American Idol - Season 5 (3 Viewers)

[Patrick Sun]

Yeah, maybe Kenny's plastic surgeon did a lot around his eyes because he was really unrecognizable until he spoke.

A rundown of tonight's performance:

Didn't like Taylor's performance at all. Whatever fire he usually brings to the table got put out before he took the stage tonight.

Mandisa tried to get too cutesy with that song choice, and it just fell a little flat to make it convincing or interesting.

Elliott was boring me something seriously. Not sure what Randy was smoking but that performance could have substituted for Lunesta, easily.

Paris sang like she had a cold or something, very nasally at the start. Now the other thing, it's "How do I live without you", not "How do I leave without you". I still wasn't sure if Paris knew it was a sad melancholy song with her phrasing of the the lyrics.

Ace had a decent outing tonight, but was a bit sharp in spots, nasally in other spots, and I don't think he brought it home with that "sig-na-chure" falsetto bit at the end. Is it me, or does his hair frame is face funny nowadays? I still think he looks like he could pass for Matthew Fox's brother.

Kellie had a good performance tonight, much more confident in her stage presentation, but it was a slam dunk for her this week, but at least she didn't phone it in like Taylor did. I could see Kellie cut a country record and it'd be played on the radio.

Chris did okay, had a controlled presence with a quiet, subdued song.

Katharine bit off more than she could chew with that song, she was manic with her movements on stage, and it just didn't coalesce into a compelling performance. I thought she was going to run out of breath going up for the steps to finish off the song. She obviously liked singing the chorus, but the rest of the lyrics just never got enough attention.

Bucky chose a horrible song, nice and boring, and it should be the end of the line for him this week.

I think bottom 3 will be: Bucky, Katharine, and Ace.

 

[Scott-S]

I thought Katherine was on tonight. She did a really good job considering she doesn't do country music.

Kelly was also very good.

My order for tonights performances are:

Kellie
Chris
Katherine
Elliot
Bucky
Ace
Taylor
Paris
Mandisa

 

[RAF]

My bottom three were Bucky, Ace and Mandisa. Because Bucky couldn't shine in a C&W Theme week I agree that it's his time to go home. At least Kellie was able to use the genre to her advantage even though I think she'll be gone when they get back to other types of songs. The only thing that might keep her around a little longer is if Bucky goes and she inherits the C&W vote.

If it's not Bucky or Ace going home I'll be very surprised. But, of course, as last week showed anything is possible, especially since no one else blew me away for the second week in a row.

And has Terri Hatcher really gotten that "Desperate?" Really, what's happened to the, "They're real and they are magnificent!" girl from Seinfeld? Kryptonite must have affected her more than we realized.

 

[David Williams]

Country music is definitely not my cup of tea, but I do like Faith, Trisha & Shania. I thought Mandisa did okay but she had good energy which set her apart after Taylor brought everyone down with the most depressing & flat version of Take Me Home, Country Roads I've ever heard (and the song could easily double as an emetic for me. Ick!). At least John Denver could do high notes.

As a fan of the Trisha Yearwood version (LeAnn Rimes can stick hers you know where ), I thought Paris did a great job with hers. She really managed to hit the highs at the end but just barely. Ace did well enough that I don't expect to see him in the bottom 3 this week. Chris impressed me with his ability to do subtle.

I had the same enunciation issues with Bucky that I always do. Elliott was just plain bad and can look forward to the bottom 3 with Katharine (was that even a country song?!?). That just leaves Kellie who bewildered me with her take on what my Dad says is one of Reba McEntire's great songs. That song was way too much for her limited vocal range!

Bottom 3: Elliott, Katharine & I'm torn between Bucky & Taylor. I expect Katharine will be the one going home this week.

Next week's theme is the music of...

QUEEN!

 

[Gwon Chang]

Nice spoiler. Wow.

And how can you people say Katharine is going home? All fanboy-ness aside, I thought she easily had the best performance of the night. She actually cut loose and put some flava into her song. Everyone else was snooze inducing.

 

[Elizabeth S]

Bottom 3: Paris, Elliott and Mandisa
Going home: Paris

(Yes, Taylor was horrid, but his immense fan base will not evaporate overnight.)

I heard next week is

Rock
If David's spoiler is right, wow, I just can't imagine that -- VERY, VERY difficult.

 

[Sean*O]

I predict Ace will go next. Katharine won't be in the bottom 3.

 

[MikeM]

Four Word Recap™ time:
(in order from best to worst)

Elliot - Terrible bangs, best vocals
Kellie - Her music, nice work
Ace - Actually better than expected
Chris - Pulled it off well
Katherine - Barely a country song
Bucky - Underwhelming, supposedly his element
Taylor - Like watching paint dry
Paris - Couldn't sing low notes
Mandisa - Too wordy, ridiculous song


..and since I can't resist:

Randy - Wow, getting fatter again?
Paula - Had to be drunk
Simon - Oblivious to country music
Ryan - Beard like pre-teen wolfman

Kenny Rodgers - Face lift from Mars

 

[Dan Keefe]

Ok so Kellie looks like she is 26...so what? That girl is sooooo dumb she just may have graduated from high school at 25.


Anyway, Taylor wa awful, but since I picked him to win it all...I hope he goes unscathed tonight.

I think bottom 3 will be Katherine, Bucky and ace

 

[SteveZiss]

According to dialidol these are the bottom three.

Paris Bennett, ElliottYamin. Mandisa

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

Probably my 3 favorite singers in that dialidol bottom 3 estimate. If it is right, it's not a good week to be me. :frowning: Luckily all 3 can't go home.

I haven't seen the show yet as I missed it, but I'm hoping that I'll like Paris doing How Do I Live since I like the song -- Trisha and LeAnn.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Did Ryan already announce the theme for next week? It was like a quick comment from Ryan before going to a break.

 

[todd stone]

eh I think Catherine needs to go, that was a cop out because it was barely a country song.

 

[Hanson]

Ho hum. Another week, another BORING IDOL!!! I hope this is not a trend. Look, I'm not the biggest fan of country music, but if this doesn't put another nail in the country music coffin for me, I don't know what will. I can't remember a two week stretch of Idol that was this consistently awful. It's really sad that the only thing you need to do to stand out is to sing on-key. There was definitely an air of, “why the hell do I have to sing this f'ing song?” throughout the night, and this is one theme night that should be banished forever – I mean, the country music fans have Nashville Star already. I would rather they sing funeral dirges than this. And I hope everyone appreciates what a great job Barry Manilow did a few weeks ago. Because Kenny Rogers did jack shit tonight other than to creep out the millions of people who did not realize that he had been competing with Joan Rivers to see who could have more plastic surgeries. Man, his eyelids are so messed up from repeated procedures that he looks like he’s blind or something.

Taylor – It felt like the longest 90 seconds of my life. Taylor didn't want to be there, I didn't want to be there, John Denver (God rest his soul) was lucky he wasn't there or he would have died of boredom. Who knows – maybe there was a rip in the space-time continuum in the cabin of John Denver’s plane and he saw Taylor singing Country Roads through the wormhole and then promptly fell asleep at the controls. Look, you can't prove I'm wrong about this, FAA be damned. This is quantum physics we’re talking about! It was so perfunctory and lifeless that it reminded me of one of those novelty Singing Bass wall hanging thingamajigs that are so popular in trailers parks everywhere. Where was the Soul Patrol tonight?

Mandisa – Another contestant who just wasn't comfortable being there. My wife thought she sang this too fast for no good reason, and I just thought she was off-key all over the place. And while having her top hide her hips improved on last week's travesty, the pattern was just too busy. She looked like she was wearing one of those Magic Eye posters, and quite frankly, Mandisa is too 3-D as it is.

Elliott – I thought it was boring. My wife loved his soulful take on the song and grooved with it. I had no idea what song it was. I… uh… that’s all I got.

Paris – I liked this performance better than last week’s, but it had all sorts of pitch problems and she didn’t really bring it tonight. There were parts that were right on, like the last chorus part, where she changed key and just attacked the notes like she was devouring a Gray’s Papaya hot dog. Mmmm… Gray’s Papaya hot dog. Man, I could eat, like a dozen of those bad boys. One time, I bought six dogs and a papaya juice, and as I was walking back to my car, I carelessly took the papaya juice out from the bag which caused one of the hot dogs to fall out onto the street. This homeless guy who had asked me for a quarter on my way in said, “now you GOT to let me have that one”. I obliged him because, hey, it was on the street, you know? I’m not saying I’m Mother Theresa or anything, but I could have stepped on it and smashed into the pavement with my heel and replied, “lick it up, loser,” you know, if I were a real bastard, so it says something sorta nice about me. And I guess that I what I thought about Paris’ performance – it wasn’t awesome, but it wasn’t bad, it was sorta nice. Wait, did that make sense? BTW, that was hands down her best outfit and hair combo of the season.

Ace – Blaaaggghhh. Is that a word? If it's not, then here's my definition – it's the feeling I get when I watch Ace perform – sort of boredom mixed with nausea and sprinkled with the urge to punch the performer in the face. Blaaaggghhh is also how I feel about Justin Timberlake. Ace’s voice is so thin and so reedy that it's like listening to a clarinet recital by a 12 year old. Like, a regular 12 year old, not one of those prodigies who ends up on the Tonight Show and is so über-precocious you want to punch them in the face. BTW, did you notice how many “Marry Me Ace” sings there were tonight? That’s right, ONE . I've also noticed that all the people who told me he was a “really truly good singer if I just closed my eyes and it isn't just his looks” have all recanted. He's got about two weeks left if that.

Kellie – Two weeks ago, Kellie asked, “What’s a ballsy?” Well, it’s this fricken’ song, and apparently, she still doesn’t know what it means. Because this song should have been sung with balls and attitude with a touch of melancholy, but she just strolled into it through the front door and got out the other side without incident. Your typically uninspired Pickler performance. If I told you it was a defiant song about a girl sold into prostitution by her mother would you believe me? Because Kellie sang it like it was about a girl who ate p’sghetti at her local diner.

Chris – Hmm… still sounds like a goat to me. I think people were surprised that he was able to tackle a country song without needing to reinterpret it as a hard rock cover (of someone’s else’s invention *ahem*), but I was pretty bored by the whole thing. It appears Simon’s still mad at Chris, since he could have leveled his charge of boring song picks to just about anyone, but saved it for baldy. I didn’t think it was that great either, but jeez – such aggression.

Katherine – I don’t want to appear fixated on Katherine’s mommy to be status (whether true or not), but when she walked out in that outfit, I thought she was wearing one of those maternity jeans with the fabric tummy panel to let the belly hang out. Then my wife pointed out that she was wearing a shirt pulled over her hips with a short jacket on top. Also, I realized that I had starting yelling about maternity jeans, and even I understand that’s weird. Anyway, I didn’t know the song, so I thought she was singing, “bringing up the evers in me”. I know that doesn’t make sense, but I just went with it. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention, but to me, her performance sounded like, “mumble mumble WAIL WAIL mumble mumble WAIL WAIL”. Zzzzzzzzzz. Will the country catch Katherine McBottom-Threever and make her stand uncomfortably with the other two losers again? Eh, probably not, but I thought of that nickname after last week’s results show and I wanted to use it this week. Hmm… it was funnier in my head. Maybe if I repeated it? Katherine McBottom-Three? No? Still not working? Katherine McBottom-Three. Did the italics make a difference? Nope? Okay, I’ll move on.

Bucky – C’mon Bucky – here’s your night to shine and you pick the most boring country song in the world? Because there were probably a dozen entertaining songs he could have done that I frankly cannot name off the top of my head because I know precious little about country music, but my wife does and she confirmed that in fact he totally screwed the pooch on this one. My wife had to translate the lyrics for me tonight, because as mush-mouthed as he’s been, Bucky was in rare freakin’ form tonight, slurring so badly that it sounded like one long, continuous sound broken up with the occasional yodel.

BTW, did you know Bucky was married? Because I sure as hell didn’t – it was one of those weird revelations that turns reality on its ear. Maybe that explains the lack of “Marry Me Bucky” signs. And I just thought it was because he looks like a cross between David Spade and Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel. Take a step back ladies – this train has left the station. Whoo whoo!

 

[Scott-S]

Wow, this week really shows how people's opinions are so varied.

I personally can't fathom how anyone would think that Mandisa and Paris did a good job and that Katherine did a bad job.

I happen to listen to country music, unlike most of the people hear (I think). I feel that people's negative opinion of the country music, made them just blindly support the people they like. Regardless of how well they really did.

I like Mandisa, but to me she was the absolute worst this week. She will survive though because people usually take the sum of all performances in mind when voting by this stage.

I thought Katherine did a much better job than I expected. She actually showed personality. Which is something people here were saying she lacked. And as far as the song goes, It was definitely "country" enough. Otherwise she wouldn't have been allowed to do it.

I am looking forward to next week.

 

[David Williams]

My spoiler comes straight from the official source: www.americanidol.com. They announced next week's theme on their homepage sometime yesterday, but it's gone with today's update. I don't know if this means they are changing their minds, but it's being discussed quite a bit in their forums. We should know tonight since during the results show Ryan almost always announces the next week's theme.

 

[DaveMcS]

I'm thinking THONG....

 

[mylan]

Well, this topic certainly has...um, legs, but as the person you quoted, I stand by my close inspection and say shadow. I can see how this keeps being an issue seeing as how boring last nights episode was.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I'm not a fan of country music, but I've heard enough of it to know that there are a LOT of better country songs than the ones selected this week. Was everyone on quaaludes or something?

What a mess. The highlight of the evening was when Simon praised someone (I forget who) after Paula criticized them and Paula nearly had a heart attack. I think he did it on purpose!

 

[Patrick Sun]

They mentioned Bucky's wife, I think, last week in passing, plus he wears a wedding ring.

I wish Mandisa would get rid of her Trenynce-tic (fingers tapping on the mic).