American Idol - Season 10 (1 Viewer)

[Aaron Silverman]

I certainly wouldn't have expected it. Amazing she could do it justice in 90 seconds.

 

[Hanson]

If she tried, say, Stairway, it would have flopped trying to truncate it to 100 seconds. But WIAWSNB worked very well because it has a traditional verse-chorus-verse-chorus arrangement and no bridge.

 

[Albert_M]

It took Haley a while to get into a comfortable groove of the type of song she should sing and she still wasn’t totally there, but over the last several weeks she has had a couple of the best performances and aside from the fact that like the style of song she should sing, I am bored with the mostly lame country pop songs and actually have little interest in the finale.

 

[Patrick Sun]

http://www.tvline.com/2011/05/haley-reinhart-lauren-alaina-idol-finale-sick/

 

[Jeremiah]

I'm sure she will sing like nothing is wrong and everyone will be falling all over that BS of how great of a competitor she is etc. If she really can't go then that would be pretty shtty for her, but I hope Haley gets a shot.

 

[Carl Miller]

Wow, what a snoozefest.

 

[Tina_H_V]

Originally Posted by Carl Miller

Wow, what a snoozefest.

Touche.

 

[Hanson]

Full blog available on http://hanson68.wordpress.com



And a fiddler shall lead them For those of us who aren’t the biggest fans of country music, tonight’s Idol finale performance show was chockablock full of uninteresting nothingness, and tonight’s Grand Old Opry West edition left us with nothing but glazed eyes and dulled senses (with one little tear-jerking moment at the end). It wasn’t the worst season ever, and it wasn’t even the worst final two ever (Jordin and Blake take the crown for that). But there was zero anticipation or excitement going into the evening, and the show gave that back in spades. In order to trump up some drama, the producers leaked a story to TMZ that Lauren was having severe vocal chord issues — this was breathlessly relayed as Lauren being on the verge of stepping down and allowing Haley to sing in her stead. This, of course, didn’t happen. You could hear the strain in her voice the first two songs, but it was ultimately a tempest in a teapot. Ryan brought Dr. Nazeri (sp?) on stage to explain what the situation was, and he brought along his associate, a certain Dr. Lannibal Hector. Even though there was only an hour, they managed to stuff in nine performances between the finalists as well as a Taio Cruz song (for which the audio kept cutting in and out) and capped off the night with a David Cook performance. For some reason, the camera would not settle in on a close up of David, presumably to avoid showing the obvious comb-over he was sporting. This was the third South versus South final, but the first all country hoe-down. Unlike season two, there’s no suspense coming into this year’s finale — Scotty has this wrapped up in a bow, thanks in part to the gaggle of girls who are voting for him like crazy, and thanks in part to divine intervention from Kristy Lee Cook. Scotty opened the show by reprising Gone. There’s really nothing to be said about the performance except that it introduced us to the hardest working man on Idol tonight — Nathan Stoops. Who is Nathan Stoops? The fiddle player. And when Lauren came out to sing Flat on the Floor, he showed up again. By the way, Lauren showed off her three fashion styles tonight. The first was a busy, jangly mafioso wife look that makes her look 40. Scotty came back with a song picked for him by his personal idol, and I don’t remember who it was. It was like Chet Adkins or something. I don’t remember what it was called either, but the opening line made me laugh — “it started way back in third grade”. Like, that was 9 years ago for Scotty. I don’t remember anything else about the performance. Except for the fiddler. By the way, Scotty loves his plaid shirts. That's is what he’s worn the past three weeks. I think he’s pocketing the clothing stipend and just utilizing his personal plaid shirt collection. Lauren went for look number two, a bejeweled bodice coupled with a frilly tutu. She’s apparently getting her clothes for free from a Tennessee clothing store (Rossville GA, you see, is five minutes from the TN border). I’m guessing these people also supply clothes for toddler beauty pageants? Lauren sang some song picked by Carrie Underwood. Forgot the name of the song or what it sounded like, but guess who popped up again? So it’s four performances, and four fiddler sightings. Dang, this is country! Then the judges speak. Blah blah blah, in it to win it, Steven incoherence. Scotty comes on to perform his presumptive coronation song called I Love You This Big. Ahh… seriously? Wasn’t that from the Care Bears Movie soundtrack? It was godawful. Since it’s never been performed before, Scotty didn’t have anyone to imitate, and he could not get a handle on it. It was a mushy, boring performance that was easily the worst thing he’s done all year. He even had some pitch problems, and although the lyrics were simple and age appropriate, Scotty sounded lost in the song. Not that it was much of a song. And now for the tear-jerking part. Like most tear-jerkers, Lauren’s coronation song, Like My Mother Does, will elicit two reactions — one being cynical eye-rolling, and the other being tears. For instance, I found the lyrics to be treacly and manipulative. I turned to my wife and said, “it sounds like a poem in a mother’s day card written by a ten year old”. She in turn wiped away tears and told me off. This is the classic Beaches divide. In the middle of the song, Lauren walked into the audience and hugged her mother, who appeared to be wearing a Snuggie. Even before the song started, they played a montage of mother-daughter moments, including a big backstage hug. Wait — is that woman in the background topless? Okay, no — she’s just wearing a snug fitting flesh colored shirt. Don’t ever do this. You know who else did this? Star Jones kept wearing brown stretchy pants on the Celebrity Apprentice this season, and it made her look pantsless like Winnie the Pooh. Disturbing. Lauren also featured her third look, the flowy, floor length gown. It was so long that my wife was afraid that she would trip down the stairs. Apparently, Ryan had the same concern and came over to help her down the stairs. And another sighting of… wait a minute — I see violin players, but where’s the fiddler? Aha! Scotty leads the fiddler count three to two. And thus, he shall win. The fiddler knows all. The fiddler shall lead the way. I had mentioned in a previous blog that Scotty wasn’t a WGWG (White Guy With Guitar). Well, maybe I’ve softened on that. Mostly because I can squeeze a few more yucks out of it. If I had to judge tonight based solely on performance, Lauren would win it. Both J. Lo and Randy scored it 2-1 for Lauren, while Steven confusingly gave Lauren a clean sweep (he actually said, “Lauren, sorry honey, Scotty, Lauren gets it hands down”, a fitting way to end an aphasic season). So can Lauren win? Is it possible that that we’ll wake up to a scene like this? That’s kind of impossible — in this era of texting, this year will be the same as last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. Boys rule, girls drool. So I have the same standing advice to any girl who wants to win Idol next year — either pray for change in the way they collect votes or grow a penis. The choice is yours, ladies.

 

[Tina_H_V]

Very well said, Hanson--again, as always!!!!!!! YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Yee-Ming]

Sheesh, were the producers and judges deliberately trying to throw it towards Lauren? No doubt because of the "White GuyWith Guitar" effect (copyright: Hanson!), they probably felt the need to try and level the playing field for her, but could it have been any more blatant? First a doctor to talk about her ailment, to swing the sympathy vote, then the "tribute to mom" song to get, well, the mom vote? Complete with lots of footage of her mom, including a teary hug in the middle of it all? Meh.

 

[Patrick Sun]

But you have to admit, it was very-wrestlemania-like...

 

[Josh Dial]

Question for you, Hanson. How does your Kristy Prophecy reconcile the fact that while Scotty's name completes the pre-ordained phrase (ie "the name), Lauren's song choice was actually a cover of a Kristy Lee Cook song? HOW DO I SOLVE THIS?!

 

[Hanson]

I think they were trying to make it somewhat competitive. I'm sure it wasn't, and I'm sure they knew it wasn't going to be.


BTW, I have to say that Scotty was very professional and confident up there. He took everything in stride and just did his thang. That last song was awful, however.


And I forgot to mention that, perhaps in an attempt to counter the Kristy Lee Cook prophecy, they gave Lauren a song that was on Kristy Lee Cook's album. But there's too much mojo cooking for that to have any effect.


Yee, I can't take credit for WGWG. That's been floating around the internet since season 8.


Season 10 was meh, but at least I didn't hate it.

 

[Hanson]

Originally Posted by Josh Dial

Question for you, Hanson. How does your Kristy Prophecy reconcile the fact that while Scotty's name completes the pre-ordained phrase (ie "the name), Lauren's song choice was actually a cover of a Kristy Lee Cook song? HOW DO I SOLVE THIS?!

It was actually written by Taylor Swift and a small army of songwriters. It was only covered by KLC, but since it's not hers, it has very limited juju. It's like the difference between some Saint's bible and an actual body part in a reliquary. It definitely can't hold a candle to Scot-TY nor Cooke.

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by Hanson Yoo




It was actually written by Taylor Swift and a small army of songwriters. It was only covered by KLC, but since it's not hers, it has very limited juju. It's like the difference between some Saint's bible and an actual body part in a reliquary. It definitely can't hold a candle to Scot-TY nor Cooke.

But it was written *for* Cook, non? She didn't cover it in the strictest sense. At any rate, I'm taking your prophecy as the gospel, and have since converted to the Church of Cook. Thank you for saving my soul, Hanson.


Also, I found it funny that George Strait chose one of his own songs, "Check 'Yes' or 'No'" for Scotty. At least Carrie Underwood tried to hide the fact that the show is attempting to make a clone of her in Lauren. Her choice of "Maybe it was Memphis," one of my favourite country songs of the 90s, was great.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I actually think this season had the best overall lineup for judges in the show's history. Randy doesn't hold a candle to Simon in the Simon role, but J-Lo was easily the best female judge the show has had and Steven Tyler brings a certain crazy x-factor to the Randy slot that Randy never did. I also much prefer the three-judge format to the four-judge format, mainly because it means 100 percent less Kara DioGuardi.

 

[Hanson]

For all the criticisms the judges got this year, I didn't actually hate any of them, since there was no way it could be worse than a four judge panel with Kara and a completely disinterested Simon. His critiques last season were random at times, because he zoned out during the performance and then just went over his dress rehearsal notes. There was zero chemistry on that judging panel.


At least this season started out promising. Last season was like a rolling shitstorm you could see coming from miles away. You knew it was going to stink, but you could not believe how bad it was while it was happening.

 

[Jeffery_H]

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt

I actually think this season had the best overall lineup for judges in the show's history. Randy doesn't hold a candle to Simon in the Simon role, but J-Lo was easily the best female judge the show has had and Steven Tyler brings a certain crazy x-factor to the Randy slot that Randy never did. I also much prefer the three-judge format to the four-judge format, mainly because it means 100 percent less Kara DioGuardi.

I'll agree with you regarding Kara as an AI judge, could not stand that woman at all. In fact, no other ladies at work or my family could either. Overall, I much enjoyed the change this year and thought they did a good job. It was one of the best AI seasons since season 1 or Underwood for me.

 

[Ruz-El]

I think this season had some of the strongest talent I've seen on the show. Which is weird since it was such a boring season. I know I watched last nights show, but I'd be hard pressed to be able to say too much about it. Thank god this snooze fest is over tonight.


I wont be watching Idol again.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt

I actually think this season had the best overall lineup for judges in the show's history. Randy doesn't hold a candle to Simon in the Simon role, but J-Lo was easily the best female judge the show has had and Steven Tyler brings a certain crazy x-factor to the Randy slot that Randy never did. I also much prefer the three-judge format to the four-judge format, mainly because it means 100 percent less Kara DioGuardi.

Steven Tyler isn't filling the Randy slot. He's filling the Paula slot.


(Wait, that doesn't sound quite right.)


At any rate, I'm also glad the Kara slot got nuked. Did y'all know that she's co-hosting a new singing competition show on Bravo? Oy vey. I might actually watch it, though, because her co-host is Jewel. (Doesn't mean I'll listen. . .)