Click here for my latest article For the past few years I have dedicated an article to handicapping the ten/twelve finalists on American Idol during the weekend before the first show featuring the twelve finalists.  Well that weekend is now, so here goes: This year (like every year) we have three groups of contestants: Those who are likely to be in the final three, those likely to round out the final six, and the six contestants who help extend the show into May Sweeps. I will li...

Click here for my latest article. The studio shows are over.  The top twelve is set, and next week the show will move to the big stage.  There were a few slight surprises in the eliminations.  What we're left with is a top-twelve, half-filled with superstars, and half-filled with "cannon fodder." Over the weekend, keep an eye open for my annual "odds" article.  I will predict (with odds) the eventual winner of the competition.  (Although I daresay picking this ye...

JoeUser was down last night.  Here's what I wrote, but was unable to post: (Cut and paste from Word seems a bit awkward.  I doubt that enough people will read this to justify a major edit.  I will leave it as-is.) There it was, the last performance show before the final twelve are announced.   Once again we saw that the best talent in the competition is on the women’s side of the coin.   So with Ryan Seacrest leading us wearing a “Tribute to Carl Sagan...

Click here for my latest article I know that I don't pay for this service, I know that JoeUser is maintained out of the goodness of some software developer's heart, I appreciate that I can find my articles on google, blah blah blah. . . That said: I don't know of any personal blogging site that has as much down time as Joe User.  It is really frustrating when I have an article written and ready to post, and then JoeUser is down for a twelve hour span. Here's what I wrote after la...

Click here for my latest article This is a nice part of the season.  Eight contestants, one hour, over, and done.  At the end of tonight's show, the panel was discussing how many of the men actually deserved to be in the final twelve.  Randy and Paula said four, Simon said three-and-a-half. Personally I think that three of the men belong in the final twelve: Chris, Chris, and Blake.  The others don't really even have a chance. With that said, here are Tonight'...

Click here for my latest article. Tonight's show was another of the always-anticipated elimination shows.  Three out of my four picks for elimination were sent home.  Last week I got half right, this week I did one better than half. Notable events from tonight's show: The group sang "Joy to the World".  They have to fill TV time somehow. . . Nick Pedro was eliminated.  Too bad.  He was one of my early picks.  I think that revealing that he was engage...

Click here for my latest article. Tonight was the girls’ turn to see whether they could follow a vastly-improved mens’ show with a repeat of last week’s home run performance.   Going in, we had a few questions:   Would they mention Antonella’s rough week on the internet?   Would it affect her performance? Would Lakisha, Melinda, Sabrina, or Stephanie deliver follow-ups to last week’s strong performances? Would Haley, Antonella, ...

Click here for my latest article After last week's mens' show -the longest two hours in American Idol history- this week we were treated to a much stronger effort by nearly all of the contestants.  At this point it still seems to like it's a woman's contest to lose, but it may eventually become conceivable that a man may challenge for the win. The biggest problem (for me) about tonight's show was the theme.  Each contestant was asked to dedicate a song to someone special. ...

Click here for my latest article. Some of the chatter on my favorite American Idol-related websites and blogs ( votefortheworst.com , realitytvworld , and idolingalong at Blogspot ) concerns recently surfaced photos of contestant Antonella Barba.  (You can read about it and see the pictures on any of the above three links.) The original set of photos are pretty tame, and it is a little hard to believe that anyone would be offended by them. A more recent set of photos is out whi...

Click here for my latest article After tonight's results' show, the enormous field of 24 has been pared down to a slightly more manageable 20.  Eliminated were two men and two women. Notable events from tonight's show SPOILERS BELOW : The whole crew sang Tears For Fears' "Sowing the seeds of love."  It must have been tough to choose a song for a group of 24.  It was among the top-half of Idol group performances (which isn't actually saying much.  They all usuall...

Click here for my latest article Tonight's show was really good.  After last night's sub-par episode, they might as well send all the men home.  There were a number of really good performances by the women's group.  At this (early) point, it would be hard to imagine that the winner won't eventually be one of tonight's better singers. The Performances 1. Stephanie Edwards- sang "___??___"  (There were a lot of songs on tonight's show with titles of which I am ...

Click here for my latest article After an unnecessarily short Hollywood round, the Idol season is now in full swing.  The first studio show featured the twelve male finalists. After this one show, I was pretty disappointed.  Most of the performers seemed to be battling nerves, the song choices were poor, and I was bored for most of the show.  Thank goodness for the ability to speed through the commercials at least! Looking back, I was similarily disappointed with prev...

Click here for my latest article. Before the most recent season of American began, there was an announcement of a "major twist" to be added midway through the sixth season.  (If it isn't a "twist" it will be a special event show, or something like that.)  Here is a typical article on the subject.  This one is from TV Guide. Today I read a denial that Michael Jackson is to be involved in the "twist".   That would have been a good one. . . I have heard word t...

Click here for my latest article This year, the people who bring us American Idol decided to give the "Hollywood Round" two hours over two nights, while increasing the number of two hour audition episodes.  Apparently the focus groups preferred an endless parade of poor singers to the first part of the legitimate competition.  Here's one of many bold predictions that I will make during this season of Idol:   They will spend more time on the Hollywood round for season seven. ...

Click here for my latest article From this point, American Idol begins to get increasingly interesting.  For some reason, it seems that the "Hollywood" round has been cut shorter than usual this year.  (Maybe it polled low or something.  Too bad, it is one of my favorite parts.)  If the number of nights that the Hollywood Round wasn't cut short, they must have decided to go with a one hour show.  Too bad, I'll take as much of Hollywood as I can get. So here's how...