<p>The “judges” really aren’t judges after the top 24, they are there to give a recap of what they thought of the performance. If they were really judging the competitions, they wouldn’t have the call in votes “picking” the winners (although I think the show producers do finagle that some).</p>
<p>I think they do spend time with the contestants behind the scenes and give more constructive advice off camera. I do miss Simon because he just told it like it was.</p>
<p>So far, tonight’s American Idol show is terrible.</p>
<p>^^^ agreed. I’m not sure how long I’ll be following this season… :(</p>
<p>It’s an hour and a half into the show and it’s absolutely awful. The singing is terrible. The performances are terrible. Gosh–these girls can’t possibly be the best singers that America has to offer.</p>
<p>The lack of diversity of the girls is bothersome to me. Very vanilla. Not even a quirky chick!</p>
<p>2 hours a night, for 2 nights, plus the Thursday results show is just too much!</p>
<p>I do admit to liking Philip and Joshua. I like Heejun as a person, but last night he was just not doing too well.</p>
<p>Can’t wait to see the girls, but I don’t think I remember being very impressed with any of them during the prelims.</p>
<p>Blond with bangs, blond with straight hair, blond with long hair, blond with shoulder length hair, blonde with up-do, blond with flowers in up-do, very tall blond… </p>
<p>Sheesh.</p>
<p>^^^Hayley, Hallee, Holly (parden me if I didn’t get all the names/spelling exactly correct, but you get my point). Vanilla AND three of the 12 (or 13) ladies basically have the same name!</p>
<p>Girls were not so great, but what really floored me was all of the judges saying Deandre was one of the best boys last night! Wow. just wow. I thought he was the absolute worst.</p>
<p>In addition to all of the girls being so similar, they are not very attractive, imo. Not that this is a beauty contest, but the entertainment industry is full of “pretty” people.</p>
<p>Since I missed the earlier shows, I am seeing these contestants pretty much for the first time. I can’t believe these are the best they had to choose from. That said, my favorites tonight (in no particular order) were Shannon, Jessica, Erika, Jen, and Hollie.</p>
<p>I agree: the girls this year all look and sound exactly the same. I have yet to see one rise to the top. Nothing really distinctive in any of their voices.</p>
<p>Although, as a native Oregonian, I guess I have to root for the one from Portland!</p>
<p>Show just ended on the West Coast:</p>
<p>I enjoyed Erica, Hallie, Holly, Shannon, and Jessica. I love watching Jessica perform and thought her vocals were only so-so until she hit that big note at the end. </p>
<p>I’m not a Jen fan. She has a great voice but I don’t like watching her perform.</p>
<p>Cannot stand Brielle— on or off the stage. </p>
<p>Haley was awful. What’s up with JLo and Steven’s high praise of her? Randy got it right.</p>
<p>Didn’t like Elise’s vocals tonight. </p>
<p>I was hoping Ariel would get invited back…</p>
<p>I didn’t think the girls were all that bad and sounded alike. I liked the gal who channels Reba! Also liked Portland chick…</p>
<p>Snooze fest last night. It’s going to be an interesting season. We DVR the show so we can fast forward through the commercials…and the less appealing singers.</p>
<p>Thought it was funny that the judges gave many of the girls high praise after their performances but at the end of the show,they weren’t mentioned in “the best of the night” list. They all acted as if Brielle’s performance of “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” was just great but not one single judge called her name at the end of the show. Bet her “super stage Mom” was really ticked off. The blonde that wore the long red dress was terrible.Felt sorry for her.</p>
<p>Since Simon wasn’t around to say it I will…karaoke cruise ship.</p>
<p>For the most part, I agree with the top 13. Did I understand that next week the girls will sing Whitney Houston and the guys Stevie Wonder? I thought they always warned them to stay away from such icons! lol</p>
<p>Thursday night’s results show just ended on the West Coast:</p>
<p>I also really liked the top 10 vote-getters and all 3 of the Wild Card picks— Erika, Jeremy, and DeAndre. Some of the choices may have been a bit controversial (such as taking DeAndre over Reed) but I think the judges were following Jimmy Iovine’s lead, who I thought was fantastic on his critiques of Tuesday and Wednesday night’s performances during Thursday night’s results show. I actually think Jimmy is right about DeAndre; that he does have a really nice upside with good coaching. I hope mentors will tell him to spend a little less time on his falsetto.</p>
<p>I was happy with the results with the exception of Skylar and DeAndre. I don’t like either of them and have never understood the judges’ love.</p>
<p>DeAndre needs to quit with the hair flip. I can see his appeal to the teen age segment and see him as a future Disney channel “star”.</p>
<p>Reed is immensely talented, he is not, however, going to pack the house for a rock concert. I won’t be surprised to read in a few weeks that he is being courted by every major recording company to develop talent for those companies or to see him as an Idol vocal coach down the road. I think that is where his real talent lies.</p>
<p>D was disappointed that Eben was not put through. Again, another Disney channel potential.</p>
<p>Simon was the one that hated when contestants sang Diva songs. I am guessing the Whitney choice is to honor her memory however.</p>