Things that make you go hmmm…
According to Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell, the talent presented at Tuesday’s Seattle 3rd round auditions was less than stellar:
They weren’t too cheered about the talent, but the “American Idol” judges (with host Ryan Seacrest) Monday found ample ways to amuse themselves with quips about Seattle.
“I think it must be something in the rainwater, ” offered Randy Jackson, during a break in auditions which continue today at a downtown hotel.
“They are astoundingly awful, ” said Paula Abdul, proving her own Pollyanna stereotype is a bit overblown.
After two hours of auditions, the judges had let through three of the first 12 would-be stars. But it sounds like the terrible ones — “Idol’s” signature ploy is allowing the very worst to perform for the judges — will make great TV.
“Wild. Insane. Maybe depressed, ” suggested Jackson, to explain the lack of talent seen so far.
Suddenly, I was struck with an overwhelming sense of deja vu (cue the skeery music). I did an archive search on Boston.com and found the following Boston Globe article from last October:
JUDGES DON’T IDOLIZE BOSTON
By CAROL BEGGY & MARK SHANAHAN
October 28, 2005 PageDon’t expect the next “American Idol” to be from Boston. The show’s celebrity judges were in town yesterday and deemed the local talent most of it, anyway to be less than stellar.
“It’s not great so far, ” confessed Simon Cowell , appearing at an afternoon press conference alongside Paula Abdul , Randy Jackson , and Ryan Seacrest . The “Idol” gang was holed up at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center listening to 100 wannabes from around New England. (The curtain opens on the fifth season of Fox’s prime time talent show in January.)
“I’ll tell you what’s missing, ” said Cowell. “Naivete. Everyone’s a bit over-rehearsed, and I’m looking for that rough diamond.” Abdul agreed, but did say Boston’s aspirants seemed more “amped” than most.
The jolly Jackson, wearing a bejeweled watch as big as an Eggo, was impressed with a contestant who wore a Pats jersey, but in the end that wasn’t enough to win a spot on the show. ” Tom Brady ‘s a good quarterback, but you gotta be [talented], and he wasn’t.”
Wow, pretty similar reactions to two different cities in two different years, eh? A coincidence? Interestingly, 4 months later when the Boston Audition episode aired, the Globe ran this article:
FOR ‘IDOL, ‘ BOSTON RISES TO THE OCCASION
CAROL BEGGY & MARK SHANAHAN
February 4, 2006
When the “American Idol” crews rolled into Boston last October, the celebrity judges Simon Cowell , Paula Abdul , and Randy Jackson had a road-weary look that didn’t bode well for local “Idol” hopefuls. (“It’s not great so far, ” Cowell told reporters midday of the Boston auditions.)
But when the Boston episode airs on Tuesday, the region fares better than might have been expected. “I’ve just seen the Boston show. . . . There’s a lot of talent there, ” said Ken Warwick , a producer and director for “American Idol.”
At a screening for Fox network execs on Thursday night, Warwick said, a consensus was that Boston was the “best one” of the audition city episodes, which surprised execs who were tired by the time they got here after twice moving auditions from scheduled stops because of Hurricane Katrina.
As it turned out, 28 contestants were sent to Hollywood from Boston. Top 24 contestants Becky O’Donahue, Brenna Gethers and Ayla Brown, 11th place finisher Kevin Covais and 3rd place finisher Elliott Yamin ALL came out of those Boston auditions. Not too shabby.
What did we learn today kids? Don’t believe the hype, y’all. Ha.
