American Idol New Season Tonight

No, I didn't much care for him either. I thought the black dude who forgot a few words in his last performance before he left was better. He had a good voice.

well all I know is I think I could have gotten backstage at Sabrinas show and now I'll never get that chance.....I'm heartbroken.

Of course if I did get backstage with Sabrina and squinney found out I'd be ballbroken so.... all things for the best I guess.

Last night Jordan rocked, Sanjaya was entertaining but still mediocre as a singer/entertainer, Lakisha was good as always but somehow less inspiring, Hailey did much better but is still not star quality, Phil didn't thrill, and, barring a major stumble along the way, Melinda seems unbeatable.
_________________
--Foxfyre

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I?-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The repeat camera shots of the little girl crying over Sanjaya was pathetic. How is she supposed to go to school today with any dignity?

Someone said Howard Stern is encouraging people to call in for Sanjaya just to mess with Idol. Will have to see if there is any truth to that.

Melinda has been my pick from the day she auditioned. She is the only Idol contestant for whom I would actually seek out a CD on the day of release.

I thought both Blake and Chris had strong performances last night. Both have good voices and I liked the song choices.

My favourites have been Lakisha and Melinda. I thought that Melinda edged out Lakisha slightly due to her song choice. I thought she should have listened to Lulu and gone with "You Are My World" instead of "Diamonds Are Forever".

Hopefully, this is the week that the incredibly mediocre Sanjaya leaves.

I wanted to punch that little crying girl right in the face last night. Is that bad?

I knew that little cupcake Sanjaya wasn't going anywhere tonight.

I missed it tonight. Who got dumped?

(Yeah, that pasty faced girl was ridiculous. She'll probably grow up and marry some guy on death row.)

Sanjaya not even in the bottom two. So something's up out there. Maybe it is in fact Howard Stern.

Stephanie deserved one more week though she didn't do particularly well with her song last night. It might have been better if Nadia Turner hadn't nailed the performance singing that in Season 4 and Stephanie's was not good by comparison.

Oh well. The top 10 go on tour during the summer and now that will include Sanjaya. But they never bring the tour near to Albuquerque anyway.

the talent pool in general really is third rate this year. this group sucks on the whole.

Bet you keep watching though Bear.

I checked out Sterns site. He is pushing for Sanjaya votes on his show.

....and the sheep will follow.

normally I do, but I'm really losing interest fast this year. Melinda Doolittle and Jasmin are the two really big talents

It's a shame. I'm quite disappointed that it's turning out this way. As someone already mentioned, Sanjaya wasn't even in the bottom two. That's a lot of anger against the show.

Unfortunately, this "anti-voting" is making a mockery of American Idol. There's no way it was Stephanie's week to go.

I'm wondering if this incident will force the producers to have a second look at the format of the program and the voting system. Of course, financially there is no incentive to do so, as a lot of money seems to be generated from the phone calls.

You mean Jordan, not Jasmine?

The only way I would lose interest is if somebody like Howard Stern can manipulate the vote to make this a rigged thing instead of a competition. I don't think he has enough pull to dictate the outcome when the field narrows, but meanwhile it is a travesty that Sanjawa stays while Brandon and Stephanie are booted. Neither would likely have made it more than midway, but I agree with Reyn. They both are better than Sanjaya.

Solution: Let the voters determine who will be the bottom two. Let the judges select between the bottom two. With a system like that, Sanjaya wouldn't have made it into the final 12.
_________________
--Foxfyre

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I?-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

yeah jordin, sorry. It would be a hoot if Stern could manipulate the thing.
Actually we're due for another squeaky clean boy phenomenon for the young teen/tween market... and what's his name could probalby make some real cash in that niche for a couple of years... then we could watch him convince himself he was actually an artist, go through some drug induced public navel gazing and then watch the tube hypnotized as he entered rehab and came out of the closet. It would distract us from the war in Iran and North Africa that should be the problem du jour by then.

Well, I agree that that would be an improvement, but would it reduce the "anti-voting" element that seems to be taking place with this season of AI?

The real problem is that the audience can vote more than once. As Peter Noone commented on: "It's a voting competition, not a singing one."

Would it not be possible to have software than would register which phone number has already voted? Surely this would make it more fair.

My fear is that, as I mentioned in my last post, there may be no incentive for the producers of the show to make a change to the voting system, as they make money (I'm sure) as to how many folks make phone calls, as they're all pay calls.

877 numbers are toll calls? Are you sure about that?

They always mention that it costs .99 cents when they talk about voting, I think? Perhaps I'm wrong. Will have to pay more attention next week.

I confess to calling in votes when it was down to Kat, Taylor, and Elliott last year just to see what it like to call in. Got through on Elliott's line several times with no problem - got a busy on Taylor's line on most attempts - I think I got through on his once. Didn't try Kat's. All in all over 10 minutes or so, I probably got through six or seven times between Elliott and Taylor. (It's kinda cute--you hear them in their own voices saying thanks for voting for them.) I don't recall there being a charge on our phone bill though, but I might just not have noticed. There is the normal text message charge though if you send in a vote that way. I don't text message so have no idea how much that is.

I read on the blogs though where the kids are calling in a hundred votes or more or trying to. I would think their parents would notice at 99cents a pop.