American Idol - Season 10: New judges. Same amount of awesome.

[Cactus Annie]

I haven't even been able to watch the whole thing, because my TV has been on the fritz, and Fox has been going in and out of sound and there's been annoying static occasionally. Every other channel works fine. I'll be able to watch the whole thing online tomorrow, though, so it's all good.

Are you sure that it's nothing to do with rain water leaking down the cable?

About the whole thing with the controversy over Cheryl in last year's X Factor was to do with the fact she choose 2 singers in the group she was mentoring but other fans wanted her to choice another singer because she had a better audition and she had a good vocal range. One of the singers was Cher and the other one was called Katie. However like you said, Cher was a unique performer and I did think that Katie had a more distinctive voice than this other singer, but as the competition went on it was clear that Katie wasn't a very good singer and her attitude got on a lot of viewers nerves. She got in my nerves after a while.


Despite this, I think the death threats made to Cheryl were absolutely sickening. It's only a competition it's not a matter of life and death. Competition is stiff, you win some you loose some. We've all passed and failed exams and we've all passed some job interviews and failed others. That's life. Get over it. They are many of singers who've had endless setbacks on the path to fame and fortune.

However, when I mentioned Wagner, I was talking about a different occasion when Cheryl made an odd comment towards him. Maybe it just her venting out all her frustrations after the really tough year she had after her divorce and nearly dying after catching malaria not to mention all the grief she was getting whilst judging on the X Factor. I don't know exactly what was going on, but I will think about it for a while then I will come up with a theory.

 

[misfit toys]

Cheryl's comment to Wagner was in response to a comment he had made to the press about where she had come from.

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

Steven

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

So incredibly sweet, him and Jennifer (and Randy), seriously. Oh, my god, that story about the guy and his fiance at the end there brought tears to my eyes. I don't think I'll be able to hear that song in quite the same way anymore. I feel so bad for both of them, but his devotion to her is truly, truly touching. Good luck to him, I hope he goes far.

And I loved that he was able to make the day of the girl who was a big fan of his. So cool.

My mom and I loved watching Randy try and hide behind his papers or cup when he started laughing at some of the bad auditions tonight. It cracked us up . The Civil War reenactment guy...yeeeeeeeah (and what the hell was with the stuff about his dad not being a hippie? HUH? That's a guaranteed "Soup" clip right there, I'm betting). And the guy who had his back to the judges was funny, too.

And my god, so many 15, 16 year olds who can sing. Freaky.

Angela

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

So incredibly sweet, him and Jennifer (and Randy), seriously. Oh, my god, that story about the guy and his fiance at the end there brought tears to my eyes. I don't think I'll be able to hear that song in quite the same way anymore. I feel so bad for both of them, but his devotion to her is truly, truly touching. Good luck to him, I hope he goes far.

same here. Honestly when Steven told her he can sing because he sings to her, I pretty much lost it. I think The Script just leaped to one of my favorite bands right now!

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

same here. Honestly when Steven told her he can sing because he sings to her, I pretty much lost it.

*Nods* YES. And the way he sang the line, "What am I supposed to say when I'm all choked up and you're okay" got to me, too.

I think The Script just leaped to one of my favorite bands right now!

Heh, yeah, well said (I've rather liked the couple songs I've heard by them thus far). I bet the band would probably like that clip.

Angela

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

I have been enjoying their music over the past couple of months and have been following them on FB and twitter, but I think I will now breakdown and by their albums.

 

[u2shamrock]

So incredibly sweet, him and Jennifer (and Randy), seriously. Oh, my god, that story about the guy and his fiance at the end there brought tears to my eyes. I don't think I'll be able to hear that song in quite the same way anymore. I feel so bad for both of them, but his devotion to her is truly, truly touching. Good luck to him, I hope he goes far.

same here. Honestly when Steven told her he can sing because he sings to her, I pretty much lost it. I think The Script just leaped to one of my favorite bands right now!

Chris and Juliana are from my hometown and I really hope he goes far, whether in AI or elsewhere. I didn't watch last season, but I'll start again if he's in the top-whatever-number-it-is-now. You can find the story about her recovery thus far on Facebook by searching "For Juliana" too. She has come such a long way from where she was after the accident and he's stuck by her. I haven't been following her entire recovery as close as my friends have, but from what I've read it's been extremely difficult and frustrating. Even knowing the story I had tears in my eyes too.

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Thanks for the tip, I'll definitely check that out. I've no doubt that it'd be a tough road, but I'm glad they're fighting hard. And I wish her luck in her recovery as well, and hope that they can get married soon like they'd planned.

Angela

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

I "liked" Chris' fan page on facebook. I will have to look for Juliana's.

 

[corianderstem]

Huh, apparently one of my little brother's former students got through to Hollywood. Now I kind of want to watch. I think he said her name is Naima?

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

cori, she has a great voice!

 

[trojanchick99]

Damn you American Idol for making me cry. Chris and Juliana's story was so touching and I loved the tone of his voice.

There was a ton of talent here. I really do love Steven Tyler. The man has no filter and it is great.

 

[Lila64]

I taped the last hour, so I only saw two peope - the blonde who was an intern at the White House who sand 'Dock of the Bay' and the last guy, cause I saw all the Facebook posts about the ending of the show. I will admit a few tears were shed...

 

[U2Fanatic4ever]

Damn you American Idol for making me cry. Chris and Juliana's story was so touching and I loved the tone of his voice.

There was a ton of talent here. I really do love Steven Tyler. The man has no filter and it is great.

YEP.. me too.



Steven is my favorite!

 

[U2BROTHR]

same here. Honestly when Steven told her he can sing because he sings to her, I pretty much lost it. I think The Script just leaped to one of my favorite bands right now!

I watched this with my wife....and we both bawled. Holy crap.

I gotta say. Steven is quite entertaining.....and thoughtful. At one point he even intervened with Randy telling him to "be a nice guy"......

So far. I really like the new judges.

 

[corianderstem]

Missed that audition last night, but am watching now on YouTube. On the column, there are other videos with this guy, and it looks like he went to the same college as I did. Kinda neat.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

It's definitely a nicer panel than in the past. Without Simon, we don't have anybody that will viciously humiliate an off-key singer.

It seems if someone is bad, basically the worst the judges will say is "That was bad, sorry. It's a no." Randy might change "bad" to "terrible" but, still, on the whole the show is much less derogatory than with Simon on board.

Steven, after some of the embarrassing auditions, will even say "I liked it. But not for American Idol." Which is a good way of letting them down softly.

Is this "nicer" version of Idol a good thing? Or a bad thing? I don't know. I'm sure the opinion is split on that. Personally, I'm enjoying the season so far.

As you guys may remember from past seasons/threads, the early auditions are actually my least favorite part of the show. I really start to enjoy the show once they narrow it down to the Top 12 "best" and get to the big stage and the live shows.

Definitely excited for that to come around, so that I can fall in love with one of the cute girl singers and root for her to win.

 

[catlhere]

For the main chuck of the show once they get to the actual Idol stage, the comments can become more constructive and not so mean-spirited like they sometimes were in past seasons. I think the judges will come off very well during the later weeks coming up.

For now though? The stage of the show where all the weirdos come out to get their 15 minutes seconds of fame? I definitely miss Simon's eye-rolling and complete disregard for feelings.

 

[gvox]

Steven Tyler is alot more entertaining than I thought he would be. I'm actually finding him somewhat engaging. He leers a bit sometimes at girls young enough to be his...granddaughter? lol

I loved "you know I sang better than half these other idiots" or whoever she was. Hilarious!

 

[deep]

Definitely excited for that to come around, so that I can fall in love with one of the cute girl singers and root for her to win.

added bonus this year, they will have 15 year olds.

 

[BlueSilkenSky]

I watched this last night; my sister remarked that Randy has turned into Simon.
Love that 15 year olds can try out now!

 

[anitram]

Saw that Chris guy with the fiancee.

With all due respect to everyone posting here who clearly disagrees with me, I actually thought that this was one of the worst, most exploitative things I have ever seen on TV. In fact, I thought reality TV sank to a new low with this. Really, really disturbed by it.

 

[corianderstem]

The show always salivates over any kid with a story remotely resembling a sob story and they milk it for every tear in your body; this one just happened to top them all. It's Idol. It didn't surprise me one bit.

And I can't imagine they were surprised by them asking her in - I would have expected they'd made sure everyone was okay with it. When they start asking you for details of your back story and follow you around a bit with a camera crew, I would guess most people know they're probably getting the Big Segment of the show, complete with sad music. I'm sure they all knew it would be happening, even if the producers didn't expressly say "Hey heads up, we're going to bring her on camera, is that okay?"

But. It did make me uncomfortable for just that reason, even though I did tear up a bit.

And also but ... you're definitely not alone with that opinion on the internet. I've seen it discussed on a bunch of different sites today.

Assuming he makes it, I give the poor guy a few weeks into the post-audition run of the show before people turn on him and start accusing him of using his disabled wife for sympathy votes, like they did with Danny Gokey. (Although he was annoying for many reasons, none of which had to do with his deceased wife.)

 

[Cactus Annie]

I liked that country singer who was first on last nights show. I think we see it the night after you do. I forget what he was called but he was tall and had a very deep voice.

Can we swap Steven Tyler with Louis Walsh? I used to like him but now I think he's got arrogant. I like Steven Tyler on AI. I feel he gives really good advice rather than just the cliched nonsense you hear on The X Factor over here. Statements such as "You're world class" and "You smashed it" don't mean anything to me.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

 

[maycocksean]

Is this "nicer" version of Idol a good thing? Or a bad thing?

I'm actually reading a book on American Idol now and it says that Nigel Lythgoe, one of the guys who started the British version, felt that having a "mean judge" was a vital component to the success of the show.

So, not having a mean judge means that Idol has departed from this formula. I guess we'll see if Lythgoe was right.

 

[corianderstem]

I think I have that same book on hold at the library. Is it a new(ish) release?

 

[maycocksean]

I think I have that same book on hold at the library. Is it a new(ish) release?

Yeah, 2011. American Idol: The Untold Story by Richard Rushfield. It's not the greatest writing ever, but nonetheless I can't put it down. I'm finding it very fascinating and have wasted most of our snow day today burning through the pages when I could have been getting caught up on grading etc for my job. I'm more than halfway through.

 

[corianderstem]

Nice. I read a mention of it in one of the AV Club's show recaps and put it on hold at the library.