Thursday, April 27, 2006

It's about time!

For the last few years, it's always seemed like the American Idol results show was a big waste of time--basically a show that could take place during a commercial break of another show, but was stretched out to a half-hour just because people are willing to sit there and watch Ryan, Simon and the gang goof off for 25 minutes before they announce who's going home (and I guess I'm one of those people).

But tonight's American Idol results show may have been the most action-packed, satisfying version they've ever put together. And that was even before they put the cherry on top--the long overdue elimination of Kellie Pickler!

First we had Simon apologizing, after he watched the show back on television, for his harsh treatment of Katharine last night. Glad to hear I wasn't so mesmerized by other things I lost all critical faculties. Of course, it makes me wonder--how can it be that different in studio as opposed to television? What exactly are they hearing? Then we had the "let's joke about Paula crying" thing so that people will think she's not really as unbalanced as she appears to be, and "let's make fun of the alleged feud between Paula and Ryan that was reported in People magazine" thing--which I couldn't really work up any interest in anyway.

If that wasn't enough, before the elimination we got a strong performance from Andrea Bocelli, and for the first time I can recall (other than when they have a bottom two or three when there's only four people left), they actually told us who the top two were--Katharine and Chris. And then we got to see the right person eliminated, and they ran so long they didn't even have time to make us watch her sing again! What a treat!

I'm probably being a little harsh about Kellie--when she first appeared on the show back in January, I wrote about what a great story she was, with her dad in prison and her mom leaving her when she was a young girl, and how happy I was that she was going to Hollywood. Sure, she apparently wasn't quite the hayseed that she portrayed herself as, and her dumb girl act wore thin right around the time she asked "What's a ballsy?" But that act was entertaining for a while. Thankfully, America got rid of "Trampy Barbie," as Lisa DeMoraes of the Washington Post called her this morning, before she could sully what is, as I said last night, the most wide-open, competitive final five ever. The next few weeks could be very exciting. Let's just hope the producers don't give us Gloria Estefan week on Tuesday.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was going to have to stop watching it if Kellie made it through one more week. And it competes with Gilmore Girls. This is tough, switching back and forth between the two shows. Yes, I know that I could presumably tape one to watch later, but that requires more technical sophistication than I am capable of. And wrestling two kids to try to get them to bed at that time of night defeats the will to put forth any extra effort.

4/27/06, 3:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well said Fingerman and I am in complete agreement with "anonymous". One more week of Kelli and I was headed back to G2. I figure that I can have the Gilmore Girls in repeats once Idol is over but just hearing Pickler ask one more stupid question would have set me over the edge and back to the WB! Now lets just hope we get some more tears and stiffled laughter with the final five!

4/28/06, 5:24 PM  

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