AI5 - Round of 6 - Results
Well, that was certainly surprising all around. I’m also slowly realizing that I don’t have a clue what I’m talking about. I mean, I can theorize all I’d like about why things happened the way they did after they’ve happened, but predicting these things is a fool’s errand.
First: Simon apologized to Katharine for his initial judgment of her performance on Tuesday night. It’s not the first time he’s gone back and corrected an earlier opinion after hearing a performance on tape, but I think it’s the biggest dish of crow he’s eaten. He was outright apologetic for it.
Second: Randy and Paula quickly fell in line behind Simon. Cowards.
Third: Holy crap on a stick, Kellie Pickler is gone! I really didn’t think her fanbase would desert her so quickly. I was worried that I was able to get through to vote for Katharine as often as I did. Usually, that means people aren’t voting for her. I should have tried voting for Kellie — I bet it would have been smooth sailing to log votes for her.
Fourth: They didn’t have Kellie sing her horrible song after getting voted out. They gave her time to thank her fans. She might have requested that — she told Ryan that she thought she deserved to leave this week during the show. Give Kellie this: She never put on false airs of superiority or ability.
Fifth: They have a new version of that horrible Daniel Powter song they used under the “Journey” video at the end of the show.
Sixth: We learned a lot last night about voting order. The six contestants were separated into groups of two with the highest, lowest, and, er, middlest numbers of votes. Katharine and Chris got top votes. I’ll stand by my earlier assessment that the judges’ incorrectly negative comments inspired her fanbase to vote like never before. It worked on me. Chris was just spectacular and deserved all the votes he could get.
Taylor and Elliott were in the middle. Taylor got the third or fourth most votes despite another dreadful performance, while Elliot’s highly praised performance still couldn’t crack him into the top 2. Elliott might want to worry about that. Taylor needs to raise the bar to get anywhere near the category that Chris and Katharine are in.
Paris and Kellie were the bottom two. If I were Paris, I’d be worried. She’s been in the bottom three now a few times, hasn’t she? Unless she has a blockbuster performance next week, she has to be considered the next most likely to leave.
Seventh: I don’t know why I’m numbering this thoughts anymore.
Eighth: OK, time for your comments. Go!
April 27th, 2006 at 10:28 am
David Foster should replace Paula as a judge.
April 27th, 2006 at 10:48 am
I’ll second that!!
April 27th, 2006 at 11:06 am
Yeah, Paula has got to go!
You know, if I were the producers of AI, I would have let Katherine and Chris sit down and let Taylor and Elliott stay with Kellie and Paris. Once they told Elliott and Taylor to sit down, I immediately knew who the bottom two were and the suspense was gone. I think leaving Taylor and Elliott would have left more suspense and seemed less obvious. But hey, I don’t make those decisions.
I really thought Kellie would go last night, but knowing how AI can sometimes be in the Bizarro world, wasn’t 100% on that. But nice to see that America finally decided to put this one out to pasture. I still think Paris is next unless she puts on the best performance next week.
April 27th, 2006 at 11:17 am
Cousar - Foster could replace ALL THREE judges and make the show more entertaining. But, then, the contestants would likely cry more often without Paula’s faux drug-induced support.
April 27th, 2006 at 11:56 am
And Justice prevails!
I was honestly surprised that Kellie was the one to go. I expected her to stick around for atleast another week, but nice to know that the public is finally wising up and choosing based more on talent and actual performance.
I agree with everyone above…Paris is definitely the next one to go if she doesn’t do something truly awe-inspiring. And it definitely seems to be shaping up for a Chris-Katherine showdown doesn’t it? Should be interesting…
April 27th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
I’m quite content with the results myself.
But I wonder what Paris has to do to get out of the bottom - I mean, her “These Foolish Things” performance was outstanding during Standards Week, and she *still* wound up in the bottom. That’s a performance that’s going to be hard to surpass….
April 27th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
The contestant who has to be careful now is Taylor, since he hasn’t visited the Bottom 3 (or 2) yet — just like Kellie before this week. Another bad performance and it might be curtains.
Augie, I don’t know how I ever doubted your claim that Kellie wouldn’t make it to the end. I should have known that her supporters would eventually come to their senses about her.
As Zeb said, it does look like we’re in for a Chris-Katharine finale. I just hope the new songs they’ll perform on that show aren’t being written by Fuel and Creed.
April 27th, 2006 at 2:54 pm
Augie,
We don’t know that Kellie didn’t sing. Heck, she didn’t even get to finish thanking her fans before the credits.
That makes 2 nights in a row that really ran long. I guess we can blame this week’s guests for that.
And did I miss it, or did Ryan not announce next week’s theme?
April 27th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
Mark — Well, she didn’t sing on air. And Ryan knew there was only 40 seconds left before the end of the episode. They had time to strike up the band and start her off if they wanted to.
And, no, they didn’t announce the theme, or if the contestants will be singing one song or two next week. That should be starting up soon, too.
We know Elvis Week is scheduled, but that looks like the May 9th episode. We could really use an upbeat song week after the love ballads, though.
Bluuzman — It isn’t so much about her fans coming to their senses as it is everyone else’s fans gaining numbers on her, I think. I’m sure she lost some die-hard vote support this week, but the other contestants really gave their fans reasons to vote for them, too. And, like I said last week, I don’t think she got ANY of Ace’s vote support.
April 27th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
Well…I’m happy I picked 3 of the Top 5. And surprisingly Katharine wasn’t one that I picked and I have no freakin clue as to why I didn’t. My picks for Top 5 were Chris, Elliott, Ace, Paris, and Lisa. I do have to check back, though, on if I made these picks at the Top 12 or the 24.
I also thought it was funny how they finally revealed the voting order…Chris and Katharine. Hmmmm..I wonder if the producers are trying to hint that’s the Final they want. I know I do. And if it does turn out that way…I think Katharine will have the edge only because of the fact that the Final songs are usually ballads that favor the vocalist and not a rocker guy like Chris.
What’s next week’s theme?
April 27th, 2006 at 4:26 pm
I’m just wondering how Simon managed to pick everybody BUT Katharine to win this year! If she pulls it off, it’ll be the farthest he’s ever been off.
Btw, one of my co-workers says that if we get a Chris-Katharine showdown on May 23, America will pick Katharine, no doubt about it. Bring on those ballads, Fuel!
April 27th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
I viewed AI April 25th at the urging of my sweet mother-in-law who LOVES Taylor madly! :) I wasn’t all that impressed with ANY of the performers… :( One thing that sort of bothered me though was…”What’s up with Paula and the tears after Elliott’s performance?” Sorry if I sound mean, but I thought she acted silly! I will cheer for Taylor since my MIL is…but I’ll sure be interested to see the next theme and how everyone performs!
April 27th, 2006 at 5:15 pm
According to USA TODAY’s Idol blog, next week each contestant sings two songs: one from the year of their birth, and one from the current Billboard charts.
It should be an interesting test of these contestants’ persistent weakness, which is creativity and taste. They can all sing well — some very well — but they’re individual musical preferences seem too limited to me.