American Idol 2012

For the first time since the first season, I blew off the show until they knocked it down to 24. I watched small bits of the auditions and didn't see any of Hollywood week.

And now that I'm watching, my chief reaction is.. holy shit, is this a weak group. It seems like their worst ever, by far. Jessica Sanchez is very good, and a couple of the other girls are OK. The guys are just plain bad, across the board. That Phillip Phillips guy with the Dave Matthews imitation just makes me want to punch him in the face.

So now I'm curious... are they that much worse than the previous seasons, or is it that I have no emotional investment in any of them, so my opinion isn't being colored somehow?

 

I think I might be over Idol. I haven't watched since the tryouts. i tried to watch Hollywood week, but only had it on in the background. I haven't seen a single minute of any live performances.

And until this thread pops up, I forget it's even on.

It's weird. It was always my favorite.

 

You may be judging them a bit too harshly ... but on the other hand, I tend to judge them too leniently, I think.

You're quite right that the women have it all over the men this year. But I think there are four very, very good women -- Jessica Sanchez, Hollie Cavanagh, Skylar "Lil' Reba" Laine and Shannon Magrane, Joe's daughter.

 

I think Jessica would be potentially top 3 in most recent seasons. She's very good. Hollie Cavanagh strikes me as top 10 most years.

The other two haven't impressed me much, and I'd agree that they're among the best of the rest. Honestly, I'm not sure any of the top 6 guys would have made the field last season, and it's not like it was a terribly deep lineup last year.

One other observation: last year I didn't miss Simon at all, and thought the judges did a good job. This season the contestants keep gagging it up onstage and then Jennifer Lopez squeals "I got goosies! I got goosies!" They could really use a judge with a flamethrower this season.

 

And one other rant, while I'm here...

It drives me batshit when a contestant does poorly on a week like last week, when they're doing Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston songs, and the judges make excuses for them. They told one girl -- maybe Skylar, maybe another -- that it was a really hard week for her, since she is a country singer forced to do a Whitney Houston song. Really? Whitney Houston's best-known song was a cover of a Dolly Parton song. It's not that freakin' hard.

I believe they said something similar to Colton, or whatever the hell is the name of the kid with the shitty-looking Howard Jones haircut. If you think you're a rock singer and you're struggling with Stevie Wonder, maybe you shouldn't be singing a ballad. Do "Higher Ground," or any of the other uptempo songs. It's not a hardship -- it's an opportunity.

My all-time favorite Idol performances have come when people have sung a song from a genre that made them work a little, like David Cook doing "Hello."

 

See, I think the judges have been a lot more fair this year than last. Last year, with the exception of my girl Haley, the judges were never critical of ANYONE. Everyone was a freaking star. This year, they've been over the top with their praise of Jessica and Joshua but, by and large, they've been pretty critical of everyone.

 

Hey, at least he didn't get bounced for appearing in "Black Tail" magazine like that Frenchy girl from Season 2(?)

 

Although it's an admittedly big piece of news for Idol, it just doesn't faze me that much, because I didn't think the singer in question was a contender this season anyway.

 

The theme this week is songs from the year you were born:

http://americanidolnet.com/american-idol-2012-what-should-the-top-12-sing-this-week/

So it looks like Jermaine (1986) won't get a chance to sing "That's What Friends Are For" to his mother.

 

Holy sweet Jesus.

Was that out of nowhere? Because if that Joshua kid has sung anything like that before tonight and you guys still said the guys had nothing to bring to the table, well ... I don't know what to tell you.

 

That was out of nowhere for me. I swear to god I have watched this show for two weeks, and I had never seen that dude before. Wow.

 

If I had iTunes, I would totally download that right this freaking second.