According to Hits Daily Double, Season 9 Idol, Casey James’ self-titled album is set for a 3/20 release.
American Idol returns (but these songs shouldn’t) – American Idol has ruined the pop songbook. Maybe that’s a bit harsh. But TV’s biggest show — back for Season 11 at 7 tonight and Thursday — has hammered several classic tunes into the ground through sheer force of repetition. (Come back here each week for my recaps!) Do we really need to hear another version of Whitney Houston’s I Have Nothing? And, yes, there have been some truly bad performances. – Read more at Chron.com
Catching Up With ‘American Idol’s’ Most Memorable Castoffs – “American Idol” Season 11 (yes, ELEVEN) starts this Wednesday, and you know what that means: The next few weeks will be filled with some really good auditions…and some not-so-good ones, and some so-good-they’re-bad ones. For many “Idol” viewers, it is this early stage of the competition, when various unknown singers with wildly varying talent levels walk into that audition room for the very first time, that’s the best part of the season. Many of these auditioners don’t end up going the distance–unless that distance is the short post-rejection walk of shame back to their cars in the parking lot–but they make lasting impressions nonetheless. And some of them even manage to stretch their fame beyond the expected 15 minutes. – Read more at Yahoo.com
Competition heats up as “American Idol” returns – Rejuvenated by a judging panel makeover and the discovery of its biggest star in years in country singer Scotty McCreery, the Fox talent show last season saw a four percent increase in audience, reversing a trend that had seen viewership slip. But that was before NBC launched its surprise 2011 summer hit “The Voice” and Simon Cowell brought his “The X Factor” to Fox in September with outsize hype but underwhelming critical reviews. Each show attracted about half the average 25.2 million viewers who watched “American Idol” in 2011. – Read more at Reuters
Can ‘American Idol’ Soar Again? Experts Weigh In – But like any smashingly popular series that eventually loses some of its luster (see “Lost,” “Deal or No Deal” and “Two and a Half Men”), this year, “Idol” is facing a turning point of sorts. Still a ratings juggernaut, season 11 of the show will launch Wednesday night in an atmosphere ripe with other singing shows that could start nipping at its heels. – Read more at MTV
‘American Idol’ Alum James Durbin on ‘The X Factor’: “It was Just Campy and Ridiculous!” – But what did the rocker honestly think of this Idol competitor? “Um, I think it was… interesting. I didn’t like that it went so big at the very beginning. With Idol, the finale was the huge grand spectacle. It seemed like every single week, X Factor was trying to put on this huge grand spectacle,” the singer admits. “They had these unneeded, unnecessary, hoochie, skanky backup dancers every single week. It was just campy and ridiculous. It didn’t focus on the artist, it didn’t focus on the singer.” Read more at OK
Glee’s Chris Colfer: I’m Making Another Movie! (Yes, He Wrote This One, Too) – He’s being tight-lipped on details, but he did reveal he wrote the script for this one, too. “I actually had to do research on this one,” Colfer told me at the Golden Globes. “I couldn’t just pull it out of my ass. I had to do a lot of research.” He said he already has a director and producers “attached.” Unlike his starring role in Struck by Lightning, he’ll appear in the new movie as a “supporting character.” “I’m a very vain writer,” he cracked. “I write for myself.”- Read more at EOnline
Lea Michele: ‘Glee’ Is Planning A Huge Surprise – Since day one, her performance as Rachel “I’m A Star” Berry has been one of the show’s most consistently ferocious, earning Lea an Emmy nomination, two Golden Globe nods and a massive army of fans. I caught up with the actress right after it was revealed that she would be back next season, so in addition to getting the dish on Rachel’s return, I found out what to expect from tonight’s episode, what the future holds for Finchel and what cause she’s backing in a big way this year! Read more at Yahoo.com
‘Glee Project’ casting director and winner talk what to expect in season 2 – Thanks to a new set of audition destinations, the show will have a dash of down-home charm in season 2. The auditions went to Nashville for the first time, which added “a whole flavor — that Southern thing — that we haven’t seen in the audition process before,” teased Ulrich. And the country capital is just the tip of the iceberg — The Glee Project has gone global: “We had somebody fly in from Singapore, somebody from France, from London, and South America … It’s going to be so difficult to narrow it down to the 80, and I can’t imagine going down to 12.” Turns, he didn’t have to! As Hibberd noted today, season 2 will see 14 finalists vying for the seven-episode character arc. – Read more at Entertainment Weekly
