April 22, 2004
Oh, the wrongness!
Last night on American Idol's results show, Ryan put the contestants into two groups. Group A: Fantasia Barrino, La Toya London and Jennifer Hudson; Group B: Jasmine Trias (who I actually like), John Stevens and Diana DeGarmo. When Ryan asked George Huff to "join the top group", he went over to the "diva group", but they weren't the top group! They were the bottom three!!! Somehow dumb-ass America had managed to put the 4 worst performers from Tuesday night into the top 4 slots, whereas the best 3 performers were in the bottom 3 and one would have to go!.. although one could argue that either George or Jasmine were better than Jennifer since she's got such an over-the-top style. I was in shock. Usually I throw small objects at the TV when reality TV pisses me off, but I was immobilized by surprise and hatred for the voting public. So, Jennifer went home, which didn't make me too sad, but John Stevens looked like he was going to cry - like every week, because he knows he's the worst in the group. So, people are voting to save contestants from being kicked off, trusting that someone else will vote for the good performers so they'll be safe. This is retarded logic, but that doesn't shock me since out nation is the best at bass-ackwards thinking. From now on I'm going to vote for Latoya at least 20 times per show b/c she's the best singer on the show (even Simon said so) - and she's from the O'. Go La Toya!
Posted by Kristina at April 22, 2004 09:34 AM
As Simon says, the performances don't really matter that much. Mostly, people just vote for who they like best. And America likes pale, red-headed teenagers and Hawaiian girls, as long as they ditch their goddamn flowers.
Maybe the vote was just a backlash against the widespread misuse of the word "diva".
Posted by: sean at April 22, 2004 09:43 AMI almost kicked my TV last night. You know it's going to come down to Fantasia, La Toya and George Huff in the top three though!
Posted by: Clint at April 22, 2004 12:23 PMI am so pissed. I didn't even like Jennifer, but I liked her a hell of alot more than I like Jasmine, Diana and the most boring performer ( if sitting in a stool, standing up, and then raising a hand in an overdramatized gesture qualifies as performing) John Stevens.
Posted by: Susan at April 22, 2004 02:43 PMjennifer's obnoxious. john is painfully boring. i'm rooting for diana "jailbait" degarmo. she really won me over with the F.M. boots on the first post-audition night.
i could also lose fantasia. i just can't get into that cackly macy-gray-type voice.
Posted by: holohan at April 22, 2004 03:58 PMI love how the judges kept emphasizing that the show was *not* designed to be a popularity contest so much as it was intended to be a SINGING competition. I certainly believe that LaToya has the best voice, and I think the classiest performance style of the lot. But do I think that will necessarily get her to the finals? No.
We've seen this happen before, now 2 years running, beginning with the ousting of Tamyra Grey.
The dumb-asses voting are clearly doing so out of pity for the depressing likes of performers like John Stevens, who might be good if he didn't sound the same every *single* week and had, oh I don't know, a personality.
I least the American public had the good sense to throw that JPL hack off the show. What the hell was he doing there anyway?
This season sucks. Big time.
Posted by: kati at April 23, 2004 01:07 AMhere's a CNN story about the controversy, that lays down various theories ranging from power outages to racism:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/23/tv.americanidol.ap/index.html
my favorite part of the article is this quote from ryan seacrest:
"America, don't forget you have to vote for the talent. You have to keep your favorites in the competition. You cannot let talent like this slip through the cracks."
i just like the idea the he feels he can address comments to "America." not even the president can do that. he says "my fellow americans..."
Posted by: holohan at April 23, 2004 02:17 PMI also found it somewhat hilarious that Paula Abdul delivered a lecture about how people need to choose talent over popularity. Because, you know, trading rhymes with an animated cat takes skillz.
Are "American Idol" losers still locked into the shitty, Fox-and-Cowell-enriching record contracts the winners get?
Posted by: sean at April 26, 2004 11:04 PMI think they're not allowed to release anything for a certain length of time so as not to overshadow the Idol winner. That's why all these kids from the second season are now finally coming out with albums like a year later.
Posted by: Clint at April 27, 2004 08:45 AM