Here’s your morning-after round up of Idol recaps. I’ll add more to this post as recaps arrive!
American Idol Feels the Jersey Shore Effect
NEW JUDGE JUDGING: Neither Steven nor Jennifer seemed too comfortable judging the hopefuls at first, although as the episode went on and their crankiness quotients increased—and so, thankfully, did their saltiness. (This reached its apex near the end of the episode, when Jennifer actually whined about her “long day.” Sorry, Jen. Work is hard!) There’s a lightness to their judging that was definitely missing once Paula left, and it’s a bit refreshing, although it makes the truly mean packages on lousy contestants seem a bit more out of place than in years prior. And doesn’t Steven realize that it’s rude to sing along with auditioners when they’re performing, no matter how bad they might be? One feisty back-and-forth and you’re dangerously close to acting like Kara did when Katrina Darrell showed up in 2009.
Read more at PopDust
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American Idol Season 10 Premiere Recap: These Kids Are All Right!
Yes, folks, as sure as Justin Bieber’s hair is worth more than your car, American Idol is going to foist some sort of teenage dream onto the radio-listening public before summer arrives. How can I be so sure? Well, more than half of the 11 Golden Ticket recipients we heard singing during tonight’s telecast were 16 or younger. And each and every one of those kids had a megawatt smile, a polite demeanor, and the kind of hair Pantene wouldn’t hesitate to endorse.
Read more at TV Line
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More Recaps after the JUMP…
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‘American Idol’ Season 10 Premiere: A Star Is Re-Born in Steven Tyler
Season 10 of American Idol premiered last night to much fanfare and for good reason: two new judges, rocker Tyler and pop star Jennifer Lopez, sat at the table famously anchored by Simon Cowell for so many years. Looking to further spice up the franchise, viewers got to see a revamped opening theme, a glossed-up logo and new interstitials spotlighting the word “IDOL” in ginormous letters. Fox hopes the numbers will back up the hype, but I’m thinking they can rest easy knowing they have a new star on their hands: Tyler.
Read more at THR
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It’s a Whole New Show
First and foremost: Steven Tyler is a marvel. I worried about him for only a split second, right after he asked “Do you know what American Idol is?” It turns out Steven Tyler sure does know what American Idol is, and he’s about to — in the immortal words of P. Ab — make it his own. He is a wise old loon. Jennifer Lopez is fine, too. Okay, she was kind of a mess and clearly took her time getting comfortable with the dark side of her new job. But I’m confident J. Lo can be swift and effective for the live shows. She seemed a bit shell-shocked at how desperately bad some of the contestants were. They’re fun to mock once they’re on-camera, but she’s the one who actually has to facilitate the progression from “momentary sad clown” to “nobody as usual.” That seems really, really depressing. J. Lo is not mean! I have to admit, I’m pretty relieved. She’ll toughen up, no problem.
Read more at Entertainment Weekly
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‘American Idol’ auditions, episode 1, season 10: just say no? No!
So clearly, a lot of people who would have been rejected in years’ past made it this time around. And there were a couple of singers we saw that I thought didn’t deserve a golden ticket but got them anyway. Jennifer Lopez at times made Paula Abdul seem like a wicked witch in comparison. J. Lo could barely utter the word “no” and felt guilty about it even when the person sucked badly. And though Randy Jackson was still there, he added nothing much new to the Randy Jackson equation.
Read more at AJC
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Steven Tyler And Jennifer Lopez’s ‘American Idol’ Debut: How Did They Do?
Both offered glimpses of their goals as judges in interviews that aired prior to the auditions: Lopez said she was leaning toward compassion, saying, “I’m not in the business of crushing spirits, ” while Tyler said he wanted to encourage contestants to give it their all. “Sing like you do when no one is looking, ” he said.
Read more at MTV
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New Jersey Auditions – I Had This Disease When I Was 5, But I’m Fine Now… Love Me Anyway
After the first episode of the revamped Idol… I didn’t hate it as much as I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t that good. But there were some decent moments. The first show introduces us to the judges we have to suffer through for the next 5 months. We all know what we get with Randy (nothing), so the episode was more about Jenny from the Block and Steven Tyler. How did they do? Jennifer seems like she’s trying way too hard to come across nice. If she would embrace her inner diva, I could see liking her. Steven Tyler seems to not care what’s going on around him at all, so that’s a plus. I didn’t think I’d say this, but it’s a step up from last year’s panel. Of course, anything is a step up from Kara and Ellen. Though the production staff needs to shut the fuck up and stop laughing through the auditions. No one cares what you think.
Read more at VFTW
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‘American Idol’ Season 10 Premiere: How Did Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler Do?
Tyler is a star judge — his humor and sarcasm are a great addition to the show. He is wacky, regularly-bleeped and frank. He is truly a laugh a minute and little bit flirty. To one singer he asked, “Did you eat a lot of paint chips as a child?”
Read more at Wall Street Journal
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‘American Idol’ finally has a grown-ups table
Season 10 and “American Idol” finally brought in a couple of pros.
Whether or not new judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez will be able to find and foster an actual pop star or generate the love/hate buzz of their predecessors remains to be seen.
But moments into Wednesday night’s season premiere, it was gratifyingly clear that for the first time in a long time the fumblings and flailings of contestants fighting to find their feet on stage will not be mirrored by the judges table.
Read more at Los Angeles Times
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American Idol 10: same show, same lies, just now with hitting on 16-year-olds
Steven Tyler was the night’s breakout star, but that was predictable based on the crazy way he interacted with TV critics. He’s full of random thoughts, some of which are hilarious “well hellfire save matches, fuck a duck and see what hatches”; “we’re all here because we’re not all there”) and some of which is highly disturbing (commenting on how much leg a 16-year-old’s skirt revealed, he said, “Oh yeah, just the right amount showing. That’s nice.”). He wasn’t afraid to be funny and quasi-mean, asking one awful singer, “Did you eat a lot of paint chips as a child?” and then sarcastically commenting, “you’re a natural for Broadway—he’ll be a big star.”
Read more at Reality Blurred
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American Idol: Season 10
Every superstar, the Season 10 promos tell us, begins with a dream. And it’s not just any dream—not that recurring one where you’re flying naked to a math test you haven’t studied for and Ryan Seacrest gives you a cigar. (Everyone has that one, right?) No, it’s the American Dream, the iconic story of a humble, starry-eyed (or starry-boobed) young girl arriving in the Big City (East Rutherford), biding her time waitressing and appearing on Law and Order: SVU, and praying for the chance to be ogled by Steven Tyler on national television—ew, but I guess it was supposed to be OK because he’s an authentic rock star. Plus, Simon used to flirt, and at this point it looks like Tyler is meant to be something like the judging love child of Simon Cowell’s wandering eye and Paula Abdul’s wandering mind.
Read more at Slate
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American Idol Recap: Paul F. Tompkins’s First Take on the New Season
I haven’t watched a full episode of American Idol in years. Maybe the year Taylor Hicks won. He won, right? Or did he come in second to … Josh Hartnett or someone? Now I can’t remember why I know who Josh Hartnett is. Anyway, I somehow managed to not go crazy and drown myself in the tub as a result of not watching American Idol. I was fine living my life without it. But when Vulture asked me to do their AI recaps this season, well, I jumped at the chance. Because they offered to pay me five dollars a word. So I am very very very very very very very very very very happy to watch this season of American Idol, the television program on the FOX television network about a televised singing competition on television.
Read more at Vulture
