American Idol 2007
 

Figured I would start the thread now since the premiere is on Tuesday. Here's the early season schedule, FYI:

Jan. 16 (premiere, 8-10pm): Minneapolis
Jan. 17 (8-10): Seattle, WA
Jan. 23 (8-9): Memphis, TN
Jan. 24 (9-10): New York, NY
Jan. 30 (8-9): Birmingham, AL
Jan. 31 (9-10): San Antonio, TX
Feb. 6 (8-9): Los Angeles, CA
Feb. 7 (9-10): “Rest of the Best” Special Audition Show
Feb. 13 (8-9) Hollywood Round
Feb. 14 (9-10): Hollywood Round - Top 24 Chosen


Oh, and Olivia Newton-John (obvious Grease reality show tie-in), Jewel, and songwriter Carol Bayer-Sager are the scheduled guest judges this year.

The Grease reality show is on another network, so I wonder if it really is a tie-in. If both shows are produced by the same people, then I guess it could happen. Just out of curiosity, is that the case?

You're right. I have no idea if they are produced by the same people. I was thinking of the tie-in from DoND and Grease that first night. Nevermind.

At least there's no Barry Manilow, although - after his performance on that celeb singing show - I'm sorely disappointed Little Richard isn't on the schedule. I think he'd steal the spotlight, though, and the 3 "stars" can't have that.

So, is this American Idol thing a new show? Is it anything like Deal or No Deal?

I have a major infatuation with Jewel, or at least I did before she decided to go trashy. Anyway, Mrs. Eaglesfan and I are looking forward to this season as much as any of them.

I always get hooked on the auditions. Every season I say I am just gonna watch the auditions then get hooked on it.

Why won't this show just go away...and why does it always have to run during 24 so all I ever see is previews for it during 24...

I'm actually the opposite, I miss the auditions, or if I do catch them, I turn them off right away. But I usually watch the last few episodes.

I'm opposite of many people in a different way. I love the auditions, but for spotting the talent. Most people love it because they get to see the awful auditions. I like to pick a favorite from the beginning.

The awful auditions are getting to be pretty obviously faked. Watching the audition for that Grease show, there was only one truly bad one, and it looked like an old man dressed in drag. All of these idiots are ruining the auditions for those of us who love seeing legitimately untalented people who honestly believe they are worthy of appearing on the show.

Correction, the producers are ruining the auditions by airing all the idiots rather than the unknowingly untalented.

I like them for this reason as well

I agree last season it got a little stupid ( remember the kid dressed like the statue of liberty?) I am curious to see if they tighten up the reigns this season.

dola- this must be some kind of record, 13 posts into an American Idol thread and not one by JBMagic

That is my main reason for enjoying the auditions as well. Mrs. Eaglesfan likes them more to laugh at the bad acts. I think I picked Katharine McPhee to win it all from her audition last year.

I agree with EF, something about Jewel awhile back infactuated me. Haven't seen her in quite some time though.

Just so people know, the final 12 are announced march 8.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing, except after she went "trashy". ;)

As far as I have read, no, it remains mostly bad auditions sprinkled in with the good.

Here's some general info on the upcoming season to whet the appetite for tonight (taken from MJ's Big Blog, which is hands-down the best spoiler info on the net):


USA Today reports that American Idol producers have finally secured permission to perform songs from the Beatles catalog–a big coup for the show. Says executive producer, Ken Warwick, “We’ve got the permission. [from Sony, which owns the publishing rights] Certain songs are still off limits.” But, ”They said, ‘Tell us what songs you want and we will do our best.’ ”

They should get enough songs cleared to do a theme week. Warwick thinks the Beatles theme may be performed by the Top 12 finalists.

Ideally, Paul McCartney or George Martin would appear on the show to mentor the kids, but that’s still merely an item on the producer’s wish list.

A couple more items from the USA Today article:

• The online competition to write the “coronation” song for the next Idol is in the final stages of being put into place. A group of “experts” would choose around 100 songs that fans could listen to and vote for online. During the season, Idol would hold a special in which former Idol singers would perform “10 or so” of the favorites, with viewers voting to pick two songs for the Top 12.
• During Top 6 week, according to Warwick, “…we’re going to have a big special, with lots of stars. It might be an extra day [during the week].”

This will be a few weeks where I watch it if my TiVO catches it, but if something is higher priority, i don't care..

Up until last season I only watched for the joke people, then stopped watching.. last season I kept on through the whole season and imagine the joke people will drive me crazy.. as it is such a large majority of them are obviously just looking to get on tv... the fun ones are the ones you can tell actually think they're good, but there are less and less of them..

it is fun to pick out people early, buty it seemed to me last season that a lot of the finalists you didn't see or barely saw early on..

Last year I stopped watching the auditions and started when the Hollywood episodes began. Enjoyed it much more that way for some reason.

Dunno if I can get into it this year. If there is not another McPhee then I just won't watch.

How does this show continue to survive? It's not like any of the winners have done ANYTHING with their careers outside of Clarkson.

and, oh, carrie underwood?

by the way, can i wear the colombian girl as a hat?

Dating a guy who can't hold a snap on a chip-shot field goal in the playoffs doesn't count.

That girl should have acted like a Lion and ate Seacrest. The show would be better off.

does winning country music newcomer of the year count?

Hasn't Fantasia sold a buttload of records? I don't listen to that kind of music but most of my students like her

And who the hell gave that big blonde girl a degree in vocal peformance? She had to be lying

My wife called her a whore.

Translation - "You probably find her attractive so, I'm letting you know right now that you best not say anything because you've already made your Jewel comments for the night"

First album was 1.7m, second album 230k

Daughtry's album seems to be doing ok. Still at #3 after being out for 7 weeks.

Taylor Hicks's album dropped to #47 after 2 weeks. Still don't know how Hicks won...

The last I saw Daughtry was at almost 1.2m units and Hicks was cracking 500k

Didn't like the Colombian girl when I had my back to the TV. After turning around, I like her a bit more. ;)

One brunette who went through looked a *little* like Alyssa Milano to me. Enough to remind me of her anyway.

Am I a horrible person because I thought the crack baby sucked?

Somebody please post pics of the Columbian piece.

I thought she was awefull but my fiance informed me I just don't appreciate her style.

I thoroughly enjoyed the brunette with curly hair. She's my early favorite.

BTW, you know you've been married long enough when you can make comments about how good some of the contestants look and your wife doesn't get upset, she just laughs and shakes her head. Ten years ago, I'd have bruises up and down my arm.

That Columbian chick was half-cute, half-Charo, all annoying. Yet another reason to avoid Miami.

I made it through the first 45 minutes and decided this show wasn't for me anymore. I fell asleep, bored of all the actors and overdramatization.

I guess it is good I got a punch in the arm when I commented on Jewel looking good ;)


Did anyone else think they showed less of the purposefully bad last night? I think a few of them were acts (such as the Urban Amish guy or whatever he was calling himself) but it seemed like more people who really thought they had a chance but just sucked.

As far as the Columbian chick, she was cute, but I think she has very little chance of advancing far. I think the 16 year old self proclaimed crack baby has a good chance of advancing to at least the final 24, but I didn't really like her vocally.


Oh yeah, the brunette with curly hair was my favorite of the night too.

The Colombian chick did absolutely nothing for me. I mean absolutely nothing. She can do a decent vocal impression of Shakira, which I guess is OK, but she doesn't have Shakira's, er, physical attributes. That's not good. Bleagh.

Dola

The rocker guy near the end was great. The gravelly Barry Manilow bit was hilarious.

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised, although I would have liked more emphasis on the successful ones. I guess that comes during Hollywood Week, though. And I'm sure that I'll get sick of most of them early on, so maybe it's a good thing I don't see too much of them right now.

The Amish guy was clearly an actor, but I enjoyed the clueless people, especially the last couple. The AI Biggest Fan and the dork who juggled while doing some sort of singing...those two were real. I blame their family and friends for not giving them a dose of reality - it's one thing to encourage a loved one to take chances, reach for the stars, etc., but it's another to sit there idly (no pun intended) while they make a fool of themselves on national TV and are so unprepared for a negative reaction that they get angry, indignant, or are just in a state of disbelief. I guess there's a fine line between being supportive and being a realist, and these people missed the boat by a wide margin.

I guess I was in the mood but that show cracked me up last night.

Anyone notice that Paula Abdul looked totally whacked out. At least more than usual. She couldn't sit still or form coherent words.

I've read that Seattle was considered by all the judges to be the worst auditions ever. I think I laughed more in the 1 minute preview at the end of last night's show than I did for last night's show.

Oh, and Paula has promised to be less forgiving/making excuses for the contestants this year and more "real" and harsh. Of course, she made no promises about whether she'd be whacked out or not.

BTW, for those who like spoilers, I highly recommend hxxp://mjsbigblog.com/categories/americanidol.

She recaps every episode, giving detailed info about what happened, and as we get nearer to the top 24, she'll have pics, bios, back stories of hopefuls that are not told on the show, and possible spoiler info about who makes it (she, or people she knows, scan URL registration sites and insider info for tips on who makes it). Reading her blog in conjunction with watching the auditions/Hollywood Week was the most interesting part of the season last year for me.

Oh, and here's the chick eaglefan27 and I enjoyed the most from last night...

Sarah Krueger, 19 Eau Claire, WI is the 7th and final contestant to advance to Hollywood tonight. And she makes it through because…are you ready? She can sing. That’s it. No backstory, just a great voice. She performs a confident, soaring version of “Over the Rainbow” and the judges put her through. Who’da thunk it.

I was almost reduced to tears during the preview for seattle. The best line ever has to be and I don't even have it right I don't think: "What are you something that lives in the jungle." or words to that effect to the guy that looked a little like brian peppers who is apparantly buddies with the fat kid.

The show was worth it for Jewel alone. I'm hoping she's on tonight's episode as well.

I'm looking forward to the San Antonio audition. There's a guy from the rockets board who tried out and made it in front of the judges...he thinks he might have a chance of making it on-air.

I'm hoping somebody mentions Marty Feldman during Bug Eyes' audition.