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Sorry the recap is so late peeps. I felt like I needed to watch the special over again, and I just could not bring myself to do that right away. It’s just as well, there’s a lot of information I’d like to include in the recap that wasn’t available last night.
As of Thursday night, Idol Gives Back
It was also obvious to anyone who was watching carefully that the contestants understood what was happening. Watch back and see Phil and Chris’s Cheshire-cat grins as Ryan tells them they are safe. And watch Jordin giggle as she stands alone after Chris sits down. She only starts crying after the big group hug afterward.
I have to admit, I feel a little deprived without my boot this week. No talk show appearances. No post-boot appearances and no Top 5. It sounds a little self-centered in light of what Idol accomplished Wednesday night, I know. But consider this–they used the promise of an elimination to keep people tuned in to the very end. Really, pretty annoying if you ask me.
The Best: Jack Black and fellow Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass were absolutely hilarious. The judges comments during Jack’s “Kiss From a Rose” were awesome. The best line was from Paula, “The school of rock wants their diploma back.” Seal shows up to tell Jack it was the best version of “Kiss” that he’s ever heard. Jack leaves the stage singing Whitney Huston. Good stuff.
going or we won’t have time for musical acts like Kelly Clarkson and….uhhm….Pure Prairie League or whoever they got…”
Musical highlights: Kelly Clarkson breaks out her inner-hippie with guitar legend Jeff Beck playing back-up. I have to say she wears it well.  Kelly channels Janis Joplin as she belts out “Up To the Mountain,” with Beck laying down some tasty licks.  Incredible. Kelly is here to stay.Â
Honorable Mention: Josh Groban sings “You Raise Me Up” with the absolutely adorable African Children’s Choir.
Ellen Degeneres’ gentle humor struck just the right balance as she hosted the live concert from the Walt Disney concert hall in Anaheim. She stepped up to the plate mid-way through the show by publicly pledging $100,000 to the cause.Â
The “duet” between Celine Dion and Elvis Presley. As if Celine Dion doesn’t creep out enough on her own, she’s paired up with a CGI version of Elvis from his 1968 comeback special singing, “If I Can Dream.” Sure, the special effects are cool, particularly the way footage is made to look vintage. However, these back-from-the dead duets (Natalie Cole performed one with her father, Nat King Cole) just completely creep me out. Sorry.
We see more of Simon and Ryan in an African village slum where people die from malaria and aids by the hour under the most dreadful conditions imaginable. Paula, visits children at a local LA Boys and Girls club and comforts a little girl who breaks down describing how her mom works 3 jobs and still can’t pay the bills. Randy visits a FEMA trailer park where families are still, 2 years after Katrina, stuffed into tiny trailers. The kids can’t go out to play because of rampant crime and violence in the aftermath of the hurricane. An Idol crew interviews folks in Eastern Kentucky where half the adults have not finished high school and illiteracy is a wide-spread problem.
The pre-special hype promised lots of celebrities, but most of them were featured as part of a very silly Ford video that had them lip-syncing to “Staying Alive”. I don’t know about you, but I was expecting a few of these folks to actually be there in the studio for the special, which would have packed a lot more punch, I think. I have no idea what happened to Pink, Gwen Stefani, Sacha Cohen and Daniel Radcliffe either–all were advertised as guests, none appeared.
The lack of star-power does not bode well for post-show water cooler talk, which is important if they decide to do this again next year. I also would’ve liked to see more ex-Idols involved with the effort. Maybe it’s just a superfan talking here, but how about Quincy Jones directing a “We Are the World” style number with as many ex-Idols as the producers can round up? No? It’s just me? Or maybe, gather all the winners together for a group number. At least include more Idols–particularly the popular ones–as participants.
Nigel and Ken make a huge deal about forcing the weekly guests to work with the kids as a caveat to pimping their latest whatever on the Wednesday night boot show. Why stop there? TPTB should remember not to stray from what made the show so popular in the first place. 





