Click here for my latest article The Idol Memphis auditions were aired last night. For the first time in this young season, we were presented with contestants who were memorable, and above-average in likability. Sundance Head: Looks like Sundance will be the first fan-favorite of the season. He sang very well, and he seems to be a very nice young man. My biggest concern is that since he has a famous parent, portions of the audience may not relate to (a...
Click here for my latest article Tonight's auditions in Seattle seemed to go just as poorly as the ones in Minneapolis. At the end of the show it was announced that only 14 contestants from Seattle were sent on to the next round. That isn't many! Of those who weren't selected, my favorite has to have been white-haired, gold sheen shirt-wearing Darwin "Mischa" Reedy. Despite an interesting appearance and questionable singing, I was impressed at her graciousness in reject...
Click here for my latest article: Last night we were having some issues. The MOXI DVR (like a TiVo) at our house is broken. (Cable guy just called and said that he'll be to our house within 20 minutes.) We had to watch the show real-time, fuzzy, with all of the commercials, and with two small children causing numerous distractions. Thankfully we will be able to watch the show tonight AFTER the kids go to bed. I'll tell you: those DVRs really change a person's tele...
The sixth season of "American Idol" will start on Tuesday. I am looking forward to that. As usual, I intend to offer weekly recaps and opinions. I will have to get prepared to take notes while watching the show..
So the other day as I was listening to the radio, I heard the song "Lazy Eye" by the Silversun Pickups. I thought that the song was excellent, and have since watched a number of their videos on their website, and on youtube. Seems as if they're an up-and-coming band. To me, the sound that they make reminds me a lot of (another one of my favorites) Liz Phair. In fact I was a little surprised to find out that the singer from the band is actually a man. The guy sounds...
Over the past three days my wife and I have been catching up on May's episodes of ER. ER is always known for airing breathtakingly dramatic, frenetic, and/or shocking episodes during sweeps. I think that the most memorable of the sweeps episodes was in season one, when Doctor Green was having an exceptionally hard time delivering a baby, whose mother ultimately died. These last few episodes however have pulled out all of the stops. This is what I have seen on TV over the past three evenings:...
Click here for my latest article Tonight's results' show crowned Taylor Hicks the winner of season five. Going into last night's finale, I thought that the competition was Katharine's to lose. Unfortunately for her, Taylor came on strong last night. No real outrage. No matter which one would have won, they'll both have nice music careers. Season 4's final two-hour spectacular was really good with surprise guests and performances from the last twelve finalists. Thi...
Well, for some reason the site is down. That stinks. I'll have to cut and paste this article once JoeUser is up again. Tonight's results' show crowned Taylor Hicks the winner of season five. Going into last night's finale, I thought that the competition was Katharine's to lose. Unfortunately for her, Taylor came on strong last night. No real outrage. No matter which one would have won, they'll both have nice music careers. Season 4's final two-hour spectacular was really good wit...
Click here for my latest article The best news from tonight's show didn't happen during any of the performances. The best news for me was that Gordon Ramsey's "Hell's Kitchen" will be brought back again for a second season. That'll be fun, as I really enjoyed the first run. Tonight's final featured each contestant singing two of their favorites from the competition, plus a third song which was written originally for each contestant. Song Number One: Katharine sang "...
Click here for my latest article As soon as last night's show went off the air, I was on my computer. I had intended to write a "breaking news" style report on the results' show. Sadly, JoeUser wasn't working properly, and I was unable to post. Then, I forgot about posting the results. That's the way these things go. So anyway, after what seemed to be very close voting results (the three contestants were each within a percentage point of each other), Elliott found...
Click here for my latest article. Tonight, each of the final three contestants had to sing three songs. The first song would be one chosen by music mogul Clive Davis. The second song would be chosen by the show's judges (and announced by each contestant's local politician of note.) The third song would be chosen by the contestants themselves. As a whole, tonight's performances were really good. Two of the performers (Taylor and Katharine) had at least one spectacu...
I was watching a baseball game tonight. The Twins were losing to the White Sox by the score of 4-0. It looked as if the Sox's pitcher had the game under control, and that the Twins' offense was going to take the night off. With that in mind, I started flipping through the channels. (Ironically, the Twins came through with a 5 run inning at just about the time I stopped watching. They eventually won 8-4. Goes to show that it really "ain't over. . ." (Don't l...
Click here for my latest article After last night's show, I was certain that either Elliott or Taylor would be going home. Both of those two performed reasonably well last night, but I figured that their elimination was an inevitability en route to a Katharine and Chris final. Surprisingly, it was Chris who was sent home. (With Elliott and Taylor being the top two.) Tonight's result was probably the most surprising one in series history. What went wrong? Chris w...
Click here for my latest article. Tonight the final four Idol contestants gave the songs of Elvis their best shot. Helping the contestants was special guest arranger Tommy Matola. The Performances: Taylor Taylor's first song was "Jailhouse Rock". I'd imagine that this is the type of performance one would expect from a "Taylor" concert. It was fun, but the song itself wasn't all that marketable. John Belushi sang it better. Grade: B Taylor's se...
Click here for my latest article. Tonight Chris, Taylor, and Katharine found themselves in the top-three. Elliott and Paris were in the bottom-two. After a suspense-killing 9:00 local news promo which implied that Paris would be eliminated, we found that it was indeed Paris Bennett who was eliminated. (Minnesota media outlets love to push "Minnesota ties." Apparently Paris lived in a Minneapolis suburb for a while.) The competition is getting really tigh...