Everybody Loves Saturday Night

It's can only get better

Last night's performances by the top 12 American Idol guys was pretty sucktastic.  I'm not sure what Simon's meltdown was about, but it was uncomfortable to watch.  Compared to last season's crop of guys which included Elliot and Chris Daughtry, this round was pretty disappointing. 

The only standout, to me, was beatboxer Blake's "Somewhere Only We Know".  I think curly-haired Chris has a better voice than Simon gave him credit for, but the dude should stop trying to be funny on the spot.

Even though Sundance was horrible on "Nights in White Satin", I love the song and I'd be fine with him sticking around if it means more Moody Blues than Brian McKnight songs.  We decided that we would've actually taken the initiative and called if the guy singing "Back at One" had replaced "One: You're like a dream come true" with "One: cut a hole in the box."

Will the women be better?

Guilty.

So last night's House totally veered from their normal formula.  Instead of focusing on one mysterious medical case and the team's efforts to crack it, the story revolved around House's dealings with a rape victim and Cameron's attempts to help a dying man. I did NOT like this episode. The scenes between House and the victim didn't ring true and I'm getting sick of the whole "let's try and get House to learn about humanity" crap. Blecch. 

I *do* want to see House connect with someone, and let his guard down, but it seemed really contrived in this episode.

Now. For my guilty confessions:

Men in Trees - It's actually becoming one of my favorite shows.  Anne Heche is FUNNY!  Justine Bateman is too cool! The boys are super cute! And they're in Alaska.  Yes, I know it seems like it's been done before (hello, Northern Exposure?) but it's different. It's quirky and cute and I'm totally hooked.

Dirt - Courteney Cox's new show on FX.  It's totally trashy. The first episode was so racy that I couldn't believe it was on regular TV, and every episode has tons of gratuitous, explicit sex, and sometimes extreme violence. Basically everyone on the show is in this horrible downward spiral of excess and greed, I'm still not sure that I like it, but I can't stop watching it because I want to see what happens next. Has anyone else seen this? I'm curious to hear what you think.  I do think it's gotten better since the first episode (it was pretty bad)...

American Idol - The auditions are on right now.  Even if you hate American Idol, you need to watch at least ONE audition episode - not to see the crazy weirdos who think they're going to be stars, but to watch Paula Abdul's antics. She is definitely on some major painkillers this season...

Final Three.

Um, hi, I'm totally delinquent and haven't posted about Idol in ages.

So last night, the final three each got to sing three songs - one picked by Clive Davis, one picked by a judge, and one that they got to choose. It was a very bizarre mix of songs, but it was pretty good night overall. 

Taylor Hicks has been doing poorly for the past couple of weeks  (not that his performances have affected his popularity).  Last night, he sounded GREAT - he was actually singing (instead of yelling/screaming).  He has so much personality on stage, and he's just so damn sincere.  I think he'll be in the top two.  My favorite performance was Try a Little Tenderness (LOVE THAT SONG.)

Elliot sounded great, but his song choices are going to be the end of him.  He's been picking R & B songs that he can REALLY sing, but they aren't recognizable and most of them have a weird format (it's not your typical verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, etc.).  I've liked Elliot the whole time and I'm really excited that he made it this far, but I think he's toast tonight.  Favorite performance was the one Clive chose (a Bobby Caldwell song?)

Katherine. Harumph.  She pissed me off last night. She's just so transparent! When Clive Davis was describing the song he chose for her, she looked disgusted. Then, the judges criticized her "I Believe I Can Fly" (which truly wasn't that great - chill with all the runs, for real) and she was all, "OMG! You guys are, like, SO HARD ON ME!"  Um, they're supposed to be hard on you.  When you compare her reactions to any of the other contestants' reactions, she looks like a whiny brat. Clearly she thinks she's already the winner.

Having said all that, I do think she's technically the best singer in the competition, and I think she'll make the top two.  And her "Over the Rainbow" *was* really beautiful. I just wish she wasn't so full of herself. Harumph.

So, I'm hoping for a Taylor - Katherine finale.  And I think Taylor might win it! Thoughts?

Snooze. Fest.

American Idol is really disappointing me this season. (Yes, I have high expectations for American Idol.)  This week's girl episode was such a bore. I really think the only good singers are Mandisa, Lisa, Paris and Katherine, but out of those four, only Mandisa and Katherine really kicked ass this week.  Paris, although absolutely adorable and energetic, was kinda pitchy, and Lisa was flawless but boring.

My guesses for the bottom two are Kinnik and Melissa, although I think Ayla could potentially be gone too.  Here's who I wish could be kicked off: RYAN SEACREST.  He is so inappropriate and weird all the time now (on the elimination show, he kept asking every guy: "Do you think you're in the bottom two?") and last night he made some bizarre comment about Mandisa singing in the shower, and Katherine and that tiny boy (Kevin?) having a baby together. RANDOM, and just uncomfortable.

The judges were really mellow last night, which I think was a reaction to last week's show when Paula was all drugged out and rambling about melons and pizza. I sort of missed Crazy Crackhead Paula.

I'm ready to get on the big stage...and DUDE. Three nights a week is TOO MUCH, even for me.

Becky the Knitting Model

Do you remember when it turned out that the girl who won Joe Millionaire had don a ton of knitting model shoots?  I was flipping through the latest VK and saw Becky from A.I. on page 30.  She's with her twin sister, and it gives their names so I'm sure it's them.  What are they modeling?  Those knit swimsuits!  In that link you can see them at the bottom of the page, but if you look in the Winter VK, you'll get the full Becky, bedazzled flip flops and all.

As for American Idol last night, all I can say is Mandisa!

They Walk Alike, They Talk Alike

So I missed the boys night on American Idol, but I heard on the radio this morning that ol' gray-haired Taylor rocked out. Sweet. I like him.

Re: the girls.  Did anyone else think that most of the girls looked exactly the same?  Tall, skinny, long hair. White. Raspy voice. BORING.  Every time a new girl would come up to sing, I thought, didn't she already sing? Am I going insane?

Lauren is right - the judges were being extremely nice, especially Simon.  I expect the nicey-nice stuff from Paula, but usually Simon and Randy keep it a little more real, dog.

In other judge news, Paula has started right back in with the strange outfits and bizarre, seemingly-drug-induced hand motions and commentary.  Such as: "Yooooou... light a fire in my heart." So. bizarre.

As far as the eliminations go, I'm surprised that Becky got kicked off -- I really thought there were much worse singers than her (Kellie Pickler, for one).   But I'm not surprised about Stevie - her song choice was really bad.   I really think your first song should always be super upbeat, unless you pick a slow song that you will totally knock everyone's socks off.

I hope this three-night-a-week-thing doesn't keep up...