American Idol – Hollywood 1 & 2
So last Thursday’s episode was less than sensational as the crowd of 327 hopefuls doing solos over 2 days were crushed into a single hour of television. 168 made it through to groups which is a solid 2 hour show tonight. The groups must have at least one day 2 member so that day 1 people don’t have the advantage of an extra day of practice. So far we are 40 minutes in and it’s mostly the drama of groups forming and reforming, the requisite quitter who comes back last minute, and stagemoms! Yes that’s right Idol has 15, 16, and 17 year olds who must be chaperoned by an adult family member and some of them are more than a little invested in this process.
Back from a commercial break Steven bids them to do well, Jennifer reminds them that though they are in a group they will be cut individually, and Randy warns them not to forget the lyrics. The only fallacy to Jennifer’s thought is that a great group performance can help a weaker performer along and a bad group can hinder even the best performer. As we go to commercial three groups have performed and everyone has made it through, I thought the idea was to cut not hold ground. Well, with 36 more groups to go I’m sure someone will kill the notes or lose there lyrics.
Finally after the break we lose a few less than spectacular contestants including the annoying girl from NJ and a group adds Steven to the mix and you know he couldn’t help but join in. Unfortunately for 3 out of 4 girls even using Steven wasn’t enough and they are headed home.
On a totally random note I just saw the trailer for Beastly, nothing like those fairy tale remakes is there. I sometimes wonder in this digital age though if half the kids who watch these even realize where the stories come from. Commercials, I really do hate them, but since I’m watching a live stream on the laptop not the dvr I’m stuck with them.
Now we are getting to the bad notes, hideous harmonies, and the forgotten lyrics. Gosh you would think contestants would know the rules by now. How about a the annually group rejection montage, whole bunches of the pre-Hollywood pimps are done for. Last night’s quitter has come back and is through to the next round, my question is though can she really bear up under the pressure of this show or will she pull a Brooke White and fall apart on stage each week?
The next round of groups brings Some real stars in the form of the stage mom’s kids “The Minors”, and some real duds in the form of James Durbin’s group the “Deep Vs”. James makes it through and so does Caleb Johnson but overall there was little to enjoy in that performance.
I can’t believe a guy just questioned why he was kept, um shut up dude and get off the stage. Finally we get some groups that do something different and show some individuality. It works for some and not for others but at least its not the same old boring performance over and over and over and over and…
Baby Jacee makes it through after he has to make up a few lyrics, so glad getting kicked out late last night. The next group up is the group that booted him out. They are okay and it looks like poor Scotty McCreery looks like he’s getting a guilty conscience over the booting of Jacee.
In real time the top 20 were picked today and I can hardly wait to see who we are voting for. The last group is up and they suck. At least Rob had the chops to make up some words when he lost the lyric. Lesson to be learned is never form a group with your ex. The girls make it and Rob goes home.
Out of the 168 who started group day only 100 are left. Tomorrow night we see the solos and Ryan promises the group will be halved. Can’t wait to see it.
