By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Thursday, January 7, 2016
Go figure. Clay Aiken was paid to show up to help out with auditions for the final season of "American Idol," then he live tweets a few less-than-complimentary things about the judges while watching the show:
Warning: curse word ahead as he justifies his negativity. Based on his docuseries on Esquire about his run for political office in North Carolina, he sure has a potty mouth!
He has stated in interviews that he rarely if ever watches the show. I get a sense he is not positioning himself to be a mentor this year. Will he even bother showing up to the series finale?
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Forbes released the top 5 highest earning "Idol" singers with Adam Lambert at the top in a bit of an upset. The magazine had trouble getting enough data to compile a top 10, sadly enough.
5. Kelly Clarkson – 4 million – Kelly only played three shows during the scoring period. Much of her concert earnings came over the summer.
5. Scotty McCreery – 4 million – Played 55 shows in 12 months
4. Phillip Phillips – $5 million – Phillip performed 83 concerts in support of his Behind the Light album
3. Daughtry – $6 million – The payday is due to constant touring–91 shows in the time period.
2. Carrie Underwood – $8 million – Carrie would hit much higher paydirt once she went on her Storyteller tour last fall.
1. Adam Lambert – 10 million – Numbers buoyed by his earning from fronting Queen a a massive world wide arena tour.
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I predicted yesterday that ratings would be about the same this year as last year. I figured the die-hards would still watch but even the curiosity of a final season would not be enough to draw anybody else.
Indeed, early overnight ratings were 10.9 million, virtually the same as 11.2 million last year. The 18-49 rating was 2.9 similar to last year's 3.2.
Anyway, night two tonight will feature auditions out of Little Rock and San Francisco.
I was incorrect earlier saying there would be only three audition episode nights. There will be six audition episodes over three weeks, which is pretty typical. Then two weeks of Hollywood and showcase rounds followed by three weeks of semifinal rounds. There will be only a top 10 instead of 12. This saves two weeks right there.
The show will end several weeks earlier than it has in the past on April 7, 2016. Fan favorite alums will mentor during the semifinals. This leaves six weeks for live shows instead of the usual 11.
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Here are some teaser videos "Idol" released ahead of time from tonight's episode in San Francisco and Little Rock.
Olivia Rox sounds impressive. She has top 10 potential:
La'Porsha Renae is a big personality and a big voice along the lines of Lakisha Jones or Candice Glover.
And the 60-second tease:
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