Ellen DeGeneres got more than she bargained for by signing on with American Idol. The talk show queen has decided that “judging people and sometimes hurting their feelings” is just too hard for her. She also cites a heavier work schedule than she anticipated among the reasons she has decided to exitAmerican Idol effective immediately. She will not appear on the show’s upcoming 10th season.
Ellen’s timing could be serendipitous. Scuttlebutt around the TV industry is that Fox is hoping to replace the entire judging panel this year, to make a big splash following founder Simon Cowell’s highly-publicized exit. (Cowell left to work on the American version of his British talent search show The X Factor.) The sole remaining original judge, Randy Jackson, has reportedly been expressing his desire to move on from the show as well.
At least one new high-profile panel member has just been verified: Jennifer Lopez. Fox isn’t confirming it, but it’s a done deal nonetheless. Fox is likely hoping to make a big announcement of the entire judges panel, which rumors indicate could include big names like Justin Timberlake and Elton John.
For the upcoming 10th season of American Idol — also known as “the season with no Simon” — the show has decided to lower the age limit for eligibility from 16 to 15. According to USA Today, Idol was inspired to take this step by the success of Justin Bieber and his ilk.
American Idol’s producers also recently announced their intention to accept submissions from Fox-owned MySpace (am I the only one surprised to hear that MySpace is still around?). The show still has a new judge to find, to fill Simon’s very big shoes.
Put all this stuff together and it looks like the show’s producers are strategizing new ways of generating excitement for Season 10. Which is probably a good idea, since Season 10 is probably going to be a snoozefest. Let’s face it: if ever there was drama to be found on Idol, it came from Simon. Now that he’s gone, some viewers are expected to lose interest.
So the show is fighting back with teeny-bopper singers and the hopes of creating viral sensations through MySpace. What do you think: will it work?
For the seventh time in the last eight years, CBS has emerged as the overall ratings winner for network television.
Nielsen’s annual ratings report indicates that CBS was boosted to the top of the heap thanks to the record-breaking broadcast of the Super Bowl showdown between the Colts and the Saints. This year’s Super Bowl was the most-watched television broadcast in history, bringing in more than 106 million viewers for the network. CBS also scored the highest-rated scripted program of the year, in NCIS. CBS also boasts the three most popular new programs of the year: NCIS: Los Angeles, The Good Wife, and Undercover Boss.
In second place is Fox, who averaged about two million fewer viewers each night than CBS. But Fox scored a major victory of its own: a 3.6 rating in the key 18-49 demographic, which placed Fox on top in this all-important age range that advertisers seek the most. American Idol remains Fox’s juggernaut, earning the “number one show on television” status for the seventh year in a row.
ABC came in third place for the season, boosted heavily by Dancing With the Stars. NBC landed fourth in the broadcast network ratings, though if not for the Winter Olympics, its overall ratings for the season would have been down from last year.
I’ve often wondered why they have to boot someone out during the “Idol Gives Back” episode. With the good cheer going all around as people focus more on charity it just seems pretty sucky to try to wipe the smile off someone’s face. Keeping a smile on is not a problem to the one who had to leave this time though because Tim Urban had been getting comments from Simon for being too smiley.
Tim Urban has been having a rough time (more like a roller coaster ride) during his stay on idol but even after really rough performances, as Simon said, he didn’t really have to worry because his fans would carry him through. It seemed that his jolly demeanor will take him through to the ended, but of course it did not. I guess his “Better Days” (pun intended of course!) with idol is finally over, no thanks to his rendition of the Goo Goo Doll’s song. On the bottom three this week with Tim were Casey James (first time for him) and Aaron Kelly.
Towards the end of the show, after George Lopez revealed who was going home, the remaining idols surrounded Tim, who wasn’t asked to sing anymore. Probably it was because the 2-hour Idol Gives Back was already running too long, and anyway the save had already been used up before.
Next week we’ll be seeing Shania Twain mentor the idol contestants. Too bad for John Parks he didn’t make it this far…
The other night I didn’t get to write about American Idol’s “Elvis Week” since I was a bit more excited about the next show – Glee. However, tonight was eliminations night. After Michael Lynch was saved the previous week by the judges it meant that this week will be goodbye for two contestants. It also meant that since the “save” had already been used then the contestants would have no chance of staying at all.
The night started off with a pretty quick with an an elimination announced within the first 15 minutes. Andrew Garcia was the first to go. I can’t say that I am surprised considering how much he’d been struggling since it was narrowed down to the top 12. It still made me really sad though because I’m still a fan of Andrew. The judges may be really annoying after repeating themselves for the millionth time but we have to agree that his version of “Straight Up” back in Hollywood week is plain genius. Good luck to Andrew!
The other contestant that got the boot was Katie Stevens. I did enjoy her performance (though Simon found it annoying) and we have to give her props because week after week she really is looking younger and getting more comfortable up there. I do think that it was her time to go because, let’s just face it, she’s got the pipes but she needs to mature more.
Adam ended the night with a bang. As usual great performance. Very theatrical and to-die-for vocals.
Last night’s AI episode showcased past #1 hits from the Billboard charts. With so many songs to choose from it wasn’t surprising that some of the contestants were able to pick really really great songs for them to sing (i.e. Aaron, Katie and Crystal). The crazy thing was that with all that song choice a lot of them actually picked mediocre and even sucky ones. Anyway here’s my take on last night’s show.
Miley Cyrus – It was great to see someone that young “mentoring” the contestants. She did give good advice (we can even probably credit her for getting Crystal to take a bigger risk) and surprised me by seeming to be more better than I initially gave her credit for. It was funny to see her though because at first she seemed just as nervous to “mentor” the contestants as they were to hear her opinion.
Great performances of the night - Crystal gave the best performance (as always). I really loved how she loosened up out there. So looking forward to her “big plans” next week. Siobhan started out ok and ended her song with a bang (again as usual) though last week was definitely way better. I LOVED her hair and makeup though. Props to whoever styled her. Aaron chose a great song but his laryngitis/tonsillitis showed. Hopefully he’ll be better next week. Casey rocked though he did not make eye contact even if Miley told him too.
Great progress - Katie finally chose a young song! She also looks younger though a change in hairstyle might help even more. ANd of course she’s got to take care of the pitch problems. Lee looked a lot more comfortable on the stage and moved around. It was good but not good enough to be memorable when 10 other contestants get to sing after you.
Uhohs – The big mess of the night was Paige Miles’ performance. She was just all over the place. Too bad because I love her song but it was just painful. If America votes right, she’ll be going home tomorrow.
The votes are in and America got it mostly right. AI girls voted out tonight were Janelle Wheeler and Ashley Rodriguez. For the boys the first two to go were Joe Muñoz and Tyler Grady.
I’ve got to say that for the girls America got it right. Though it did look like the judges were rooting for Ashley Rodriguez, at least compared to Didi Benami, both she and Janelle was among the girls who I though could be going home simply because of their song choice. Their voices weren’t powerful enough to do their songs any justice, leaving their performances flat. It showed in the votes and the results wasn’t a big surprise. For a minute there though I was really nervous for Didi Benami because though I really liked her performance the judges disagreed and it left me wondering if I was the only one who thought she should stay one – apparently I wasn’t. Yay!
It was the guys’ results that gave us a shocker though. Joe Muñoz definitely did not deserve to go home last night. His performance was realy good, especially compared to Tim Urban’s and Alex Lambert’s. Apparently even Tim Urban agreed because the look on his face when he was declared safe was priceless – utter shock. Clearly Urban’s good looks saw him through this round. On the other hand, Tyler Grady’s “American Woman” did not endear him to America’s women, resulting in his being voted off. I am sorry to see him go though because he is such an interesting character and would definitely have made AI more interesting. Am not feeling to bad about it though because it meant that Alex Lambert (whose surprised expletive at not being voted off lead to AI being cut short) gets to stay another week. I don’t believe that he’ll last long but it’ll be nice to see him “ripen” up a bit.
The judges were right: it’s the girls year this year. The guys’ first live performance was mostly a disappointment, though with the relatively low expectations set by the judges it isn’t that big of a disappointment. Compared to the girls night the last episode was really boring with people probably wondering, just like I am, if there’s even 6 guys that’s really worth watching week after week. Maybe it’s just because I missed the first three performances, but I doubt it. To be fair though I did like some performances.
Casey James definitely stood out tonight. It was nice that his performance was great (“Heaven” really did suit him) but even if he sang out of tune any girl would have to agree that he is just to yummy not to stand out. I mean he really has Kara’s cougar vibes going and we can all see why! Seriously though I closed my eyes a couple of times while he was singing just to make sure that the visual wasn’t messing with my objectivity – it wasn’t. He sounded great.
Another good but disappointing performance was Andrew Garcia’s rendition of “Sugar, We’re Going Down”. It wasn’t disappointing because it was bad but only because everyone had such high expectations. I think he’s the only guy, based on talent alone, who can give the girls a run for their money. I’m a fan though and he will definitely go a long way. Hopefully he comes up with something fresh and really riveting next time.
As for the rest (that I saw at least) they were just ok. I squirmed a lot for Alex Lambert who was as nervous as hell though he’s so nice I want him to stay just to see him grow. Can’t help but root for guys like him. Oh well tomorrow we’ll see who’ll make it and who won’t.
American Idol Season Nine’s first live show is over and the girls did a pretty good job. Based on how well the girls performed yesterday you can say that this season will be interesting, probably with lots of unpredictable goodbyes, what with all the great talents.
Yesterday the girls that stood out for me were the last two to perform – Crystal Bowersox and Katie Stevens – plus Haeley Vaughn. Sure Crystal needs to work a bit on her “star power” but you have to hand it to her she really stands out without having to seem to try. Katie on the other hand did sound old, Ellen and Simon agreed on that and I’m sure pretty much everyone does, but even then her voice is just completely amazing. I’m definitely looking forward to how she’ll do once she tries to be her age. I also really liked Haeley Vaughn’s version”I Wanna Hold Your Hand”. I don’t care if the judges says that she needs to work on her technicality because her aura (she just exudes adorable!) makes you automatically want to vote for her.
Other girls that did pretty well in my book, despite mixed reviews from judges, were Katelyn Epperly (boy did she look awesomely weird..definitely memorable and interesting), Siobhan Magnus (tops the girls in terms of awesomely weird), and Didi Benami (I don’t agree that it was boring…not at all!). I’m sure that if I didn’t miss Lilly Scott’s performance she’ll be here in my list.
As for the others, even if the judges thought they were good (which they were), I just dont really find myself rooting for them…except for Lacey Brown who really needs to do better next time. I like her.
Next up – the boys. We’ll see who catches our eyes..I mean ears.
American Idol Hollywood Week didn’t really deliver for me. It was actually pretty boring and I hated seeing some of the people with great stories (shown during the audition episodes) go. It’s not that the judges seemed to be making lousy calls, but simply because I can’t help but root for people like Maddie.
Anyway the highlight of Hollywood Week was definitely ELLEN. I have to say – Ellen passed with flying colors. This shouldn’t come as a surprise since she’s so used to “pleasing a roomful of audience” but I guess being her fan made me nervous as to how she’ll do. She brought a little comic relief (so and so please step forward..oh I’m sorry…please step back) and lots of good judgement. As for the other judges’ reaction to Ellen it looked like they got along pretty well with her. Simon, who people say is having a feud with Ellen, clearly he has the hots for Ellen. If you don’t know what I’m talking about watch this clip from the Ellen Show. Hilarious! Seriously though I am more inclined to think that Kara would be more ill at ease with Ellen than Simon because Ellen, with her big personality, will probably overshadow Kara.
