American Idol

[wondergirl9847]

This is what I've heard....

Next week's theme is:

Spoiler:

Salsa.

Next week's judge is:

Spoiler:

Gloria Estefan

[darklinensuit]

Originally Posted by wondergirl9847

This is what I've heard....

Next week's theme is:

Spoiler:

Salsa.

Next week's judge is:

Spoiler:

Gloria Estefan

Glad I'm no longer watching.
John Stevens performing THAT?

- Jake

[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally Posted by darklinensuit

Glad I'm no longer watching.
John Stevens performing THAT?

- Jake

Yea, i'm totally not watching...not that...no way...no how...

I still say that Simon Cowell needs to STOP criticizing John Stevens. It almost seems like the more he does, the more votes he gets. I'd be interested in seeing out of everyone last week, who ended up having the most votes.

[darklinensuit]

Originally Posted by GardenStateGirlie

Yea, i'm totally not watching...not that...no way...no how...

I still say that Simon Cowell needs to STOP criticizing John Stevens. It almost seems like the more he does, the more votes he gets. I'd be interested in seeing out of everyone last week, who ended up having the most votes.

Don't they usually announce that? Or is that only the case when it's Fantasia. (I like her, but if their noses were any further up her @ss, they'd blow her lungs when they sneeze.)

- Jake

[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally Posted by darklinensuit

Don't they usually announce that? Or is that only the case when it's Fantasia. (I like her, but if their noses were any further up her @ss, they'd blow her lungs when they sneeze.)

- Jake

You know, I honestly don't remember if they've been announcing who had the most votes. They certainly didn't do that last week. And you're right about them being totally over the moon for her. I can't find where Simon and the judges begin or where Fantasia ends...

If that is indeed what they're doing next week then I sincerely hope the guest judge brings a box of tissues because a few people are about to butcher the hell out of her songs.

[darklinensuit]

Interesting.

- Jake


'Idol' Upset Breeds Conspiracy Theories
(Thursday, April 22 04:50 PM)
By Daniel Fienberg


LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - The story goes that in 1960, Crime Boss Sam Giancana (with the assistance of Chicago's Mayor Daley) helped sway the Illinois vote to give the presidential election to John F. Kennedy. On that election night, Chicago's dead allegedly rose from the grave and helped cast the deciding votes that led to Richard Nixon's narrow defeat.
It seems that even the dead would have had some difficulty voting for their "American Idol" favorites on Tuesday night (April 20), as a power outage left 15,000 Chicago residents without power. If the buzz is to be believed, those poor, disenfranchised souls could do nothing to prevent the departure of native daughter Jennifer Hudson.

On Thursday morning (April 22), "American Idol" viewers were still buzzing over the baffling turn of events that left Hudson, considered one of the contest's strongest performers, observing all future "Idol" proceedings from the outside.

If there's anything "American Idol" fans love more than a slightly pitchy Whitney Houston cover, it's an elaborate conspiracy theory. Since the first season, when previous odds-on favorite Tamyra Gray made a shocking premature exit, nearly every Wednesday results episode has been greeted with skepticism. If the show's passionate fan base is to be trusted, the Masons, Teamsters and Stonecutters have decided that rigging "American Idol" voting is the quickest route to world domination.
Sometimes the conspiracies are nationwide. At the end of last season, Clay Aiken fans swarmed Internet message boards complaining that they were prevented from voting by terminal busy signals that never seemed to plague Ruben Studdard supporters.

Sometimes, though, tiny local hiccups are sufficient to sway an entire vote. When Amy Adams was eliminated earlier this season, the suggestion was posited that a Prince concert in Adams' hometown of Bakersfield, California detained her biggest admirers. The pink-haired singer has a legion of fans who insist that she still deserves to be around.

Given that "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest called the voting in the Bottom Three the show's tightest ever, the Chicago power outage theory may have some weight. Of course, some entertainment newsmagazines like "Extra" are reporting on the story as if all 15,000 of those residents were sitting in their living rooms cursing the fates that they were unable to vote for Hudson. Presumably some of those people weren't actually "American Idol" fans at all. And of the percentage with fanatical dedication to the FOX talent show, some may have preferred to vote for much-maligned crooner John Stevens or Fantasia Barrino, who received the second fewest votes following Tuesday night's Barry Manilow Night.

Holding more weight (with some fans at least) than the power outage explanation is a more troubling discussion of whether race played any role in Tuesday night's voting. One night after influential judge Simon Cowell told Hudson that the show was on its way to becoming a Battle of the Divas with Barrino and LaToya London, the three young women, all African-American, were in the Bottom Three.

Meanwhile, 16-year-old Stevens, victim of weeks of harsh criticisms from the "Idol" judges, has only made a single appearance in the group suffering from voter anemia. Depending on which camp you listen to, Stevens' unlikely run has been buoyed by the fact that he's white, the fact that he's appealing to teenage girls and the fact that he's a safe alternative for older voters who respect his vocal devotion to the likes of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin (if not the actual execution of that devotion).

Those who disagree with the notion that "American Idol" voting is somehow fueled by race refer back to Studdard's triumph over Aiken last year and to the fact that Hudson was the first African-American contestant to leave the show this season, leaving Barrino, London and George Huff with a chance to win.

The "Idol" voting process is quite secretive, with Seacrest's weekly announcements carrying the same mystery as a plume of white smoke rising from the Vatican. Thus, viewers will never know if the entire state of Hawaii is joining forces to vote for Jasmine Trias or if every bar in Buffalo is filled with viewers eating wings and text messaging for Stevens. The lack of actual statistics is no impediment to rumor and scandal.

One thing that's for sure is that the show's fans are displeased. The volume of posts to the Zap2it.com message boards has soared in the past 24 hours and while many fans have eschewed the need to justify the recent vote, scarcely anybody seems pleased. More than a few posters argue that the show should end entirely after this season, while the more devious suggest that allowing Stevens to win the title would be fitting punishment for his fans and for the show's producers.

Amidst a slew of declarations from fans swearing that they'll never watch "Idol" again are more than a few suggestions that the voting system needs to be entirely revamped. The idea that fans should be voting against people rather than for them is gaining particular momentum,

People involved with the show are obviously concerned as well. As the Wednesday installment ended, Seacrest made a plea for viewers to remember to vote for their favorites. Judge Randy Jackson managed to politicize the decision.

"This is definitely not a popularity contest," Jackson announced with disdain as he looked over the Bottom Three. "This is the greatest talent show ever in American history. As a proud American, I hope that America's out there looking and watching. Listen, we want to be proud of whoever wins this."

It seems absurd that there should be any worries about a show that continually occupies two spots in the weekly ratings Top 10. However, there's little doubt that "Idol" viewers watch for personalities as much as the format itself. Last year, Aiken and Studdard were always bound for the finals, but that impending show-down caused viewership to increase each week.

This season, though, the "Idol" audience started huge, but in recent weeks apathy has slowly begun to set in. The audience dip has coincided with widespread complaints that this group of "Idol" Finalists is a step down from last year's pack. This week's Tuesday episode drew 22.75 million viewers. The week before that, 23.1 million viewers tuned in. The April 6 show drew 23.46 million and that was down from the 25.9 million who watched on March 30. The Wednesday episodes have experienced a similar decline. While Seacrest continues to make near-weekly references to the show's 30 million viewers, the audience hasn't actually been that large for months.

Given that the show is in its third season, a point at which even the most venerable of reality franchises have generally begun to show their age, this level of viewer attrition is to be expected. FOX is unlikely to need to lower its ad rates for the program any time soon. It will be interesting, though, to see if this week's viewer frustration leads to season-low ratings again next week.

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by darklinensuit

Or is that only the case when it's Fantasia. (I like her, but if their noses were any further up her @ss, they'd blow her lungs when they sneeze.)

- Jake

I don't like her. I was hoping that she was going to be the one voted off not Jennifer.

[darklinensuit]

Originally Posted by cliffdweller

I don't like her. I was hoping that she was going to be the one voted off not Jennifer.

I do like her - she has personality and talent and stage presence - but Jennifer is my favorite, and I resent that the judges have accused Jennifer of over-singing (a fair enough criticism) but have never pointed out that Fantasia ends 95% of her songs the same way and throws Yeah-yeah-yeahs into every single song.

- Jake

[GardenStateGirlie]

That article was an interesting read. What it comes down to is like we've been saying, they need to change the method of voting. Only one vote per phone line. I know they have a deal with AT&T but get rid of the text votes. Much like cliffdweller, I would have rather seen Fantasia go. I think since a lot of people are bitching, you might see Jennifer come back and they'll extend the contest by another show. If they were smart, that's what they'd do.

[darklinensuit]

Originally Posted by GardenStateGirlie

That article was an interesting read. What it comes down to is like we've been saying, they need to change the method of voting. Only one vote per phone line. I know they have a deal with AT&T but get rid of the text votes. Much like cliffdweller, I would have rather seen Fantasia go. I think since a lot of people are bitching, you might see Jennifer come back and they'll extend the contest by another show. If they were smart, that's what they'd do.

They'll never do that. However, I do think Jen will be in the audience this season & she'll be back to promote an album next season, and they'll be kissing her @ss on both occasions.
I don't agree about the phone thing. Some households have more than one voter sharing the line & they might have different picks. I think they need to put a minimum contestant age in place, and it should be nineteen. They have a maximum age in place calready. The teenybopper voters are titling the results in favor of the teenybopper contestants. JMO.

- Jake

[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally Posted by darklinensuit

They'll never do that. However, I do think Jen will be in the audience this season & she'll be back to promote an album next season, and they'll be kissing her @ss on both occasions. I don't agree about the phone thing. Some households have more than one voter sharing the line & they might have different picks. I think they need to put a minimum contestant age in place, and it should be nineteen. They have a maximum age in place calready. The teenybopper voters are titling the results in favor of the teenybopper contestants. JMO.

- Jake

She'll definately be back next season to promote her album...I have no doubts about that. Actually, getting voted off the show might be the best thing that could have happened to her. Look how Kelly and Ruben have dissapeared off the face of the Earth. Kimberly Lock and Clay Aiken are the two that are doing incredibly well now and even Tamyra Gray..not with singing but with acting. American Idol gives you a platform to introduce your talent but it does not make a star, IMO. American Idol winners seem to be a flash-in-the-pan. She'll do well on her own. I do agree with you when you say there should be a minimum contestant age. 16 is too young...you're voice isn't fully developed yet. As far as the voting thing goes, If I remember correctly, the first season of the show you could only vote once. I could be wrong. This multiple-votes thing is something that was started this season.

[Gypsy-Rhiannon]

Well they just aired the episode here in the UK. It sucks Jennifer went out. George and John were bad tonight... I cringed when John sang Mandy. Ugh. He has a fabulous crooner voice but some songs it just doesn't work with. I thought Jasmine did better than usual but I prefered Jennifer over Fantasia. It does urk me tho that these gilrs all seem to want to deafen you... surely there is more to singing belting it out at the top of your voice.

Fantasia certainly seemed upset at the outcome and both Geaorge and John looked shocked that they had remained.

Pip

[Hawkeye]

they definitely need to change the voting style.

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by darklinensuit

I resent that the judges have accused Jennifer of over-singing (a fair enough criticism) but have never pointed out that Fantasia ends 95% of her songs the same way and throws Yeah-yeah-yeahs into every single song.

- Jake

please, "stop making sense."

[darklinensuit]

Originally Posted by cliffdweller

please, "stop making sense."

Catch me on a Monday morning.

- Jake