I'm going on Fox TV's "Mike and Juliet Show" this morning to discuss Idol. Here's what I'm thinking right now:
The contestants are getting desperate.
Chris Richardson's post-performance tantrum about how he really meant to sing "nasal" was embarrassing - and his invoking the tragedy at Virginia Tech was inappropriate. Yes, the camera caught Simon rolling his eyes at Chris. Although Simon clearly was not rolling his eyes at the tragedy, this could prove to be a costly camera move. The producers obviously swept in for damage control and asked Simon to express his own sorrow later in the show. It was an awkward moment.
LaKisha's latest mention about how difficult life is raising Brionne as a single mom is pushing it. I have always been a LaKisha fan and when Martina McBride lavished praise on her, I was excited. Unfortunately, when Jesus took the wheel this time, the car careened out of control. (Worse than Eddie Griffin in that Ferrari.)
As for Sanjaya, the Willie Nelson/Isaac Mizrahi doo-rag was a disappointment. It was a stunt and a shameless pander to the VFTW/Howard Stern crowd. Last week Sanjaya made a valiant and successful attempt to sing well. He was headed toward a coup, bucking the cynics who scoffed at him. Now we're not sure who Sanjaya is: Is he the guy who really wants to be an American Idol and prove himself? Or is he the jaded jokester, willing to debase himself to stay in this competition? Is he Mario Lopez ... or is he Dustin Diamond?
I feel vindicated now that Simon has called Melinda on her "Who, me?" shy act.
I'm a huge fan of Martina McBride's and look forward to her performance tonight. I expect we'll all have shpilkes in our geneckteckessoink. (Until last night Kinky Friedman was the only country singer to use the word "verklempt.")
UPDATE: I just returned from the Fox "Mike and Juliet" Idol panel. It included Season Three's Jasmine Trias (very charming) and Food Network's Paula Deen (very "country"). Outside the studio Paula wore a floor-length fur coat. Raccoon? (Presumably she spit roasted whatever animal she killed for that thing.) Jasmine was surprisingly outspoken on the subject of ethnocentric American Idol voting. She asserts that she went as far as she did by galvanizing the Polynesian vote. I pointed out that she was the only thing residents of Guam and American Samoans (two groups which historically have hated each other) could both agree to like.
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Chris Richardson: Desperate Idol ... Plus: It Was Worth It To Hear Martina McBride Say Verklempt
Posted Apr 18th 2007 7:14AM by Mo Rocca
Filed under: American Idol, Sanjaya Malakar, Sanjaya's hair, Melinda Doolittle, Jordin Sparks, LaKisha Jones, Simon Cowell, Chris Richardson, Jasmine Trias
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Mo Rocca appears on a bunch of shows, including CBS News Sunday Morning (with the indescribably wonderful Charles Osgood), The Tonight Show on NBC, and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He's a sometime judge on Iron Chef and was featured on Telemundo's Amore Descarado. Last year he starred on Broadway in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His expose "All the President's Pets" was published by Crown in 2004.
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fywjfkidmp at 10:15AM on Jan 24th 2009
2. I thought it was nice of Chris to mention the victims and families of V-Tech.
I was really glad to hear Simon call Melinda Doolittle out on her shy act. I'll give her credit, she can sing. She knows it. I've been calling her Mousy Doolittle because of her shy act.
I still can't figure out why America is voting for Sanjaya. He can't sing! He's Karaoke style at best. Is he getting all the foregin votes? Is he getting the "I dare to be different" votes? He should have went home BEFORE Gina or Haley! Two perfectly good talents sent home before their time!
Go Jordin! She's my favorite. For 17 years old she can belt it out!
Laurie at 11:25AM on Apr 18th 2007
3. I think Simon's reaction was a bit misunderstood. He was probably rolling his eyes from Chris' response and the way he cut Simon off after trying to defend himself about his 'nasal singing.' First of all, I studied voice, and there is no such thing as nasal-singing unless someone wants to sound like Tickle Me Elmo! However, I'm sure that Chris' comment was sincere and probably felt that it was better to say something about VA Tech than nothing at all since no one did at that point in the show. Would it have been better for Chris to have mentioned his condolences BEFORE the comments from the judges or AFTER? You tell me.
Sunshine19 at 12:09PM on Apr 18th 2007
4. That shy act was driving me crazy too!
Tealyona at 11:41AM on Apr 18th 2007
5. Simon was clearly rolling his eyes at Chris' smarmy rebuttal about "singing nasaly". How stupid are people in America that they actually think that Simon Cowell is that insensitive?
Go Jordin!
GO HOME SANJAYA
SARAH at 11:44AM on Apr 18th 2007
6. Simon explains the eye roll in another article. He wasn't even listening to Chris at that point. So, I don't blame Simon for what he was thinking when the eye roll happened. It had nothing to do with the tragedy.
As for what Chris said, the timing was off, but who can really get the timing right when you speak such sorrows? I felt for him. We all feel for them.
And I love Paula Dean!
Ring at 12:55PM on Apr 18th 2007
7. Agree on all main points; Melinda's surprise act..give it up girl, it doesn't work anymore. Sanjaya, why doesn't it bother him that his so-called friends are being sent home because of him.. that is a mighty big ego trip and a costly one for his 'friends', it's time to do the right thing, step down and quit humiliating yourself and robbing your fellow, talented, contestants of this chance of a lifetime. Even if Sanjaya wins this, by some fluke, he will never, ever have a career in singing so why do it? Why do his parents allow him to harm himself like this? If he were my child I would have pulled him a long, long time ago... I would NOT let my child be ridiculed like that!! Where are his mom & dad? They should be protecting him! He is only a kid and doesn't have the maturity to see the outcome of this debacle, but his parents should be mature enough to see it! This borders on abusive...WAKE UP MOM & DAD AND SAVE YOUR CHILD FROM THIS DESTRUCTION!!! He may never fully recover from this experience and that is sad because he probably is a sweet kid with a bright future... just not as a singer. I have one more thing to say; I love most of the kids on the show and have been a Kiki fan from the get go but, Kike needs to do what she does best and quit trying to be something else... remembering her audition should help her and get her back on track!! You CAN do it girl.. stick to your truth and find someone truthful to help you dress.
Renee at 1:14PM on Apr 18th 2007
8. Simon WAS rolling his eyes, but it was at Chris's "nasally" speech, not at what he said about Tech. I'm not a fan of Chris, but as a resident of Virginia living only an hour from Tech, I was very happy he mentioned it. In fact, I would've been disappointed if he hadn't said anything.
(But I DO agree about Melinda--I'm glad someone finally called her out on this humble act.)
tay at 12:59PM on Apr 18th 2007
9. Simon supporters are rationalizing that he was not listening at that time. If that is true, then why was he not listening? Isn't listening his job? If he doesn't listen to contestants, then how can he be an effective judge? Either way, Simon loses. I believe he was listening, and this is a flimsy coverup to present himself as politically correct. I have friends who were lost in that tragedy. I am extremely disappointed in Simon for so many reasons. I will never watch this show again because I will always remember his disgraceful eyerolls, indifference and smugness with regards to the tragedy. Please don't try to tell me he wasn't listening. If he wasn't listening, he has no business being a judge.
Eber at 2:23PM on Apr 18th 2007
10. I totally understand Simon's problem here. It's been obvious in the past that the judges can't always clearly hear the contestants after the performance. It's similar to talking in Instant Messages. Often two subjects are covered in one conversation. Someone tells a joke and you type, "LOL, that's really funny." But just as you click send, they say, "Oh, did I tell you my cat died?" Then you have to hurry back and explain that you weren't laughing at their dead cat.
Mark at 2:23PM on Apr 18th 2007
11. My god, you liberal cry babies just need to make up a script for all of us to follow as to what we can say, think and do. You do your thing in life and expect no one to challenge you, you strip us of Christams, you try and strip us of believing in God or honoring Him in any way, you bitch and complain about any and everything, are you friggin morons happy about anything in life? You are the results of uncaring and unproductive parents that should have been spade and neutered and not been allowed to reproduce because you have no clue as how to parent, and unfortunately, this horrible cycle will go on as you reproduce.
As I stood in line the other day at Toys R Us in preperation of buying a box of marbles which I use in my sling shot to whack you the little bastards cars with the sound systems that are totally and completely disrespectful as they run up and down our streets with that ghetto reject crap, I watched as parents let their kids literally just destroy the store. They pulled, twisted, smashed, threw, bent, and just mutilated various toys and the friggin liberals dumb ass time out parents think this is alright.
The little bastards don't respest you, so naturally they are not going to respect the rest of us when they hit the street and more of you parents are going to be sorry when they end up in the hospital or morgue because they aren't going to disrespect me and my family and get away with it, so keep that in mind during your piss poor failure to be a parent.
warren garrison at 2:31PM on Apr 18th 2007
12. Chris knew with the judges comments that he was in danger and he needed to do something to get votes so he used the tragedy to gain those much needed votes. I think Simon rolled his eyes at Chris' attempt to gain sympathy votes.
Mommy313 at 2:40PM on Apr 18th 2007
13. simon is right most of the time and he was not disrespectful to virginia tech he was reacting to the nasal comment.
vinnie at 2:40PM on Apr 18th 2007
14. I am so relieved that one of the judges finally said something about Melinda's shy act. It has been driving me crazy since the beginning of this show.
As for Sanjaya. He really has people questioning why he is on this show, after the little glimmer of hope in Latin week, he has seemed to fall into a dark hole yet again.
At this point in the show with only seven contestants left everyone is becoming more and more desperate to receive votes. But who I think should be the final 2 are: Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis. Truly talented people who have yet to make an excuse for themselves.
MrsMoRocca at 2:41PM on Apr 18th 2007
15. Cum on Miss Queen of England, Simon. Next you'll be kissing your lover boy, Ryan on TV. What an ass hole that jerk is. He can't dress and seems to know more about "women's" clothes. He is a Ghetto Trail Trash Loud Mouth Queen. He should be more like Rosie O'Donnell and real man she is.
stenorm at 3:22PM on Apr 18th 2007