Tuesday, March 31, 2009

American Idol, Top 9: We Have No Theme Night

For a variety of reasons you wouldn't be interested in, I got interrupted in the middle of watching tonight's "American Idol," and when it came time for me to come back and watch everyone after Anoop (decent, but not worthy of being so smug towards the judges, even though they're mostly idiots) and Megan (a bit dull, but still much better than she's been in recent weeks), I found myself really struggling to care.

That sometimes happens at this phase of the contest where I haven't really latched onto a contestant yet, and I knew that if I kept going, I'd just be in a bad mood no matter what anybody else did. I came back to check out Adam, just because I wanted to see what bizarre thing he would do to "Play That Funky Music" (and I guess give him credit for never being dull, even if he's annoying half the time), and then stuck around through Kris' solid Bill Withers cover, but any opinions I apply to this show are going to be as irritated and uninspired as the faux theme. So go read the recap by my buddy Dan Fienberg, who's usually on the same wavelength as me and wasn't as detached from the proceedings, and fire away with your thoughts in the comments.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Overall, it was a crummy night. I thought the whole theme of the show was singing something on the current charts, and all but Matt did a song that's on the charts currently (and that didn't go too well for him). I find it odd when I think Danny is one of the best of the night (he didn't dance goofy for once - that might of helped), but Kris was probably the best for me. Everyone else was kind of a blur with dated song choices or were boring.

Anonymous said...

Oops, all but Matt didn't do a song currently on the charts.

John said...

I really thought that Kris was the best. I thought that Adam's performance, even with all his jazzed up work, really felt old. Maybe this is the week Megan finally goes home? What a weird song choice and a terrible performance.

Theresa said...

Yeah, you didn't miss much; it was a pretty dull night. I actually laughed out loud when they were recapping the night's performances and got to Adam's, though. I've got to hand it to him: the guy's got guts and he's always memorable.

Even if the judges are idiots, though, I'm sick of the contestants' pissy attitudes toward them. (I'm looking at you, Mr. Desai, but you're not the only one.)

55 said...

I love Adam, I'm going to be pissed if he doesn't win. Always original, unlike every other contestant. And he can really sing.

Kacie said...

What??? What's wrong with you people? I was totally into it tonight. You're right that Anoop and Megan were sub-par (and Lil was as well), but I really did love Kris, Adam, Mat, and Danny.

I completely disagreed with the judges about Matt - I really liked his performance today, and I don't just say that out of sympathy for last week's bottom three appearance. I wrote about.

And the lack of a theme was fine with me - the themes usually suck anyways. I don't want to see a rocker try to croon country, I want to see people do what they do best... and if they can't figure that out, kick 'em off!

Mike F said...

I'd be fine with no themes for every week. Just do any song they can get cleared for 12 weeks and let the chips fall where they may.

Loved Matt's performance, thought it was the best of the night. Liked Kris and Danny as well.

Cringed through Megan (and I'm pulling for her), disliked Anoop, respected Lil and Alison but didn't really enjoy them, and agree with Alan about Adam continuing to be annoying in a fantastic way.

LA said...

I really liked Kris tonight, loved his take on Ain't No Sunshine. And I have to give props to Adam for giving Ricky Minor and the band a shout-out; that was a class move.

My bottom 3 prediction is Anoop, Megan, and Scott.

LA said...

p.s. Loved having no mentor this week, what a breath of fresh air.

Anonymous said...

It wasn't the best, it wasn't terrible, it just kind of was. Tbh, I don't care if the contestants get even more pissy with the judges because the "advice" seems even more contradictory than most seasons. Wth was Kara trying to tell Anoop? You're supposed to go nuts with the runs and falsetto and blah, blah, blah on Usher instead of...singing it like Usher? But, isn't the point that Usher does all the crazy vocal crap and hits the high notes and if you want Anoop to do that and he didn't then he *didn't* do it like Usher. That puzzled me. But, Kara puzzles me, so whatever. I'm a little done with their treatment of Megan, too, not because she's knocking anybody dead with her performances, but because it seems that she's the pick this season for the "we aren't going to like you no matter what you do" slot. Her song was boring, but minus the stool she did pretty much what Paula wanted her to do. She pulled back from last week, which is what they wanted and...whatever. It seems to me that, if they are going to jump on the "you picked the wrong song" train with half the contestants every week then they should do a judge's choice round earlier in the competition. Top ten, do it. Show them what you want instead of being a broken record each week.

Kris was fantastic. I'm done with Adam. David Spade put gum under his seat. I can pick Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka out of the crowd no matter where they're seated. And...that's about it.

Anonymous said...

Overall, a pretty bad night. I thought I didn't like themes until they went themeless. FF'd thru Scott - don't like him, don't like Billy Joel. Was amazed that the judges liked Lil's performance even if they thought it was the wrong song. I hated it.

Kris was best - I may even download his version. Adam, very good. Anoop - lose the attitude already.
Megan, beautiful & quirky, yeah, we know. Go home.

Jenn. said...

I loved Kris's performance. I did not like Adam, although I appreciated that he had more imagination than most of the competitors. I liked Danny despite his song choice. I usually like Matt, but he just seemed off. Bad song choice from Allison---I hope that she survives.

The rest were either meh or bad. I hope Megan goes home, and if not her, Scott.

Anonymous said...

Is Neil Patrick Harris there every week? I don't always notice him. But that is because i fastfoward through 80% of the show.

This is still fun but mostly I am just getting impatient waiting for Danny's album to come out and waiting to see Adam on Broadway.

Unknown said...

Megan was sub-par? I've heard sick animals make better noises than what she sung!

Mike F said...

well, I love Billy Joel...if Alan was still reading these comments, bet I'd get an amen on that one