AMERICAN IDOL

Allison Scussel · **Voice Talent** Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 928

My girl, Amanda Overmyer, was booted off tonight. There's still alot of talent in the top 10. I can't believe Carly from San Diego was in the bottom 3. So happy she's saved. She has such an amazing vocal range.

BTW: They never mentioned what next week's song topic was going to be? Did I miss this while making a trip to the executive lounge? Laughing

Dave DeAndrea · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008, 12:31 (GMT) Post subject:

I was surprised (but not disappointed) to see Amanda go. Even more surprised to see Carly in the bottom 3. What's up with that? Shocked

No word on next week's theme... hopefully not Beatles part 3. I heard something about Mariah Carey being a guest and helping the contestants out but I thought that was supposed to happen this past week.

Peter Ganim · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 115

It's SO important to remember that Idol is, first , foremost and above all else - a TV SHOW-

They are not bound in any way to ever release vote totals, (though they will reference them) and there will be, over the course of the year, a number of "shockers!"-

In other words, Carly being in the bottom 3 is carefully orchestrated and not at all out of character for this "show" in this week of the competition. They will usually throw a producer favorite (who perhaps is legitimately NOT receiving the voting they had predicted) into the bottom three to heighten the drama, to mobilize the contestant's voters to vote more (or buy another Cingular/AT&T phone to TEXT more...I have seen it happen in other seasons) AND to further the illusion that the voting actually matters.

Does anyone really believe that more people are voting for Chikezie, Syesha (or even Michael Johns for that matter) than they are for Carly (even though she is most likely a plant, she is a vocally gifted one).

The real tragedy (only within the marketing/entertainment parameters of Idol) is that they booted Amanda.
She would never have won the competition and would have most likely gone before the top 6. However, she injected a marvelous spirit of rebellion and grit into the evening and would have done the same during the execrable "Tour" of the Top 10.
Additionally - she had a much tougher skin and was weathering the exposed gauntlet of Idol much more strongly than Kristy Lee Cook- (Carrie Underwood Lite)

Poor Cook - now she has to face another week or even three at this point (while Chikezie, Syesha, Ramiele or even - shocker! - Michael Johns get eliminated) - more weeks of delivering anemic, uninspired, boob-ilicious performances for which she will be eviscerated by the judges, winding up consistently in the bottom three (although they may give her a one-week reprieve for the "drama") - AND - she is now bound for the summer-long tour, during which she will be one of the least "listenable"-

Sure, it's industry "exposure"-
But, it's a harrowing experience as she has already testified and they ought to have put the poor girl out of her misery.

Her "look" is too attractive to the producers, though, to sacrifice at this point.
Again-
Poor young girl-

Idol can be, at times, an entertainment.

But, it is, entirely, a controlled environment-

PG

Melba Sibrel · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008, 13:19 (GMT) Post subject:

Mariah Carey?!? Criminy! That should be an amusing mess.

Yeah, a friend of mine emailed me that VFTW (vote for the worse) is expressing disappointment that neither of their picks so far have made it to the top 10.

I think that Carly is not attractive enough to the main voting contingency -- 9 year-old girls -- because hardly any girl wants a tattoo at that age. It's not 'til they go off to college and take up with a boy in a band that plays desperately crashing drums.

Would be nice if it was allll about singing, but I don't think it ever can be.

Lucas Nugent · **Voice Talent** Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 131

Well I fell into a euphoric slumber last night. All the other contestants I can actually see as deserving to be there, but that Amanda has less talent than my goldfish. Too bad they let her grunt and strain her way through another song afterwards. I still maintain she was planted there to "spice" things up. There's no way those judges would actually think she can sing the way they did.

But of course every show/movie needs a good villain, and now there's really no one that I can't stand. That Australian guy is pretty boring but I don't mind him. At least with Amanda there, it had me rabidly booing her or cheering when she was in the bottom. Well, not like I'm gonna stop watching lol.

My pics now:
David Archuletta
David Cook (the rocker guy)
Brooke... White (?)

Melba Sibrel · Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008, 17:00 (GMT) Post subject:

Lucas - maybe you should take your goldfish over to the karaoke bar.

Doug Parks · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Jul 2007 Posts: 227

David Cook is the most marketable, relevant, current-sounding member of this 2008 incarnation. But then again, so was Bo Bice. Or so I thought.

Lucas Nugent · **Voice Talent** Joined: 26 Jun 2007 Posts: 131

lol She's too nervous. But you never know, after a few drinks she gets braver.

And ditto about Carly. The demographic of that show is so not into her type of lifestyle, I think she'll be cut quick enough.

Peter Ganim · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Jul 2005 Posts: 115

Carly Smithson will be in the Top 6 at the very least-

Ramiele, Kristy Lee, Michael Johns, Chikezie, Syesha and most likely Jason Castro will all go before she does-

The likely top 4 at this point are Carly, David Cook, Archuletta and Brooke White-

As written above -

Carly being in the bottom 3 is a "drama" ploy-

The producers at American Idol have learned - popularity during the season doesn't necessarily translate afterwards - (re: Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee)-

Carly Smithson isn't going anywhere anytime soon-

David Oxford · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Posts: 505

Peter:

I completely agree with what you've said here, including your picks for the Top 4.

I didn't think it was time for Amanda to go....and I disagree with you, Lucas, about her - but of course, everyone has their own likes/dislikes and I completely respect your right to dislike her. I, like others here, felt that she brought something different to the Idol buffet and personally, I enjoyed her gritty, Southern-rock delivery and personality (being a native of The South.) She's not unlike some of the very-incredible rock bar bands that I've run in to over the years who had a chick singer that could blow the walls down - both talent-wise and attitude-wise. So, although I knew Amanda wouldn't be the winner or even in the Top 4, I didn't expect her to leave now. Again, I thought Kristy Lee Cook would/should be the next to go (have thought that for 3 weeks now.)

By the way, I completely disagreed with Simon's take on Carly's performance of "Blackbird" (and I usually agree with Simon 95% of the time.) I don't know what he was smoking but I thought she delivered a flawless performance and showed yet another side of her, especially her lower register. Plant or not, this girl has all the makings of a superstar and she SHOULD be on the radio!

David

Bob Bair · **Voice Talent** Joined: 06 Oct 2003 Posts: 274

David Oxford · **Voice Talent** Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Posts: 505

Yep - it's all about the money. The second-hand effect from it all is the fact that the show DOES give some of these people exposure they could never hope to get with any other venue available now. As I said before, there's not a record label on the planet that could/would spend the kind of money it would take to give even a PROVEN, talented, experienced artist even a smidgen of this kind of exposure. But, you're right - it IS a show that if any of us were at the helm, would also want to have the kind of "control" that they probably have over it. A free-for-all without substantial and planned infrastructure would fail miserably before it could survive even the first season, let alone 7.

David

Dave DeAndrea · Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008, 12:33 (GMT) Post subject:

Just came across this story this morning:

'AMERICAN IDOL' ANNOUNCES SEASON SEVEN MENTORS

On Wednesday (March 19th) night's results show, American Idol host Ryan Seacrest announced that Mariah Carey, Dolly Parton, Neil Diamond and Andrew Lloyd Webber will each serve as mentors to this seasons' finalists. The mentors will help the finalists prepare for their Tuesday night performances and will themselves perform live the following night.

Although Fox411 previously reported that Carey will join the April 16th show, the network did not include individual appearance dates for the mentors in their announcement.
story this morning: