Idol Redux

Poststructural Pub
1

Insert comments here. I re-started from the rubber room because it’s locked.

I generally liked the show and appreciated the simple delivery of the verdict compared to the other elimination shows.

Poor Dionne lost her voice which made me sad. I never liked Meatloaf and I was validated in spades last night.

I wanted McBabe to win, but I was resigned to her loss before the show began. Taylor did a great piece of showmanship to end the show.

So, do you think you can dance??? And Cowell has a hellish spin-off starting this fall, DUETS. The return of the soulful duet. Be afraid, very afraid.

[singing] Never gonna let you go my darling, hold me in your arms forever…etc…

2

Well, I was watching lost and had the dvd recorder running for Idol. I take it the show ran a couple minutes over since I set the record time for exactly 2 hours, and as we were watching it back the dvd stopped just as the vote counting official strode onto the stage. Aaargh. Had to check the net to see who won.
The spouse, who hasn’t really been following it all that closely, kept making comments along the lines of “how could Taylor possibly beat Katherine,” but alas, I expected it. He’s appealing. She just sings better.

3

I also was rooting for Kat, but thought Taylor would likely win. She sang better through the season, but Taylor was more consistent, plus he’s a born (and seasoned) performer, which is what won it for him.

I thought it was a great show. I liked the duets for the most part – Kat and Loaf being the exception. It was great seeing Lisa and Mandisa and Bucky and Kellie again. (I loved Kellie in the restaurant. My 5-year-old laughed her ass off at the lobster scene.) Seeing them all together really brought home the quality of the contestents this year.

And I love Burt Bacharach.

4

I’m glad you said that. The local talk show guys were lampooning the medley and BB’s appeal to the younger demographic. I think they’re great pop songs and I generally liked the medley meself.

5

Tyler won the prize but Catherine won the contest. We’ll be hearing from her long after this season of AI is but a distant memory. Don’t get me wrong, I like Taylor and I think he’s talented… but not that talented.

Could you believe how gorgeous that woman is? Did you enjoy all the camera angles when she was singing with the loaf? </fellas only>

I got a kick out of seeing the peeing Clay Akins wanna-be contestant’s bit. I couldn’t believe they brought him onto the show. When they asked him to sing and surprised him with Clay Akins himself I was wondering if they had an ambulance standing by. I thought he was going to pop… or at least pee on himself.

Also, was it me or did Dione Warwick seem a little out of practice? I suppose it might have been a monitor issue, but it would have been interesting to get the panel of judges to offer their insights.


  • Randy: Listen… dog… you know I love you, but I don’t think that was the right song for you. (crowd boos) Hey, hey… keeping it real, keeping it real… Listen, dog – it was a little pitchy here and there, but it was just ok… ok?

Paula: Dione, you are terrific… I am a big fan of yours… you know you can sing anything, I know you can sing anything, we all know you can sing anything… uh. (looks at Randy with overly medicated eyes)

Simon: Dione, that was basically a bad karaoke performance and that last note sounded like the loosing plane in a dogfight as it plummeted to Earth… (boos from the crowd) hear me out, hear me out… I think you have great potential, but I don’t think this was your best performance. You might be the next to go home.

I would have loved to hear Simon critcize Prince too BTW.


Hey Enders... any idea why the conspiracy theory room got locked?  All I could find was harpmaker's tantrum.  Other than that there was nothing I could see going on that seemed to warrant it.
6

I, for one, am glad that Kat and her soulless, camera hungry performances lost. She has a great voice, which let her down in her third number Tuesday, BTW, but she needs to learn to love the music. Taylor loves the music. I would pay to see him, but not Kat.

Based on comments here and elsewhere, I suspect she got to the finals largely based on her looks, which are considerable. She couldn’t beat Mandisa in an audio-only sing off, I bet.

7

Huh? But…it’s…it’s…on TV!!!

8

Could you be more specific?

9

Ha! and I love the new aviator. I still have a box of comics which include Mr. Natural. One of those “gonna sell on eBay some day” collections.

As a fella, yes yes and yes. They kinda taped her down which made certain tissues bulge sideways.

And that Aiken-alike weenie; well, that was just weird. Are we supposed to collectively reward obsessive potential stalkers like that? I can just imagine that guy in a prison jumpsuit someday for scaling the Aiken compound fence… And he did look eerily like Andy Dick.

I sing in a group with women over 50 so I have some perspective on what happens to their voices. The problem, if it becomes one, begins at menopause. For some, the voice gets lower, but is still good. For others, the voice just goes. Like a clogged fuel line affects an engine, the sound just stops without warning. Dionne has lost her voice, period as far as I can tell. It’s sad. No amount of practice will bring it back, imo. It’s possible that I am completely wrong and its the effect of allergies, which is plausible considering our late California spring this year. Even air conditioning will do that too, because it sucks the moisture out. I wish her well, but she shouldn’t have been put on the show. It was more of a tribute to her collaboration with Bachrach but it sure made the young singers look good.

I dunno what happened to the rubber room. Caught me by surprise, too.

10

I see Taylor as the better musician. He seems to be more apt to ad lib, and in doing so effectively he shows a better musical knowledge. So I was glad he won.

Meatloaf? Clearly left-over. :wink:
Bacharach? It was neat to get an opportunity to explain to my teenage kids the impact of such a songwriter. David Foster, they know (he’s a local), but Bacharach was news to them.

And Jack, I’m with you on the wish to hear the judges comment on Dionne. Meatloaf, too, would have been an entertaining redux.

Jef

11

The right choice! Any thoughts on whether Locke, Eco or Desmond survived?

Sure they answered a few questions, but it’s still Gilderesque in its premise that a complex gov’t/corp conspiracy is behind it all. Or maybe that’s just what they want us to think.

12

Hey, c’mon, if you want Gilder-esque, it’s been the creepy neo-Cons behind the scenes on 24! The guy with the little cell-phone in his ear, figuring out what’s best for the new American century. To go from the rubber room to watching 24 was too much…

13

Other than the mega talent show… I don’t watch much TV outside of late night Seinfeld and Cheers re-runs when I come home from the pub, so I have no idea what you guys are talking about.

14

You’re confused again Weeks!!! Those guys weren’t neo-cons, they were the actual voters deciding the outcome of American Idol every week. Al Gore programmed all this into the internet when he invented it. The moment Fox Network connecte to the webm it became a left-wing trojan horse aiming to take over Ohio so Gore can win the Presidency in 2016 Hilary is done.

15

I think last night served mostly to reaffirm my belief that Mandisa should have won.

16

Yeah, well the show is called 24 (it’s on Monday nights) and the plot line all year has been this neo-Con manipulation for the “good of the country” that resulted in assassination, release of poison gas and other mayhem. I honestly think you would appreciate it, given the PNAC. Not being mean or sarcastic.

And Winterfield, how could I have been so blind!!!

I’m glad it’s all reruns now. I never meant to watch much TV this year but got hooked in…This was my first year of 24, second of Idol, second of House. Fortunately, I no longer watch any LawnOrders and am tired of the CSIs, except for the Vegas one. I do like the Hitler, I mean History Channel though…

17

Same here. First year for 24 and 2nd with LOST. Other than that it’s news, Chris Mathews, Jon Stewart and Red Sox.

I’ve probably watched Idol in previous years a couple of times in hotels while traveling, but it never sucked me in. We’re often surprised at the people who watch it who say they never watch TV. Jack you come to mind here.

I skimmed some news story the other day that said watching Idol is producing viewing patterns that are different than any other successful show. Most successful show apparently have rapidly increasing viewer number for the first year or maybe two. They then dip a little and plateau. It seems Idol has increased viewers significantly for each of its five years.

I’m sure there’s some deep cultural phenomena going on, but I haven’t a clue what it is.

The really bad news is that TV will be flooded with imitators in a matter of days.

The really, really bad news is that, if this trend continues, by 2008 the Idol judges will be moderating the Presidential debates.

18

The possibilities… I rather like that idea!

19

My personal theory vis-a-vis the AI outcome is that the Grey Panthers somehow hacked the vote database.

It proves, however that the Elvis impersonator does have a place oin mainstream entertainment, even when he’s also channeling Joe Cocker.

Now all he needs is a sequined white jumpsuit to replace that ghastly purple shroud. Liberace’s wardrobe reborn WITHOUT the sequins.

20

I was glad Taylor won. He is not only a good singer, but has an originality that would never occur to Katherine. I liked the Joe Cockerish, spastic dancing , the Tourettslike outbursts, and the whiskey tenor.It was different. I think what appealed to more folks was that he obviously loves music, loves singing and loves to perform.

Katherine has the potential to develop into a performer, but she’s not there yet. I wonder if she ever pays attention to what she is singing- grinning like a possum, while singing the blues- “I got no bounce in my feet”!! as she bounces along. Granted she did manage, the occasional wistful expression, during her rendition of “Over the Rainbow”, but as usual, that vapid smile burst it’s way through, ruining the moment. Oh well, maybe, one day momma will teach her to pay attention to the lyrics plus not screech the ending to every song. It’s funny that you guys think she looked so good. I bet she wanted to kill the camera guy when she watched the final comptition. Yes she’s pretty from the waist up, but with hips and thighs like hers, wearing a tight fitting dress that chinches in at the knees is a real no-no.

The two best ones were unfortunately not in the finale though.

Eliott was by far, the best vocally. Plus, as the show went on, it was fun to see him develop his perfomance. While the type of music he likes to sing is not my favorite, I always enjoyed just hearing his voice.

Mandisa was far and above any of the other women in the competition.



Do you wonder if they actually practiced the duets with the “stars”?
Other than Al Jareau and Paris and maybe Chris and Live, the rest were awful-the stars I mean. Dionne Warwick’s voice is gone, and what was Meatloaf doing? other than making noise in the wrong key? I’m not sure Toni Braxton knew where she even was… , Mary J. did not seem to want to share the stage with Elliot- mybe because he sang better, those duets were just weird.

Actually, the best singers of the whole finale were two former Idols- Carrie Underwood and non-winner Clay Aiken. [/i]