Click here for my latest article Well after country night we found the  Mandisa , Paris , and Elliot  in the bottom three.  That was an interesting bottom-three, considering that each of these three would conceivably have the most difficult time with the country genre. Mandisa was there because her song wasn't very good.  Paris was in the bottom three because she has REALLY lost her spark.  Elliot was down there because he seemed traumatized on stage last night...

Click here for my latest article. Every year on American Idol, there are two theme nights that I enjoy significantly less than others.  One theme that I dislike is "Motown night", and the other one was tonight's theme: Country. It looks like I wasn't alone in disliking "Country night", as a number of the contestants didn't seem to be so thrilled with the theme either. The best news from the country world has to be Kenny Rogers.  He looks really good for a man of 68! (August ...

Some time yesterday afternoon, I started thinking about "Twin Peaks". "Twin Peaks" probably has to be my favorite television series. It is funny, dreadful, mysterious, creepy, scary, poignant, and enigmatic, all at the same time! Over the years I have spent a few days here and there watching the series from beginning to end. Each time I hope that it ends differently; but every time I watch, Cooper still ends up in the bathroom looking at Bob in the mirror. That still creeps me out! In ...

Click here for my latest article. Following a lackluster 2000-2006 themed show: Ace Young , Lisa Tucker , and Katharine McPhee found themselves in the bottom-three.  In the end, Lisa was sent home. Lisa's departure leaves nine finalists. It is a mystery to me why Lisa never quite caught-on once the competition moved to the big stage.  It seemed like she had a hard time defining herself, and her songs were never quite as good as they had been. Katharine's fall into the...

Click here for my latest article. Tonight's article will be a bit shorter than usual.  I had a really long two days of conferences at work, and I am looking forward to watching last Sunday's "Sopranos" before going to bed.  (Hopefully I will find time tomorrow to add to these comments...) Tonight's Idol featured the contestants singing songs from the past 6 years.  Compared to last week's gem of a show, this week's was a bit of a stinker.  Barry Manilow must have had ...

Click here for my latest article. After the 1950s performances, one contestant found himself eliminated.  Finding themselves in the bottom three for the second week in-a-row, Lisa and Bucky welcomed Kevin into the fold.  Ultimately, Kevin Covais was eliminated. Comments: Lisa Tucker: For some reason there isn't a lot of love out there for Lisa.  Maybe it is because she's a seasoned performer at 17.  Who knows?  She's probably 2 or 3 good performanc...

Click here for my latest article. Tonight's theme was "The 1950s".  Knowing that: I wasn't expecting much.  I was expecting the contestants to miss the essence of the oldies, or to sing an easy song poorly.  Surprisingly enough, nearly all of the songs turned out really well. The special guest star this week was Barry Manilow.  There were good clips of Barry working with the various idols.  (Barry seems like he'd be an awesome teacher, musician pitch-man, or sni...

There have been some good things on television lately. Last night I saw the US premiere of the 2005 series of "Doctor Who" on the SciFi Network.  Apparently this will be a weekly series until they run out of new episodes.  My verdict is: So far, so good!  This new guy who plays the Doctor now may finally get viewers to forget Tom Baker. Watching the show last night brought back good memories of watching the show as a kid.  I hope that success of the new series will enco...

Click here for my latest article. Tonight's bottom three were: Ace Young , Lisa Tucker , and Melissa McGhee .  At the end, Melissa was eliminated. Ace Young went on first on a two-hour show.  His song selection and execution were also poor.  I wonder whether this guy will get any better than his early "Father Figure" performance. Lisa Tucker sang a forgettable song in the middle of the show.  I also doubt that she has as many hardcore fans as the others. ...

Click here for my latest article. The theme of tonight's show was "Stevie Wonder Songs".  Hearing that, I knew that a few of the contestants would have a rather difficult time with the theme. Tonight's performances: 1. Ace Young sang "Do I Do".  This one was pretty below-average.  Although Ace had a few good spots, it didn't really seem like he could handle the song.  Grade: C 2. Kellie Pickler sang "Blame it on the sun".  Kellie wasn't enthusiastic ...

Hello and welcome to my third attempt at handicapping a winner of American Idol.  Let's see how I do this year! Chris Daughtry 2-1: Not since Fantasia have I seen such an obvious pick to win the competition.  The only obstacle that Chris may face would be stumbling in subsequent theme weeks, but that's doubtful. Kevin Covais 120-1: His cute act will wear out before the contest is over, and "votefortheworst.com" can only carry this guy so far. Bucky Covington 80...

Click here for my latest article. Tonight the final twelve contestants were announced. Beginning next week, the show will move to a bigger stage, and the theme weeks will begin. (I am looking forward to the final round, because from this point on, it will get easier to recap each show. ) Of course to get to the final twelve, four contestants had to be eliminated. Those four were: Kinnik Sky had a difficult time getting the audience to care about her. Either a sensational song ...

Click here for my latest article Tonight was the final eight male finalists' last chance to try to crack the top twelve.  In general I found the performances to be a bit average, as it seemed as each performer was interested in not making any mistakes at this point in the competition. ***Paula Abdul had one of her worst nights of the series.  She hasn't had anything to say lately, and her comments on tonight's performers were neither accurate nor insightful.*** Tonight's Pe...

Click here for my latest article We're down to the final eight.  Crunch time!  Only one more round of eliminations before the show moves on to the Kodak theater.  This last week will really be hard-fought. From week-to-week, season-to-season, I often find myself agreeing with the judges' comments on the various contestants.  Tonight however, I have a few contentions with them.  That said: enjoy what may be my most contraversial recap ever.  (I HAVE to check ...

Click here for my latest article. From now, we're down to eight men and eight women.  Two more of each will be cut before the final twelve hits the big stage. My favorite part of tonight's show was right after Heather (or Brenna) was eliminated, the camera cut away to Gedeon (of all people) for what should have been a reaction, yet Gedeon was just sitting there.  I am chuckling a bit now just writing about it. From my article on the ten women finalists, I wrote: Tonigh...