... Dave Kingman (er, Katharine McPhee) has struck out. I did a liveblogging-style story for the Ledger, which has been posted here. Feel free to come back here to comment.
In the meantime, how about that Prince? Can't he just perform for two hours straight next year?
Oh, and because I had to cover "Idol" live, I won't get to see "Lost" until tomorrow morning. Cone of Silence, back in effect!
Very funny post. Two comments: (1) your mention of the homoeroticism between a few of the men made me giggle because my husband always insists that there is an enormous amount of sexual tension between Ryan and Ace; and (2) how awesome is Prince. Didn't you love tonight's show? And didn't you get choked up a little bit - both when Claudette (Elliott's mom) won some cheesy award and when Taylor's parents were obviously so freakin' proud of their son when he won? Oy.
ReplyDeleteOverall I guess I was happy Taylor won - he surely deserved to. Already looking forward to next year and dreading the Tuesday night void in my life for the next few months.
I so didn't recognize Clay Aiken the first time I zipped through on TiVo; he looks like Daniel Franco from Runway now.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I [heart] Prince with the ardor of a million suns, but couldn't he have done *one* old song?
Prince was on Idol? Damn, I actually might have watched it if I'd known.
ReplyDeleteNot to be a spammer or anything, but my thoughts on the Lost finale are here. Mainly, I'm trying to figure out why I DON'T want to strangle J.J. Abrams. Because if I had any sense I'd have a Google map of his house and a garrotte in my hands right now.
Well done, Alan. YOU deserve a convertible.
ReplyDeleteNotice how Katharine seemed to be in better voice than last night? Maybe the pressure really did get to her... I wish she would've sung "Natural Woman" at some point this season (she didn't, did she?), because she started it great... that's her kind of song, she really contemporizes and personalizes old soul tunes like that, without trying to act like she's Aretha reborn.
Similarly, I wish Elliott Yamin had sung "A House Is Not a Home" during the competition (with a smidgen less miasma or magma or whatever...)
Nice to see most of the old finalists again. Although Mandisa (a.k.a. Yellie McScreams) wore out her welcome quick. Paris is quite the little firecracker, ain't she? She gives off sparks on stage, she just does. But she made a mess of "Close to You." (Or, as Jaynee might point out, "Cuh-lose to You.")
And Kevin Covais's "What's New Pussycat?" was a hoot.
Prince... way to get with the program, dude. That five minutes of work will probably translate to at least 100,000 new albums sold. Here's hoping next season he consents to allow his songs to be used in the competition.
Favorite schadenfreude moment: when that poor Clay-Aiken-wannabe shmuck had to be pulled aside by Seacrest, letting the guy know that the idea WASN'T for him to do a DUET with Clay Aiken. It was like, "Sit down and shut up, jerk-ass!" Man... show business can be so cruel.
He looks and sounds like a miniature version of Live singer Ed Kowalczyk; maybe they can bring him on tour in a case that reads, "In case of frontman emergency, break glass."
ReplyDeleteA-hahahahahahahaha! Oh, that moment killed me, and it killed any lingering love I had for Chris; I'd never seen Live before, so I had no idea that Chris had simply ripped off the leader's style 100%. And people complained about *Taylor* being too derivative! Oy, that was a bad move for Chris to make, I think; looking like a total poser is probably not the last image you want to leave your audience with.
The Clay/imitator pairing was also freakish and surreal. Clay's rentboy hair was especially hilarious.
But I'll hand it to the producers: I had no intention of watching the finale once Lost started, but once I caught the first hour, I could not tear my eyes away. So I TiVo'ed Lost and watched the rest on the finale on a different TV, gaping and giggling the whole time. Prince, WTF? Meatloaf, what were you thinking?
I admit, I'm not a fan of American Idol; from what I've seen, even the best singers aren't that good, and the song selection is unfailingly horrid. Plus, so many commercials!
ReplyDeleteI watched last night, though, because my son likes it. Am I the only person on earth who thinks these people just aren't that good? And the songs! Fer crissakes, "In the Ghetto"?
On the plus side, though: Prince still rocks.
Brilliant moment by moment recap, Alan.
ReplyDeleteI was unsure of whether Meatloaf was being magnanimous (hello, there Mary J. Itsallaboutme)or in fact he just lost the chops with the extra 200 pounds. And WTF Toni B.? Did they even tell her what song she'd be singing? Had she heard it before?
I think Live is just going to induce Chris into a coma (turnabout being fair play) and keep him alive, harvesting spare parts as needed.
Job I would least want: doing the post-show laundry for the Clay Aiken wannabe.
Job I would most want: dressing Kat. Or at least, applying the lubricant for the dresses to come on and off. I may not ever buy concert tickets or CDs from Kat, but the Kat McPhee edition of Maxim Mag? I'm so there.
Isn't Burt Bacharach dead yet? No? So it's just his music then, OK. Whew.
Yeah, let's dress Kat in a sheath that even would make Ginger Rogers say "Nah, can't be done", put her onstage with Taylor, and go for a "dance moment". Good plan.
No surprises. Taylor is the Idol. Kat gets the consolation prize, which is an actual, meaningful career. Win/win.
1) Never have seen an episode of Idol and never will. NO time for dumb TV. 2) Prince has made a decent record since "Sign O' The Times." FACT!!!
ReplyDeleteubm, thanks for the shout-out! *lol* I admit that I FF'd through most of the cast medleys, and didn't hear Paris since Cuh-lose to You. =)
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a great finale and am surprised by most of the negative reviews I've read online this morning. In past years I've FF'd through the majority of the finale, but last night the only parts I FF'd were the cast medleys and only a couple of the rockstar/cast duets.
LOVED Prince. That tiny man is amazing.
Gaiken's hair - I'm convinced it was his way of coming out of the closet without actually SAYING it.
Louis, you're not the only person who thinks those people just aren't that good. The unending American appetite for absolutely crappy manufactured music never ceases to amaze me.
ReplyDeleteOops, I shouldn't confine that to Americans; the Brits seem to love some amazingly bad music, too :-D
ReplyDelete"Sometimes it's hard to gauge over at TWoP if people hate it or just like to snark about it."
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure they're capable of doing anything else.