are definitely one of your strongest suits. I got goose bumps listening to it.

Elliott: It was kind of uneven, but it was generally OK. Some parts were really good, while others were kind of flat. It was an ambitious choice to sing "Somebody to Love" given the complexity of the vocal and I think you did fine with it.

Taylor: Mister Excitement is back! I was wondering where he was hiding. Like Katherine, you made a wise decision to change songs. "We Are the Champions" was so wrong for you on many levels, but this song ("Crazy Little Thing Called Love") was much better suited to your style. An improvement over last week.

Paris: The vocals were a little bit shaky in spots, but once again you made up for it with your performance skills. It still amazes me to watch you transform on stage from the shy 17 year old to this confident performer we saw again tonight.

Fearless Prediction: I went 2 for 3 last week including correctly picking the one voted off (Mandisa), so the pressure is on now. So..... my prediction this week is that Ace Young will be the one sent off tomorrow night. I think Bucky will be in the bottom 3. The other bottom feeder this week is hard to say. I think it could be either Elliot or Paris. I'll go out on a limb and say Paris, though in my mind Elliot gave the lesser performance of the two. I thought going in it would take a minor miracle for Kellie Pickler not to be on this list this week, and it looks like she might just have pulled it off.

From the Archives, Season 5 Country Week

Here was my first attempt at being an American Idol judge. From Season 5, which was already 3 weeks into the final 12. Many of the features of future posts were not in place yet, as I was just starting out and making it up as I went. Note my prediction at the end of this post though, which was spot on and thus inspired me to keep on predicting. Sadly my later guesses weren't so accurate until they got close to the end of the season.

From Tuesday, April 04, 2006
The Armchair Idol Judge Evaluates Country Week

Each week until the season finale, time permitting, I'm going to offer up my comments as a "fourth" judge of my new third favorite TV show, American Idol. See you if agree or disagree with these comments, though no booing please.

Taylor: I have a question for you, do you want to win this competition or not? You have a unique talent, a unique singing voice, but you didn't really show us that tonight, or last week for that matter. It was an OK performance, but not something to write home about. Once again instead of picking a song that only you can sing, you picked a song that everyone can sing. I think if you want to win this competition you need to start selecting songs that highlight your unique style, not John Denver songs.

Mandisa: I thought it was a good performance. A little subdued for you, but I think in this case that's a good thing since it shows us some versatility.

Elliott: It really looked like you were fighting it tonight. For a minute there I thought you were going to choke that microphone. I know that it was a really tough song for you since it's so far removed from your comfort zone, but you handled it OK. It wasn't a home run, but it wasn't a strike out either. The singing was just OK; I’d give you a C for that, but an A for effort.

Paris: I didn't think that the singing was very good, but you performed it well. You are a very dynamic performer, which you showed again tonight, and I think to some degree it does make up for what I thought was very average singing.

Ace: I must confess, I thought you had no chance this week since country is so far removed from what you usually excel at, but I think you did a very good job this week. It was good to see you work that falsetto in at the end. I think it was an excellent song choice and you made it work. I was pleasantly surprised.

Kellie: I figured that you would do well tonight and you did. A much better performance than what you did last week. You are a dynamite performer when you are in your comfort zone and you were clearly there tonight.

Chris: I was wondering if you were going to try and do a rock version of a country song this week or try something new, and I'm glad to hear that you tried something new. I think you did a very good job with that and showed us all something we hadn't seen before from you. It bodes well for your potential for success in this competition.

Katherine: Once again your vocals were all over the map, not as bad as last week but not as good as what you have done before. Some parts were excellent and some were not so good. I admire you for taking something of a risk with the song choice, but I think you can and have done a better job with the vocals.

Bucky: It was OK, not great, but OK. I was expecting something a little more 'twangy' from you this week given your country roots so I commend you for not falling too deep into your comfort level and instead try something a little bit different.

My predictions for the bottom 3 are: Mandisa, Katherine, and Elliott, though it wouldn't surprise me to see Ace up there again given that he's been in the bottom 3 two out of the last 3 weeks. I think Mandisa will be voted off this time, but it's a tough call this week as no one really stood out on the bad side. Chris is still the man to beat in my opinion, even more so now that he's shown he can sing something else besides hard rock songs.

In the Beginning There Was Darkness...

It all started out innocent enough. I was stuck at home trying to repel an invasion of a determined army of ants marching around my living room, and the only thing on TV that fateful night in January 2005 was the Season 5 premiere of American Idol. This is how I documented the experience in my now-departed social blog that I had at the time:

January 17, 2005:
"I must confess that I've never been a big fan of reality TV shows. Indeed, out of protest I've deliberately avoided watching almost all of them. I think I've seen maybe 3 episodes of The Apprentice and probably half a show of Survivor way back when just to see what the hubbub was all about, but that's it. These shows just seem so stupid to me that I want to do my part to get them off the air, and this is from someone who used to watch pro wrestling shows religiously.

Then there's American Idol. I must admit that I took some interest in the show a couple years ago as a sociological study when there was all that controversy surrounding the fact that the talented African-American girls were getting voted off and a much less talented Filipina from Hawaii was still kept on. The fact that one of the girls voted off was from right here in beautiful Oakland made it almost impossible to ignore, but it was interesting to me to see, hear, and read about who people were voting for and why and how some thought there was a conspiracy to keep the Hawaii girl on and the African American girls off that I had nothing to do with how well these girls sang, but instead because of their racial identity. Thus we had a group of girls not old enough to drink booze representing different racial and ethnic groups in America in what was essentially a remake of Star Search. Fascinating stuff. Then, of course, there was the saga of William Hung, which was water cooler material at work for a number of weeks since he was a UC Berkeley student (like many of my co-workers), was from China (like some of my co-workers), and became famous because he couldn't sing worth a damn (like almost all of my co-workers dream about doing)."

"Despite my curiosity I never did actually sit down and watch the show. That is, until tonight, and I must admit it was an entertaining two hours of television. Despite the ants crawling around my living room I couldn't keep my eyes off of the TV. It amazes me to what lengths some people will go to get on television, and how some of these people actually think they have talent when it's clear to everyone except perhaps deaf people that they don't, and there were a few that even deaf people would say no to in an instant. Is this what I've been missing all these years?"

"I must confess that it is likely that I'll be watching again, at least until baseball season starts."

Little did I realize at the time that I would miss all of one episode of American Idol for the next two years. Thus began the saga that led to the creation of this blog (the fact that my favorite baseball team has stunk for the last 2 years probably helped). I decided that year that I would post comments after the show each week as if I were the 4th American Idol judge. Slowly the format evolved into a cavalcade of good times as I used my podium to bash the contestants, the judges, Ryan Seacrest, the guest mentors (especially the mentors), Chris Daughtry, and finally myself as I tried to predict who would be voted off the next night. I'm still proud yet disappointed that I predicted Daughtry's departure the night before it was announced.

Now that my social blog has passed on to the next realm (as have the ants, at least for now anyway) I've created this new blog to continue the fun and frivolity. To whet the appetite I'll be posting my judging from both Seasons 5 and 6 here until January when lucky Season #7 starts. I hope that those of you who've found this blog enjoy what I'll be writing as much as I'll enjoy typing it, though it'll mean no social contact on Tuesday nights for about 5 months.