News Roundup

News Roundup

Interviews with the Idol Bootees in this MTV article:

  • Kinnik Sky struggled to choose a song this week, but felt Alicia Keys “If I Don’t Have You” would bring a younger energy.  She felt her performance Thursday night was better than Tuesday’s. “You have to trust your choices, ” she says.
  • Will Makar is very proud of his vocal performance of “How Sweet it Is”.  But he feels that he didn’t  really connect–that he really didn’t feel the song like he should have.
  • Ayla Brown cried when she was eliminated and says that she felt disappointment in herself and a sense of failure.  Looking back on it now, she feels proud.  She also thinks that people thought she had everything and didn’t realize that she had to work hard for it.  Since she wasn’t labeled one of the judges favorites from the beginning, Ayla feels they were always looking for a reason not to like her.
  • Gedeon McKinney was surprised by his boot and doesn’t know why he was eliminated.  He says that if it was God’s will, then he has to move on and keep going.  He thought that his song choices and the way he performed them would put him through to the next round.  He said, “You should always expect the unexpected and I didn’t last night.”

 

MTV covers the Top 12 party. Some quotes:

Kevin Covais says,  “This is probably the greatest night of my life…incredible is the only word I can think of.  Bucky Covington, ever the southern boy, “Oh my God, this is a real red carpet…but heck, I’m game for any kind of party.” On the other hand, sultry Katharine McPhee coolly remarked, “It’s so cool being from LA and so close to all these events and now being able to be there.”  And Taylor Hicks,  “I love proving people wrong…This is a dream come true for me.”

Chris Daughtry praised Bo Bice for paving the way for rockers like himself, “I always thought it was cheesy and pop-oriented, but he came on and did his rock thing and I was like, ‘Alright, there’s nothing stopping me.'”

Simon Cowell on the recently eliminated contestants, “It was nothing that mattered, really…No one was gonna win out of that group.”  Simon and Randy called most of the song choices during the semi-finals terrible.  Neither were optimistic about next week’s Stevie Wonder theme.  Says Randy, “All the Stevie songs are hard to perform, so it’s going to be tough.”

 

Thanks to my pals at HH for posting this article, a behind the scenes peek at the Top 12 party from thesunchronical.com.  A few tidbits:

  • “All of the Top 16 ‘American Idol’  contestants were at the party…Contestants still in the running walked the red carpet on their way into the party, smiled for the cameras and talked it up for the TV stations…Meanwhile, the contestants eliminated Thursday night stood on the opposite side of the metal barricade, or simply went inside. Some, like Gedeon McKinney, seemed impossibly happy, snapping pictures and almost living vicariously through the contestants still alive in the competition.”
  • “All of the ‘American Idol’ contestants have bodyguards that escort them everywhere they go, even the bathrooms.”
  • “A full dinner menu–which included grilled chicken, glazed carrots, mashed potatoes, Caesar salad, an exotic dish with a mixture of vegetables and chicken that seemed Asian in flavor, all served buffet-style. Dessert was ice cream sandwiches, mini-strawberry shortcakes and blueberry cheesecake cones.”

The reporter spent a good portion of the article describing the bathrooms, which seemed a little weird.

 

Entertainment Weekly asks the Top 12 about the themes they’d like to tackle, and which they fear:

Katharine looks forward to Jazz and would love to perform “Ain’t Got Nothing but the Blues”, a song she calls “little known”.  Kellie looks forward to Country week (duh).  Elliott, wanting to stretch, also looks forward to trying out some country.  Lisa would love a rock theme.  Chris and Elliott are NOT looking forward to show-tunes.  Heh.

On changing their looks:  Taylor Just Says NO to Miss Clairol.  Elliott would like to have a nicer smile.  Ace, a bit tongue in cheek, suggests the stylists ask his online fans.  HA!  Kevin, Melissa and Bucky are happy just the way they are.

Oh, this is funny.  In the article, EW asks Katharine McPhee about the recent rumors that she’s leaving the show.

Says Katharine, “I don’t go on the internet…I don’t read blogs or anything like that…”  Awww, Katharine, I’m disappointed.  Ok, not really.

Anyway, the rumor didn’t start on the internet.  The rumor started on the TV Guide Channel’s “Water Cooler Talk.” Bloggers and message boards then picked it up.  Since that show is repeated many times during the week, the rumor died and then resurfaced again.

She elaborates, “It’s weird to me that people have so little to do with their lives to make up gossip like that.”  Yes, right after I feed my 50 cats, I head straight for my computer to make up stories out of thin air. Snerk. (Just for the record,  I have an extremely challenging and busy day job, thanksverymuch)

Frankly, the first time I heard the rumors, I checked them out,  and dismissed them.  The second time, I ignored them.  I never believed the rumor–that she left the show.  However, I’ve heard enough chatter from different sources, that I tend to believe the rumor that Katharine and her Stage Mama are royal pains-in-the-butt and have threatened Katharine’s departure.  Hence, the rumors.  Where there is smoke, there is fire, and all that.

Katharine finally concludes, “At the same time, when they’re talking about you, I think it’s a good thing…You want to have a buzz about you.”  And so, why are we talking about this again? Thou Doth Protest Too Much, methinks…

 

Ahem.  Moving on.

Extra featured the Top 12 on their daily news show Friday.  Simon listed his Top 7, in no particular order: Ace Young, Chris Daughtry, Taylor Hicks, Paris Bennett, Kellie Pickler, Lisa Tucker and Mandisa.

Hmmm.  One of those contestants could leave earlier than 7th place in a “shocking elimination.”  And it could be Lisa, who is talented but a little predictable. Or Ace, if he doesn’t step up his game–his last few performances have been lacking.  I can imagine one of them standing on the seal with Kevin Covais, who has been cast in this particular Top 12 as Simon’s foil and the contestant-who-stays-too-long.  When Kevin is declared safe, water coolers across America will explode.  And an anguished America will ask–why oh why? WHY WHY WHY?

Sigh.  This show has become so predictable.  But it’s crack I  tells ya.  Crack.  And I just cain’t quit it.

Just to help prove my point,  here is Simon on Kevin from Extra online,   “He won’t be winning this competition, ” Simon assured. “You heard it here first.”  But then Kevin shoots back, “You’ll be seeing me, I think so.”

Let the games begin.

 

Ratings News:

On Tuesday American Idol attracted 30.1 million viewers and scored an average 11.6 rating/30 share in the 18-49 demo.  On Wednesday, Idol averaged 29.9 million viewers and a 12.3 rating/32 share in the 18-49 demo.  On Thursday Idol actually lost its time slot to CSI which had 27.1 million viewers.  Idol averaged 26.3 million viewers but beat CSI in the 18-49 demo averaging 10.6/27 to CSI’s 8.8/22

The Academy Awards took the week, averaging 38.0 million viewers Sunday night for ABC.