Posted on 03/21/2007 2:18:26 PM PDT by rface
The LAT's crack American Idol Showtracker investigative team was backstage at last night's taping, which introduced Fox's latest breakout star to nearly 30 million television viewers: young Ashley Ferl, the girl so memorably paralyzed by the spasms of tears elicited by Idol's resident Destroyer of Popular Music Sanjaya Malakar's eardrum-perforating performance. Reports the Times on how the show's producers came to identify the undeniable talent in their midst:
" First things first: Who was the crying girl? After the show, I chatted with Idol's newest superstar, the crying girl, Ashley Ferl, aged 13, from Riverside. For some long minutes after the show, Ashley remained in a state of inconsolable sobbing, unable to choke out a single word. However, through an interpreter (her mother) we were eventually able to learn some facts about the young superstar.
" The family, I was told, obtained tickets on a website to attend a taping of "Smarter Than a 5th Grader" a day passage that included not just the taping of the show itself, but also the dress rehearsal of either "Grader" or "Idol." The fates were kind, and the mother and daughter found their way to the "Idol" rehearsal, where Ashley's waterworks began. Her prowess was quickly brought to the attention of "Idol" producers who summoned the clan to a ringside seat of honor at the final taping.
" Her powers of speech slowly returning, Ashley revealed that while she was on stage she had been thinking that "this was the coolest thing ever." Asked whom she was supporting in the competition she named "Sanjaya, Melinda, Gina and Jordin" as her picks, refusing to narrow her vote down to a single choice. All my journalistic powers of persuasion, cajoling, bullying and insistence that on her vote might turn the entire competition, that "Listen to reason, young Ferl, there can't be four American Idols," would not convince her to name a single favorite. To my every argument, she would only repeat her mantra, "All Four: Sanjaya, Melinda, Gina and Jordin." And so the race begins in earnest, with tears at every step of the way.
Their reporting makes no mention of whether or not Fox, never a network to leave any opportunity for exploitation unexplored, has invited Ferl back for tonight's result show, knowing that the superfan's unflagging support of four of the remaining eleven hopefuls leaves them with (at worst) a thirty-seven percent chance of capturing on camera the utter ruination of her childhood should one of her favorites be dismissed. The resulting paroxysm of sorrow will immediately become part of the "farewell montage" that plays each contestant off the stage and into the professional purgatory of the Idol Tour, where the girl's flood of uncontrollable tears will remind viewers about the lives they destroy each and every week with their phone calls and text messages.
and sometimes the 'r' just vanishes! :)
so you come here and post...bless your pea pickin' heart.
They did it for Bing Crosby??
Are you total series about that?
"Television? I only watch the Arts Channel or Public Television".
...with their noses in the air.
They should know, we have class up the wahzoo! ROFL!
Too funny.
Yeah, Mark was cute too. That's neat that you met him. I used to love that show. I mean, the campy Dr. Smith, the robot; how could ya not love it, ya know?
He sang the song "Time of the Season" or something like that. It's a great old song. He did it well and did the sound effects too.
Good job! You are way more 'puter literate than I am fer sure.
I think it's just that with the open neck, we see the little one that's there, but she does look just fine there.
I'm still cracking up at this. You are quite observant.
I have to tell my daughter the reason for the line "A generation Lost in Space" in Bye Bye American Pie, but then I have to tell her the meaning of the song in the first place.
Yes...I had a picture in my head...but he really fits it.
Thanks..Mo1
I agree.
When they invited her up on the stage at the end, with all the singers hugging her, you think she could have managed even a slight smile, but she was still hysterical crying.
Because it isn't really a singing competition - it's an entertainment device to sell ad time.
would your daughter even care?
Sanjaya guaranteed his place on the Idols tour this summer, with that performance. I look forward to hearing his new album, he is an intelligent, and important new artist.
"And people should go easy on the kid...afterall, if anyone took the trouble to view the archived videos of young girls greeting Elvis and the Beatles they would see similar behavior...crying, shrieking, sobbing, etc"
Are you seriously comparing Elvis and the Beatles to an Idol contestant?? And a bad one at that!!
Guy Williams was Zorro and dad in LIS. We are ashamed of you Williams for not knowing that.
Apparently there was a mix up with another girl from a couple of years back also named Ashley.
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