I told myself I probably would only catch it here and there. I said, "This is no longer must-see TV - I may not even watch it until a couple of days later. I definitely can't compete in Shmuel's Pool this year."
Wrong, wrong, and SO WRONG.
Why, American Idol, whyyyyyyyyyyyy? Why must you suck me in with the crazy/oddly-sexy that is Steven Tyler? Why must you cause me to wonder things such as, "Why the hell is J. Lo wearing a scarf on her head?" And WHY has Randy Jackson somehow become The Voice of Reason??!!
So infuriating, yet I am sucked in once again.
THIS...is American Idol 2011, baby. Say what you will, but we're all mostly still watching and we're all in it for the haul. So here's some of my random thoughts and opinions on how the season is shaping up so far.
- First, I have always loved Steven Tyler, so I was excited when he got the gig. And his enthusiasm has been a pleasant surprise. I mean, he is LOVING these kids so much. He's enjoying the whole thing, even the painful auditions. "I enjoyed that so much. Not right for this show, but I enjoyed it." He just likes to be entertained, people. I do have to say that he hasn't been great on the performance shows so far, but he was gold in Hollywood and the auditions. The quote of the whole season for me has been, "Are those Tevas, man? Right on." Brilliance. Now he just needs to stop liking everyone on the performance shows, because he is telling off-key people, "That was beautiful." No, no it was not. Dude has potential, though. And I love when he sings along!!
- J. Lo - the jury is still out for me on Ms. Lopez. She's a little too nice at times, and is also falling into the loving-the-bad-people trap on the performance shows, but if she starts judging it as a singing competition and not a performance one, then we'll be good. Don't ever tell contestants to worry more about the performance than the pitch and the notes. Noooooo. Here's to also hoping that The Scarf makes another appearance.'
- Randy. Ugh. I'm still not a fan, but I sadly find myself agreeing with him 70% of the time. He's become The Truth on the show, and it needs it.
In terms of the contestants, you KNOW I always have to have my mini-obsessions and my kryptonites. Sadly, my mini-obsession Brett didn't make it past the top 24, so I'm without one right now. And I'm not saying I thought Brett was top 12 material, I just liked his little wound-up energy and him telling the judges he was "eager" at his audition. The clincher for me came in the Top 24 performance night when he ran back onstage to hug Ryan and blurted out, "I love you!" We all love you, Ryan. And I'm still unhappy about Robbie Rosen not clinching the wild card spot that undeservedly went to Ashthon. Other than that, my dream final 2 is Lauren Alaina and Casey Abrams, Lauren for the win. I also can't help loving Scotty.
On the flipside, we have my kryptonite. I actually have TWO this season. Ladies and gentleman, I give you James Durbin and Jacob Lusk. Durbin isn't too bad yet, but he's on the edge. When he was conducting the crowd last night to be silent and scream, back and forth, he put one foot over that edge. And Lusk is just Too Much. Please don't make him be on my TV screen for several months. Please, America. Just do me this solid. I'm not saying he can't sing (James, either. I prefer James - just dial back the screeching, please.), but he's not even half as good as the judges think he is. The fawning is ridiculous for a performance like last night's I Believe I Can Fly. Once he hit the key change, the only place he was flying to was Painfully Off-Key Land. I was audibly cringing on my couch. Yet, as I pointed out above, Steven and Jennifer LOVED it, and Randy was the only one to mention Jacob veering off-pitch. In short: you, Jacob, are no Rachel Berry.
So those are some of my thoughts so far. This should be an interesting season, as there are so many different ways it could go. There's several people I could see winning and/or going quite far, so we may lose some good people early. Who knows? But I guess that's just another reason why we all stay, and why I'm sucked in yet again.
Also? I already can't wait for X Factor.
First of all - I am UNBELIEVABLY excited that you're back. This is very inspiring. Although, experience has shown that consistency is not my strong suit when it comes to blogging anymore. Anyway - I have to chime in because I, also, am perhaps more sucked in than ever to AI this season. I am right there with you on my pick for top two (although this week shook things up a bit). I MUST disagree about James Durbin though. I don't think he should win, but I still enjoy him for reasons I should probably be embarrassed about. Right there with you on Lusk though. And I could do with a little less Paul as well.
Posted by: Shelly | March 27, 2011 at 10:05 AM