Three of us guess that Brooke has mouthed off on a performance night for the last time, one person thinks Jason has gone as far as looks can carry him, and one person supposes that Syesha has cheated elimination for the last time. And there's always the chance that David Archuleta's massacre of "Sweet Caroline" will outweigh the patriotism of a nation. What will happen? This... is American Idol!
Neil Diamond medley, just in case anybody still needed convincing that Neil Diamond's songs suck. (Sorry, Erin.) Thank goodness this is the last of the mentor weeks.
Constantine! Yay! And also Gina, but... Constantine! (Sorry, Pam.)
Montage of last night's show. Which almost feels less rushed than last night's show.
Aww, they left out the Paula SNAFU. Some are taking that as evidence that the show is rigged. Please. If it were rigged, they'd do a much better job of it. I don't think any Master Plan requiring Paula to be a key element would stand a chance.
Ah, here we go. Ryan doesn't address what actually happened, except to debunk rumors that the show will get rid of her. (Yeah, like that would happen.)
Jason... is safe. Dammit.
David Archuleta... is safe.
Next week's theme is the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Okay, plenty of range there.
So You Think You Can Dance promo.
Randy displays the winning entry of a contest to design a Coca-Cola cup.
David Cook... is safe.
So Brooke and Syesha are the bottom two. Please let it be Brooke...
Natasha Bedingfield performs. Unlike last week's British-singer-I've-never-heard-of, she's quite good.
Questions from viewers. Including one from the first girl Simon ever kissed, when he was nine, which is awkward and almost awesome.
Ford commercial: "Catch the Wind"
Neil Diamond sings "Pretty Amazing Grace."
Back to Brooke and Syesha. The person leaving... is Brooke. She sobs, of course.
Jesse and I pick up two points; Pam and TeKay get one.
Neil Diamond night. Two performances apiece!
And judging only after the second song. Huh.
Jason Castro: "Forever in Blue Jeans"
Pleasant, mellow. A fairly typical Jason Castro performance.
David Cook: "I'm Alive"
Drat. Ex-landlady called, and there were serious connection troubles, and the upshot is that I missed the next three-and-a-half songs.
Brooke White: ...something.
[Apparently it was "I'm a Believer."]
David Archuleta: ...something else.
[Apparently it was "Sweet Caroline"? Really?!]
Syesha Mercado: ...something else again. Arrrgh!
[Apparently it was "Hello Again."]
End-of-round judge roundups.
Paula looks at her notes and comments on both of Jason's songs, forgetting that he's only actually sung one so far. Ah, live television.
[Off to Idol Chatter to find out what I missed...]
Jason Castro: "September Morn"
See above. He's Jason.
Randy isn't feeling it. Another "okay, whatever" performance.
Paula... ditto.
Simon... ditto ditto.
David Cook: "All I Really Need Is You"
Eh. Neil Diamond and David Cook are not a match made in heaven. It shows.
On the other hand, the judges all loved it.
Ooh, Brooke's disputing Simon's opinion of her first song. Okay, then...
Brooke White: "I Am, I Said"
Her performance is okay, but, y'know, she's working with some of the worst lyrics ever to hit the charts.
David Archuleta: "Coming to America"
Eh. Okay. But, y'know, again, lousy song, suitable only for commercials. I think I'm having trouble with the whole Neil Diamond Night concept.
Syesha Mercado: "Thank the Lord for the Night Time"
Not bad! So she's probably doomed. [wry smile]
Having missed half the performances, it's hard for me to have much of an opinion.
When Carly chose "Superstar," I didn't worry too much about the song's potential to alienate non-Christian voters, for one reason: this has already been a remarkably Jesus-heavy season with regard to song choice, and it hasn't seemed to hurt Kristy Lee or Li'l Davy.
What I didn't consider was that it might also alienate Christian voters.
Brooke's hoping we must love her, while Jason's counting on the memory of better performances past. On to the results!
The finalists sing, accompanied by Webber on the piano.
Montage of last night's performances.
Aside: y'know, I'd have liked to have heard David Cook sing "Close Every Door."
Ryan chats with Webber. Utter waste of time, but whatever.
Ford commercial: "Tainted Love"
Message from the President and First Lady, re: "Idol Gives Back."
There are two stools for the bottom two, and chairs for everybody but Brooke and Jason. But I'm getting ahead of Ryan...
David Cook and David Archuleta... are both safe. Shocker.
Next week is Neil Diamond week.
Broadway montage, focusing primarily on Tamyra (in Rent) and Clay (in Spamalot).
Performance by Leona Lewis, who's produced by Simon.
Syesha and Brooke. Brooke apologizes for her habit of interrupting the judges in the past.
Brooke... is safe tonight. She looks stunned. And she should be. I guess the sympathy vote came though!
Syesha's in the bottom two.
Carly and Jason. Jason... is-- holy fucking crap. Jason is safe.
I voted for Carly a couple dozen times. Don't blame me.
Carly reprises "Superstar." And nails it again. How did this not get the votes?
Syesha reprises "One Rock and Roll Too Many."
You know, I've never understood when people have said they'd stop watching if somebody was voted off, but honest, if Carly goes this week... well, I'll keep watching, but geez.
Carly... is going home.
Dammit.
Pam and Mo pick up a point apiece. I'll be in the corner sulking.
Andrew Lloyd Webber week. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Incidentally, in an interview, Kristy Lee Cook said she'd planned to do "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" this week. I have no idea how that would have worked.
Syesha: "One Rock and Roll Too Many"
...from Starlight Express, apparently. I'm not familiar with that one. And now we're up against the crux of the matter: this is way Broadway, and thus horrible from a normal Idol standpoint. But it's freakin' Andrew Lloyd Webber week. So we're back to "what are the producers smoking?"
Jason: "Memory"
The low notes aren't working for me. ...nor does it get better. Very "blah."
Randy called it "a little bit of a train wreck."
Brooke: "You Must Love Me"
Oof. She just totally screwed up the beginning. I don't think you can get away with that twice in a season. (But then again, Jason sucked, so you never know.) Anyway, once past that... eh. Okay, but kinda boring.
David Archuleta: "Think of Me"
S'okay.
Carly: "Superstar"
YAY! First good song of the night! Perfect choice, solid performance.
David Cook: "Music of the Night"
I've never really been a Phantom fan, truth be told. Anyway, this was okay. I guess.
Definitely voting for Carly.
So Clinton and Obama are talking about their commitment to withdrawing from Iraq if elected and... oh, Idol time. Gotta have priorities!
The remaining finalists sing "One Sweet Day."
Montage of last night's highlights.
Jason... starts a group on Ryan's left. Right, I'd forgotten the top 7 ritual.
David Cook... starts a group on Ryan's right.
Carly... thinks Simon's been a bit hard on her this season. Simon agrees, but says it's because of her potential. Anyway, she joins Jason on the left.
Kristy... joins David, on the right.
Ford commercial: "I Want to Break Free," with the finalists as marionettes doing menial jobs until they cut their cords and drive off in shiny Ford cars.
Elliott Yamin performs "Free."
(Man. Good performance.)
Aww. His mother passed away a few days ago.
Syesha joins Jason and Carly.
Brooke... (holy cow, are both Cooks on the bottom? Well, let's see...) joins David and Kristy.
Y'know, the Hanes "wedgie free" commercial would be a lot better without the whispered "it's Sarah Chalke" at the start. The celebrity recognition factor isn't just irrelevant to the message, it actually undercuts it. (Which is not to say that they should have used somebody else. They just didn't need to announce it.)
The only response to a viewer question that seems worth noting:
The new owner of Kristy's horse won't sell it back. Awww.
(Oh, and David Cook is single.)
Mariah performs.
(Meanwhile, I've come around to the point of view that either of the two groups could plausibly be the bottom three. Hmm.)
We're back, and the groups are spaced far enough so that David can't use the Bo Bice gambit of choosing to stand with both.
David Archuleta... is safe, of course.
Oh, cute. David Cook swaps places with Syesha. One group's the bottom three. David is given the usual option, and he goes with the Melinda Doolittle approach of sitting down in the middle.
Ryan waves him over to the left, but Archie isn't budging. Ryan ends up moving the mountain to Mohammed, having David Cook, Carly, and Jason join Archuleta in the center.
The bottom three: Kristy Lee, Brooke, and Syesha.
(And next week, it's Andew Lloyd Webber's turn to mentor. I still have no idea how that's gonna work.)
Syesha is safe.
Brooke is safe.
Kristy Lee Cook is going home.
Ah well.
Pam gets two points; Mo Pie and Tekay get one apiece.
Mariah Carey's the mentor this week. I hope they're not dumb enough to confine the selections to her songs—single-artist weeks are never a good idea—but they probably are.
...yeah, they are. Hmmph.
Davy Baby: "When You Believe"
Oh god. This week is going to be a travesty. This would be a demonstration of how David Archuleta is not Mariah Carey.
Carly: "Without You"
Okay, there are some good bits this week. Solid performance. I'm torn between thinking she should have toned down the runs at the end, and thinking she couldn't afford not to take 'em on.
(Oh, I totally disagree with Randy. I liked the beginning better. It was more Carly.)
...and here's the person most likely to go for a direct cover, but also the person with the home-court advantage this week...
Syesha: "Vanishing"
I'm not familiar enough with the original to judge this one, but I suspect this week's theme's gonna give Syesha a one-week reprieve.
(What's gonna be interesting is seeing what the two Cooks come up with. I'm half-hoping for a countrified "I Still Believe," though I can't quite get it to work.)
Brooke: "Hero" [playing the piano]
Ooh, good song choice. Almost an obvious one, in hindsight. She should have gone with the guitar instead of the piano, though... the piano overpowered it, and she flubbed a few of the chords along the way.
...we're arguing the semantics of a hamburger metaphor. I love it.
Kristy: "Forever"
Kristy is continuing to have the best upward trajectory this year. A couple notes a bit off, but on the whole that worked really well.
David: "Always Be My Baby"
Ooh, love the violins. Otherwise... I don't think this actually worked, but it was a valiant attempt. Probably the most interesting failure since Fantasia.
Jason: "I Don't Wanna Cry"
...okay, I didn't think Jason would be able to get anything to work this week. I was wrong. Good job.
...Randy isn't wrong about the luau vibe, but succeeding in getting a Mariah song to work at a luau is something.
I am once again voting for Carly. I am afraid for Carly. But I really don't know what to expect this week. I don't think anybody's safe.
Got home late, but just as Ryan started on the results, so close enough!
(Also missed most of Idol Gives Back last night, but whatever. I caught Miley Cyrus, anyway...)
Most of us think Syesha is finally heading home; Mo is the lone dissenter, and is predicting an upset of Carly. I personally voted for her about two dozen times to try to keep that from happening.
Brooke... is safe, and is missing her sister's wedding this Saturday. Man. I wouldn't have thought there were any valid excuses for that, short of Extreme Family Drama. (Yes, I've missed two. EFD was in play!)
David Cook... is safe.
Davy Baby... is safe.
Jordin!
(...and my computer starts recording 30 Rock. Yay, Tina Fey!)
This song is way too overproduced. And it reminds of High School Musical, only in a bad way.
They give out platinum records for downloads? Wouldn't a platinum flash drive be more appropriate?
Ford commercial: "I Just Want to Celebrate"
Jason... is safe.
Kristy... is safe, for the first time in ages.
Which, by process of elimination, means Syesha, Michael, and Carly are the bottom three.
Clips from Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama.
The judges are kinda surprised at the bottom three, but not really.
Syesha and Carly are safe. Michael goes home! And nobody gets any points tonight! (In fact, not one of us cast a single vote putting him below 7th place.)
Paula looks stunned.
Oh, I love Ryan. "Last year, after Idol Gives Back, we didn't eliminate anybody at this point in the competition. Tonight... [long pause], Michael goes home."
...okay, off to watch The Office. Shmuel out!
Dammit. Left work late, missed the first song.
The rest follows!
Syesha: "I Believe"
Risky move; Fantasia owns that song. Not bad, but a bit shrieky.
Jason: "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (Bruddah Iz version) [playing the ukulele]
...the problem is that thanks to the movies, everyone's heard the Israel Kamakawiwoʻole version by now, and Jason is no Bruddah Iz. I'm not sure he's gonna make it this week.
(The judges' reactions suggest I may be overestimating the reach of Iz's version. I suppose if you haven't heard it, then Jason's take is no worse than his usual standard.)
Commerical break, during which I check Idol Chatter. Apparently the theme is "inspirational songs," and the first one up was Michael, with "Dream On."
Kristy: "Anyway"
You know, Kristy just might have hit her stride. Possibly her best performance ever.
David Cook: "Innocent"
I'll admit I'm not familiar with this one. Perhaps that's why I think it's a mess. I'm not feeling this arrangement at all.
(And now the test: will he revert to sassing the judges, or will he succeed in keeping still? I've been waiting weeks for the answer to this, which I think will determine whether he can make it to the top.)
(Aaaand he passes with flying colors. Ladies and gentlemen, your American Idol. Assuming he survives this week, anyway.)
Carly: "The Show Must Go On"
...every time I say something like that, Carly reminds me that I'm being a bit premature. Excellent job, best of those I've seen so far tonight.
Li'l Davy: "Angels"
Yawn.
Brooke: "You've Got a Friend"
I still think she's blown her chances of winning, but this is better than the past couple weeks.
Meanwhile, Fox is playing hardball this week. Tomorrow night, there are 2.5 hours of Idol Gives Back, shattering the upper bounds of primetime. The results show is Thursday, up against new episodes of My Name Is Earl and 30 Rock (the latter is the first since the writer's strike, and they lead into the return of The Office and Scrubs).
I've just upgraded my Moveable Type installation from 3.2 to 4.1, and I'm currently figuring out how much got broken in the process and how to fix it. I'm aware that the comments popup currently doesn't work; if you notice any other major weirdnesses, let me know. Thanks!
Most of us think Ramiele is going home tonight. (The exception is Pam, who's gone with Kristy.) Are we right?
The finalists sing "9 to 5."
Montage from last night.
Are we doing three groups of three this year?
Michael... is safe. So I guess we're not.
Davy... is safe.
Carly... is safe. Well done, Carly!
Phone calls, not worth noting.
The winners of The Next Great American Band, the Clark Brothers, sing "This Little Light of Mine."
A bit shouty for my taste, but it fits the country theme, and, hey, cross-promotion!
Ford commercial: "It's Tricky."
David Cook... notes that the news of him going to the hospital after the show last night was blown all out of proportion. Anyway, he's safe.
Ramiele... is in the bottom three. No kidding.
Kristy... is totally certain she's in the bottom three. And she's right.
Nashville montage, catching up with Bucky Covington, Phil Stacy, and Bo Bice.
Syesha... has gotta be safe. Yup.
Down to Brooke and Jason. Neither of which will get any of us any points in the pool if they disappear tonight.
Brooke is going out of her way to argue with Simon. She needs to go. I'm actually pulling for an upset now.
And, indeed, she's in the bottom three.
Idol Gives Back hype. It's next week!
Dolly Parton performs "Jesus and Gravity."
I'm still betting Ramiele is out.
Randy concurs.
Simon just says it's not gonna be Brooke.
Brooke can't seem to shut up. But she's safe.
Kristy is safe, and clearly relieved.
Ramiele goes home.
Mo Pie picks up three points, TeKay gets two, and Jesse and I get one apiece. (Sorry, Pam!)
American Idol is being pre-empted by a celebrity episode of The Moment of Truth, starring Simon Cowell...
Cute.
Dolly Parton's the mentor this week. Reactions after the jump!
There's a long record of contestants crashing and burning in country week. Will this year be any different?
Brooke: "Jolene"
I'm not sure how to judge this. That was a clean, but completely de-countrified, almost sterile take on a total country song. I don't think it worked.
...the reason why I now think she's not gonna come close? It's not the singing. It's the backtalk to the judges. I'm no longer pulling for her at all.
David Cook "Little Sparrow"
This, on the other hand, did work. It wasn't conventional country, but he brought some texture to it.
Ramiele: "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind"
I find I'm mostly trying to decide whether Ramiele's outfit this week is more or less hideous than last week's. Less, I think, but not by much. [Edited after reviewing last week's: actually, I'd call it a dead heat.] Either way, it's far more interesting to consider than her actual singing.
Jason: "Travelin' Thru"
Good song choice. The performance is pleasant; not a standout in any way, but it should be enough for his fans to keep him cruisin' along.
Carly: "Here You Come Again"
S'okay.
"No, I love country music!"? Simon, that may be the first thing you've said that I don't believe at all.
David Archuleta: "Smoky Mountain Memories"
Good job!
Kristy: "Coat of Many Colors"
Well, we all expected this was gonna be Kristy's best week. The last few notes demonstrated why... I think I'd have liked a bit more twang earlier.
Syesha: "I Will Always Love You" ...the foreshadowing and the placement suggest that she might actually manage this one, improbable as that seems. Guess we'll find out!
Dolly/Whitney fusion arrangement. The abridgement sucks, but what can you do in a minute and a half? Under the circumstances, she hits this out of the park. Best of the night, well ahead of David Cook.
...oh, we still have one contestant left. I miscounted!
Michael: "It's So Wrong, But It's So Right"
Works.
I'm voting for Syesha because of her performance, and for David Cook, 'cause I'm a fan.