American Idol 2006--Live Thread (Part II)

FOX ^ | 3-25-06

[silent_jonny]

still for Tammy

[misterrob]

Same here. She has the least amount of vocal talent of anyone left and she reinforces a bad stereotype of dumb southern people.

[misterrob]

all busy signals

[TonyWpi]

Jonny...

What do the other sites...besides Dial Idol and Tradesports say about tonight?

[Shelayne]

Or it was crack...;^) Not Kat's--the dress wasn't slit THAT high...

[Ciexyz]

I'd like to see Chris, Taylor and Elliot in the top three. It's just coincidental that it's all men doing the best work.

[Ciexyz]

I can never get thru for Chris on my land phone, so I use the Cingular Wireless to text my vote.

[TonyWpi]

Dial Idol has the "guys" on top...

They say it's possible that Elliott COULD be in the bottom 3 but scores indicate the girls.

I find it pretty sad that either Elliott or Kat could be in the bottom 3 when they were the best tonight....oh well...

Geez...I better get some sleep. It's midnight on the east coast.

[misterrob]

Don't be surprised if the women are bottom 3 tomorrow night. They need to cull one out and solidify support on their finalist.

But....

Pickle must go next week.

[Ciexyz]

Elliot has an excellent voice and his personality is very appealing, too.

[Netizen]

Pickle must go next week.

She should have been gone weeks ago.

[Palladin]

Elliott is reminding me a lot of Theodore Bickel, who was not matinee-idol handsome, but because of his voice and personality became a star of stage and screen.

[FreedomForce]

Easy to rank them this week:

Elliott(Not my favorite performance by him but easily the best of the night)

Stepping down to a group of three who were close in quality, ranked in this order:
Paris(Another good but not great performance. Never liked that song from anyone though. Should have gone with something jazzier)
Chris(Good performance. Showing a little versatility while still in Chris-style)
Katharine(Wasn't as bad as the judges said it was, but it did bring Katharine's faults into play again. Who's advising the contestants week to week? Whoever it is should be canned. Actually, it looked like Foster was trying to steer her right when he was demonstrating a part of that song, but Kat missed it completely and continued to belt)

Another step down:
Taylor(Another of those middle-of-the-road performances that seem to be Taylor's achilles heel)

Several big steps down:
Kellie(Only a few people in the world should sing that song, and Kellie ain't one of them. Really bad song choice. She should be singing simple, up tempo, country songs appropriate to her twang.)


A shame, but I expect Paris to get voted off this week. Just don't think she has the dedicated fan base necessary to save her.

[Senator Goldwater]

"her [Katherine's] undies were too tight"

I can't really blame them. That's how I would be if I were that close.

[Feiny]

I have been voting for everyone but Kelly for an hour.
It was most difficult to get through for Chris & Katherine.
I made sure to throw plenty of votes to Paris as she may be the closest to Kelly. If the other viewers are not deaf.....Kelly will be gone tomorrow & I will do a victory dance.

[Shelayne]

Just marking my spot for tomorrow.

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

Time for the West Coast Wrapup! (Which is occurring at 10:20 pm my time tonight, in case any smarty-pants out there wants to know what the "time" actually is! :)

I enjoyed the whole show (except for small bits of it) again tonight! What's up with that? Well, I'm sure that state of affairs will be speedily remedied when we have Sucky Songs from the 90's, or whatever their next week's theme will be.

As for the kids learning from the guest(s), this was probably the most useful week for them since Manilow was there. It looked like they got some very good tips for vocal production (I was tickled to see Chris singing from the floor -- I've been there! LOL!) and also on how to "make the song their own" (as the judges keep harping on. Very interesting to watch the guest segments.

And the lineup ..........

McPhee: It is really just a shame that the Hollywood studios only do musicals now when some producer forces them to practically at gunpoint. That's where McPhee belongs, in Hollywood musicals ... if they still existed anymore. (She kind of reminds me of Virginia Mayo, for some reason.) I agreed with the judges that the song wasn't her best choice (hearing her do those snarly notes was kind of like watching someone key a Porsche), but I thought the judges were unnecessarily harsh to her. However, it appears that someone finally took her in hand and showed her how to dress to set off her assets (both of them!) and unless every het male in America has forgotten to vote, she should be safe for another week.

Elliott: It's nice when an investment pays off! All these weeks, even when he didn't really quite deserve it, I've been voting for Elliott, running on faith that with a voice and talent like that, he would eventually find the right way to showcase it. And ladies and gents, I do believe that night has arrived! It was not a perfect performance by any means (the ending was a bit disappointing), but Elliott looked (fairly) relaxed and confident, and his voice is just getting better every week! I really, really enjoyed his song. Can't give a better compliment than that. I vote Elliott "Most Improved."

Kellie: Once again, she went for the jugular -- the Big Song. She certainly did a better job this week than last, but yeeee-ouch! -- going for that high note was NOT the best choice, no matter what they told her. It *would* have been, if she'd done it with real conviction, but she attacked it so tentatively that I expected her to stop in the middle of the song and say, "Did Ah do that raaaht, y'all?" And that Kewpie Doll hairdo didn't help matters. Kellie's Barbie Doll Brigade will probably keep her afloat again, but she *ought* to be the one going home this week.

Paris: Once again, a Big Song that she pulled off with aplomb ... but she was not my favorite. This young lady has amaaaaaazing breath control ... but what she lacks (probably because of her age) is any sense of subtlety. "I have a BIG VOICE, therefore I must sing as loudly as possible at any given moment." No, no, no ... can we say phrasing? Can we say dynamics? Hm, no, haven't learned those concepts yet, despite Bocelli trying to suggest them as diplomatically as possible ... oh, well. Paris does have a future, but I don't think it is as the 2006 Idol. Might be the one leaving us this week (unless Justice smiles and Kellie leaves instead).

Taylor: I like Taylor, really I do, but once again I must label this performance a disappointment. He is capable of much more. If he *fulfills* his potential, he could still win the whole shebang. But he seems to be going the opposite way again this week.

Chris: Much better than last week (and oh yes, must note that he looked darned sexy again in that jacket!). In good voice tonight -- must be all that singing from the floor! Should still be in the running.

Good show! What fun! Looking forward to next week. :)

[EmilyGeiger]

Elliot climbed to another level tonight. I'm actually starting to hope he wins! :)



Me too. :) Top 2 of Elliot and Taylor would be fun to watch. With Elliot winning it would be even better.

[EmilyGeiger]

House MD is on twice next week...


Same episode, just a repeat? Or is it 2 separate episodes?

[EmilyGeiger]

I hope not I like him.. Maybe House will save him and realize how much he needs him. :)

[kevkrom]

I feel like I've entered Bizarro World... Chris was the best singer of the night but needed to work on his stage presence? Taylor was boring? At least Kellie was as awful as I expected she'd be...

1. Chris - The clear winner tonight. First of all, an excellent song choice to match his voice and style. He also performed it well; sure I have some technical quibbles (some diction issues and a dropped phrase or two, mostly early). The only negative comments I have would have to do with Chris' physical performance -- for the first half of the song he looked like he was hiding behind the mic, after he took the mic off the stand, he looked angry not passionate. My Grade: A
2. Elliott - Man, can this guy sing. I'll agree with Randy that the arrangement wasn't great, but that Elliott delivered anyway. He's developing a nice style, and working with Manilow, Stewart, and now Foster is really starting to tech him how to perform instead of just sing. My Grade: A-
3. Paris - Another good "act" from Paris. I just still don't "buy" her as a popular singer, though. She's too theatrical, and her tone just isn't right for these styles. My Grade: B+
4. Katharine - The judges were overly harsh on her, to a degree. It was not a good song selection because of the difficulty and comparison factor. However, with the exception of a somewhat rocky beginning, she sang it well -- if it had not been a "Whitney" song, I think most of the criticism would have been avoided. And, as an aside, Kat can wear that dress anytime as far as I'm concerned. My Grade: B
5. Taylor - This just didn't deliver. There were pitch problems and it didn't have any real connection or conviction to it. My Grade: C
6. Kellie - The only thing that saved this from a total disaster is that she hit the climax of the song pretty well. The rest of it was off-key, poorly phrased, and boring. Even the advantage of the country style to let her slide into notes wasn't helping her hit them. She didn't even look good -- that hairstyle and makeup job was laughable.

Overall rankings:

1. Elliott Yamin (+2)
2. Chris Daughtry (+2)
3. Katharine McPhee (-2)
4. Paris Bennett (-2)
5. Taylor Hicks (NC)
6. Kellie Pickler (NC)