American Idol - Season 9 (2 Viewers)

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by Hanson Yoo


Oh, and if anyone's interested, Crystal broke up with her boyfriend the morning of the performance show. And by interested, I mean she's available.

I wonder how long until the Crystal/Lee rumours start flying. My guess? Today.

 

[Phil Taylor]

Originally Posted by Josh Dial /forum/thread/291260/american-idol-season-9/600#post_3695542

 

[Tina_H_V]

I would not mind going out with Crystal at all. She's a cutie who grew on me as the season went on.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

Perhaps Lee, with his Midwestern values, finds more to value in a woman than her looks. And Crystal isn't bad looking anyway. She's a bit chunky and tats aren't my thing, but she's just fine. I'd take her over 10 vacuous talentless pinups. Which is not to say I think Crystal and Lee are a couple, but he did say, "Crystal, I love you," (yeah, I know) on national TV, and she called him her crush (hurrying to add... musical crush). Until I see evidence to the contrary (and unless Hanson reports it here, I probably will never see it), I'll assume Crystal and her boyfriend broke up for just the reason she said -- her life has changed so significantly, they no longer have the same goals. And it probably isn't the easiest thing being known as Mr. Bowersox.

 

[TonyD]

While I also think this season was weak, and probalby deserved to be criticized, I don't find Hanson's murdering of the contestants funny or interesting over the last 2 seasons.


There's only so much "they stink" that I need to read.

The separated at birth stuff and the pics Hanson inserts were good until they started to become bad photo chops.

It was funnier and more clever when you would only use actual photo's from the show and comment on that, the chops seem to be unnecessary and a stretch.

I feel it's just an exorcise in being mean and borders on being repetitive.


Maybe I just don't find "Allow me to repetitively point out how awful these performers are" humor to be very funny anymore.


humble opinion an all..

 

[pitchman]

Personally, I'm trying to figure out when American Idol became such a sacred cow around here. IMO, the show has become a joke and it only has itself to blame. It is a house of cards collapsing under the weight of its own pomposity. When Idol started, its program "mission" (preached over and over again by the judges) was to "...find the best undiscovered singer in America" and launch them on a recording career. That clearly is not the case today.


AI skyrocketed in the ratings and quickly became (deservedly so) a phenomenon and the most popular program on American television. In the process, it took a struggling Fox primetime lineup and made it an 18-49 ratings juggernaut. The original AI formula was simple (like the old Amateur Hour, but on steroids) and compelling. The only significant changes made from season one to season two were to move the program from summer to winter and jettison the co-host. They proved to be shrewd moves and firmly established the program's position at the top of the Nielsen ratings heap.


Each season, AI defied conventional wisdom by growing its audience over the previous one. Things went along relatively unchanged for the next 3-4 seasons, but there was increasing pressure on the showrunners to ensure that AI maintained its gargantuan ratings. Fox's season-long primetime numbers were fully dependent on AI's mega success.


As the pressure grew, so did the "tinkering" by the program's producers. If something worked in one season, it was brought back in "amped up" form the next. The "bad" auditions became more outrageous and the criticism more harsh (sometimes to the point of cruelty). With the surprise success of "She Bangs", there was an urgent need to find next season's William Hung. Backstories were longer and featured more prominently (in an effort to plant seeds of support for the producers' hand-picked favorites). Carly Smithson, anyone? And, to make sure no one missed the message, "backstory bullet points" were created and repeated ad nauseam throughout each season. "...High school student Aaron Kelly!" IMO, everything the producers did was designed to give them more control over the final outcome. They wanted to rule out the possibility of ever having another Taylor Hicks-type winner.


Which brings us to season nine...


Are we expected to believe that after seeing hundreds-of-thousands people from across the USA, and auditioning over 15,000 contestants, that Lee DeWyze is the "best undiscovered singer in America"? Lee DeWyze? Really??


I think Hanson's recaps accurately reflect the growing frustration many long-time fans have with the current version of American Idol. Hanson's remarks can be (and often times are) caustic...but IMO, his remarks always have been caustic. They also tend to be spot on, and more often than not, FUNNY. That's why I enjoy reading them. I also recognize and appreciate the amount of work he puts into each recap. As anyone who uses Photoshop knows, the photo-chops alone take time to create. The fact that he produces so many of them, plus writes a full recap, and posts the whole thing mere hours after a performance show, tells me he is more than a casual fan and has an obvious affection for the program.


I "get it" that these days there is growing resentment on this forum for anyone who takes a negative stand on anything AI. Just because some folks don't agree with the criticism, does not make it less valid. To watch AI and not recognize it is simply not the same show it used to be (and NOT in a good way) is in my opinion, casting a blind eye on it. The producers' cynical manipulation of AI viewers reached a fever pitch in season nine. And, the fact the AI audience has begun to slip (season nine's finale is the lowest rated finale in Idol history), tells me it is all coming home to roost. Hopefully, season nine will serve as a wakeup call to Fox and the AI producers to try and get this show back on track. I hope they do, but I suspect they will not.


I leave you with this link. I am not familiar with the columnist and it is an obvious knee-jerk rant based on his personal reaction to the season nine finale, but I think he makes some valid points...

 

[Paul D G]

Originally Posted by Chris Lockwood

Geez, when Miley Cyrus was on a few weeks ago, some of you criticized them for that because she's too young. Now you're bitching about having older acts on the finale (which is not exactly a new trend on the show). Then of course you don't like most of the contestants or the judges, either. So the obvious question is why you're watching the show at all.

There's a difference between guest acts and mentors. Miley Cyrus is, as Hanson pointed out, to young and inexperienced to be considered a mentor. Next year we'll have Justin Beiber.


The proper balance would be to have the older acts (say Barry Gibb, only because he was on the finale) mentoring and Miley Cyrus performing. The other way around is backwards.


The artist catalogs selected for them to sing from have also been too old for the contestants. Actually, I have no problem with the catalogs of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Sinatra etc being used, but there were far too many of them. I would preferred each week be a decade - Big Band, 50s & 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, with the rest filled in with a guest artist's catalog.


Perhaps my favorite theme over all these years was when they did Big Band way back in Season 1 and have been waiting all these years for it to return. Sinatra night was the closest they came.

 

[Malcolm R]

Originally Posted by pitchman
Which brings us to season nine...
Are we expected to believe that after seeing hundreds-of-thousands people from across the USA, and auditioning over 15,000 contestants, that Lee DeWyze is the "best undiscovered singer in America"? Lee DeWyze? Really??


.

I'm skeptical, as well. I think this is the first season ever that I have no interest in buying any music put out by any of the contestants (winner or not...though I don't think I've ever actually bought anything from any of the winners except maybe a club remix or two from Kelly Clarkson).

 

[Hanson]

Forgot to post yesterday that all the chops and separated at births are collected in one place now. Follow the link in my sig to get to the homepage.


I guess I'm still trying to work it out of my system because I made a new one today.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

Originally Posted by Paul D G

The proper balance would be to have the older acts (say Barry Gibb, only because he was on the finale) mentoring and Miley Cyrus performing. The other way around is backwards.


The artist catalogs selected for them to sing from have also been too old for the contestants. Actually, I have no problem with the catalogs of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Sinatra etc being used, but there were far too many of them. I would preferred each week be a decade - Big Band, 50s & 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, with the rest filled in with a guest artist's catalog.


Perhaps my favorite theme over all these years was when they did Big Band way back in Season 1 and have been waiting all these years for it to return. Sinatra night was the closest they came.

Do you really think having Miley Cyrus perform instead of Barry Gibb would be better? She's good enough to perform, but not to mentor?


You talk about catalogs being too old, but big band is an older genre by far than the others you mention. So songs from the 1960s or 70s are too old, but 1930s are not?

 

[Jeremiah]

I remember reading that Jordin Sparks had to go to another city to tryout again b/c she wasn't picked her first audition. I have no doubt that the main group of judges are sending a lot of more qualified people home.

Are we expected to believe that after seeing hundreds-of-thousands people from across the USA, and auditioning over 15,000 contestants, that Lee DeWyze is the "best undiscovered singer in America"? Lee DeWyze? Really??

 

[Hanson]

OTOH, Jordin is firmly in the bottom half of Idol winners and was essentially the, "By God, NOT Blake Lewis" choice.

 

[Paul D G]

Originally Posted by Chris Lockwood

Do you really think having Miley Cyrus perform instead of Barry Gibb would be better? She's good enough to perform, but not to mentor?


You talk about catalogs being too old, but big band is an older genre by far than the others you mention. So songs from the 1960s or 70s are too old, but 1930s are not?

Re Miley: Personally I have no interest in Miley's music, but to answer your question: Yes. Because her performance on the show would be as entertainment for the audience. Keisha's performance, for example, had absolutely nothing to do with the contestants or the show. She just came on, performed her new single, and was done. To have had her mentor, that is, instructing the contestants on their performance and delivery, would have been ridiculous. That should go to someone with proper experience.


Re: Big Band. You didn't read all of my post (and yes, it does seem hypocritical). I wrote: "Actually, I have no problem with the catalogs of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Sinatra etc being used, but there were far too many of them." This season they had at least three weeks dedicated to the 60s and earlier. This gives a clear impression of music being too old for the contestants to relate to. Big Band is more about the style of music. When it was done on Season 1 it came across and more 'fun' rather than being a challenge that choosing only songs by a single artist (sinatra) represents. IMO it's too limiting. Perhaps I should have been more clear by saying that I would prefer genres of music (such as specific decades) over specific artists.

 

[Marc_Sulinski]

There's only so much "they stink" that I need to read.

The separated at birth stuff and the pics Hanson inserts were good until they started to become bad photo chops.

It was funnier and more clever when you would only use actual photo's from the show and comment on that, the chops seem to be unnecessary and a stretch.

I feel it's just an exorcise in being mean and borders on being repetitive.

While I agree on some points, I have to disagree with you on the separated at birth/phoochops. While I thought the separated at birth stuff was good, after a while, it got a little repetitive. I think the "bad" photochops are hilarious. The "badness" is part of what makes them funny.

 

[Stan]

Read that their numbers have shrunk quite a ways.


Was going to stop when Ellen joined, but even I have reached burn-out time with this show. Didn't watch any of the pre-Hollywood stuff and only one regular show, I think they were down to five contestants.


It's just completely lost my interest and don't know if they'll ever get me back.


With Glee, The Good Wife and many other decent shows, this one dropped off my radar.

Same with the Heroes/Villains Survivor. Watched a few, but with Russell back again, it just ruined any viewing experience. Amazing Race I'll stick with.

 

[pitchman]

If you haven't seen it yet, do check out Michael Slezak and Jessica Shaw's final Idolatry of the season over at EW.com. It's a surprisingly candid affair and I think it accurately assesses the "state of the program". It's funny and entertaining, not to mention insightful. It's definitely worth a look-see IMO and it'll be interesting to see if any of the suggestions they make on how to reboot the show get used... [SIZE= 20px]Idolatry: The post-finale wrapup[/SIZE]

 

[pitchman]

Now that the producers got the result they so desperately wanted... Let's hope they're equally happy with this one!

 

[mylan]

It must be heartbreaking for the winning contestant to learn that he/she probably shouldn't have won and that article bears that out.

We always save the final performances on tivo thinking we might actually go back and watch our favorites but after the results we never do, last night I asked my wife if she wanted to watch the last two episodes or delete them and she said to delete them and she is a rabid fan.

Lee is going to earn more than by being a paint store clerk but clearly Crystal should have won and even she will not achieve mainstream success. Outside of Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson, there have been no clear cut actually "winners" even though Fantasia and a couple more have talent.


American Idol judges are puttting through the wrong type of contestant and then voters are voting for the wrong person, again and again.

Did it seem to anyone else Taylor Hicks was ashamed at even being at the finale?

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

How can voters vote for the wrong person? We're supposed to vote for the contestant we want to win. I think people are doing that.


Moving on...


I keep seeing news articles saying things like, "Some thought Crystal Bowersox was the true winner of American Idol this season." Yes, and some thought Lee DeWyze was. And guess what? The DeWyze fans outnumbered the Bowersox fans in either raw number or passion. There was no upset. Crystal was my favorite after she did Natural Woman, but that doesn't mean I expect every other viewer to substitute my taste for his own.


I also read that Lee's debut single moved around 95k units, while Crystal moved around 35k. It's impossible to know what percentage of purchases are due to appreciation vs. curiosity. I can imagine many people downloading the song by the AI winner to see what he sounds like. That's likely true for Crystal as well, but I'd think the winner gets more curiosity hits. But Lee charted much below past winners. It'll be interesting to see how his CD does (and Crystal's, for that matter).


EDIT: typos

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Originally Posted by mylan Lee is going to earn more than by being a paint store clerk but clearly Crystal should have won and even she will not achieve mainstream success. Outside of Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson, there have been no clear cut actually "winners" even though Fantasia and a couple more have talent.

Don't forget the non-winners who've had some success, like Clay Aiken and Chris Daughtry (too soon to say for Adam Lambert).