Last night's American Idol results show was one of the weirdest ones yet. They forego the usual performance as a group to focus more attention on the judges. Given the rumors circulating about Simon possibly leaving at the end of American Idol's ninth season, I do not think it is a good idea to focus more on the judges.
I think the attention should shift away from the judges and back on the contestants, where it belongs. I also do not care for the overkill of discussions about the judges' critiques, reaction to the judges' critiques, and the judges reiterating their critiques. It is becoming redundant and just plain old boring.
The bright spot in the show for me last night was the performance by Ruben Studdard, doing his new single, Don't Make 'Em Like You No More. He told us that he and his runner-up from American Idol's second season are going on tour together.
The second season winner and runner-up, Ruben and Clay, and season seven's winner and runner-up, David Cook and David Archuleta, were the best so far in the history of American Idol.
Usher performed and so did a group called Diddy Dirty Money, with a song entitled, Hello Good Morning, quite possibly one of the stupidest performances I have ever seen on American Idol. The song was a poor imitation of a techno song from the 1990's, and as the judges often say, "I did not get it". All I wished for was that they would get all the nonsense over with, and get on to the real reason for last night's show, the elimination round.
Ryan is doing more chatting with the contestants this year during the results' show than in previous seasons. What I dislike the most about this is that the contestants are sounding off to the judges, if they received negative reviews from them. It is like a long drawn out version of the backtalk from the contestants, that I dislike on the performance shows.
Crystal Bowersox repeated what she told the judges on Tuesday night, that she disagreed with the judges insinuating the she seemed more uncomfortable at the piano that with the guitar. She said again that she would never do anything she did not feel comfortable doing. I do not think it did much harm for her with Simon, since he has all but predicted that Crystal will win this year.
Picking up where they left off the night before, Andrew Garcia's mother shouted from the audience about her son. Granted, I believe Andrew needs all the help he can get because in my opinion he has not yet performed up to what the judges feel is good enough to be in the top ten of American Idol.
Ryan lets Lee Dewyze know that he is safe, while Simon tells him that he can see him making it all the way to the finale.
The judges seem to be obsessed with Tim Urban's happy, cheerful attitude, but they do not see it from Casey James. As Ryan discussed the judges' comments with Casey about his performance, he could not help but grin from ear to ear, and it left me wondering what was so funny. Ryan let him know that he was safe as well.
By the time Ryan got to Aaron Kelly, the judges were in full swing and I noticed some of the conversation left Ellen looking quite confused. The talk was over Aaron's choice of song, Ain't No Sunshine. They discussed whether Aaron had ever been in love, and thought that because he never has been that there was something off about his performance. Randy asked Aaron if he ever loved 'anything', and that being in love was the same only a little twisted. Simon thought the whole thing was weird, as I did, and said, "This is not the Oprah Winfrey Show." After all that, finally Ryan told Aaron Kelly that he was safe.
Ryan told Siobhan and Katie to stand together, and I had mixed feelings about Siobhan's reaction to what the judges said to her last night about her performance. I did agree with the judges that it was not one of her best performances. I disagreed, as Siobhan did with the opening bit that left audiences thinking Siobhan was defeated last night. She told them she did not feel that way at all. I say "good for her".
The judges get into a tirade with each other again when it comes time for Katie to tell what she thought about her performance and the judges' reviews. Simon still believes Katie should sing country and the other judges think she should go for pop R&B.
When Ryan tells Katie that she is in the bottom three, the viewers hear Kara loudly say, "That's not right." At first, I thought she was saying that Katie should not be in the bottom three, but apparently, Simon indicated that he was right, and that the audience agreed with him about Katie not being sure of what type of singer she wanted to be. Simon feels that the audience did not like her as an R&B singer and did not vote for her this week.
Another long discussion with the judges makes this hour of American Idol feel like three, before they get on to the next contestant. Didi makes excuses for her performance as she did the night before, but I do not think she swayed the judges' views, and Ryan informs her that she is in the bottom three with Katie, and no one is surprised.
Before Ryan tells Michael that he is safe, he plays an early April fool's joke on him, leaving Michael to believe he is also in the bottom three. When Ryan comes clean about it, Michael lifts Ryan up over his head. Ryan seemed flustered enough for me to believe that they did not plan that ahead of time.
Already discussing Crystal's performance in the beginning, Ryan quickly tells her that she is safe.
Tim and Andrew stand together, and Ryan asks Tim why he is always happy and smiling, even when the judges criticize him every week and stop short of saying that he should not even be there on stage. That is odd for me, because the judges were the ones who decided that Tim deserved to be in the top 24.
The highlight of the show came for me when Tim explained why he was always smiling. I first have to say that I do not think this should be a requirement, for contestants to have to explain their overall demeanor, but American Idol is so weird this year, I guess there is not one stunt you can expect them not to pull this year.
Tim explained that he is always in a good mood when he performs, and even while the judges are ragging on him, which they always do, because he said that for him it is a chance of a lifetime to perform on stage in front of millions of people. He explained that even though the judges give him negative reviews of his performances, that it does not change the fact that he is happy to be there. The audience roared at his response and I think it deserved a standing ovation.
What made Tim's response so great was that before he answered, Kara, being the drama queen she always is, asked Tim if he was misunderstanding the negative comments the judges always give him. I cannot understand why she would want the contestants to be devastated, even though they have brought several contestants to tears with their stupid insensitive remarks this season. She also insinuated that he was stupid and confused for smiling while the judges blasted him for a lousy performance.
When I was a teenager, David Cassidy was every girl's dream. He had the looks, he had the voice, and I am surprised that Tim has been in the bottom so often, because I was always under the impression that young girls make up for the majority of voters who call in for their favorites. However, once again Tim winds up in the bottom three, while Andrew is again safe.
I guess I should be used to the shock by now that Andrew keeps escaping elimination. I am obviously not in tune to what people are listening to today in music, if they think Andrew performed better than Tim or Katie on Tuesday night. I must be missing something. Finally, they get to the actual elimination part, and Ryan sends Katie back to the other contestants, letting her know she is safe.
I have to mention again that this is the point where Diddy performs and with the strobe lights and weird music, the whole thing gave me a headache. The judges loved the performance but it made me wonder if they have any clue about what sounds good and what does not. Ryan tells Didi she received the fewest amount of votes and that she is going home.
The site, Votefortheworst.com, that picks who they consider to be the worst contestant, and encourages viewers to vote for him, is bragging that he has lasted the longest on Idol than any of their other picks in previous seasons. They seemed to have changed their basis for the site. In other seasons, they wanted fans to pick the contestant who performed the worst, or the one with the least amount of talent. This year they want fans to vote for the contestant that the judges cannot stand, so I guess that may be why Andrew is not their pick for the 'worst', but he has my vote in that department.
The judges decide not to save Didi and she is on her way home.
For whom are the judges saving the 'save'? I already know that it is definitely not for Tim.
Could they be looking for controversy this year to spice it up a bit? If that is the case, I think they are waiting for fans to give Andrew Garcia the boot. We will have to wait until next week's American Idol to find out.
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