David Cook was definitely a producer favorite early on and he was definitely pimped.

I guess that lies in the eye of the beholder.

I think there’s no doubt that Cook was heavily pimped towards the end of last season, but I also agree that it lies in the eye of the beholder. There are going to be those who feel that Archie didn’t deserve some of the over-the-top pimping he got, those who feel that Cook didn’t deserve the over-the-top pimping he got, and those who think that the pimping either David received was well-deserved and not over-the-top at all. I kind of fall in the middle. For instance, I didn’t think Archie’s performance of Imagine was all that (it was good, but I didn’t love it as much as everyone else seems to). I thought the pimping/praise for Cook’s ABMB was over the top and didn’t think the performance was worthy of a standing ovation (Billie Jean was better, IMO). But again, these things are just a matter of opinion. I do feel that both Davids were pimped heavily by the producers last season, it’s just that Archie received the brunt of the backlash for the pimping because he was hyped as “the one to beat” from the very beginning. By the time the producers really amped up the pimping of Cook, he’d already built up a lot of good will and the Archie hate was at full blast by then. I’m seeing almost the same thing happening with Danny Gokey with the frontrunner backlash, and the judges didn’t help matters with their ridiculous over the top pimping on Tuesday night (I think Danny was good and one of the better performers of the night, but he wasn’t that good. Sold-out arenas? Really?).

As for Jason Yeager, he could have received screentime/pimping on the level of Gokey, Cook and Archie combined and I still don’t think it would have helped him go further because (in my opinion) he just wasn’t that good. I thought he should have been sent packing after Moon River (which bored me to tears).

David Cook was definitely a producer favorite early on and he was definitely pimped.

I guess that lies in the eye of the beholder. Not going to belabor the point.

I know Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not imagining that Cook fans have frowned upon Michael Johnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s sour grapes several times or the things heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s implied about why he left in eighth place.

Michael and David appear to be friends. There did seem to be some sour grapes but I don’t think Michael blamed it on David. Anyway, it was because Michael was pimped that he (and we) expected him to stay longer, even though he had several mediocre performances. A lot of it is about expectations.

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m just saying ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s natural to be a bit defensive when youà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re invested in these people. Every fanbase has people always ready to jump to the defense for their artist of choice. I see no exceptions.

Well I don’t think I was being defensive. I just saw it differently than you did.

I am a major lurker here and have never commented before, but these vlogs by Jason are great!

This totally describes me as well. I also agreed with many of Jason’s observations and I enjoyed all of them.

Thanks, mj, for putting together a fantastic blog. I really enjoy coming here and appreciate all your hard work, time and dedication.

Just thought of something else interesting that he said. He said MJà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Go Your Own Way sounded amazing in the studio but not so good on TV. Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pretty interesting, because the judges were also in the studio, and if I recall correctly, the judges heard what we heard and were underwhelmed as well. Hmmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

That’s nothing new, actually. I remember several times when Simon has mentioned on the results shows that he listened back to the performance afterward and that it was either better or not as good as he remembered from the live performance the night before.

Of course, he could have simply been backpedaling, but meh. lol

Thing is, I was recently just thinking about that performance, trying to figure out what it was about MJ’s performance that was lacking, if perhaps the song just doesn’t work as a solo (since Carrie & DC’s duet sounded so good)… and then Jason Y. goes and says it rocked in studio. Very interesting– kinda explains MJ’s indignance or whatever to the judges’ critiques. But I’m not sure I can go all knolly and say that they screwed his sound mix to match the judges comments since East coast is live, right?

RE: Cook’s pimpage, I don’t think Simon gave DC OTT praise except after his best performances, at least “best” according to whatnottosing.com. He gave faint praise to Little Sparrow, and MOTN (the latter, incidentally, was actually rated quite highly on WNTS), he hated Innocent and the 2nd Beatles night, didn’t like Hungry Like the Wolf, that first Neil Diamond song, or Dare You To Move… and of course slammed him during the finals. Seemed to me that he just praised what he liked, and happened to echo a lot of critic’s sentiments (since that’s what the WNTS rankings use).

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not quite sure what à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“scream timeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  is but Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll assume that ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a typo and comment accordingly.

I actually thought Jason was a good singer with a very hammy, over rehearsed cruise ship sort of delivery style that was totally unsuited for television. He had a cute son and did fine in interviews but when the performance started he was just not somebody that I connected with. He wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t quite as over the top as Casey Carlson was this week butà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.

Yes typo…ooops…

I wont said anything againts his personality, since we all already have said that last year interviews presented before they sang never did a good job in represent the personality of the contestant, i.e. Jason Castro being call “retarted”, Archie being called “boring and retarded”, and Brooke being called “crazy” because of her videos… If I remember correctly Jason videos weren ´t any better and with the singing seem, IMHO, that was very boring and old fashioned…

Having said that nothing can be as bad as this week episode of the first 12….and that girl Casey and Steve were both so wrong that hurts… maybe only Amy Davis last year could be that bad…

It got kinda scary to watch.

I know I’m not imagining that Cook fans have frowned upon Michael John’s sour grapes several times or the things he’s implied about why he left in eighth place. I’m just saying it’s natural to be a bit defensive when you’re invested in these people. Every fanbase has people always ready to jump to the defense for their artist of choice. I see no exceptions.