Friday, March 18, 2011

Top 12 Results Show: A Night of Lees, Peas and Pleas

Article first published as American Idol Top 12 Results Show on Technorati.

Last night’s Idol Elimination Show started with the very Glee-esque Top 12 group number; a mash-up of “Born to Be Wild” and “Born This Way”.  I’m not sure we’ll ever again experience Steppenwolf and Lady Gaga collaborate in such fashion!  Then, we moved onto the always-obligatory Ford Video which, this week, consisted of the Idols trying to cover “Val Kilmer” whilst hocking the latest Ford model.  Does this really sell any cars?  Our third product placement of the night involved Seacrest pitching the Idol 10th anniversary CD.  Ryan proceeds to go all Oprah on us and tells the audience there’s a CD under each seat.  The crowd goes wild….sort of!  Not exactly the same reaction as when Ms. Winfrey gave away those trips to Australia last year. Ok, enough snake oil, let’s get to some actual results….

Nope, not apparently until we struggle through this week’s “contestant package”, which seems to be an odd montage about foreign languages, pets and accents….just weird.  I guess voting isn’t what they’re expecting this season and they need to be sure that we’re really getting to KNOW the contestants as individuals.  Thanks Fox – I think we just care about the singing (and of course, any tawdry scandals, because we are Americans after all).

Finally, we’re onto actual results, but wait, it’s St. Patty’s Day so we have to break into Irish folk music as a momentary tease first….ok, we’re back. Whew – I was concerned that Paul McDonald was going out come out and do a jig!

Jacob, Lauren and Casey are first called to the stage. That seems like a waste of caloric activity for Lauren and Jacob, who are naturally safe and sent immediately back to their seats.  Casey is left, and Seacrest stalls by asking Tyler what is in the “goop” he referred to last night.  This prompts some concern from the Idol indecency squad….but thankfully,  it’s all good.  Tyler does not earn himself the dreaded delay and we learn that Casey is also safe.

Next up are Haley and Paul.  Ryan asks Haley again about what kind of artist she’d be and she stumbles through an answer that basically translates to “I don’t know”.  They talk of Paul’s illness, and he seems to have received remarkably.  That’s not the only good news tonight for Paul, who is also declared safe, making Haley the first in the bottom 3. 

Lee Dewyze performs and while he sounds good on his fairly bland new song, it still makes me wonder why Crystal Bowersox didn’t win last season?  Am I alone or did you think her recently released album totally rocked?

OK, back to the business of breaking hearts…Scotty, Pia and James are called to center stage.  Snoozefest- all 3 are safe and sent back to the safety seats.

Now, Stefano and Naima join Seacrest in the spotlight, where we’re not surprised to learn that Stefano is safe and Naima is in the bottom 3.  I love that Naima totally calls out the judges and shares that she hates the word “pitchy”.  We do too Naima – I think your stock just went up! 

Finally, Karen and Thia face the music.  Thia is safe (because it is after all the 15 and under’s who vote in this race), so Karen joins Naima and Haley in the hot seats as the night’s bottom three.  So far, my half-hearted predictions from last night are looking good!

But now, its time for a commercial break and then of course the Black Eyed Peas perform (I cannot really call it “singing” right?) so the idols have an appropriate amount of time to sweat it out before learning of their fate.     The Peas debut their new song, which I did not love and then, good grief!  It’s yet another commercial break.  Fox sells more ad time on this show than I do on my web page!  Jeez! 

OK back to our bottom three where Ryan sends Naima back to the safety seats….blowing my prediction for this week.  Haley is also safe with Karen (potentially) going home. Karen sings for her supper, and in an outright plea to the judge to save her, she chooses Mariah Carey’s “Hero”.  It’s not “muy bueno” at all even though she throws in some Spanish for good measure.  Unfortunately, it comes off as more of a party trick, and if it were me, I’d probably just try to sing in key (but what do I know?)

The judges chat for a second, while Seacreast tries his best to make poor Karen cry.  Randy shares that they’re not saving her tonight, but adds that it is not unanimous, subtly letting America know that Jenifer really is the nicest judge yet and tried her best to save her….or at least, that’s my guess.

Next week the Top 11 will sing, and the elimination show will give us the Top 10, and the year’s Idol Tour participants.  I think there are a few folks who desperately need to step it up, or they’ll have to start making plans now for theme park jobs this summer!  What do you think? Tune in next Wednesday to see for yourself!  Want more Idol chatter?  Check out American Idol Net for even more recaps, predictions, news and goings-on: http://americanidolnet.com/.
 

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