I’m having some serious tacky TV overload right now – first The Bachelor is close to ending and American Idol is kicking off the live portion of the show. A glass of wine and dumb tv sometimes is the perfect prescription for a day after being home with the kids.  Idol is on tops for me because it’s entertaining, but not necessarily for the music.  You gotta know I fast forward (thank you DVR technology!) through a lot of it.  Some of you know that I do a non-money (reputation only) betting pool on AI for friends and family, called Idol Watchers.  It’s a great opportunity for us to pretend like we know what we’re talking about and root for our favorite contestants.

What I always find completely strange is that I don’t even particularly like any of the music that AI produces.  I never once bought an album from any of the winners or competitors…okay, maybe I downloaded a Kelly Clarkson song to add to a friend’s break up cd, but c’mon that song is practically a girl anthem.  I completely make fun of the whole bit – Ryan Seacrest is such a dork that I want to call him Boner (thanks Kirk Cameron for putting that back in my head), Simon Cowell is a narcissist, and Randy and Kara are just alright.  I’m a little weirded out that Ellen is now on, but as long as she doesn’t become too jokey and she keeps it real, I’ll be okay with her.  I think it’s just like any regular American dysfunctional family.  We agree to disagree.

The best part about AI to me is that I believe in the American consumption machine.  People (even me) eat this shit up.  We can make or break a potential music star, even when they are not that good (Kris Allen, Jordin Sparks, Taylor Hicks).  I love that people put their hearts and soul on the line and put their best talent out there and sometimes it’s not good enough.  Rarely, but it happens on this show, we actually see some great moments.

This is the first week of the live show where we, North America*, get to vote on the 24 contestants that made it through Hell Week in Hollywood.  That’s a lot of people to watch and for the first three weeks performances will be in two sections, Tuesday and Wednesday, with the elimination round on Thursday.  This is definitely going to be a girls year because this week they clearly showed a lot more talent than the guys.  When you play Idol Watchers, we choose our top three favorites (or who you think America will like) and your pick for the winner.  So I have a lot of sorting out to do.

Here is who caught my attention so far this week.  Of the girls, the standouts for me were the quirky ones.  Maybe that’s because I’m a bit quirky or I just don’t like the songs with the big voices, whatever.  I’m never a fan of Celene, Mariah or Whitney songs (or fans of them for that matter).  I like to see heart, authenticity, originality as well as skill.  I think that Lilly Scott has all that.  She sang a less-known Beatles song, “Fixing a Hole” with her twist in it and it sounded really good and fresh.  The girl has been busking her butt off and that takes a lot of courage.  It also takes time to figure out what works and what doesn’t and your living (tips) depend on it.  I really applaud that.  That’s a hard row to hoe.  She’s on the top of my list, but really needs to do something with that hair.  Grey is not pretty on someone so young. Go dark.  DiDi Benami also has a unique sound.  This week she sang “The Way I Am.”  Like Megan Joy from last year, I hope that she’s able to find her way when the show throws her more challenging categories from which to choose her songs.  Crystal Bowersox, is the hippie chic with dreads and a baby.  She’s the real deal, authentic, and you can feel her heart when she sings.  You get that she really wants this and she’s not cool with the Machine, but she’s going to do her very best anyway, and I really like that.  I think it’s great that Simon called Siobhan the potential “dark horse.”  She’s got something, but the girl is an odd ball. That may really work to her advantage.  She is the glass blower from Cape Cod that sang “Wicked Game.”  For someone so young (19) she already seems to have a strong sense of self that will serve her well in this competition.

In the pretty girl category, Katelyn Epperly, the big curly hair blonde girl (also 19) got my attention.  Maybe it’s because I’m a sucker of good Beatles renditions, I don’t know…probably not, because Haeley (the really young girl with the huge mouth) didn’t do so well (and yes, Simon, she is annoying).  Katelyn sang “Oh Darlin” and I thought that was also a great song choice and could tell she was really in it.  The judges made comments about her looks (I was thinking it was more “Like A Virgin” Madonna), so I can’t wait to see what she wears next week.  Rounding out my favorites is Michelle Delamor who sang Alicia Keys’ “Fallin.”  She too has good looks and super curly hair.  I could tell that she was a professional singer and had a lot of practice with that song.  I look forward to seeing what she can do week to week.  I really think she’s got it in her to go a long way.

The boys were basically dudley.  Six girls really got my attention, but with the boys, only three I think are competitors.  While I was glad that Joe Munoz did a great job turning the night around with Jason Mraz’s “You and I Both,” I don’t think the has what it takes to make it in this competition.  Michael Lynche or “Big Mike” as Randy likes to call him, is good, but not great.  I think he has some real talent and he’ll be in the competition for a long while.  I’m always so amazed how small a guitar looks against his body.  Andrew Garcia really wowed the judges during Hollywood Week with his stripped down rendition of Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up.”  I was surprised that he didn’t pull it out again for the rest of America to see, but like the judges, I think it bought him some extended time on the show.  I was not impressed with whatever song he did last night, but I look forward to seeing what he comes up with.   Andrew is original.  He’s a cool cat and totally a musician.  However, the real star of the night and the only guy whose performance was up to par was Casey James.  Yeah, he’s got the looks, but he also has the voice.  Last night he sang “Heaven” and had the girls, particularly Kara, swooning and wishing they were in his arms.  I think he’s going all the way.  He’s definitely in my Top 3.  I like his charm, honesty and sincerity.  I think he just doesn’t know what to do about his good looks.  He’s got it really rough.  <snicker, snicker>

There were a number of people that I really wanted to do well like Lee Dewyze (sounds like Adam Duritz of Counting Crows), John Park (wtf song choice, but tall good looking Asian guy), Alex Lambert (cutie pie sweetheart rocking the mullet from Texas guy…Ellen likened him to a banana that needs to ripen) and Lacy Brown (uber-red, funky hair cut girl that murdered “Landslide”), but their performances completely missed the boat for me.  I think that Lacy was so bad she’ll probably go home during the elimination round tonight.  I also think that Ashley Rodriguez made a horrible error choosing a Leona Lewis song and she’s not even close to the looks or the voice.  Leona is practically Simon’s baby!  What was she thinking???  My money is on Jermain Sellers (“Get Here” church singer from IL) or Tyler Grady (70s rocker that has more style than substance) to also be eliminated tonight.  In fact, Tim Urban (the guy that was originally cut, but got called back and butchered One Republic’s “Apologize”) is also likely on the cutting block tonight.  The guys just stunk.

In short, girls rock, boys don’t.  Be on the look out for quirky girls with an original sound and pretty boy Casey James.  I look forward to seeing who survives and will do well next week.  I’ve got to narrow down my picks.  This won’t be easy.  Tonight let’s drink every time Boner or the rest of the judges say “tough.”  It was a tough ride for the boys.  Tough to choose for the girls.  Cheers friends.  I would love to hear who impressed you this week and who you would like to immediately go home.  I love your comments!

* My Canadian relatives actually get to vote on AI even though they have Canadian Idol too!  I always thought they use Canada to help skew the numbers, because they say it’s American Idol, but really, it’s NORTH American Idol.  That’s always bothered me.

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