Posted Oct 28th 2009 3:31PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Music and Variety, Celebrities, Alumni
Adam Lambert's first album since
American Idol is coming out on November 23, and
the cover of For Your Entertainment is stunning. Kris Allen's CD cover will definitely not look like this. Believe me, it won't.
To some, it's already too much. Too touched up. Too over the top. Too glamorous. Too much Adam.
Puh-leeze! Give me a break. This is exactly an Adam Lambert album cover should be. It should be stylized and dramatic. It should take your breath away. It should push the envelope because that's what Adam did in his entire
American Idol experience.
When faced with a chance to play it safe, Adam never did. You know the expression, "Go big or go home"? That was Adam Lambert on
Idol. He may have come in second to Kris, but he made a bigger impression.
Continue reading Adam Glambert... I mean Adam Lambert's new CD is coming out
Posted Oct 13th 2009 1:05PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, American Idol, Music and Variety, Contestants, Alumni, News and Gossip, Casting, Reality-Free
Oh man, that variety show format worked so well for Nick & Jessica! Remember what a smash sensation the Osbournes variety show was? Boy, Rosie O'Donnell sure rewrote the book on how to do a great variety special! The networks remember how great these attempts to revive the long dead TV format went, because they're at it again.
This time, FOX is dipping back into the
American Idol well and plucking out plucky season four winner Carrie Underwood. They've scheduled
Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special for a December 7 air-time. Luckily, since Underwood is doing just fine in her recording career, this isn't likely to be an attempt at a weekly series.
If the networks really do believe they can revive the variety format, this is a good way to do it. The holiday season seems to be the best time to lure American audiences into one-off specials and different kinds of programming. If the special does well, they can look for another one next year maybe. Or perhaps they'll have found something to do with all those former
Idol contestants.
Posted Sep 24th 2009 5:26PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Pickups and Renewals, Judges, Alumni, News and Gossip
Simon Cowell's
The X-Factor has been a huge in the UK for several years now; that's where we got Leona Lewis. Due to his contract with
American Idol, he hasn't been able to bring it to the US. FOX feared the increased competition from a similar singing competition might hurt their juggernaut.
Now that Cowell is in the final year of his current contract, open negotiations to keep him on
Idol are including
talks of bringing The X-Factor to FOX. If
So You Think You Can Dance continues to underperform in the fall,
The X-Factor might be a logical replacement, pushing
SYTYCD back to the summer.
Continue reading Simon Cowell may bring The X-Factor to FOX after all
Posted Aug 26th 2009 11:02AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Pickups and Renewals, Judges, Alumni, News and Gossip, Reality-Free
I'll admit I have no way of knowing what Paula Abdul's thinking at any given time. Even people who listen to her talk generally have no idea what she's thinking. You have to figure that after negotiating to join
So You Think You Can Dance,
Dancing With the Stars and
Ugly Betty,
Adbul hosting the latest VH1 Divas special on Thursday, September 17 is a bit of a let-down.
It's a great nab for VH1; people will be curious to see her first post-
Idol gig. You can even argue that the choice makes sense, considering the concert will feature two former
American Idol winners: Kelly Clarkson and Jordin Sparks. Joining them are Adele, Leona Lewis and Miley Cyrus. It doesn't take nearly as much to be a diva these days.
It'll be fun watching Abdul try to steer an entire show rather than just a single coherent sentence of criticism. Who knows, maybe she'll find out that she's great at this and she can take over VH1 the way Ryan Seacrest took over E!. As long as they don't do a
Who's That Girl? series with male skanks like Corey Clark trying to date her.
Posted Aug 21st 2009 3:28PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: American Idol, Celebrities, Judges, Contestants, Alumni, Reality-Free
Bo Bice, who was the runner-up on
American Idol a few years ago, says that
FOX shouldn't let Paula Abdul go because she's part of what makes the show great .
To be fair to the other judges on the show, Bice does say that if they got rid of either Randy or Simon it would be equally devastating. I don't quite think this is true of Jackson, Paula and Simon really are the heart of the show (along with Ryan Seacrest).
Continue reading Bo Bice thinks American Idol is making a big mistake
Posted Aug 21st 2009 8:36AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: American Idol, Judges, Alumni, News and Gossip, Casting
The rotating guest judge slots in the wake of Paula Abdul's departure continue. The latest celebrities
guest judging American Idol are Kelly Clarkson and Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers. I'm starting to see an upside for the show post-Paula.
With ratings on the decline the past couple of years, it's also been observed that the median age for the show had been getting older as well. As we all know, old people don't exist to advertisers, so youth is where it's at. Kelly Clarkson is a great choice to bring in a hip and young crowd, and she's a great story for the show. Here's their first crowned champion coming back to offer sage advice and wisdom ... or at least a lot of "Y'all!"
Joe Jonas is sure to bring legions of screaming pre-pubescent girls to the screen. And nobody obsesses over stars like pre-pubescent girls. I'd love to see the permanent slot filled by an artist as current and relevant as these two. Maybe Amy Winehouse is available; it'd be like Paula never left!
Posted Jul 15th 2009 12:15AM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: OpEd, Alumni, Episode Reviews, America's Got Talent
(S04E07) "You didn't even give me a chance!" - Contestant David Glass after being Xed three times and booed by the crowdThe judges may not have given David Glass a chance -- they were right not to do so -- but they did give a free pass to another contestant who didn't have the goods to go on to Las Vegas. Even if the producers will never admit to it, you must agree that it looks like producers have the judges vote through a certain number of bad and wacky acts so that viewers tune in for Vegas Week to see if the judges will be crazy enough to vote those to the Top 20.
Tonight's episode gave us another reason why
America's Got Talent should not let individual singers audition since a lot go move on to the later rounds, making it look like another version of
American Idol. This week, they not only let through a few singers, they also let through
Idol's season one contestant Kelli Glover.
Continue reading America's Got Talent: Audition show 7
Posted Jun 26th 2009 10:03AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Celebrities, Obituaries, Alumni
In the wake of his surprise death yesterday,
the networks scrambled to cobble together retrospectives of Michael Jackson's life and works and get them on the air as quickly as possible. I expect we'll see more carefully planned tributes coming down the road. But none perhaps more bizarre than
Fox's proposed tribute to the King of Pop, coming up this Monday, June 29 at 8 ET.
They've decided to air an encore of the Michael Jackson themed episode of
American Idol from this past season. In it, the
Top 13 contestants performed from Jackson's catalogue. It's a bizarre choice, because despite a few good performances, notably from Kris Allen, Alexis Grace and Allison Iraheta, most of the performances were either okay or downright terrible. I'd think you'd want some good singing of perhaps some of his better known works to honor the man.
Continue reading Fox offering up a bizarre MJ tribute Monday: a repeat of American Idol
Posted May 27th 2009 6:07PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Alumni, Predictions and Trends, News and Gossip
Fans of Kris Allen feel justified that their favorite won
American Idol this year. Fans of the presumed favorite to win, Adam Lambert, have been lamenting his loss.
Looking for reasons why Adam lost, as Bob reported, they've put some of the blame on AT&T. I think it's more a matter of the jaded state of California, where Lambert hails from. They're not as impressed with a famous singer in their midst as the people of Kris Allen's Arkansas are.
People in the Midwest and South don't have celebrities around every corner, and we're not as "hard" as the East Coast. So we still get excited when a "hometown" boy or girl does good. Think back to Season Five when Katharine McPhee went "home" to Los Angeles to a crowd of hundreds while Taylor Hicks was blown away by tens of thousands in Alabama (and they already had one Idol!).
Continue reading Here's the real American Idol voting conspiracy
Posted May 27th 2009 4:32PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Dancing With The Stars, Contestants, Alumni, News and Gossip
What's great about this is that it's an actual news story all by itself, and I'm not helping matters any by writing about it. The AP has published a story stating that
Danny Gokey says he would like to try Dancing With the Stars. That's it. Of course, Paula Abdul has been saying that for years and she had to settle for dancing on
Idol. But now that a rejected
Bachelor finalist was a worthy competitor, why not a rejected
American Idol finalist? Of course, Danny's main focus is his music and a new foundation he's set up in his late wife's name.
But he'd do it if it meant exposure for the foundation, which it would. And more exposure for him and any forthcoming projects he might have coming up as well. I see a real good trend here with reality castoffs sashaying across the dance floor. Who wouldn't want to watch
Survivor's Coach doing a fox trot. Or Ron from
The Biggest Loser. Of course, he'd want to give the title to his son.
Posted May 22nd 2009 12:27PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: American Idol, Celebrities, Contestants, Alumni
I am not going to pay $29.95 a year to read the blog entries of Clay Aiken. So I'm glad that someone else does and can post the following quote from Aiken. Guess the
American Idol runner-up isn't a fan of another runner-up, Adam Lambert.
I couldn't be happier with the way AI ended this year. I only turn the show on once a season and only to see what the set looks like. This year, I happened to turn it on during the minute that Adam Lambert was singing "Ring of Fire," and, at that moment, thought my ears would bleed. Contrived, awful, and slightly frightening! I wasn't really a fan and found myself surprised whenever folks told me that they liked him.
Gawker has more.
Idol fans, discuss.
Posted May 21st 2009 12:22AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Music and Variety, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Alumni, Performances, Host
At long last, the season 8 finale of American Idol has arrived! It's been fun watching all of the Idols grow in their musical prowess (that's a Paula word), especially Adam Lambert and Kris Allen, the final two performers who couldn't be more different, but are both awesome in their own way.
Ryan started things off by introducing the judges, along with a funny video clip for each of them -- Randy Jackson saying "For Me" throughout the season; Kara DioGuardi saying "sweetie" and "honey" to people who didn't make it past the audition process; Paula's round-up of colorful adjectives (vocal prowess, masterful and effortless, palette, etc.); and Simon's issues with hearing what people say (as in, he could probably use a hearing aid!).
Continue reading American Idol: We have a winner!
Posted May 15th 2009 7:06PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: American Idol, Watercooler Talk, Contestants, Alumni
Attention, Rosie O'Donnell: Simon Cowell promised that next week's
American Idol will be a ding-dong finale. Break out the Drake's Cakes! Actually, Simon wasn't referring to Rosie's favorite chocolate cake treat, he was using perhaps the strangest euphemism he could come up with to hype the finale which he anticipates -- and rightfully so -- a great showdown between two singers who could both be deservedly crowned the winner of
American Idol.
Adam Lambert vs. Kris Allen might seem like a heavyweight versus a bantam weight, one guy who's already been splashed on magazine covers -- last week's Entertainment Weekly -- as the presumptive champ, while the other was nearly knocked on his butt by the judge's song choice that was so bad that Simon faulted Kara and Randy for setting him up to fail.
Continue reading Anticipating a ding dong American Idol finale
Posted May 14th 2009 12:22AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Music and Variety, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Alumni, Performances, Host, Predictions and Trends, Episode Reviews
It's getting down to the wire, and all three of the remaining contestants are certainly talented enough to be crowned the next
American Idol. While I've been an Adam Lambert fan all along, I'd be fine with whomever wins this season.
Things start off tonight with the Ford commercial, kind of a fun little cartoon-oriented ad with Adam, Danny and Kris singing "Break My Stride." It must be really fun to see yourself as a cartoon/comic book character.
Continue reading American Idol: 1 of 3 goes home
Posted May 7th 2009 12:18AM by Jane Boursaw
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Music and Variety, Judges, Reviewcaps, Contestants, Alumni, Performances, Host, Predictions and Trends, News and Gossip, Episode Reviews
Yet another results show has come around, and Ryan starts things off by asking, "Who will graduate from the Idol school of rock, and who will just get schooled?" You know, Ryan, I'm available if your writers are on strike. Call me.
Anyway, sounds like it was a dramatic week on American Idol - a large column collapsed and in a separate incident, a staffer was injured on a stair mishap. Whew. But the show must go on, and we'll find out tonight whether Allison, Danny, Adam or Kris will be going home. The other three get to go home, too, but for a big hometown parade with cheerleaders and town leaders gushing praise on them.
Continue reading American Idol: 1 of 4 goes home
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