FOX is honoring the memory and celebrating the life of Michael Jackson with an encore showing of the Jackson-themed American Idol performance show, airing tonight from 8-10pm ET/PT. In this episode, this season’s top 13 contestants performed music from Michael Jackson’s songbook, including Lil Rounds singing “The Way You Make Me Feel,” Adam Lambert singing “Black or White,” Danny Gokey singing “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing),” Scott MacIntyre singing “Keep the Faith,” Michael Sarver singing “You Are Not Alone,” Jasmine Murray singing “I’ll Be There,” Kris Allen singing “Remember the Time,” Allison Iraheta singing “Give In to Me,” Anoop Desai singing “Beat It,” Jorge Nunez singing “Never Gonna Say Goodbye,” Megan Joy Corkrey singing “Rockin’ Robin,” Matt Giraud singing “Human Nature” and Alexis Grace singing “Dirty Diana.”

This marks the first time in the 8-year run of Idol that an episode has been rebroadcast.

Categories: Reality TV by RabbitEars
No Comments »

Tags: Adam Lambert, Alexis Grace, Allison Iraheta, American Idol, Anoop Desai, Beat It, Black or White, Danny Gokey, Dirty Diana, FOX, Give In to Me, Human Nature, I'll Be There, Jasmine Murray, Jorge Nunez, Keep the Faith, Kris Allen, Lil Rounds, Matt Giraud, Megan Joy Corkrey, Michael Jackson, Michael Sarver, Never Gonna Say Goodbye, P.Y.T., Remember the Time, Rockin' Robin, Scott MacIntyre, The Way You Make Me Feel, You Are Not Alone

by Ruth Anne Boulet

I’ll be splitting this blog posting into The Awesome, The Fantastic, The Mediocre, The Awful, The Expected, and The Actual Results. And so we begin.

The Awesome

What Adam Lambert was wearing when he sang “Beth.” The platform boots; the studded cages around his shoulders; the bedazzled eye makeup and then … KISS. Awesome. It’s so Spinal Tap, I love it. Even the platform that KISS descends to the stage looks like a little Stonehenge. There’s pyrotechnics! Explosions! Long tongues! The realization that none of the members of KISS sing all that well. Mom Lambert is way into the KISS medley. Paul Stanley does a poor Pete Townsend impression & ‘breaks’ his guitar really cleanly.

The Fantastic

David Cook’s performance was pretty good, but mostly because of the circumstances of why he wrote it. Didn’t like him that much during his season, but he’s kind of growing on me.

Cyndi Lauper & Allison Iraheta’s duet on “Time After Time.” Love both of them. [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
1 Comment »

Tags: Adam Lambert, American Idol, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll

by Ruth Anne Boulet

So this is it. The last time we’ll have a performance American Idol show all year. It begins with all of the pomp & circumstance you’d expect, although Idol still insists on using the ‘girl’ winner in the opening credits. Why, I’m not sure. The only thing we definitely know about this year’s winner is that it will NOT be a girl.

Kris won the coin toss, so he’s going second, but if you’ve been Googling Idol at all, you already knew that. Ryan mentions that we should all build in some extra time on our DVRs for tomorrow night’s show. Thanks for the heads-up Ryan.

Just because this is the last performance episode does not mean that we’re spared any filler. It’s better than usual filler, though, with Adam’s family talking about him being a pain in restaurants. He starts off with a reprise of his Mad World performance.

This time, he gets to come up through the floor to the top of the staircase. He also gets liberal amounts of fog and a Neo Matrix black trench and 80s fingerless gloves. I had heard he was going to do this song ‘with a twist’ and I’m really glad that he didn’t twist it up too much. [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
No Comments »

Tags: Adam Lambert, American Idol, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll

by Ruth Anne Boulet

So last Friday, I was one of the throngs who made their way down to the Summerfest grounds in Milwaukee to see Danny Gokey. Not because I’m a fan, but because I wanted to see just how crazy it would be. And it was quite crazy. I couldn’t see anything, and really couldn’t hear anything either. But I can say I was there, and I saw the ‘Cougars for Danny’ T-shirts. My only disappointment is that the one, repeat, one beer vendor was on the other side of the crowd from the entrance, so there was no way I could get to it. I learned later that a friend of mine was also there. Apparently I just missed frustration, because the beer tent was not well organized. There were no kegs, just servers pouring from bottles of beer. I’m glad I went & got decent beer in the Third Ward instead.

So I caught a little of the Night at the Museum tie-in at the beginning, and a bit of Alicia Keys, but then my power went out. I caught a little of the kid performing, but I wasn’t properly introduced. If anyone could introduce me, that would be super. My satellite also went out, so my DVR didn’t get America’s Next Top Model. I did catch the last bit, so I know who won. Thanks for the concern. [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
No Comments »

Tags: Adam Lambert, American Idol, Danny Gokey, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll

by Ruth Anne Boulet

We’re finally winding down this, the 8th season of American Idol. If I listened to the judges, tonight might seem superfluous. Why bother having a top 3 when the finale of Adam vs. Danny has been preordained? That’s the thing with American Idol. Sometimes what’s expected doesn’t occur. Can Kris Allen really break out & stay around another week?

I live right here in Milwaukee. We’ve actually got someone in the finals this year. It was pretty crazy on the lakefront last Friday when Danny Gokey came back to town. Am I a fan? No. Nothing would make me happier than to see him go home tomorrow. However, I was glad for the city of Milwaukee. It was a gorgeous day, and I’m hoping that we get a ton of good press out of this. For that, I’m thankful for Danny.

I’m not thankful for Danny’s voice, however. Because I think Milwaukee has milked all it can out of this, it’s time to send that boy home. Danny’s up first & we get footage of him getting his text from Paula. His judge’s choice song is “Dance Little Sister” from Terence Trent D’Arby. [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
No Comments »

Tags: Adam Lambert, American Idol, Danny Gokey, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll

by Ruth Anne Boulet

Tonight’s results show is a whole ton of filler for a 5 second show. I know that all results shows are a ton of filler, but with this episode, American Idol is shoving as many performances as possible to keep our interest. That’s probably a wise move. As the season draws to a close, viewers get more & more emotionally invested in the outcome. There’s less tolerance for stupid patter between the judges.

Like a really stupid Ford commercial. Wow. Does American Idol want Ford to go away? It seems like it with the amount of effort, or lack of effort, that has been going into those thing lately.

Group number, featuring Slash! Schools out for swine flu kids! Way to keep it topical American Idol! Slash is playing like he’s barely paying attention to the kids singing. He just wants to riff it many. Danny and Kris look so uncomfortable. Ryan also looks like Slash told him before the show not to violate his personal space or Ryan would get pummeled. I would not be surprised if that conversation occurred. [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
No Comments »

Tags: Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, American Idol, Danny Gokey, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll

by Ruth Anne Boulet

Paula Abdul was addicted to painkillers for years. Shocking. It’s like finding out Clay Aiken is gay.

Ryan tells us that there was an accident right before the show started with glass exploding everywhere. That’s putting it mildly. To get the on the scene reporting, check out MJ’s Twitter account.

We get a Slash package, which omits that David Bowie was a father figure. I learned that this weekend. Seriously, check out Wikipedia.

For those of you who may not approve of the Rock and or Roll, let me share a little something with you. Rock can be learned to teach the impressionable youth about many things.

[Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
1 Comment »

Tags: Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, American Idol, Danny Gokey, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll

by Ruth Anne Boulet

Over 47 million votes came in last night. Way to participate, America!

Idol seems to be losing energy on the Ford Commercial. This one is done to the song titled ‘Energy’ and the Idols don’t have much of it. They basically get to stand still & fake run. Then stand still again. They’re even shot from a distance so they don’t have to sing. The Idols must be getting tired.

This week’s group number is “It Don’t Mean a Thing” … and I can’t tell if they were actually singing it or not. It sounded a bit too smooth, but I didn’t see any big lip-syncing catastrophes.

Contestants get sorted into 2 camps — Kris and Matt, and Danny and Allison. Ryan does the typical ‘make a contestant choose a group to belong with’ crap with Adam. Adam selects Danny and Allison. Adam chooses incorrectly. In the shock of the season, the bottom 3 is Matt, Kris and … [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
No Comments »

Tags: Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, American Idol, Danny Gokey, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Matt Giraud, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll

by Ruth Anne Boulet

So this week’s theme is the Rat Pack. The question is — how tightly will American Idol adhere to the Rat Pack, or will it simply be songs of that era?

American Idol has decided that Jamie Foxx would be the best mentor for Rat Pack week. Huh? Oh, they give us a ‘package’ telling us just how much it makes sense. Whatever. I barely listened.

Kris Allen — The Way You Look Tonight
Jamie notes that Kris isn’t trying to sing The Throat Olympics. He also said if Kris loses, they could maybe do something together. Ok, Jamie, you’re kind of winning me over. Kris has a good voice for this genre, but he’s not really doing anything spectacular with it. He tries to break out by doing an up-tempo section. It’s fun, but he’s going to have a hard time overcoming his success with disco week. Yo, check it out baby, check it out. Who’s in it to win it? Randy thinks it’s Kris’ best performance to date. Mad, nice vocals. Kara said Kris has set the technical standard really high. Paula thinks Kris is a contemporary crooner. Simon’s not as enthusiastic, because it was a little bit wet. Kris is compared to taking a well trained spaniel for a walk. Nice, but nothing exciting. [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
No Comments »

Tags: Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, American Idol, Danny Gokey, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Matt Giraud, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll

by Ruth Anne Boulet

This week we’re back to lip syncing. But at least this week, it’s with a purpose. The Idols are lip-syncing because they are being choreographed by the one & only Paula Abdul. Paula did not work with them on lip syncing.

Ryan first pulls out Lil Rounds & brings her to the middle of the stage. But this time, instead of sending her over to the stools of doom, she just gets sent packing right at the top of the show. It’s almost as if Idol has decided she’s not worth the time anymore, so just get her out of the way right off the bat. She sings her swan song and Paula asks why she didn’t sing that strongly the night before. Randy notes that it’s only the beginning for Lil. Bye. [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
No Comments »

Tags: Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, American Idol, Anoop Desai, Danny Gokey, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Lil Rounds, Matt Giraud, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll