Idol Headlines for 3/20/08

Rocker sent packing on ‹American Idol

There isnt much on the Top 40 charts these days that sounds anything like Amanda Overmyer. Apparently, there a good reason for that.

Overmyer became the second of the 12 finalists voted off …American Idol on Wednesday. The …rock and roll nurse, as Randy Jackson called her, had one of the most memorable personalities among the contestants, but her song choices didnt connect with the viewers.

MSNBC

DeGeneres to co-host ‘Idol Gives Back’

Fox has tapped Ellen DeGeneres to once again join Ryan Seacrest as host of the “American Idol” benefit special “Idol Gives Back.”

The network also announced the addition of Maroon 5, Heart, Gloria Estefan, Boyz II Men and The Clark Brothers to its talent lineup. They will join previously announced celebrity participants Bono, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Eli Manning, Carrie Underwood, John Legend and Snoop Dogg.

The special will air April 9.

Last year’s debut edition raised $78 million to fund various international charities and earned a prestigious Governor’s Award Emmy.

Hollywood Reporter

More Idol Headlines After The Jump…

‘American Idol’: Two Out of Three Are Bad

Attention, potential ticket buyers for the American Idol season 7 tour: Amanda Overmyer will not ‘  for better or for worse ‘  be part of the lineup.

But don’t shed any tears for the Rock & Roll Nurse from Mulberry, Ind. As she noted on Tuesday night following her howling, energetic, and not particularly in-tune rendition of ”Back in the U.S.S.R., ” she’s spent her Idol run simply trying ”to show America what they would see if they came to my show and bought a ticket to see me.”

Entertainment Weekly

American Idol: Top 10 Revealed

Ryan opened the show by telling us who the four celebrity mentors would be this season: Dolly Parton, Mariah Carey, Andrew Lloyd Weber and Neil Diamond. I think these are all solid choices as they each bring something very, very different that the contestants can learn from. Personally, I think a theme week of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s work could be absolutely amazing.

TVSquad

Recap: ‘American Idol’ trims to 10

American Idol probably shouldn’t have done a second night of Beatles songs. But who would pay the price on Wednesday (March 19) for Tuesday’s mistakes? Who would be this season’s last contestant to miss out on the empty arenas of the American Idol Tour? Let’s find out…

Zap2it

Idol’s Top 10 Get Ticket to Ride

Ten American Idol contestants got a ticket to ride. Motorcycle enthusiast Amanda Overmyer was not one of them.

With her elimination Wednesday, the 23-year-old nurse missed automatic entrà ©e into the American Idols Live tour lineup by one week after voters apparently tired of her Joplinesque vocals and signature ‘do, no matter how proficiently she delivered.

But while fans were treated to an encore of “Back in the USSR, ” as per Idol procedure, they never got to hear the ballad that Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell were so hoping lurked beneath the surface of Overmyer’s rocker-chick exterior.

EOnline

For Amanda Overmyer, the Road Wasn’t All That Long and Winding After All

It’s back to flatbed truck performances for Amanda “I Don’t Do No Stinkin’ Ballads” Overmyer. Done in by Beatles Week, Amanda received the fewest votes from viewers and got the hook on “American Idol” last night. She was the 11th Idolette left standing in the competition; her ejection means the Biker Nurse will not get to be part of the increasingly less sold-out annual “American Idol” tour.

Washington Post

Be Gone Beatles!

Some thoughts as we finally put Beatles Hell Week behind us ¦

1. How bad was the opening number with all the Idols? Let me count the ways. One, Castro and The Cook should never be forced to try and harmonize. Two, Nanny McTwee high note. Three, her attempt at walking while singing. Four, Ramiele lack of microphone power (or was she playing the part of Brooke ventriloquist dummy? If so, Brooke needs to work on not moving her lips). Five, the shaky-cam on Kristy. Six, the fact they gave Amanda any solo at all.

PhillyBurbs

When egos exceed ability

In its opening stages, warfare often takes on strange forms. Today’s victory merely sets the stage for tomorrow’s defeat; today’s frontline is a sideshow from the main theater of conflict.

Likewise, at this point on “American Idol” last season, the contest was universally seen as a duel between Melinda Doolittle and LaKisha Jones. Two years ago, there wasn’t a pundit who thought Taylor Hicks had a chance at making the top three, let alone winning.

This year however, despite an extremely fluid midfield containing a very large number of possible contenders for the finals, one cannot deny that shaping this contest is a humongous fortress looming over every inch of the battlefield — a fortress named David Archuleta. On Tuesday night, the Chosen One reasserted himself as the prohibitive front-runner, casting the race in terms of who among the others will be his main opponent. (And that competition itself now has a nearly prohibitive front-runner in the person of Carly Smithson, although as the race tightens she will have to fight the incredibly strong midfield for every inch of soil she gains.)

LA Times

Idol Tracker: Debra Byrd teaches the world to sing

Just one week into the season and already the first shock waves spread across the Idoldome; not really for the ouster of rocker girl Amanda Overmyer, a delightful personality but ultimately an underperforming novelty candidate more than a serious contender. Far more shocking still was the first intimation of many heartbreaks to come with the horrifying placement of the Great Irish Hope, Carly Smithson in the bottom three.

With nine weeks ahead between now and Nokia, there will be surprises aplenty, and ultimately, all but two of our warriors must fall before that day. In a season as rich with competitors as this, no one it seems, can afford even one off week, (no one except The Chosen One, David Archuleta). There were however, some heart-stopping moments while we in the Idoldome watched a very stricken Carly wait to hear her fate and there is good reason to think a major riot would have ensued had the verdict gone another way. As is, we can chalk this up to one of those helpful early scares many go through and that can motivate a singer partisans. And now Carly gets her own room.

LA Times

Fox squashes all nets with double “Idol”

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Once again, Fox dominated the TV universe as the John Lennon/Paul McCartney-themed editions of “American Idol” netted another decisive weekly win for the network.

The performance and results “Idol” shows, respectively, averaged 29.9 million viewers and an 11 rating/28 share among adults 18-49 and 27.1 million, 10.3/26, topping the weekly program charts by a wide margin.

Reuters

Ratings up slightly but American Idol lost teenage girls and women, gained older men

The audience for American Idol seems to be changing, as the series has lost females but gained male viewers.

Compared to last year, last week top 12 performance show lost 12 percent of its teenage girls ages 12 to 17, 22 percent of women ages 18 to 34, and 8 percent of women ages 25 to 54, according to USA TODAY analysis of Nielsen ratings. Overall, there are just 900, 000 teenage girls watching, compared to 9.5 million women ages 25 to 54.

Reality Blurred

Idol Dances by Dancing

An off-night for American Idol is still a big night. Just ask Dancing with the Stars.

The Fox singing show cramped the style of the ABC ballroom show in head-to-toe competition from 9-10 p.m. Tuesday, averaging 26.8 million viewers to Dancing’s 15.2 million, per Nielsen estimates.

Overall, Idol, featuring its 11 remaining performers largely doing untoward things to the Beatles songbook, was easily the night’s most-watched show, averaging 27 million from 8-10 p.m.

Eonline

American Idol Spotlights Malaria Crisis During Idol Gives Back, April 9, On FOX

American Idol and FOX announced that this year’s Idol Gives Back, airing Wednesday, April 9 (7:30-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX, will raise awareness and funds to fight malaria in Africa for the second year in a row as part of its star-studded event.

Malaria No More is honored to once again be named a beneficiary of Idol Gives Back, which last year raised more than $76 million, including $9 million for Malaria No More and over $8 million for other malaria-related causes.

In 2007, funds raised for Malaria No More by Idol fans and corporate sponsor ExxonMobil provided life-saving bed nets to more than one million mothers and children in Angola, Mali, Madagascar, Uganda and Zambia.

Malaria is a preventable and treatable disease that claims over one million lives every year; an African child dies every 30 seconds of the disease.

Earthtimes

David Archuleta’s Pep Rally

The students and faculty at Murray High School in Murray, UT, held a pep rally on campus today in honor of one of their own — DAVID ARCHULETA — who last night performed the BEATLES’ “The Long and Winding Road.” “American Idol” judge SIMON COWELL rated it “amazing.”

Today, David’s mom was presented with a certificate from the Utah State Legislature, which read: “For providing a positive role model while working to fulfill your dreams” — and stating their belief that he would be the next “American Idol.”

ETOnline

Idol Grunge Guy May Be More of a Hack Than Previously Thought
American Idol’s season-seven “rock dude, ” David Cook, has already been accused of ripping off Incubus’ version of Lionel Richie’s “Hello, ” and the Beatles catalog is respected enough that every bar band out there has given its own spin to at least one song. So it probably isn’t all that surprising that someone’s crying “ripoff” over the version of “Eleanor Rigby” that he performed on last week’s show, is it? Meet Doxology, a Seattle band with Idol cred–they’re “good friends” with Blake Lewis!–and their own version of the Beatles track that, they feel, hews strangely closely to Cook’s take:

rickey.org has MP3s of both the songs, and yes, there are some similarities, much like there probably are similarities between Cook’s take and the “Eleanor Rigby” cover by every Finger Eleven wannabe’s version in existence. Maybe this is why he went the Whitesnake-homage route this week?

Idolator

American Idol Stand-out Smells Like Hemp and Hair Dirt
American Idol is getting freaky. And not just, like, Clay Aiken freaky. Take the cartoonishly cute Clay and slap weird liberal arts college bread-locks (think the end of Joe Dirt), a guitar, and some uncomfortably snug distressed boot-cut denim on him, and you have the pop Frankenstein that is Jason Castro, this season’s standout. He has the face that makes 14-year-olds swoon. His hair gives us something to laugh about again … together. Plus, he seems kinda baked all the time.

Radaronline

Carly Fans Keep on Watching

IRISH American Idol contestant Carly Smithson from Dublin has made it to top 11 contestants on the Fox show, and her biggest fans are in her adopted hometown of San Diego.
Smithson, who worked as a waitress, bartender and entertainer in the Field bar and restaurant in San Diego, has a very loyal fan base who get together every Tuesday and Wednesday night to support their friend and vote to keep her in the competition.

Owner of the Field, Daniel Drayne from Co. Tyrone said he and his staff are so proud of their once-employee, and there is no doubt in his mind that Carly will go all the way.

…She is just brilliant. We always knew she had it in her. Her voice is amazing and she drew a huge crowd here to the bar on a Saturday night when she would perform, Drayne told the Irish Voice.

Irish Abroad

Carly becomes the ‘Idol’ of downtown pub patrons

The staff at The Field, an Irish pub in downtown San Diego, first got to know …American Idol contender Carly Smithson as a pretty decent waitress, good enough that they let her tend bar, too.

Then about a year and a half ago, the bar owners were looking for a new Saturday night music act. They didn’t think much of it when Smithson asked to be considered ‘ until she climbed onto the bar’s fold-out stage and started to sing.

…From the first note ’til the last note, that was it, said head chef Thomas Beatty. …The place was buzzing. Then when we Googled her, it was like ‘Oh my goodness.’

SignOnSandiego

‘American Idol’ Favorites Announced to Attend Idol Camp 2008

Idol Camp, the only performing arts summer camp inspired and brought to you by the producers of the nation’s #1 television phenomenon, “American Idol”, is opening its doors for the second year with a roster full of Idol alums scheduled to make guest visits and mentor young campers. The camp today announced that its 2008 line- up of former “American Idol” contestants will include Grammy-nominated artist and Season 5 finalist Ace Young, Season 4 runner-up Bo Bice and Season 3 finalist Jon Peter Lewis among others. These artists will help instruct classes, perform during evening activities and share personal insights for campers during an intensive two-week session aimed at advancing campers skills across a wide range of disciplines. The final, April 18th, application deadline for Idol Camp is quickly approaching and families are encouraged to sign-up now at www.idolcamp.com.

CNN

Phil’s Pages: Chapter 8

Hey there everyone! Thanks for joining me again for my weekly update. It has been an exciting one for me. My single is now in the top 40 of the country charts, my video has been doing well on country music video channels, and I am still busy singing and living the dream. I’m very blessed. I performed Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn., at a Church of God Winterfest gathering with an estimated audience of 19, 000. It is an annual event and I have actually played there before, in 2002 and 2000. It was nice to go back and see familiar faces.

USAToday

Chris Sligh Takes Over Christian AC Radio With ‘Empty Me’

As the current American Idol season moves forward with their top 12, Season 6 finalist Chris Sligh debut single …Empty Me is making a huge impact at Christian AC radio and Sligh is pounding the pavement all across the U.S. In just 4 weeks after being the #1 Most Added track of the week, the single has debuted in the R&R AC Top 30 (#29 Monitor and #30 Indicator) with 32 stations already spinning it. …Empty Me is New and Active at R&R CHR as well, all of which gives great momentum to Sligh solo debut, Running Back to You, which will bow nationally on May 6th on Brash Music.

Breathcast

Trias has the Philippines in her back pocket

From Grammys and gold records to college and day jobs, life after American Idol is a mix of the ordinary and the entertaining. USA TODAY catches up each week with a former finalist:

When Jasmine Trias landed, only Mount Pinatubo could have rocked the Philippines harder.

By one account, it was complete mayhem. By her account, complete mayhem is actually pretty accurate. “I was nervous and scared, ” Trias recalls. “All the media was on me.”

It was 2004, the year of Jasmania in the Philippines.

USAToday

Interview with Jon Peter Lewis of American Idol, Season 3

Speaking of Jason Castro and his Hallelujah performance, Jon admits he actually tried to clear that song and couldn’t during his season. It kills him how the Idols now get cleared everything they wanted to do in earlier seasons, but couldn’t. So remember that, season 7! As hard of a time as you have with song selection, the earlier seasons had it a little tougher! Yet, Jon thinks season three was the perfect time for him and doesn’t wish he had waited longer to be on the show. Everything’s good, and he’s happy where he is right now.

Yet, if he was on American Idol this season, I wanted to know what Jon would have picked for Beatles week. He admits he was dying last week listening to all those folks and thinking they had so many to choose, why choose the ones they did? It would be hard to pick one, as he loves them all, but he knows he’d want to pick one that was good for the show. He’d have to shut himself in a room and think for awhile, but off the top of his head, he thinks he might do Any Time At All, and it was here Jon broke out in spontaneous song, singing a few bars, which was incredible to hear impromptu over the phone.

Reality Shack

SJP praises ‘fantastic’ Jen

Sarah Jessica Parker has heaped praise on Sex And The City: The Movie co-star Jennifer Hudson.

“I am a huge Jennifer Hudson fan! She was fantastic!” she gushed to MTV News.

“She only worked six to eight days, but she was just lovely.

“One of the things that’s really striking to me about her is she is just beautiful. She’s very, very pretty. She’s very tall and I’m significantly shorter than she is.”

She added: “It surprised me because her role in Dreamgirls is not about her beauty; it’s about her power and anger and her ambition. In this movie she is really sweet.”

This is Nottingham

Spamalot Marks its 3rd Anniversary with 3-D!

Eric Idle’s hilarious Broadway musical Monty Python’s Spamalot celebrated its third anniversary on March 18 at the Shubert Theatre. So how do King Arthur, Sir Robin, the Lady of the Lake and their court of madcap medieval knights celebrate such an occasion? Well, by going 3-D! The sold-out audience were given special glasses for the event, along with a special edition, collectible certificate of achievement. What did the glasses do? Nothing, which was the Python-esque point of the joke. Click on to see Spamalot leading players Jonathan Hadary, Clay Aiken and Hannah Waddingham sporting their stylish specs in celebration of their show’s big day!

Broadway.com

Praise be to ‘Hallelujah’: Classic reborn digitally, thanks to ‘Idol’

For 23 years, musicians and fans have been singing the praises of Hallelujah, the oft-covered Leonard Cohen classic that exploded into the digital era after Jason Castro performed it two weeks ago on American Idol.

The 20-year-old contestant’s performance sent Jeff Buckley’s definitive version into the cyberspace stratosphere with sales of 178, 000 downloads, up from 2, 500 the week before, marking the biggest Idol bounce yet.

USAToday

The Beckham Boys Attend Taping of American Idol

Though they’re rumored to be contemplating a return to their native England (which David has denied), Victoria Beckham, 33, and her sons Brooklyn Joseph, 9, Romeo James, 5 ½, and Cruz David, 3 were big fans of America last night. American Idol, that is. The family — minus Victoria’s husband David — attended the taping of the wildly popular singing competition and were said to have been enthusiastic audience members. OK! reports that Victoria and the boys stood and danced to Amanda Overmyer’s rendition of ‘Back in the USSR’ and she hoisted up Cruz so he could have a better view of Brooke White as she performed ‘Here Comes the Sun.’

Celebrity-babies

American Idol Week Five: More Beatles, Guh

I talked last week about why an American Idol Beatles week is such a ragingly bad idea. Whether or not you consider the Beatles catalogue sacrosanct, and I definitely don’t, the forms of singing that a show like American Idol is built to showcase make absolutely no sense matched up with songs like theirs. And when you throw in a group of session-musician hacks as sleepy as this year’s Idol backing band, you’re pretty much guaranteeing a confused pileup of inadvisable genre switchups that not even the most reverent of historical video-montages can fix. That’s what happened last week, when the contestants took on the Lennon/McCartney songbook, and it didn’t work out too well for anyone. After that mess, the Idol producers went and replicated their mistake, giving us another week of sh*tty Beatles tributes.

Village Voice

‘American Idol’: Jon Peter Lewis on the Top 11

But enough uncomfortable guy-emotion. Down to business: Last night I was really disappointed ‘  and no, not because of the theme repeat. The contestants were boring, for the most part. I found myself in between commercials slumped in my chair with the remote in hand, itching for a change. Despite its dullness, and what I think might produce the first big upset of the season, there were some bright spots. You see? I’m not all storm clouds and black-hearted cynicism. Positives first!

Entertainment Weekly

‘American Idol’ Recap: Only David Archuleta, Syesha Mercado Fab Enough On Second Beatles Night

Like a bitter ex-wife, “Idol” producers decided to wring every last dime out of the Lennon/McCartney treasure trove and presented viewers with yet another Beatles-themed episode Tuesday night. And although the parameters were expanded this week to include all four Beatles’ contributions, nobody elected to sing “Octopus’s Garden.”

So why the double-dipping? Seacrest claimed it was due to overwhelming demand. Too bad the top 11’s haphazard offerings and ill-informed song choices left me feeling like a Blue Meanie.

MTV

American Idol: Beatles Night II, or “This Is All Getting A Bit Strange”

Wow. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the Beatles songbook ¦

American Idol gained enough momentum last week to almost justify the show oversized, Wembley-Stadium-gone-haywire makeover. Unfortunately, …Beatles Night II followed in the tradition of most sequels, meaning that it lost the energy of the original version and called the whole series integrity into question. So while it sorta fun to block out last night offenses by turning the whole thing into a movie metaphor (possible film titles: How Archuleta Got His Groove Back, or Lord of the Sings: The Return of Syesha), the fact still stands that this episode was ‘  to be very kind ‘  subpar.

All Music

American Idol: Please Don’t Wake Me, Peter Frampton Is Pissed

I’ve been seriously deliriously sleep-deprived this week, because I thought Mariah Carey was scheduled to guest judge this week, or at least perform “Touch My Body” while Kenneth the Page hula-hooped and twirled flaming giant turkey legs around her. Alas, it was all a croissant-fueled hallucination. Join me, mon ami, as we romp through John Lennon’s grave and stomp on Beatles B-sides, La Cucaracha-style, ’cause this is American Idol!

Instead of the usual fun pageant walk involving choreography and criss-crossing the stage, we get close-up shots of our contestants slowly descending the dual staircases. When they get to the bottom, they just stand there. Yep, they’re planted awkwardly still, with eight different variations on waving. Or fist-wielding, as David Cook is wont to do. He is most definitely exhibiting some alarming symptoms of Smug Doucheitis.

TV Gasm

American Idol and the Sound of Many Broken Wings Flapping

American Idol was pretty rough last night, wasn’t it? Somehow the producers got it in their heads that what the public really wanted to see was another night of the contestants giving the Beatles catalog another go, to the point where they reportedly switched up the whole show with only a few hours to spare and made everyone pick new songs at the last minute. Unsurprisingly, this led to two things: a show that ran the gamut from “not bad” to “awful” to “do I really have to put up with another 10 weeks of this?”; and lots of complaints from the judges about song choice, which should show you how much info Randy, Simon, and Paula are given about the hoops that the contestants are forced through. Rankings and reactions after the jump.

Idolator

About mj santilli 34832 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!