Back to Reality . . .

The season of reality shows (at least the ones I watch) has come to an end.  I am thrilled that Donald Driver took the Dancing With The Stars Mirror Ball trophy.  The three finalists were three of the best to ever be on the show.  Donald's freestyle, country dance is probably what pushed him to the front of the line.  It was amazing!

Season 15 will be an All-Stars rematch, which sounds like great fun.  Although a few of the slots are already filled (click here for details), I've concocted my own Dream Season Top 10.  I want to see:

1. Donny Osmond 
2. Joey Fatone
3. Hines Ward
4. Emmitt Smith
5. Apolo Anton Ohno
6. Helio Castroneves
7. Kelly Osborne
8. Erin Andrews
9. Kelly Monaco 
10. Drew Lachey

Who would you like to see return?

American Idol:  I didn't watch this week - not out of spite because my favorite was eliminated last week (although I was disappointed) but in frustration over AI's messed up voting/judging process.  I hope every year that the producers will wise up and limit votes-per-person as they do on DWTS.  Hopefully this would eliminate the mass voting by computer and the websites like this one that encourage people to vote for the worst.  By the way - the "Vote For The Worst" pack is rooting for Phillip.  Just saying...

One Of These Things . . .

One of these things is not like the others.
One of these things just doesn't belong.
Can you tell which thing is not like the others?
Just have them sing you a song!*

Thank you, Sesame Street, for supplying the theme song for American Idol's Final 3.  Here are my scores for last night's performances:

1.  Joshua - 15 out of 15
2.  Jessica - 13 out of 15
3.  Phillip - 6 out of 15

Steven Tyler hand-picked a song for Phillip and begged him to sing the melody, but no go.  Even the eternally perky JLo dinged him a little for messing with the melody in defiance. It's been a season-long battle between judge/mentor advice and his stubborn desire to "be himself" - right down to re-wearing a gray shirt Tommy Hilfiger advised against weeks ago. The reason was painfully obvious (even more so than usual) when Phillip sang Bob Seger's We've Got Tonight - chosen by mentor Jimmy Iovine.  I think Phillip tried to sing it straight, with a minimum of screwed-up facial expressions, backbeats and adjustments to the melody.  Bizarrely, it was his best performance of the night, in my book, but (hopefully) it reminded everyone that this is a singing contest and he just doesn't have the voice.  Compared to Jessica and Joshua, he's a chihuahua among the pitbulls. When the fight starts, no amount of swagger is going to make him as good as the big dogs.


*For those of you unfamiliar with the Sesame Street song quoted above, here's the original:

American Idol: Four to go . . .

American Idol was pretty easy to score this week, for me anyway.  Narrowing it down to the final two next week will be a lot tougher. 

The Amazing Joshua is still on his thrown at the top of the heap.  His gospel-flavored version of You Lift Me Up was everything a song should be.  It showed his complete range, low-to-high and soft-to-loud, there was a dramatic moment with the keychange in the middle, he didn't clutter it up with runs and other tricks to show off.  He just sang the beautiful melody in that clear, perfect voice and wowed me.  During his second song, I do believe he channeled James Brown.  Awesome!

The two girls share the middle of the line-up, with Hollie edging forward just slightly. For starters she looked amazing.  Either she has the best stylist or she has some style of her own.  I totally disagreed with the judges on her second song, Bonnie Raitt's I Can't Make You Love Me.  I thought her emotion was obvious and I loved it. 

I would like to interject another topic here: the stage productions.  Who is coordinating this stuff?  The maze of moving canister lights that Hollie had to navigate detracted from her performance. One even shone directly into the camera, momentarily blinding the audience. No wonder the judges didn't think the song connected, she was trying to dodge the Bat Signal the whole time. Same goes for having the ENTIRE freaking orchestra milling around on stage during Joshua's second song.  The musicians belong in the background and props like fabric swings are unnecessary and unfair to the singers.  Anyway - back to business...

Jessica is near perfection - if you close your eyes while she sings.  That voice is big and powerful and incredible, but an Etta James song coming out of that 16-year-old face is just silly, not to mention slightly creepy.  The judges knocked Hollie down for not having "gone through enough" in her life to put the proper emotion into her song, yet applauded wildly when Jessica sang the blues, which Randy described as being about "soul, heart and pain".  The most pain that girls had was when the head came off her Barbie doll.  Someone tell her to pick age-appropriate songs, please.

And lagging sadly behind, we have Phillip.  Sorry, but his voice is just not in the same class as the other three.  No matter how much praise the judges pile on for being "himself" or being "original" - his voice just isn't "big" enough.  He fades into the background.  And singing on key would be a good idea, too.  I think Phillip is the obvious choice to go home this week, leaving three amazing competitors for the last two shows.

And finally, the biggest question of the night . . . Who told Jennifer Lopez that lavender lipstick was a good idea?

And Then There Were Five . . .

American Idol:  It's coming down to the wire - only five contestants left, at least for a few more hours.  We thought last night was a phenomenal night for everyone.  Even our least favorites had a good moment.  Here's how the points stacked up, according to me.  (The views expressed in this blog do not necessarily reflect the views of all members of our household.)

Joshua - 10+  Perfect, yet again.  After his first song, Dave said "I would pay to see that concert."  Guest that about covers it.

Jessica - 10  Finally, she puts some personality into her flawless singing!  She got lucky with the minor change in the arrangement that Steven Van Zant suggested for Proud Mary.  It was subtle, but gave a slightly different flavor to the opening. Her second song was tender and beautiful!  Fantastic job!

Hollie - 9  She came out of her shell and ROCKED River Deep, Mountain High!  Her second song was a current pop song that I was only vaguely familiar with and didn't care for, but she sang it beautifully.

Here's a shocker:  I gave Phillip 7 out of 10.  His first performance was a song I've known and loved for years - well, since the 60's, obviously.  He totally rewrote it - which can be a fine line to walk, but it worked. 4 stars!  His second song, Time of the Season, was mostly good - but, whoa, the chorus!!!  The verses were gorgeous - on pitch, mellow tone, he actually sang the melody - but then came the chorus.  Just one line - "It's the time of the season for loving." - It was horrendous.  It was too high for Phillip so he went off key and his voice faded out.  Ruined the song!  I gave him a 3 because the rest of the song was so good - but he should have lowered the key or chosen another song.

And then there's Skylar. I gave her 6 out of 10, not because she doesn't sing well, but because she's stuck in a rut.  For her first number, she took an up-tempo song where she could stomp her foot and jump around and sing as loud as possible - Surprise! 2 stars.  When she started her 2nd song I was hopeful.  It was quiet(er) and beautiful. I thought she was finally going to show a different side - but she just couldn't help herself.  She just had to blast it at the end and the last note went horribly wrong.  Note to Skylar: Restraint is your friend. Not every song needs to be belted at full volume. I gave her 4 stars for the first 3/4 of the song. 


And a quick note on Dancing With the Stars - I'm so disappointed that Jaleel White got cut.  He was miles better than Little Laura Ingalls, who's footing went obviously wrong multiple times - not to mention a vulgar lift.  Evidently more people watched Little House than Family Matters.  The top 4 contestants - Donald, William Levy, Katherine and Maria - were unbelievable.  Can't wait for the finale of this season!

Reality Wrap-Up

Dancing With The Stars:  Motown Week was a hoot - loved the performances by Smokey Robinson and The Temptations.

As if you couldn't guess, Jaleel White's cha-cha was my favorite this week.  The boy's got rhythm!  Katherine Jenkins was also phenomenol.  Mark's original choreography, which has been both a blessing and a curse to past contestants, has been only a plus for her this season.

On the lower end of the spectrum, Gladys Knight and Roshon Fegan (better known as "Disney Boy" at our house) ended up in the dance off.  I expected Roshon to be an easy winner, but some off-beat kicks and frantic arm-waving made it a close decision.  Although they say they only consider that one dance, the judges can't help but take the entire season into consideration, and I think they made the right choice.

American Idol:  Breaking news - - - I don't agree with the judges!  At one point last night, JLo took Hollie down (politely, of course) for getting emotional, then told her she needs to let her emotions show.  I don't know where they get these judges, but they should find some who know something about music!  (*sarcasm*)

As is becoming a tradition, I ranked Joshua Ledet at the top!  I'm running out of words - Wow, Awesome and Amazing just aren't cutting it any more.  So how about "Perfection"?

There were a couple of surprises, however.  Here's my  "leader board":

Joshua - 10 out of 10

Hollie - 9 out of 10.  Her first song had some beautiful tender moments and emotion, but no "wow" moment.  Song #2, "The Climb", earned her a Joshua-style "perfection" mark.

Jessica - 8 out of 10.  That little, bitty girl has such an unbelievable voice - but she edited "Bohemian Rhapsody" down to the easy parts.  It may have been sung beautifully, but points off for no challenge.  Song #2 - FINALLY!  Finally, she used all that talent and emotion.  She even gave Dave "goosies".

Elise - 6 out of 10.  I was excited for her to get to show her rock side again, and she did the song well technically, but again, no "wow" moment.  Song #2 was, evidently, a Jimmy Hendrix song, but unfamiliar to me.  Technically complex, but I couldn't understand one single word she sang.  Just didn't trip my trigger.

Phillip - 4 out of 10.  His version of Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls" was sooooo far out of his element that I actually felt bad for him.  He tried, but it was too slow and he didn't stand out from the band.  One of the judges called his second song "too artsy".  I just called it "ugly"!

And a special note about Skylar.  I gave Skylar 2 out of 10 possible points - 1 per song.  I'm not denying she can sing and knock it out of the park, but it's time to move on or go home.  For her Queen song she chose an obscure song and sang it exactly like she sings every song - start loud, get louder until she's screaming.  I take notes as I watch, and this is what I wrote for Skylar's second song:  "Guess what? Skylar can sing a country song, sing it loudly and scream at the end!  Blah, blah, blah!"  Do I know that, technically she deserved more than 2 points? Yes. But she's going to have to do something else to earn them from me.  Cause it's my blog and I can judge if I want to, judge if I want to....

American Idol/Dancing With the Stars

Interesting week on American Idol.  Glad each contestant sang two songs because the first round certainly showed my age.  Talent is talent, no matter what song they're singing, but it's hard to judge originality and style when I've never heard the songs before.  Round two was much more my cup of tea - or Diet Coke, as the case may be.

I judged it as a three-way tie.  Joshua, Colton and Skylar each received 9 out of 10 points on my personal rating scale.  After Joshua's first song, Dave said, "He just set the standard for every other contestant to try to reach."  His second song, Change is Gonna Come, didn't quite hit his own high mark.

Colton started with a Lady Ga-Ga song that I've heard but wasn't terribly familiar with.  The low notes in the verses were a little off pitch, but the rest was great.  For his second number he chose Earth Wind and Fire's September.  Wow!  Just, WOW!!  The judges, didn't like it, but what do they know?  It was original, it was beautiful, it was Colton.  The consensus at our house - the judges are certifiable, Tom Cruise NUTS!!

I have consistently berated Skylar because she sings basically the same song every week.  While I would still like to hear her try something slower and quieter (even Alice Cooper sings a ballad on occasion), her two choices last night were "different".  Different from what she usually sings, and different from the original.  A reviewer for the New York Times said Skylar sang Lady Ga-ga's Born This Way "in a way that made it sound like her own personal anthem".

Jessica was close behind the leaders, with 8 points.  Hollie held her own, though she may have proven that R&B is not her thing.  My prediction for the bottom two would be Phillip (every song sounds the same and he never makes eye contact) and Elise...poor Elise.  I really WANT to like her, she has great technical skill, but every song leaves me flat.  Oh, except her rendition of Let's Get it On.  Marvin Gaye's version is smooth as butter - hers was vinegar!

Dancing With the Stars held Latin Week.  At the risk of sounding 15, Katherine Jenkins was awesome!  She has a second career as a dancer if that opera thing doesn't pan out.  Also loved Donald, William and Jaleel.  No one, Gavin included, was surprised that he went home.  He's a talented singer and enjoyable, but rhythm escapes him.

But the biggest news?  Little Laura Ingalls got bleeped! :)

Yeah, They Were Dancin' and Singin' and Movin' to the Groovin' . . .

My American Idol review is starting to sound like a broken record - but a really good one:  

Joshua - Winner, winner, chicken dinner!  He chose a good song, his voice is amazing, enough said! 

Colton - Equally awesome! 

Skylar, Hollie and Jessica - All "nearly" perfect in my opinion, but each with a slight flaw that kept them just below Joshua and Colton. (Did anyone else want to get Skylar a decongestant?  The nasal twang on the "wind" in Wind Beneath My Wings was too much for me.) 

That leaves Deandre, Elise and Phillip - also known as boring, blah and off key.   

There was no middle ground for me - It was a love 'em or not so much kinda night.

DWTS:  I was sad that Jack Wagner got sent home, but I'm hoping it means he has free time to return to General Hospital. 

But oh, the tears, to nearly every dance and emotional story behind it.  Katherine Jenkins blew me away.  The heartbreak of her story was so evident and her dance was amazing!

William Levy's dance (one of the Latin ones) was also excellent, but I'm still miffed that he's not an actual "star".  But, just because he's the token guy-who-looks-good-without-a-shirt doesn't mean he can't dance.  And his story about his early life in Cuba was shocking and (what else) made me cry.  

I've been a Jaleel White fan the first few weeks but the rumors of his "hissy fit" put me off a bit.  I'm going to assume that the truth lies somewhere between the tabloid stories and total innocence.  

So do you totally agree with me?  No?  Who did you pick?

Reality TV Wrap Up

Joshua Ledet

American Idol

Once again, I thought Joshua Ledet was the clear winner on American Idol.  That kid can sing!  Randy called Josh's performance "flawless" and I agree.  On my scale of 5 stars, Joshua got a 10!

Nipping at Joshua's heels, with 5 of 5 stars, were:
Elise Testone - Her rockin' Led Zepplin number showed a new side I liked.

Hollie Cavanagh - Hollie managed to take a song I don't like and make me love her performance anyway.

Phillip Phillips - A little different style for Phillip and the first time I thought he was enjoying himself.  In spite of Phillips protestations that he doesn't want to be made into a star (thus his refusal to listen to Tommy Hilfiger) - that he just wants to be himself - he always strikes me as working a little too hard to convince us that he's being natural.  Last night he let go of that andhad fun and I liked it.

Jessica Sanchez was close behind with 4 stars.  Jessica may have the best voice of the bunch but, in my book, she lost a point on basic technique.  Breathing and phrasing are essential and every time she sucked in a breath mid-word, it grated on me:  "beautiful night [gasp of air] mare." 

At the low end of the spectrum were Deandre Birkenstick and Skylar Laine.  The few notes Deandre sang in his normal voice were beautiful, but enough already with the squeeky falsetto!  Dave's review: "I never want to hear him sing again.!"  Skylar actually did a nice job, but it was just the same ol', same ol'.  She has one style, one volume, one tempo.  Time to change it up.

A couple of side notes:

• Dave requests that bouncers be placed in the teen crowd at the front of the stage and that they immediately evict anyone who waves their arms in the air during a song.  At the very least, please require that the cameraman not line up his shot to intentionally show the waving teens and that contestants be disqualified if they stoop to touch waving hands during their performance.

• We are aware of our age and we try not to let it affect our opinions of the performances.  Contestants frequently choose songs we've never heard, which is understandable since we really haven't listened to much pop music in the last 20 years.  But a bigger issue is when these little whipper-snappers announce that they're going to do "Without You" by Mariah Carey and we scream at the TV, "That's not a Mariah Carey song, that's a Harry Nillsen song!"  I'm not really sure what my point is here, except that it makes me feel really old and I don't like it.

Dancing With The Stars

We were slightly sad to see Martina Navratilova go home first - even though she was probably the worst dancer - because the name of the show is Dancing with the Stars and she's actually a star rather than a model who slept with George Clooney, or an actor who's biggest role was in a music video.  Our point being that the producers seem to be either struggling to get real stars to participate (unlikely) or they are choosing some contestants based on how they look half-naked (more likely).

There are more exceptional dancers this year than in past seasons, so it's hard to pick a clear front-runner, but my favorites so far are:

• Katherine Jenkins - she's just so blonde and adorable and so totally NOT what you expect from an opera singer.
• Jaleel White - so talented and so NOT Urkel
• Gladys Knight - talk about a star! And still beautiful, elegant and talented at 63.  Love her!

And of course, Jack Wagner, who gets my vote just for being half of Frisco and Felicia, the soap opera "super couple" from General Hospital (circa 1980's). 


Ok, here's where you tell me how wrong I am and who you think should win . . .

My Kind of Reality TV

This week we added Dancing With the Stars to American Idol so that pretty much lays out our Spring TV viewing.  Here's what I thought this week.  Feel free to disagree - my husband does.

American Idol

Erica is the clear winner this week.  Loved her makeover, loved her song.  She put the appropriate grit into New York State of Mind.

A close second was Joshua who did his usual phenomenal job, I just wished he had chosen a more well-known song.

My choices for bottom three were Skylar, Heejun and Colton.  Here's my reasoning:  Skylar should have listened to the pros - both in wardrobe and singing.  She has a nice voice but tends to try too hard to always be a powerhouse and it verges on screaming.  Heejun sang My Life, which is one of Billy Joel's best, but he killed it - and not in a good way.  The key was too low, which gave him pitch issues and there was no passion.  If you're gonna sing a song about telling the world where to get off, you need to have some fire behind it.

And, yes, Colton.  The judges raved and Dave gave him the top spot but, while I can't deny that Colton's an incredible musician, he could have taken a lesson from JLo.  She talked about how Billy Joel writes his life into his songs and they need to be sung with the appropriate emotion.  Piano Man is the story of a piano player in a bar, playing for "the regular crowd".  The mood of the song matches the mood of the bar - laid back, simple, perhaps a little melancholy.  Colton's version took that mood out of the song and that ruined it for me.

One final note:  Why, oh why, did only a couple of the contestants listen to the fashion advice they were given?  This is Tommy Freakin' Hilfiger!  He might know a thing or two about fashion.  And you'll avoid wearing a dress that makes your hips look like an artichoke.

Dancing With The Stars

This is going to be an amazing season.  There were really no bad performances on the first night.  I was amazed by Jaleel "Urkel" White's musicality and showmanship.  I'm going to enjoy watching Melissa Gilbert square off with Max.  She handled Nellie Olson - Max will be a cakewalk.  And good golly, Miss Molly, but Gladys Knight can still move!

But the guy who gets my vote is Jack Wagner.  Doesn't matter if he spits on the judges and falls on his face, he's still Frisco Jones (General Hospital 1983-1995).  Gotta vote for the 80's heartthrob!

American Idol

For the second week, Joshua Ledet was the big winner on American Idol.  His rendition of When a Man Loves a Woman was phenomenal!  He had emotion; beautiful pitch; was individual without making the song unrecognizable; and his performance had that "big moment" that gives you goosebumps.  I loved it!

Colton and Holly tied for the other spots in my top three.  Holly sounded great, but the song had no dynamics.  As soon as she hit the first note, I thought "Wow, that's amazing, but where do you go from there?" And I was right, it went nowhere.  It didn't go downhill, but it didn't build either.

I'm not a hard-rock girl, so it's always difficult for me to measure the rockers in the group, but even I could tell that Colton did well.  

The rest of the pack was just that - one big group of decent but not outstanding.  And that's what I have to say about that this week!

American Idol

I'm starting a new feature - a weekly roundup of our favorite reality/game shows:  American Idol and Dancing With The Stars (new season starts Monday, March 19).  Disclaimer: This is purely for entertainment. I don't have any degrees in music, any experience in music performance or production, or any inside information on these shows.  However, I still think I know more about music in general, and current pop music specifically, than those record-producer/rock star types.  

Last night's top dog, hands-down winner was Joshua Ledet, who sang "I Wish".  Josh was in a class by himself for vocals, performance and originality.  

Our second spot went to Jessica Sanchez, who sang "I Will Always Love You".  That's a big song, recorded by two very powerful icons, so it was a gutsy choice.  Loved the acapella beginning, but she got too caught up in flamboyant runs and fake vibrato.  She's  got the power and the voice to just stand there and sing that song - sing the beautiful melody that Dolly Parton wrote without attempting flashy embellishments and everyone would be bowled over.

Deandre Brackensick was much better than usual; he avoided the constant falsetto and kept his hair in a ponytail so he didn't look like Cher doing the hair flip.  Skylar Layne was also above the pack - she got three "beautifuls" from Stephen Tyler.   Hollie Cavanaugh was the final contestant to make my "above average but didn't blow me away" rank.  

This is the first Idol performance I can remember (and we've watched every season except #1) that I didn't think there were any really bad performances - just varying grades of forgettable.  The low end of the spectrum, in my opinion, was Elise Testone (unfairly, because the judges forced her to switch songs and, I think, killed her chances in the process), Colton Dixon, and Heejun Han.  The remaining contestants are just kind of a mediocre blur.  

Dave disagrees with my rankings slightly - he's a much bigger Colton fan than I - but he agreed that there were a lot of "meh" performances, and sometimes the show really misses Simon Cowell's dissenting voice (though not his attitude) when the current judges say basically the same thing to every contestant.

Who are your favorites? And who earned your thumbs down?