American Idol - Season 8 (1 Viewer)

[Tina_H_V]

Another variation of ballot box stuffing, anyone??????


And you are so very right about KISS, Quentin. In fact, I have grown to appreciate them and their music even more as I have gotten older and matured.

 

[Jeffery_H]

I too was hoping for Adam to win it all, but really it does not matter except in name only. It's almost certain the top 5 have or will make it on most AI shows in some form or the other. McPhee (or however her name is spelled) from the year Hicks won is now making a movie. You can bet even bikini girl has already gotten her start when she first appeared months ago as a model or whatever.

It was no real shock Kris won it all. Our local Fox network held live parties and some of the better family restaurants and they were all filled with "Tween" girls. They were all voting and had voted for Kris all this time. That was his target audience, the "Tweens", not the same market at all for Adam. So, I don't see any overlap there at all between the demographics for sells. I think both will do very well and you can never underestimate the money the Tween demographic spends. Just think of the fortune made with Miley Cyrus and the same audience.

I also hope to see Allison and Danny get a deal too. Certainly I think Allison can pull off some rather good raspy type vocals, but not so sure how much of them may be rehashed from prior hits by groups like Heart.

Anyway, I thought it was one of the best season finale AI shows they have ever done with all the variety it had. Plus seeing the old hard rock groups was the icing on the cake and they could still rock it for sure.

 

[Michael Allred]

You mean the live version from the show or some secret studio recording?

I was taken by surprise this year when suddenly studio versions came out after the contestants performed them on the show (when did that start?)

What a surprise to see Queen back on "AI" especially after how miffed Brian May was the last time out when he felt his words were edited/taken out of context to make it look like he was scolding that horrible Ace Young.

 

[Lucia Duran]

When adam wore that furutristic outfit, my husband and I were wondering (hoping) that he would light up! Oh well! LOL!

Adam is an all around showman and performer. He is going to go on and do some amazing things if put in the proper hands.

I really hope to see Nick Norman get something out of this as he is funny as hell. Maybe his own sketch show or something?

Bikini girl was offered the chance to pose for some magazine (not playboy), but I don't know which mag it was or what came of it. Personally I don't think she deserves any more air time and frankly neither does tatiana.

 

[EricSchulz]

I hope for both versions, but nothing is on iTunes as of early Thursday morning...

I believe that the studio downloads started last season. I did download a few of the studio releases this time. There was a problem earlier in the competition when a "glitch" in iTunes sales system "accidently" listed the sales ranking for several of the performers' songs. Adam, IIRC, had five songs in the Top Ten, Kris had four and Danny had one. There is a disclaimer stating they don't release that info because it could help influence voting on the show.

 

[Brett_M]

Eric Singer is the drummer who replaced Eric Carr after his death and then Peter Criss.

 

[Brett_M]

Agreed. He sang those songs so well -- Detroit Rock City especially. If anyone can go head to head with Paul Stanley as a vocalist, it's Adam Lambert.

I'm a card-carrying member of the KISS Army. I loved them since I was 5 years old. How are they not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? New album drops this fall, btw.

My wife and I were trying to figure out who Adam would duet with -- I said Cher because of his Hollywood week choice. Then he comes out singing Beth and I said "Yes, of course" and proceeded to turn the volume up and watch as KISS entered the fray as only KISS can. The highlight of the finale for me.

One thing I'd lik to point out is how gracious Adam was when Kris won. He smiled and cheered for him and looked relieved more than anything. I'm sure having to dodge questions about his sexuality were weighing on him and now that he does not have to carry the Idol mantle, he can be free to pursue a solo career that will rival Clarkson, Underwood and Daughtry.

 

[Hanson]

38 million votes from Arkansas is mind-boggling. That’s around 40% of the vote cast, and assuming anywhere from a 3 to1 to 5 to 1 ratio for Kris, you’re looking at a total blowout, vote-wise. The enthusiasm that Southern voters have shown throughout the history of Idol comes through for Kris this year, only this time around it appears they’ve figured out how to use auto-dialers. Think about it – Arkansas has 2.8 million people, or less than 1% of the 304 million people in the United States (reflecting 2008 numbers). That’s some ultra rabid voting.

The drop off in the performance finale is probably because the Gokey fans simply didn’t tune in. It turns out that they weren’t as big a factor in the final results as much as Arkansas was. I’m pretty sure that the vote difference this year is larger than last year’s 12 million vote gulf between Cook & Archuleta.

The Gokey/Adam showdown was never meant to be. Both contestants were too polarizing to make it to the finals – it would be like a presidential election fielding a hard right and hard left candidate from the major parties – any centrist could swoop in and win it.

At this point, I wonder if Kris was the top vote getter in both the top four and top three weeks. Ryan did say, “In no particular order”, but it may be that Kris was declared safe first each time because he got the most votes each time.

In the NYC area, there is a tremendous amount of Adam support, and even they aren’t that upset about Kris winning. I think we all share the same sentiment, which is that as long as Gokey didn’t win, we all won.

The last update for chops and separated at births it up (one new chop and the rest are collected from the blogs):

American Idol Season 8 Chops

American Idol Separated at Birth Season 8 Page 2

I had to split the chop page into two.

Also, two NSFW chops that aren't on the chop page (the links work now):

A parody of Adam's Entertainment weekly cover:
http://home.comcast.net/~hanson68/gokeyew.jpg

And my take on the whispers about Kris' true sexuality:
http://home.comcast.net/~hanson68/kriscoke.jpg

 

[Steve_Tk]

Adam will be fine as long as he is selective in what he wants to do. He can either go the Daughtry/Underwood route, or sing crap like Archuletta and the winners song from last night.

 

[mattCR]

Being born in Arkansas, let me remind people of this:

(1) Arkansas has NO pro team in any sport; not basketball, baseball, football.
(2) Arkansas has NO triple-A baseball, they do have a double-A squad (The Travellers) who are affiliated with the Angels.

In other words.. WTF else are you going to do? Seriously, if you're in Arkansas, you root like hell for your college teams and then you've got... nothing. For months, you've got nothing. So why not rally behind some kid on a game show.

BTW: total state population is 2.5M, according to the census bureau, and 1M voted in the last presidential:

http://news.aol.com/elections/2008/state/AR

So, good to know roughly 16 times the number that live there voted.

 

[EricSchulz]

Hanson: I get this message on both Comcast links:

Sorry, the page you were looking for could not be found.
Suggested Actions
Check the URL that you have typed and retry.

Can't wait to see them!

 

[Hanson]

I got the 2.8 mil figure from Wiki, but whatevs. It's still little. Like Kris. BA-ZINGA!

The Taylor Hicks potential is looming on Kris' horizon -- Idol assumes some correlation between voting and popularity to gague record sales, but when the turn-out is that topsy turvy, you going to find that the record buyers have no correlation to the vote totals.

ETA: I fixed the links to the pictures. I originally used the wrong extension. DUH!

 

[Jeffery_H]

I agree about Nick/Norman and think he will end up not too long from now with some sort of comedy/variety type act. Heck, I would even give him a shot at a late night talk show. Everything on now late night is the same old routine night after night and I have given up watching most of them. At least it would be something new.

For "bikini girl", I think she will either end up being a good model or taking the cash and doing some porn (no I don't mean Playboy) while she can get the bucks from her semi-fame on AI.

 

[RAF]

Some random thoughts from the Old Dude:

• I had originally planned to pull a DVR "zip-zip" during the results show as is my usual practice because the fluff doesn't interest me. However, I have to admit that the line up that was presented in the two hour finale (which ironically ended on time even though they promoted that it wouldn't) kept my interest throughout - with a few minor exceptions. What a wonderful assemblage of stars! Definitely worth the time investment to me.
• After the battle of the Davids last year, nothing surprises me any more. If anything I thought that last year's result was a bigger shock with David "Cooking" Archie.
• What up with Rod Stewart? Is he on medication (prescribed or otherwise?) That was one of the few disappointing "star" appearances to me. Probably my next least favorite was Queen Latifah and I usually like her (as well as Rod Stewart).
• Adam is definitely the better singer but Kris is the better musician. I expect to see more of Adam but only because I attend a lot of shows in NYC. I'm fine with the results. It just proves that "It's a singing competition" is B.S. as far as Idol is concerned or the results would have been different (I would have been watching Allison vs. Adam in that case.)
• Winning American Idol doesn't guarantee success. Neither does coming in second, third, fourth or lower mean that you will fail. The number of examples of this continues to grow after eight seasons. Just ask Jennifer Hudson and other obvious examples. I just picked up the excellent Blu-ray disc of Chris Botti in Boston (highly recommended for great performances and demo quality sound!) and was pleasantly surprised to see how far Katherine McPhee has come since Idol. I'll probably be buying lots of her music in the future.
• Our HTF American Idol #08 Top Ten Challenge Contest was an exciting success. We'll be back in 2010 for the next edition for those interested. (See the related thread for details). In the interim we are looking at probably offering a similar contest for Big Brother #11. Details to follow in an announcement. The show starts in early July, 2009.
• Hanson Yoo is still Da Man! Thanks for the memories.
• And thanks for the mammaries, Bikini Girl.

To paraphrase the little hosting guy, "RAF...out!"

 

[Albert_M]

Idol ended in the best way for the show and the top 2.

Kris will have a better chance at success (still not a given, given the track record of some winners - but that has more to do with putting out bland crap instead of music)

and Adama did not need to win. There's still a chance that he will put out a bland album too if the producers do their usual un-magic, but both have a better chance with this set up.

And AI will promote the "anything can happen" rhetoric making the show "not boring"

It's a win win for those 2 and FOX.

 

[Hanson]

Apparently, Scott's big moment was supposed to be a duet with Billy Joel. But Joel cancelled so late in the game they couldn't arrange for a new duet, which is why Scott never got any face time. Also, Adam and Allison are generating the most buzz -- songwriters and producers are lining up to make their debut albums.

And as hot as Kara was in a bikini, unless she's willing to judge wearing a bikini with a bag over her head, I don't want her back next year (actually, the bag and bikini thing will grow old quickly, so just get rid of her regardless). The thing about Paula that I realized is that she's innoccuous -- no matter what she says, you can't take her seriously, and as a result, you can't really get mad or hate her (this is how Kris won Idol). But Kara says very specifically wrong things all the time, and that's why so many people simply despise her -- I'm constantly dropping F-Bombs at TV when she talks. Plus she makes the show run overlong with her bloated critiques.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I saw this segment while in Best Buy over the weekend, and McPhee needs to stay in the classy/jazzy/big band arena because she does well with the standards. She was never going to be a pop music artist.

 

[Gwon Chang]

RE: KISS

It appeared to me that Gene wasn't playing the bass. He was "playing", but the notes I heard didn't correspond to his hands.

My 02.

 

[Dennis Castro]

I don't get the whole Adam thing.

He's got a good voice if he were a lead singer in a 80's metal band. Even then he would have been a dime a dozen.

The glam stuff was way over the top and just plain corny. I'm gad I missed the KISS thing. Was big fan of theirs in my younger days. Saw some clips of it. I thought it was pretty sad.

Tuned just in time see "Queen" and it was terrible. Freddie must have been spinning in his grave at high speeds.

 

[OliverT]

Adam definitely had to sing down to allen's level when trying to harmonize Queen. To his credit he did manage to harmonize their voices in a way I didn't think possible. It was a good performance.

ATT is now denying that they ever stated that 38 million votes came from arkansas.