American Idol 9 – Idol Gives Back – Recap

Tim Urban is eliminated from American Idol

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  • The Top 12 – VIDEO
  • Carrie Underwood – “Change” – VIDEO
  • David Cook IGB – VIDEO
  • Annie Lennox – VIDEO
  • Mary J. Blige – “Stairway to Heaven” – VIDEO
  • Elton John – “Your Song” – VIDEO

Alicia Keys will be back tonight to perform on the big Idol Gives Back special, along with Sir Elton John, Carrie Underwood, The Black Eyed Peas, Annie Lennox, Jeff Beck & Joss Stone and Mary J. Blige & the All-Star Band.

David Cook will introduce his segment on his recent trip to Ethiopia. Elliott Yamin will be in the house (He and Kara Dioguardi visited a school in Angola). Bill and Melinda Gates have a special surprise in store.  Russell Brand, Justin Beiber, Will Ferrel and Octomom (not kidding) will make appearances, and more.  Annie Lennox is scheduled to perform, but she’s stuck in Europe. Hopefully she can appear by satellite.

Ryan Seacrest will host at the Idol studios, while Queen Latifah presides at the Pasadena Civic Center. The entire Top 12 will perform together…

President Obama and Michelle Obama open the show. They urge us to GIVE to Idol Gives Back.   Obama to all the contestants:  “As Randy would say, you’re all my dawgs”  And the First Lady has a message for the mean judge: “Simon be nice.”

Ryan introduces Queen Latifah at the Civic Center after he introduces the judges.

Back at the studio, the Top 12 perform together. “Keeping the Dream Alive”. They’re all dressed in white. This is so bland.

Jennifer Garner visits Kentucky for Save The Children, in support of reading programs.  She visits a very poor family of 6.  Victoria Beckham also went to Kentucky and she’s in studio to talk about her experience.  She brought some kids with her who are taking part in the program.

Captain Sully asks you to pick up the phone!

Jonah Hill and Russell Brand engage Ryan Seacrest in some fun shtick! Having to do with a phone bank that doesn’t exist. Ha ha. Erm. This bit isn’t funny.

The Top 7 have taken their places on the couches for the elimination. Lee DeWyze explains his watery eyes. It’s incredibly fascinating. NOT.

Queen Latifah introduces some live music. Black Eyed Peas perform “Rock That Body”.  I am inspired by a half-naked Fergie to pick up the phone! NOT. Ugh. WTF?? Shouldn’t they be singing something inspiring?

Idol was GIVING AWAY tickets to this thing today. Yes. GIVING THEM AWAY.

Now, from nekkid Fergie, to Ryan Seacrest’s visit to Africa. What a transition! In Uganda, a man’s pregnant wife is sick with malaria and later died. a 10 dollar mosquito net would have saved both lives.

Ryan reminds us that it’s STILL a results show. Not everything can be about giving back! There’s George Lopez in a bit. He’s playing a guy who won an auction allowing him to play Seacrest for a bit. “Now I got eyes like Danny Gokey“. He’s giving very confusing instructions to poor Kieran. George decides not to eliminate contestants, he’s going to eliminate the judges instead. So, he proceeds to “roast” the judges and declare them all safe. Argh. This is bad.

Ford Video: Technical issues!

The eliminations begin for real.  Crystal Bowersox and Casey James take center stage. One is safe and the other is in the B3 OH WHO COULD IT BE!!! Casey of course.

Aaron Kelly and Lee DeWyze take center stage. One is in the B3 the other is safe. OH WHO COULD IT BE!!!! Why is this so obvious?  Aaron is in the Bottom 3. As if.

Jeff Beck and Joss Stone
sing “I Put A Spell on You” This ain’t no Kelly Clarkson singing “Up To The Mountain”.

A montage of peeps talk about the things their mother gave them: Justin Beiber, Jane Lynch and others. An African baby lost her mother in childbirth. Give what you can!

Bank Ki Moon from the UN thanks you all for giving. Morgan Freeman takes the stage. Yay! He lives in Mississippi. He got a good education. but others are not. Randy Jackson and Morgan visited one of the poorest areas in Miss for Save the Children. They work to fight illiteracy.

Alicia Keys, back at the CBS studios, sings “Unthinkable (I’m Ready)” and “Empire State of Mind” Pitchy! Josh Groban asks us to give.

More hilarity with Jonah Hill and Russell Brand! OMG they’ve got celebrity impersonators manning the phones. This bit is PAINFUL. Oh, but they’ve got the real Slash, and they treat him like a fake. That’s funny. But the bit jumps the shark when they introduce Tatiana Del Toro as Clay Aiken.  It takes a dive off a cliff when Octo mom and some fake tots are introduced. Oy. At least she didn’t speak. The bit ends with Jim Carrey arriving, then quickly running away when he notices the impersonators. Ooof.

Queen Latifah and some dude introduces the beautiful Carrie Underwood, who sings “Change”. Carrie sings a song that actually inspires. Finally. Carrie will donate 36 cents of every tour ticket she sells to Save the Children.

Ryan informs us that the show will definitely run late. Argh.

Ellen Degeneres is on stage. She went to Feeding America in Monrovia CA with David Arquette. They meet a middle class family who can’t afford to buy food.

Elliott Yamin is in the audience with the sister from the school in Angola he and Kara Dioguardi visited on their trip to Africa. The Malaria epidemic claims a child every 30 seconds.

Ryan Seacrest sat down with Bill and Melinda Gates about the work they are doing with Global Health Care. Malaria death rates have been cut in half. Bill urges us all to join the ONE campaign.

Wanda Sykes takes the stage in the CBS studios. Wanda thinks the season is getting exciting. She’s mocking the goodbye packages, and the sing out. She’s funny. About the save: “Who’s going to tell that big brother he’s going home? Seacrest, you’re going home!”

More eliminations: Siobhan Magnus, Mike Lynche and Tim Urban take the stage. Siobhan Magnus is safe. Mike Lynche is safe. Tim Urban is in the Bottom 3.

David Cook takes the stage to talk about his trip to Ethiopia, to learn more about the issues girls face in poor areas. David  talks about the plight of some girls–they end up in domestic servitude or in the sex trade. He visits a girls school–we see shots of him singing “Heroes” to the class. He met a young girl who lost her parents. Aw. the little girls are doing the hand wave! So cute! “They deserve a chance” says David.

After the break, Annie Lennox introduces a segment on a young African girl who has full-blown Aids. She’s weighs as much as a 1 year old baby. Her mother died. Donations will help pregnant women with AIDS get the treatment they need.

The next segment features a much healthier girl, after she got the right medical care.

Annie was supposed to be in Los Angeles, but the volcanic ash grounded her plane. So, she taped a performance for the special. She sings “Universal Child” and Annie is beautiful and amazing.Annie is so amazing.

Mary J. Blige and her all-stars (including Orianthi, Travis Barker and Randy Jackson) perform “Stairway to Heaven”.

Simon Cowell goes to Arizona for the Children’s Health Fund. Simon tells a little girl who has a rare genetic disorder that she’s very brave. Donations to IGB will help make health care accessible to children who need it. Raised over 15M dollars since the program has been on the air.. Simon blows a kiss to the little girl he met. Ben Affleck ask us to give back.

After the break, Elton John is center stage with Queen to talk about the Elton John Aids Foundation. The infection rates for AIDS are going up, and we need to do something about it, says Elton.

Elton John sings “Your Song”. I know it’s cheesy, but I absolutely love this song. Queen Latifah signs off from Pasadena.

Time to send somebody home.

Aaron Kelly is safe. There go my points. Casey and Tim are left. Tim Urban is going home.  Tim gets his goodbye package, but he did not get to sing. Sucks for him.  What a strange night.

Safe:

Crystal Bowersox
Lee DeWyze
Siobhan Magnus
Mike Lynche

Bottom 3:

Casey James
Aaron Kelly (Sent back to the couches first)
Tim Urban

About mj santilli 35160 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!