top 24
'American Idol' Top 24,' Season 10 Recap
'American Idol's notorious "green mile" can be a long, hard road for the contestants. And the same can be said for viewers ... when it's three hours long.Last night, instead of a second hour of the Vegas performances, we endured the first hour of the cut down to the Top 24, with the reveal of the first five to make it through.
Tonight, we sat through two more hours of the same. For those of you who've been following the 'Idol' spoilers, there were no surprises, but for the rest of you, tonight's 120-minute suspense-athon might have been bearable.
Casey James Performs 'Heaven' on 'American Idol' (VIDEO)
'American Idol' contestant Casey James, who's perhaps best known for removing his shirt at Kara DioGuardi's request during his first audition, performed an simple, genuine version of 'Heaven' by Bryan Adams on acoustic guitar that drew universal praise from the judges and an inappropriate amount of cougar lust from DioGuardi."Seriously now, jokes aside. You are eye candy, but you're also ear candy," DioGuardi said. "Your looks may be what we first looked at, but you can play and you can sing, and you've got heart and soul."
Watch Casey's performance after the jump.
'Idol' Season Nine Performances on iTunes with Extras
Do you remember in the prehistoric days of no Internet and nothing digital? Back then, if you liked the songs you heard on MTV or -- gad! 'The Monkees' -- you would have to wait months and months for the single or album to show up in the record store. Yes, those were the days of records, even if they were tapes or 8-tracks. Anyway, in today's wonderful world of instant gratification and super-technology, waiting is a thing of the past. Last night's performances from 'American Idol's' Top Twelve ladies will be on Apple iTunes today! Last night if you were watching and loved Lilly Scott's version of The Beatles 'Fixin' A Hole,' you could've pre-ordered it and it would be downloaded to your computer today.
Heartbreak for Thaddeus Johnson on 'American Idol' (VIDEO)
One of the most heartbreaking moments on 'American Idol' (Wed., 9PM ET on FOX) tonight was when the judges told Thaddeus Johnson that he didn't make it into the Top 24. Poor guy ... we felt horrible when he burst into tears and questioned the decision."They said I did great and did nothing wrong, but I don't understand how you can do great and do nothing wrong, and still get let down."
We don't either, Thaddeus. Hopefully, someone will see your awesome talent at such a young age, and scoop you up for great things. And your mom will always be there to support you 110 percent. Hang in there!
Watch the video after the jump.
'Idol' Will Reveal Some of the Top 24 on Tuesday
We've got even more 'American Idol' changes coming this season. Traditionally, the Tuesday episode is for auditions, and the Wednesday (or sometimes even Thursday) episode is for results. However, 'Idol' feels as though they haven't shaken things up quite enough already this season, so they're making yet another change to the formula. This Tuesday, February 16, in a special two-hour episode, not only are we going to see auditions, but we're also going to learn who some of the Top 24 are.This news doesn't seem to be a change 'Idol' has had planned for very long. The last we heard from FOX, the entire Top 24 was set to be revealed on Wednesday, February 17. So what's behind the change? Perhaps the folks behind 'Idol' sense that the audience is getting audition fatigue, and we want some more action. Maybe they want to keep the momentum going from Ellen DeGeneres' debut last week.
Rank the Top 24, and see if others agree
The fine folks over at AOL have put together a fun module where you can rank the Top 12 boys and Top 12 girls. Then after you make your selections you can see how online fans voted. That said, I can't say that I agree with America's pick for the top boy. Of course, I'm not ready to rank the boys honestly because I've never seen a third of them sing.On the girls side there were some pretty interesting choices, though the top pick doesn't surprise me, if not necessarily for the right reasons. It'll be interesting to see if real voting syncs at all with this page. After all, it is reaching a cross-section of Americans. And I fully expect those results to get even smarter when TV Squad readers wander over there.
For the most part, though, the top vote-getters are the people who got a lot of screen time (save for one), which speaks to that "conspiracy theory" bubbling around. Let's give 'em a final four of Garrett, Luke, Jason and Jason just to show 'em who's who!
AI OD: The Top 24 revealed (sort of)
On the eve of "Hollywood Week" where the Top 24 is revealed, what better time to review the SPOILER lists that have been going around. Since I first posted these lists, we've had more audition episodes and gained more information. And in the meantime, the Idol machine has continued stripping MySpace pages and removing videos across the web.But I've updated all the video links and added footage from auditions we've seen since those posts went live. So even if you've seen those posts before, it's worth checking them out again. That way you can pick out your favorites. Oh, and I'm not saying Amy Davis (right) is in the Top 24 and I'm not saying she's not. I'm just saying that she's a swimsuit model and I love you. That's why she's here. You're welcome.
WARNING (Don't click if you don't want to know)
SPOILER: The Top 12 Boys
SPOILER: The Top 12 Girls
For an even stranger spoiler experience, join me after the jump.
This week's Idol "good and great"
What could be more uninspiring than Ryan Seacrest's love tips on Idol this week? ... Hmmmm, I could think of a couple performances, actually. And that's a bad thing, since Ryan isn't exactly an icon of wisdom. But, I don't want to talk about what I didn't like this time -- call it a break through in therapy, if you like. Instead, as much as I hate to say it, I want to pick up the Paula Abdul torch and talk about what was good and great about the past couple nights.
But first, a couple questions need to be answered: How is the order of the performance decided? And if two contestants pick the same song, who gets to sing it? Also, is The Colbert Report the best TV show on the air? Yes.
On Idol, it's a woman's world
So this week I spent my days in "The Big Easy," celebrating Mardi Gras like it's supposed to be celebrated! I'm not sure if it was the loud music in New Orleans that damaged my ears (or maybe it wasn't) but the boys vs. girls week had a clear winner. One thing is for sure -- this is a woman's world from here on out. The girls blew the house down ... with the boys in it.
I'm going to go over the people who stood out to me the most this week (good and bad). Going through all 24 would be a pain in my ass and honestly, I still don't remember all their names. So let's start with the boys:
Idol: A greedy therapist's dream
Do you remember back when the catch phrase "I'm going to Disneyland" was big? I remember saying it all the time after running over home plate during pick-up kickball games with my brothers. It was the quintessential victory phrase. It was almost as big as classic lines like "Where's the beef?" or "Whatchoo talkin' about Willis?" Saying that meant things couldn't get any better. Without any specific phraseology, except for maybe Ryan's annoying "after the break," I think Idol's results show format has found the yin to that yang.
None of this "You've just won [whatever], what are you gonna' do next?" Instead, with the camera practically up your nose, it's "You just lost your big shot to fame a fortune." I'm pretty sure going to Disneyland isn't next on the "to do" list. And, if that weren't enough, they have to bust out the microphone one last time and remind us why we didn't vote for them in the first place. Man, what a series of therapy sessions in-the-making.
Sage advice for eager 'Idol' contestants
Looks like it could be a girl's year this year. After 26.2 miles of Idol watching over the last couple nights, I'm pretty spent. Thankfully, this week's installment of Idol ended on the proverbial high note and left me wanting a little more. All big voices and beat boxing aside, though, the one question rattling around in my brain is what kind of record do these contestants plan on making after the show is over?
So far, it isn't clear -- and it ought to be. A major part of Chris Daughtry's success now is based on the fact that early on, he established what he was all about and never strayed too far from it. The same could be said about Carrie Underwood and country music.
This is the point of the competition when the country is forming it's opinion of the top 24, and if they don't send out clear messages about who they are artistically we'll form our own conclusions -- which generally ends in confusion.
American Idol: Top 24
(NOTE: If you're looking for 2008's Top 24, go here)(S06E10) It's "FINAL JUDGMENT" time, Ryan says, hoping to charge us up for tonight's episode. The singing is done, and now those who survived the Hollywood Week hazing, will find out if they've made the final cut.
I can't believe they build an entire episode around "announcing" the Top 24. It's really just a list of names that could have been posted online after last night's episode. Better yet, they should announce the list of names online with links to video of each and every performance to date, so the curious can check out the Top 24 contestants in more depth, if they wish.
Instead, they try to build suspense in this episode and it just isn't happening. We haven't really made strong attachments yet, so we're not heartbroken when cuts are made. And the only real surprise is where they've been hiding SEVEN out of the Top 24. Before tonight, we've never laid eyes on 5 out of the Top 12 Girls, and 2 out of the Top 12 Boys.
Idol finalists won't be allowed to blog
American Idol is a show whose popularity and success hinges on some well-kept secrets and big-ass surprises. Which is why the Top 24 Finalists will have to put their MySpace pages on temporary hiatus. There will be no blogging allowed during this part of the competition. Part of me is disappointed by this rule. I love the behind-the-scenes first hand accounts that blogging provides. But I also understand why the producers need to be such a bunch of paranoid control freaks. Thirty-three million of us are not going to continue to tune in each week if too much vital information is leaked on the Internet.
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