American Idol New Season Tonight

Now that he's made such great strides in becoming popular again, maybe Stern can work on actually being funny.

Just a reminder: Don't forget to vote for Sanjaya everyone!

I was in Greensboro last night watching Idol with my daughter and when Sangina came on I told her somewhere Lance Bass is glued to the tube masturbating.....

My prediction is that Phil will be the one to go tonight.

Can someone fill me in on Sanjaya?

Yahoo is my homepage and he's, like, constantly there. I get that there's some big thing about him, but I never watch AI for obvious reasons.

What I know:

- Howard Stern is spearheading some AI-subversion, encouraging people to vote for him.

- Sanjaya has sported a variety of odd hairstyles. (I liked the ponyhawk. Cute kid.)

What I'm confused about:

- Does Sanjaya actually have legions of young female fans, or was that ironic? (Read it somewhere).

- Is he William-Hung-level-bad or just not good enough to be a realistic winner? Some of the Yahoo chatter (it went to a video which wasn't captioned, so I only know teasers/ headlines) was that the judges actually liked him this time.

Sanjaya has attracted quite a fan club. Two weeks running now, the AOL straw poll has him #1 in popularity followed (in order) by Melinda, Jordin, Blake, Haley, Phil, Lakisha, and Chris R. As this straw poll is not official but has been moderately successful in predicting each week's loser, Lakisha may be in trouble. Phil has been in the bottom three since the final 12 was picked, I think, but he usually isn't in the bottom two.

Sanjaya is not William Hung bad--the judges did put him through to the final 24--and his performance last night wasn't half bad. J-lo loved him.

I hate to say it, but as popularity so often wins out on talent when the audience determines the winner, it is no longer unthinkable that Sanjaya could win this. Pray that doesn't happen though so I don't have to pulverize Kicky.
_________________
--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.

Well, okay i was close anyways. Phil was in the bottom 2.


I think after each contestant drops out, the voting dynamics change a little. In other words, from last week, where did Gina's votes go? Where will Haley's votes go next week? Jordan, perhaps?

I was really surprised that chris was in the bottom 3. I suppose that will happen as the people get whittled down.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks, Foxfyre!

I wasn't sure if there were some awful ones left in the final 24, just for entertainment value.

Haley definitely has star quality but she isn't as strong vocally as the other girls. I thought she would likely be the next girl to go but wasn't sure it would be a girl and not a guy this week.

The straw poll as of late today has from 1st to last: Sanjaya, Jordin, Melinda, Blake, Lakisha, Chris R., and Phil.

The teeny bopper set is generally the ones who call in most of the votes, I think, and that would explain why the two kids top the list this week. Melinda is hanging in on raw wonderful talent, but she may not have enough personal 'wow' factor to outlast the sexy Blake or the young appeal of Sanjaya and Jordin.

I can't believe you are actually taking Sanjaya's appeal seriously. Trust me, he has about as much chance of winning this thing as Hillary Clinton has of being the president of the United States.

I would have agreed, Kicky, except that Sanjaya is polling #1 in all straw polls for the second week, he hasn't been in the bottom three in the results show for weeks now, and his fan club seems to be growing.

Melinda, Jordin, Lakesha, and Blake all have real honest to good talent, but its Sanjaya getting all the press. Taylor Hicks wasn't the superior talent last year either, but he is the one who had the stage appeal. (His album just went platinum though so he apparently doesn't suck.)

Wouldn't it be the greatest thing EVER if he actually did win it? I just don't see it happening though. No way in hell. I say he's gone within two weeks.

Stranger things have happened. As I alluded to earlier, what one has to think of each week someone leaves is, where are those votes going to go the following week? The dynamics are constantly changing.

Sangina, if he gets a smart agent , management company, tax attorney and financial representative, is made for life.

He will enjoy a brief but profitable career as a tween idol. As he matures and his features broaden and harden, the girlies will replace him with another teen hearthrob and if he's smart and grounded he'll take his investments and lay low comfortably, perhaps doing the occasional Branson appearance or VH1 special just to satisfy his performance jones.

Good for him I say. Wouldn't we all love that opportunity?

He still sucks though. :wink:

Well, I guess he's able to take advantage of the flaw in AI. I suppose anyone of us would want to ride it as far as we can.

It does clearly show though that the producers of AI aren't really looking for serious talent, which is a shame and a sham. Some of the good ones have already gone by the wayside.

I guess whatever sells advertising.

The straw polls now have Lakisha as #6 and Phil #7 at the bottom. The bottom person in the straw poll hasn't been voted off for three weeks now but the voters have been keeping the number of guys and gals evenly split as the vote progresses.

So, doing this scientifically (cough), I'm predicitng Lakisha will be the next one to go. It's a shame because she does have true talent, but I don't think she has enough appeal to make it all the way.

AI for sure wants the ratings and they get them--they've been No. #1 ahead of all regular network and cable programming for years now. The price for advertising on AI is edging closer to approximating Super Bowl advertising and I'm betting their Idol store sales gross in the millions. AI of course is in it for the money--all businesses are in it for the money--but they stay on top by creating super stars. And they definitely have produced their share: Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood almost always have a hit in the top 10 and many of the others who made it into the top 12 continue to be household names and are making it in the industry: Clay Aiken, Jennifer Hudson, Jon Peter Lewis, and of course Daughtry among others.

AI isn't doing it for altruistic reasons, but the contestants are benefitting by getting a shot at the big time that they probably wouldn't have otherwise had.

Everybody tune in April 25 (I think) when American Idol is having a bunch of guest performers for a huge fund raiser for hungry kids locally and in Africa. And who cares whether their motive is to boost their ratings even more or to sincerely help those kids? If the kids get helped, they won't care what AI's motives were.

Next week is country music week with Martina McBride as the guest coach.
_________________
--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.

I want to see Sanyaa sing, "Stand By Your Man."

I want him to sing "Long Haired Country Boy," by Charlie Daniels Band... I picture him choosing something more like "Harper Valley PTA," though...

After reconsidering, I'm almost positive he'll sing Shania Twain. Probably, "Feel Like A Woman."