American Idol 8 - Top 36 - Group II - 2/25-2/26/09

[JasonR]

Hey kids, for some reason Fox has Idol on Wednesday & Thursday this week, which wreaks even greater havoc on my DVR than usual. I may have to record this baby on the old VHS.

Anyway, at least half the field in group 2 are relatively unknown, and therefore at a pretty big disadvantage. The better known half of this group of 12 includes:

Adam Lambert, the "really theatrical", i.e., "really gay" one who was in the cast of "Wicked"

Jasmine Murray, the really cute 16 year-old from Mississippi who looks like she was born to be a pop star and have her own Disney Channel show.

Matt Breitzke, the other blue-collar dad singer, a/k/a the bald welder, counterpart to Michael Sarver.

Kai Kalama - who has big hair and loves his sick momma

Matt Giraud - the dualling piano bar singer

Nick "Norman Gentle" Mitchell - did America like his schtick as much as the judges? I doubt it.

Other than that, there's Mishavonna Henson, who is cute and has a cool name, but other than that I don't remember anything about her, and 5 others who got almost no screen time. Do any of them have a chance when only three get through? Whaddya think guys?

[TV Cart]

There's some sort of political thing on tomorrow night from 9 to 10:30 eastern on all the networks. Good luck with that DVR!

[itchy]

I believe that political thing is our president addressing our nation in crisis.

Nice of Idol to step aside, eh?

[el.eh.you.are.eh]

I'm 100% a Matt Giraud fan... and I am crossing my fingers that he makes it through!!
I think Adam has already made the top 12, so the 2nd and 3rd spots are up for grabs.

[here4beer]

The only ones even I remember are Adam Lambert and Welder Guy (in a not good way) and Jasmine The Cutie Pie (in a good way). Everyone else will have to bring it on the night, I guess.

If Obama is going to be breaking into my TV schedule frequently, I may have to rethink my stance on him. Harumph. He should do this stuff at 6, so that way I can watch him and still watch my shows. (Or read the highlights later online, which is what I'll probably do in any case)

[JasonR]

I'm 100% a Matt Giraud fan... and I am crossing my fingers that he makes it through!!
I think Adam has already made the top 12, so the 2nd and 3rd spots are up for grabs.

How could Adam have already made the top 12 when he hasn't even performed yet?

[itchy]

How could Adam have already made the top 12 when he hasn't even performed yet?

Well, he's had more screen time than pretty much all the other true contenders (excepting perhaps Gokey), he's been placed in a group where the other male singers are at best mediocre, and he's obviously being professionally handled to appeal to the same democratic who basically vote for exactly the candidates the Idol producers want (i.e., the ones who get tons of screen time) to move forward.

So, yeah, I'd say he's a shoo-in.

[Pekmboyd]

The only ones even I remember are Adam Lambert and Welder Guy (in a not good way) and Jasmine The Cutie Pie (in a good way). Everyone else will have to bring it on the night, I guess.

If Obama is going to be breaking into my TV schedule frequently, I may have to rethink my stance on him. Harumph. He should do this stuff at 6, so that way I can watch him and still watch my shows. (Or read the highlights later online, which is what I'll probably do in any case)

That's the only upside to living on the West coast :) All Obama interrupted was Jeopardy! (I don't mean to sound excited about that, but Jeopardy! requires an !)

[el.eh.you.are.eh]

How could Adam have already made the top 12 when he hasn't even performed yet?

Ya, Itchy pretty much answered your question.
All I meant by it was that he was the most popular contestant from this weeks group, therefore making him a sure bet.

[here4beer]

OK, I have a confession to make. I have watched AI every year since the very beginning, and for the first time in history, I actually voted for someone. And... It was Norman Gentle. He has absolutely no business being there, but I was laughing my ass off the whole time he was on stage, and laughing even harder at the weird looks the audience was giving him, so I had to. If he makes it, I'll probably feel like lighting myself on fire.

I really loved the "Bette Davis Eyes" girl singing, but then I wanted to kick her after her song when she was talking to the judges. Annoying! And the guy with Christian Soriano's haircut was not as bad as I thought, but dude... I felt like the whole thing was a cross between a "Men on Film (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boBsEbFgJ4k&feature=related)" segment and Lordi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdItwaLrv1U). haha. Norman had nothing on that guy's campiness. The only person who really stood out for me besides Norman Gentle was Redhead With Horrible Extensions, who sang "Alone." She was just plain awesome.

As for the rest... I thought the girl who sang Maroon 5 was nowhere near as bad as the judges said. The guy who sang Michael Jackson was nowhere near as good as the judges said. And the guy with the hair-- take a bath, PLEASE. stat!! Overall the judges seemed to be really harsh tonight on everyone, to the point I actually felt bad for some of them.

BTW- Kara is adding nothing for me at all. I feel like we're hearing the same thing 4 times, which is boring; except that whenever Simon says it he gets booed for it, which is always a good time.

All in all, this was a pretty meh night. I'm interested in seeing who's gonna make it out of this group, and who will get pulled back for the wild card.

[Pekmboyd]

Ok – I feel like tonight they organized it as:
Act I – Crap
Intermission – Norman Gentle
Act II – People who might be able to sing, but you’ll never be able to tell under our audio problems


Adam Lambert – my mother loved it, her boyfriend loved it, I HATED it. I like Adam, I have nothing against his dramatic nature or his completely impractical haircut, and he obviously can sing. But he sang I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, and the judges were hypocritical not mentioning that it tells us nothing about what kind of artist he would be. And I absolutely hate that song. Winner of the Constantine Maroulis I Think I Just Got Molested Through My TV Award.

Kai Kalama – I was surprised the judges didn’t like it, because I really did. It wasn’t terribly memorable, but I definitely want to see what else he can do. And what the stylists do with his hair.

Jasmine Murray – winner of tonight’s Casey Carlson Wow We Can’t Believe We Thought You Were Good Award for the performance that most shocked us in its horribleness.

Allison Iraheta – Excellent. Just please please please don’t let her talk. These are the kind of contestants I end up violently hating as they stay in based on talent and try to kill me with their personality. Which is at least better than staying in on personality and trying to kill me with their lack of talent.

Jeanine Vailes – wow. Thank god she hasn’t gotten any screen time because we know there is absolutely no reason – no sob story, no already built fan base – for people to vote for her. And I would not fall off my chair if you told me she used to be a man.

Jesse Langseth – I actually really liked this – it was a little odd in a way I just can’t describe, but I love that song and, given the fact that I didn’t like her going into tonight, I was really ok with this. She also needs to learn to keep her mouth shut – she’ll be winner of the Brooke Award for talking yourself out of America’s Sweetheart.

Matt Breitzke – Meh. Decent, not memorable. The lisp got distracting. Getting tired of people singing their “favorite” songs instead of songs they feel describes them as an artist or fits their voice.

Kris Allen – totally unmemorable, I can’t even remember what he sang. The lack of screen time up until now did him no favors, because I think he’s got the kind of good, middle-of-the-road voice that would mold well to all kinds of genres, whereas people like Jesse and Allison will struggle with that.

Megan Corkrey – oh my GOD stop twitching or wiggling or swaying or whatever you call that – it stops being cute when you turn 6! I couldn’t even hear her over the wiggling.

Mishavonna Henson – I thought she looked SO cute! I really think a couple more performances under her belt would do her well and she would improve, but I don’t think she earned it here.

Matt Giraud – I don’t get the buzz this guy seems to be getting on the Internets. He seems nice, and probably talented, but I just don’t GET it. And tonight didn’t change my mind.

And now…

Norman Gentle! Probably more polarizing than Sanjaya, who I hated, but you can count me firmly in the Pro-Norman camp. I absolutely freaking LOVED his performance. Should he get a spot in the Top 12? No. He hasn’t proven he can SING, even though I believe he can and just keeps hiding behind the character. But a guy talented enough to get this point, and then brave enough to carry it out at this level of the competition has won my heart. That takes guts. Remember the guy last year that got to Hollywood and then ran across the stage all crazy almost as a practical joke? Norman not only did that, he did well enough to make it through and kept up the performance. He was hilarious and a welcome break after the first few horrendous performances and I loved every second. But the problem with Sanjaya was how long it drug on, so I’m hoping we can leave Norman to rest now with fond memories.

[JasonR]

Between Pek's very funny mini-recap and Flipit's hysterical recap I sadly don't have much worthwhile to add.

A couple were pleasant surprises (Misha and Allison). Megan was so-so but may make it on her looks. She's kind of hard to figure out. Other than her right arm she looks like she could be the Ivory Soap girl. What's going on there? It's kinda hot because I have to believe a girl that would do that to her arm would let you do nearly anything with/to her.

Everyone else ranged from the forgettable/unremarkable to the painful. And then there's Norman. I'm about 20% thinking he's funny and 80% thinking it's funny that he's not funny. I'll bet the judges are regretting letting him get this far.

All I can say is that the Vote For the Worst Crowd must really be having a tough time deciding who to put their support behind . . so many choices. For my money Matt Giraud was by far the worst of the night. I don't think a single note was in tune, and he was uncomfortable and out of breath. Unspeakably awful.

Lambert will certainly be getting through. I hope Misha and Allison get the other two spots.