American Idol - 4/22/2003

[RichardW]

Originally posted by das Monkey
I hope her analysis is as insightful as her music.

Obviously it wasn't. She thought everyone sounded "wonderful".

[Renee]

Simon definitely said "Where's Arthur?" I played it back because I couldn't believe what I'd heard. That's live television for ya!
I immediately wondered if Simon had just outed Ryan.

[Alyoshka]

I cannot believe this episode. Every show thus far has been better than the singing in this show. There wasn't one good performance out of all six. For being the final six this was beyond pathetic.

At this point I'm not even sure if I'll continue to watch the show. Paula continues to patronize them. Randy is finally starting to tell them the truth. Nobody in that group is talented enough to ever make it in the music business. That is the bottom line. Somewhere along this road either America didn't vote for the right person, or, more probably, the Judges didn't move the right person on to the higher rounds.

The absolute worst was Carmen. She'd better be saying her goodbyes to the mansion tonight.

[Groucho]

Because Josh was the worst tonight, his fans will rally (as happened last week with Carmen). My prediction: Carmen will get the boot, and will be joined in the "Loser Chairs" with Trenyce and Kim.

[das Monkey]

• Quoth RichardW •

---

Obviously it wasn't. She thought everyone sounded "wonderful".

---

Perhaps you misunderstood my tone, because it was exactly as insightful as her music.

das

[movieking]

To me, in interviews after she got kicked off, Frenchie seemed simple. She really didn't appear to be an intelligent chick at all.

As for tonight, nothing great, but Kim L and Ruben were the best, IMO.

[zuffy]

I guess I didn't miss much from missing tonite's show.

[xnlt]

What's with the musical chairs? The first week or so the guest judge sat between Simon and Paula than they switched up and they sat between Paula and Randy. Must be a Simon thing!

[Alyoshka]

Originally posted by xnlt
What's with the musical chairs? The first week or so the guest judge sat between Simon and Paula than they switched up and they sat between Paula and Randy. Must be a Simon thing!

I think that it depends on who they are better friends with, honestly.

[pantala]

Typing as the show goes on..

Kim L.: Trouble keeping in tune with the lower parts of the song. Her voice didn't impress me, especially at the end when she got more into the song. Definately not cute either.
Clay: I absolutely detest singers that look into the camera during live performances, especially if there is a live audience. Clay making eyes with the camera every chance he got bugged the crap out of me. His head-tilt-then-blink-slowly-while-mouthing-"thank-you" to the judges is also annoying. Too Broadway like Simon says!
Trenyce: Does her mouth get wider each week? Nothing special, as usual. Horse mask!
Josh: Lots and lots of pitch problems, but the song has a lot of difficult and awkward transitions. Slipping in and out of the country twang was terrible. It will be unfortunate if he stays on tomorrow, and it will be only because of the patriotic vote. Should be gone tomorrow.
Carmen: Lower register songs are definately not her thing. And turn down the vibrato! Hers is one of the most artificial sounding vibratos I've ever heard. Just as nasal as Josh, and Simon & Randy were right.
Ruben: I think he mixed it up a little bit tonight, should still be there next week. Still, not anything special.

Maybe it was the songs tonight, but like somebody else said earlier, nothing impressive came out tonight. Josh or Carmen gone tomorrow.

[TheAllPurposeNothing]

Kinda hoping its Carmen that will get the boot. She should have been booted last week instead of Kimberly, who seemed to be the only person having fun on the show.

I probably stand alone on this, but if Josh would just stick to straight country, he could actually win this thing. He's not my favorite, but he's got two things going for him. Middle America loves country music and he's a Marine. That shouldn't work in his favor but it probably does. He could have nailed "Shameless" last week, and he could have picked better this week. In fact, if he hadn't picked "Don't Want to Miss a Thing" weeks ago, he likely would have won tonight hands down. Simon was right weeks ago. Stick with what works, and country works for him. I don't care for it myself, but I can still tell when its done right.

[xnlt]

Bottom three, Josh, Carmen and Trenyce. If it continues to be male/female/male Josh is out but if not I think Trenyce will go home. Her fan base is much smaller than Josh and Carmen's. As long as the judges bad mouth Carmen the more her fans will vote for her to stay.

[MrX]

I think Carmen will go tommorrow night. Josh was horrible though. If he sang that to his wife like he did tonight I'm surprised she didn't dump him.

The thing that surprised me tonight was Randy's comments to Carmen. Not that he wasn't speaking the truth, just that's the first time I've seen him turn into Simon

[Alyoshka]

Originally posted by TheAllPurposeNothing

I probably stand alone on this, but if Josh would just stick to straight country, he could actually win this thing.

I agree with the idea. I'm not sure that he could actually win, but I do believe he would go a lot further.

Most of this competition doesn't come down to whether or not you have the most talent. It is like Survivor, in some ways, in that you need to have a strategy. If you know how to play the game then you'll be that much better off.

Josh just seems to be unable to make up his mind. That will cause him to lose votes in the long run.

[Skorp]

Week after week, Carmen and Josh are neck-and-neck for the worst performance, yet they're still there.

Can't even decide tonight which one was the worst. They were both awful in any number of ways. Please let one of them be gone tomorrow.

Completely rhetorical question: Why in the world would Carmen choose a song that accentuates her greatest flaw. "I want you baaaaaaack." ugh.

[Da Thrilla]

I think my ass sung better than Josh tonight...damn he stunk it up.

As for the best, I thought Kimberly did. Simon is right, she is looking better and better every week!

[Seantn]

I immediately wondered if Simon had just outed Ryan.

Ryan does a pretty good job of outing himself by acting like himself.

[briank]

Nothing good this week.

I like Clay but he is no "American Idol".
And while Ruben will win he really isn't an "American Idol" either.
Kind of disappointing I thought.

Kim L keeps improving, but I still can't stand her.

[Patman]

I didn't really enjoy any of these Diane Warren songs.

Carmen's last note (baaaaaaaaaaack) was horrendous! For anyone who doesn't think Carmen sounds like a sheep, there's your proof. She is seriously living in denial over her chances (but somehow if her voting block can pull a McKibbin, stranger things have happened).

Josh was having pitch problems with that song he tried to "sang". He does sing all over the map (country, not country, etc).

Clay's still the guy who sends shivers down the back of my neck when he sings. Obviously Simon doesn't want to push Clay because he simply doesn't want to put money in someone he thinks has zero pop appeal, but will have a good career on broadway in musicals.

Ruben is sounding worse and worse as he tries to step out of his safefy zone, and that scratchiness in some of his notes is not appealing. I think he ran out of breath and missed a line in the middle of the song.

Trenyce is a wannabe, but she's getting worse as we go along. But she has toned down the "performance" aspect of her presentation.

Kim sings all over the map in a way that is not appealing to me at all. I feel nothing when I listen to her sing.

[RichardW]

Originally posted by das Monkey
Perhaps you misunderstood my tone, because it was exactly as insightful as her music.

das

Glad to know someone else loves her music as much as I do.

[rfduncan]

Originally posted by TheAllPurposeNothing
I probably stand alone on this, but if Josh would just stick to straight country, he could actually win this thing. He's not my favorite, but he's got two things going for him. Middle America loves country music and he's a Marine. That shouldn't work in his favor but it probably does.

Ugh - do we really even KNOW what he does in the Marines? For crap's sake, he could work in a friggin' STENO pool or office supply for all we know (and by the looks of his physique that probably isn't far from the truth). I have never thought much of him really. Give him the boot.

[movieking]

Who was the original artist of Josh's song? I can't remember the name of it, but Diane Warren said that it was never released as a single...

[Jadzia]

I thought it was funny how Simon basically made fun of Diane Warren's non-vocabulary, but no one there seemed to "get" his dry British sarcasm. WHen he commented how he was surprised that she is able to write such good lyrics, she was like "huh?" He was poking fun at all her "Great...Wonderful" comments.

I think her songs are bland and just awful. If I was a contestant on that show I'd be hard-pressed to find one I'd want to sing. As a result, the performances were bland and unmemorable. Except for the truly awful ones like Josh and Carmen. I am so glad to be finally hearing some criticism of Josh. He has been awful for so long. Maybe now that the war is over, America can send him back to his troop. Not only do I hate his constant identity crisis ("Am I Country or Not?") I just can't stand looking at him. He does not look like an American Idol, he just looks goofy, like someone dropped him on his head as a baby. The goofy smile, the big ears. People made fun of Clay's ears, but Josh's head looks like a sugar bowl. And those awful hand gesture she makes while he sings. Please make him stop now.

We really thought Ruben messed up towards the end of his song last night. At one point, the backing vocals started singing the chorus and he was just standing there sort of yelping "You" a few times. He definitely looked like he was improvising. I think he lost his place in the song and then just started covering by doing that.

There have been a few times I have liked the sound of Carmen's voice but tonight definitely wasn't one of them. I thought of that South Park episode where they take the goat to Afghanistan and everyone thinks it is Stevie Nicks. Nope, the goat was Carmen Rasmussen.

I love it when Randy is critical. He doesn't do it very often, but when he does it just comes out real fast and you don't even realize what he has said right away. We were laughing about what he said to Josh: "Dude, that wasn't even in tune. Well, maybe a few notes." Randy has said some zingers like that in the past, like when he said "I couldn't wait for that to be over. "

I again laugh at loud at some of the audience signs: "Ruben is my baby's Daddy". WTF? What next? "Clay came on my face"?

[fujishig]

Ruben started off strong, but just held notes in the end. I don't know if it was because he lost his place or what, but if you notice in the practice session, the chorus was way too high for him, so it might've been a decision he made. Still, if they took away the chorus it would've been bland.

I was really surprised at the judge's response to KLocke... I didn't think she did spectacular. But they were drooling over her. I wonder if sometimes they don't just script what they're going to say (like the jokes about masks and Mr. personality).

I was also shocked that Randy did tell the truth to Carmen. I mean, she and Josh have been terrible, but that's the first time I've heard him mention that someone has no chance to win the competition. It's true, of course, but it was pretty mean, especially coming from Randy. And, of course, the backlash against the judges will cause Carmen to get enough votes to squeak by again... and Josh hasn't been in the bottom three for weeks (IIRC).

[TheAllPurposeNothing]

My big question is:

What hack will they bring in as a judge next week?

I'm sorta shooting for Steven Bishop or Rupert Hines, but maybe they can find room for the entire Starland Vocal Band.

Didn't watch at all last season, so the thing that really scares me is when they keep touting this years crowd as being on so much a higher level. Was last season's crowd really that bad???