|
|
TV Talk Discussion Group
THEME ~~The Neil Diamond Songbook
Did I mention that I LOVE Neil Diamond?!! He's right up there with my Barry and Tony!
''Neil Diamond , 67, began writing songs about the time Simon was born!! His catalog is richer and more varied than most, from the folk rock of ''Cherry, Cherry'' to the anthem rock of ''I Am I Said'' to his '80s work. How will Neil's songs, which have been covered by Johnny Cash, The Monkees and Barbra Streisand, suit the final five? His catalog is a wealth of riches.''
Diamond could be an Idol's best friend or worst enemy. We'll soon find out. We see him greet each contestant. He encourages each to bring their own ''thing'' to his songs. However, will they listen to him??? Each singer will perform 2 songs with the judges withholding comments until both songs have been performed.. The best to all the performers tonight.
ROUND 1
Jason Castro - ''Forever In Blue Jeans'' - He's relaxed, happy, and interprets the song well. However, he chooses to play it safe again, taking no chances. Fun and pleasant performance.
David Cook -''I'm Alive'' - This is a lesser known song and Neil is impressed with him. He's doing Neil proud and sounds a bit like him. Good vocal and interpretation.
Brooke White - ''I'm A Believer'' - She's finally out of her comfort zone. We are seeing a very different Brooke. She's not weepy or nervous but smiling and happy while playing her guitar.
David Archuleta -''Sweet Caroline'' - Neil calls him a kind of prodigy. He changes the song up a bit with his usual 'runs', the first singer of the night to do so. ''Caroline'' is OK, nothing special.
Syesha Mercado - ''Hello Again'' - Neil thinks she does a wonderful job with her song choices. She brings a lot of feeling to the song, and we finally hear a more restrained Syesha.
Ryan's Spontaneous Idea~~an instant review by all the judges. We're not waiting until the end, after all. The judges are caught off guard. Confusing critiques follow:
Randy - Yada, yada, yada..(I've completely missed what he said)
Paula - The poor woman is commenting on TWO performances but we've only seen ONE!!!!
Simon - He expected more from everyone, even David A
NOTE: I didn't tape this so you're getting what I'm able to grab from this RUSHED MESS. This show never learns. To make matters worse, Neil's songs are being cut to shreds to fit 10 of them into one hour.
ROUND 2
Jason Castro - ''September Morn'' - It's OK. At least he isn't gasping for air this week. He plays it safe.
Randy - OK
Paula - safe
Simon - forgettable
David Cook -''All I Ever Really Need Is You'' - He changed it up and made it his own but I preferred ''I'm Alive''.
Randy - rocked the house
Paula - pulled it of
Simon - brilliant & made it his own
Brooke White - ''I Am I Said'' - Sitting at the piano she's singing with feeling but the old Brooke is back, the nervous one. She should have never chosen this song.
Randy - nice job
Paula - showed vulnerability
Simon - much better than the 1st song
David Archuleta -''America'' - He's singing his usual power ballad with a few 'runs' to make it his own. Same old, same old. The vocal is much better than ''Caroline''.
Randy - good
Paula - perfect song for him
Simon - clever song choice
Syesha Mercado - ''Thank The Lord For The Night Time'' - She is power singing again. However, her vocal is strong. I much preferred ''Hello Again''.
Randy - liked it
Paula - showed off her pop voice
Simon - good actress singer
COMMENTS~~ Neil need not worry about losing his career. I apologize for this disjointed recap, but you work with what you're given. This show was an insult to Neil Diamond who had his songs edited beyond belief to fit a ONE HOUR time slot. What a ''throw-a-way'' night! You cannot sing 10 songs in one hour and have them critiqued properly in that time frame. WHY THE RUSH this season? I don't know about you, but I feel as though I've wasted an hour of my time and it's due to the production values of this pathetic show, not necessarily the contestants and their usual dubious song choices! No wonder why their ratings are down!!! The end of this season cannot come soon enough.
RESULTS~~ Wednesday at 9:00 EDT
Special thanks to Linda for posting for me last week and to those who wished me better health. Everything was / is much appreciated.
I have another link that I posted with it that has an interview with Paula on Ryan's radio show this morning telling what exactly happened. Again, Ryan was just going along with what Nigel told him to do. It was all decided while Syesha was singing her first song. Ryan was told to go out and have the judges do a quick critique. Paula got mixed up because the judges were only told to do two songs at one time. She just happened to be in the studio when Jason was singing at dress rehearsal and wrote down some notes that she was referring to last night because they really didn't have time to take notes during the show. Simon hated the idea also and stopped taking notes. The whole thing was a big mess.
The theme for next week's show is also up. Check out the post up on the Idol News to see what it is. It contains more current songs.
Replies: (list all replies)
First Song
Jason--Much better than last week but still doesn't have that edge that I wanted to hear on this song. I kept wanting it to go someplace but it didn't.
David C.--I think that was his best performance! Fantastic! Got the edge of Neil in that song yet it was all David. Ryan--Did not like the little exchange between them. They could have cut that to give someone more time on their song.
Brooke--She had fun with it. She looked more relaxed. I liked it but not sure if it was right for her. Maybe I'm too used to hearing the Monkees sing it, LOL!
David A.--He sang it well but he made it into a ballad, which I didn't care for. It seems he doesn't know how to clip his words. Randy--"da Bomb"? I don't think so.
Syesha--Good job. Very pretty.
Second Song
Jason--It was just okay. Nothing special.
David C.--Beautiful. It was so different from the other song but did a great job.
Brooke--I liked this much better but there is still something missing. Maybe because I'm used to a man singing the song. This one just ended short. Here's where the extra time from that exchange between Ryan and David C. could have gone.
David A.--It was better than the first song but I didn't get that enthused spirit. His ending notes were good.
Syesha--Loved it! She is really showing us what she is about.
Judges
Paula--I think she just got confused because of the way this was done. They were supposed to give critiques on two songs at once. Probably to save time either all of the judges or at least Paula saw the dress rehearsal so she had something down ahead of time. She seemed coherent to me so I don't think that was the problem. Did not like her crowning David C. the winner when just last week she and Randy especially declared David A. the winner. They should not do this. It is totally unfair to the rest of the contestants. Then they wonder why the others don't give it their all. Simon--He didn't like the idea of taking notes and I agree with him that it was "a strange night".
COMMENTS: It definitely was Speed Idol last night. Now tonight for the Results show when we want it to go faster, we will have all this extra stuff when it should only be a half hour show, especially now that they are down to only 5. I think Nigel is getting too mixed up trying to run this show and getting SYTYCD ready to start in just a couple of weeks. Does anyone else here think he treats that show a lot better simply because he is a judge?
Replies: (list all replies)
Syeesha's out, because Simon said so, which pissed me off, but she wasn't going to win anyway, so she had to deal sooner or later.
Brooke should be off, because she still looks like a deer in headlights, and David Archeleta should go because he's afraid to sing anything other than a ballad.
Cook is getting cocky , so Jason should challenge that and ramp up his game, but frankly I can't figure out why Jason is only giving the bare minimum effort .
I wish the Aussie guy was still in the game........
Replies: (list all replies)
Jason: I knew it was throw Jason under the bus night, but I guess I did not expect it to be so blatent. Oh wait, what am I talking about? It is Am. Idol of course it has to be heavy handed. It's like Jason knew that no matter what he sang tonight, he was going to get the same damn comments. The show has just completely thrown him under the bus and given him the "WTF are you still doing on this show?" Sanjaya edit. Paula's moronic pre-planned statement that she accidentally leaked probably didn't help with his confidence any either. He looked PISSED at the end and rightfully so. I just haaaate how this show always make it SO. DAMN. OBVIOUS who they want to win and who they want gone. That said, I actually thought Jason sounded quite nice tonight. I liked his first song and thought the second one was totally pleasant. No trainwrecks. And both songs will probably sound even better on iTunes. How can Jason be forgettable if Paula remembers his songs before he even sings them?
DCook: The first song was fun, and we got the return of the Les! Paul! The second song was gorgeous. Is he the only one trying anymore? Everyone else seems to be just getting through the whole thing.
Brooke: Shut up. I'm a Believer was horrible. I am so sick of her looking like she is going to cry when the judges critique her. I would do just about anything to get her off my screen.
Archie: And I save the special pukey prize for Archuleta for cheesing up the cheesiest cheese of all Sweet Caroline even more than it inherently cheeses,and playing the I Heart America card. Seriously, Archuleta made me laugh all through "America". Cutesie, Cold, AND, Calculating. He has no stage presence, and turns every single song into the SAME DAMN SONG. Also when are they going to call him on basically singing the same song week after week? Right, they aren't. He is going to Rueben his way through this competition.
Syesha: What a waste of the pimp spot. Wants to be a diva SOOOOO bad, but just isn't. She just won't die.
Wow. So TBTP finally show their hand with Paula coming out and critiquing Jason's second song before he even sang it (a negative critique at that). Even if it was comments from rehearsal, it's a preplanned response that is unrelated to a performance. It's planted to manipulate the public. I don't have a problem with the judges watching dress rehearsal and taking notes in a GENERAL sense. I imagine that it can be hard to hear when the bused-in fangirls are shrieking. But the judges still have to react to and critique the actual SHOW performance. Sometimes a performer holds back in rehearsal, or they only really click when they have an audience. The comments Paula read were clearly intended to sandbag Jason, continuing the impression that he didn't care, has no spark and does not deserve to move on.
And the typical TV audience member has no clue (oh! Paula's always ditzy, wasn't that funny?). Even if Jason survives, due to backlash voting, he's not going to last another week. I wouldn't be surprised if they claused him tonight and then gave him a strict script to follow for the press questions. Jason's not the first person to know the judges had it in for him no matter what he did. He's just the first person to have the vindication of everyone else knowing it too!
Randy, this has never been a singing competition and no matter how many times you say it, it still will not be.
I have never liked an Idol winner, so I imagine DCook will be the "shocking" boot and Archie will sail away with another reality show win.
Replies: (list all replies)
"I hope everyone enjoyed tonight’s edition of “Speed Idol”. I didn’t exactly…"
That quote was from the site that has the video clips - Season 7 Top 5 Performance - Recap
-
http://mjsbigblog.com/season-7-top-5-performance-recap.htm
and an eventual written recap (usually by the next day), but the videos are up now if anyone missed the show or would like to see a performance over again. On the purple line to click you have two spots. The left side is for just the song but if you click on the right side that says, "w/Neil Diamond comments", you will get the mentoring session with ND and the contestant and then their song afterwards. That it just for the first five songs. The second five, only the song is listed since there was only one session shown with Neil.
To see the clip of the judges remarks for the first set of songs, click on the words (again in purple), "Paula is wasted" - not very nice but that's because she was confused with answering tonight. I really can't blame Paula. She sounded very coherent tonight. I think it was because this thing was rushed through. Going to two songs, the show tonight should have been expanded to an hour and a half to give them more time in between to critique the performance and give the kids a chance to sing the song. It sure sounded like the songs were cut short tonight, more than usual. Anyway, to see these remarks, in case you missed them or didn't quite hear them because it was done so fast, click on that part about Paula and you will get the video of those remarks.
The critiques of the second song are shown after each second song.
http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TV-Show-Blog/American-Idol/Episode-Recap-Perform/800038585
I agree, this was "Speed Idol"!
Replies: (list all replies)
Replies: (list all replies)
I'm so angry. What's with AI?? They run the kids through the show like cattle, sing a few bars of ND songs, move on to the next, Ryan ''speed talks'', critiques are to be held off until after the 2nd performance and then Ryan gets all the kids on stage and tries to have the judges do a real fast critique of everyone after ONE song, Paula is so confused she's recapping 2 songs each. blah, blah, blah. This is ridiculous tripe and is NOT entertainment. No wonder the kids are tense.
What kind of show was THAT tonight???? Then, they shredded Neil's songs all to pieces. Do you think they allotted a minute to each song??? I don't want to hear a 'segment' of a song. I want to hear the SONG. Can things get any worse??? Obviously, they can!! Frankly, I don't care who leaves. This is no singing contest and it's not even a popularity contest anymore. Someone needs to reign in Ryan and this show DOES need more time if they do 8 or more songs. I've had it. Boo to Nigel. He should be fired!
I am sorry to hear you are not feeling well, Songbird. I hope you feel better.
I watched the show from a room in a nursing/rehab facility, where my mother-in-law is recovering from a broken humerus bone, as she fell last Tuesday and broke her arm. She was operated on Friday and had a plate put in the arm and attached to the bone, so she will need to learn to use the arm again once she is stronger. She was on oxygen and was quite out of it, so she slept through most of the show.
However, not so the lady in the other bed, a real riot of a lady from her commentary during the show. I was laughing so hard I got a muscle cramp! Each contestant brought a different reaction. When Jason came on, she started yelling, Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair. Then she booed after his performance. Her daughter, who was sitting with her, kept trying to shut her up. I was glad she didn't succeed. Then came David Cook, and she was calling out, hotsy totsy, he is a real hotsy totsy! You go get em Cookers. She loudly applauded when he was done. Then came Brooke. Goldilocks, she yelled, my little Goldilocks - she looks like a poodle I had once, ah, pretty little thing, got sat on by my husband. (This was when I had the muscle cramp) She wolf whistled after Brooke was done - don't know what THAT was about, lol.
Then came Archie. Oh, she loved this guy! Babyface, you've got the cutest little baby face, she sang along with the television. She cheered loudly for him. Finally, Sayesha. She was silent for Sayesha. But then I realized she was dozing. Ah, darn, I want more commentary from this lady.
The snack lady came in shortly after, and woke her up. My husband thought the snacks were for the visitors. The snack lady enjoyed that one! She gave him a cookie. We were all laughing at my husband's expense. My mother-in-law woke up for some jello, while the critic in the other bed wolfed down two puddings and began her second round of commentaries - this time on the judges. Randy got, oh, shut up fatso. Paula, she had a few choice words for - Talks too damn much and never says anything, like you Janey. (meaning her poor, long-suffering daughter, who by this time was looking at her watch, hoping visiting hours were almost over). Simon got one of her wolf whistles.
The second round of singing she only lasted through Jason, who she said was a nice young boy, but needed to wash his hair with a fine tooth comb. After that, she finally fell sound asleep, sated with two vanilla pudding cups and a cup of apple juice she termed flat and dry and without any punch. Her last words before dropping off to dream land were, I wish I had a beer. This lady, she didn't need a beer!
What did I think of the show? Don't ask! I miss Carly and Michael. :( I guess my favorite remains David Cook, with a little dash of Archie.
Replies: (list all replies)
Egads! I thought this was worse than ALW week! Paula takes the cake this week for her performance. Give the girl a brain.
Jason-blue jeans-I liked the chorus pretty well, didn’t like his lower range. Suited him but he needed to do SOMETHING with it! Sept Morn-beginning was okay, then it sounded like he was singing to geriatrics in the coma ward.
David C-alive-I think I could really like this version(surprise!) all I need is you didn’t really grab me, but it was good and I agreed with Simon that it could be a current hit.
Brooke-believer-go back to your comfort zone! I thought she sounded good at the end of the song, though. Didn’t really care for I am I said, either, though better than believer. She sounded too country warbly in both. Second song way too intense for her.
David A-caroline-you know how there are some candies and cake that even though you are craving sugar, and they have sugar, you wouldn’t bother to eat them because they are too insipid-missing something important that you can’t put your finger on? He did much better on
Sy-hello-while she sang well enough, she ruined the purity of this song. It is so beautifully pure and simple and she overdid it. Nighttime-campy and icky.
Paula-“this is hard!” Whoa!
David c-alive best Jason-blue jeans most entertaining. Everyone else can go home tonight. How did they not get more out of Neil Diamond? Where was Love on the Rocks? The song from Pulp Fiction?
Who is mentoring next week? The show is in need of something interesting!
Replies: (list all replies)