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Access Atlanta > American Idol Buzz > Archives > 2008 > May > 23
Friday, May 23, 2008
5/23: What did we learn from season 7?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What did we learn from season 7 of “American Idol”?
Love those instruments! We’ve been wondering why they didn’t do this sooner. Folks like Bo Bice would have truly appreciated it. This year, the instrument rule two final five contestants we probably wouldn’t have otherwise gotten in Brooke White and Jason Castro. Clearly, the producers liked the addition, too, and it will be back in 2009.
No Sanjaya sideshow worked fine with me (though train wreck Amanda Overmyer verged on caricature at times). Sure, there are folks who watched “Idol’ for the spectacle of the Chicken Littles of the world. But “Idol” needed a year off from that to bolster its legitimacy, however amusing it might have been to have little politico Kyle Ensley in the top 24 or flamboyant Danny Noriega in the top 12.
That there’s still talent out in dem woods. We’re a big country and thank goodness the likes of Syesha, Brooke, Jason and the two Davids still exist, that the talent herd hasn’t been completely sucked dry.
Experience is not a sin. Some folks still gripe that Carly and Michael and Kristy alreadly had shots already in the “biz,” but nobody knew who they were so who cares? I thought it added an interesting element, a nice mix of the naive and new such as Jason and the almost desperate in Carly.
Forgetting lyrics is okay. Clearly, this is not a deal breaker for viewers, that it sometimes humanized the contestant more than demonized them as in Brooke and David A. But in the case of Jason “uh uh uh uh” Castro near the end, it solidified in people’s minds that he was simply ready to go home at that point. Memorizing two songs in one week is hard, dude!
Country isn’t quite king or queen but it certainly helped Kristy Lee Cook. She lasted far longer than most expected and being the single representative in the country world kept her alive weeks longer than she otherwise should have.
I pledge allegiance… Pull the patriotic card out when needed. Kristy Lee Cook, at a point in the competition where she needed help, pulled the Lee Greenwood song out. Brilliant! Archuleta later made a similar, though less successful, move by opting for Neil Diamond’s “America.”
Expand your vocabulary, dawg. Randy’s tiresome, limited choice of descriptions got especially tiresome this year. Everyone was “molten red hot” and “on fire,” and heck, “you can sing the phone book,” too.
Don’t wave your hands like you just don’t care. If “Idol’ brings back the mosh pit, how about recruiting some minorities, maybe even a male or two. And prohibit them from “spontaneously’ waving their hands in semi-time to the music.
Bring the band closer to the stage. The new layout kept the band so far away, I think that often made it harder for the singers to connect with them. The times when they brought members of the band near the contestants were often quite effective. (See Chikezie.)
Q&A quandary Yes, that Q&A was a time waster if we ever saw one. And posting the questions on that board, then having the caller ask them was pure redundancy. It will surely be gone next week if Fox’s promise of 30 minute results shows holds.
Add your own. Those were just a few off the top of my head.
In other “Idol” news;
-USA Today reports that on Tuesday, teleprompters were in use for the singers. Can’t imagine David Cook needed them but perhaps Archuleta did. I don’t know if either copped to using them. I haven’t read the post-show press conferences yet.
