Territorial Bloggings

THIS. IS. (an episode where the guys regressed big time) AMERICAN IDOL!

The guys had an opportunity to build upon the progress they made last week. An opportunity to reassure us that they did actually belong in a competition with the top six ladies. An opportunity to not suck. It was an opportunity that they looked in the face, and then kicked square in the nads. They weren’t as hellabad as two weeks ago, but, Lord, they certainly weren’t good. I mean, when even Paula is struggling to blow sunshine & make rainbows, well… 

Mercifully, it was only an hour-long show, which meant the fluffy filler & video pieces were kept to a minimum. Unfortunately, the increased focus on singing didn’t turn out to be all that advantageous for the guys. The performances, however, did lend themselves to categorizing the guys into two more-or-less clear groups: “Safely In” & “Sweatin’ It Out”.

Safely In:

• Blake - “All Mixed Up” — Blake may very well be the best of the guys. Unfortunately, for him, this year’s guys are looking to be the weakest since AI:3. That said, he’d have been welcome in any of the previous five groups of finalists. I didn’t know his song last night, but I certainly did like his rendition of it. He has a gift – he can sing, he has a great personality, he’s likable, he has a good look about him, and he has a non-arrogant confidence in himself.

• Brandon - “I Just Want To Celebrate” — Brandon showed up last night. While Simon was correct in noting that Brandon still has much room to improve, I think that the song & performance were definitely enough to get him into the finals. It was an upbeat song that allowed Brandon to look good, sound good, and have fun during his performance. He’s likable, and the performance last night gave everyone permission to believe in that fact.

• Chris Sligh - “Wanna Be Loved” — A nice enough performance, albeit one that was worthy of the “closer” slot only during this week with these guys. Chris will be in the finals, and will safely reside there for quite a few weeks, provided he learns lessons from weeks like this one.

• Chris Richardson - “Tonight I Wanna Cry” — He’ll be in the finals because he’s got a certain look & sound that is definitely contemporary, and he’s got a general likability factor; however, I wasn’t that impressed with the song & performance last night. Chris was/is lucky that pretty much all the other guys regressed as much or more than he did.

• Sundance - “Jeremy” — First, I’m not a huge Pearl Jam fan (though I do like this song). Second, anything that calls for Sundance to wear too much eye shadow is a bad thing in my book. I almost put Sundance in the ‘at risk’ group, but then Phil opened his mouth and I felt the reprieve was in order for our favorite little big man (he is seriously short!).

Sweatin’ It Out:

• Phil - “I Need You” — Phil may have smart-assed his way out of the competition last night. Sometimes, such insouciance can be covered by great performances. Last night was not one of those times, as Phil most certainly did not give a great performance. The start of his song was horrendous, and this time he didn’t come close to making up for it (ala two weeks ago). Unfortunately, I think his nice-guy likability factor might have taken a serious hit last night with his obviously disingenuous (& borderline disrespectful) banter with the judges was neither overly funny, nor particularly endearing. I really didn’t like Phil this week.

• Jared - “If You Really Love Me” — As is most often the case, to sing Stevie is to fail at singing Stevie. This was a cold & unemotional performance. In a way, it reminded me of last season’s hoopster, Ayla Brown. Jared also suffers from the lack of emotional oomph that plagued Ayla, and led to her ouster at this very same stage of the competition. If I were basing it solely on singing & performing talent/potential, then Jared would most definitely not make the top 12.

• Sanjaya - “Waiting On The World To Change” — Where to start? The hair the hula did nothing to bolster his manly credibility. He looked like a chick last night — a really scary chick. Worst of all, he sounded boring. I want him gone, which of course means that he’ll likely make it into the finals (damn tweens & VoteForTheWorst.com! )

If it were up to me, Jared & Sanjaya would be gone, and the other six would make the finals. Unfortunately, I don’t control everything (yet). So we’ll just have to wait & see.

A final interesting thing from last night was Seacrest’s successful baiting of the judges into revealing that they think that only 4 of the remaining guys really deserve to be in the top 12. I agree with the general idea, but not with what (I think) their numbers imply. If we’re looking at only the current 16 finalists, then I would say that 5 of the guys deserve to be in the finals, with 7 of the girls; however, to say that only 4 guys deserve to make it is incorrect for one reason, and one reason only:  Antonella. There is no way that she deserves to make the finals. No way at all. If we expand it out to the full group of 24 semifinalists, then I would definitely agree that we could justifiably have a top 12 comprised of 4 guys and 8 girls (this would allow Nicole to be brought back in, because, despite her horrific song choice, she was the only girl who was eliminated before her time).

About the only thing I’m sure of wrt tonight’s show, is that it’ll be interesting to see what Antonella says we’d be surprised to learn/know about her… 

-ghp