Thursday, April 10, 2008

American Idol 4/10/08

There's a fine line between inspiring and proseylitizing. Having the Idol contestants sing "Shout To The Lord" made me wonder if I was watching the 700 Club instead of Fox. I could only hope that Christopher Hitchens isn't a fan of the show. That's the kind of thing that could drive him to drink... okay drive him to drink more.

Tonight was, in some ways, a continuation of Idol Gives Back. I believe Ryan said 70 million was raised last year while only 60 million was collected last night. Of course, the donation lines remained open and folks could also contribute by downloading songs on I-Tune. Perhaps that's why a religious song was chosen for the opening of tonight's show. Everybody knows Christians love to spend money on Jesus music.

Thank goodness Jordin Sparks didn't sing that insipid "I'm all over you like a tattoo" song. It just makes me think of the little fellow from Fantasy Island. Call me dwarfist, but I don't even want to think about the late Hervé Villechaize aka "Tattoo" all over me or anybody else. I can't wait for her follow-up single, "Webster."

I wish Ryan Seacrest had identified the stagehand who handled the awkward moment with Brad Pitt so brilliantly the night before. I also wish they had introduced the members of Terry Hatcher's band. I didn't realize until tonight that the fiddle was played by the hunky Aussie (Jesse Spencer) from "House."

Clinton avoided sniper fire, McCain did schtick and Obama couldn't help saying the words "just" and "equal." The AI audience is just too big for the candidates to ignore.

Syesha Mercado, Michael Johns and Carly Smithson all wound up in the bottom three. I think everybody, including Kristy Lee Cook, was shocked that the she was safe and got to sit on the plush double-decker couch. Cook is is going to be one of those contestants who keeps sneaking through and suddenly finds herself in the top three. She'll also wind up being one of the most hated performers as fans of those who should have remained begin to resent her lack of talent.

It's interesting to me that on a night when the plight of the world and Africa-Americans was highlighted, America made sure two "foreigners" and the only remaining black singer received the least number of votes.

Michael Johns is out! The audience both at home and in the studio were a bit stunned. Personally, I think he made a huge mistake by wearing the ascot for a second week in a row.

I did feel bad that Johns couldn't hit the high note tonight at the end of "Dream On." I bet even Steven Tyler would have a hard time belting it out if he was choked up and his dream came to an end in front of millions of people.


More Idol talk over at humor-blogs.

2 comments:

Suzy said...

I missed Teri Hatcher singing on IGB. I was all set to watch a movie tonight, now I'm gonna watch IDOL to see her sing. Actually, I haven't been watching AI. The Biggest Loser was far more entertaining and next week's the finale so I guess I'll have to go back to AI.jvf

Traci Skene said...

Apparently, the Idol kids sang "Shout To The Lord" at the closing of Idol Gives Back but left out the Jesus parts. After a firestorm, they sang the song on Thursday and put the savior back in.

I don't know how I missed it on Wednesday. I must have zoned out when Mariah Carey started singing. She has that affect on me.