Have you ever wondered what teachers discuss in the breakroom when they’re not reading through stacks of student essays and tests? Besides the usual topics of grades or lessons, Mitch and Christina often digress into conversations about movies, music and tv. We’re two English teachers who harbor secret hopes of one day becoming famous entertainment world critics. We know we’re a little obsessed, but we’ve accepted it, even embraced it. We’ve created this blog to invite you to join our conversation.

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

American Idol: Top 24- Guys' first night

I’m going to keep this shorter than last night’s report. What a big disappointment.


Todrick Hall- “Since U Been Gone”- To change up a song or to not change up a song. That is the question. I was really looking forward to Todrick tonight, but I thought his version of Since U Been Gone was pretty bad. I still like his voice, but it would have been hard to enjoy anyone singing that song with that arrangement. Grade: C-

Aaron Kelly- “Here Comes Goodbye”: He may have a decent voice, but as a performer he’s not ready for primetime yet. Grade: C

Jermaine Sellers- “Get Here”: Bad performance that got even worse during the interview afterwards.Throwing the musical director under the bus during Hollywood Week was awful. Rudely asking “Who is Michael?” when they tried to help him out tonight just shows he’s utterly unlikable. In a night full of bad peformances, Jermaine’s the one guy I really hope is voted off. Grade: D

Tim Urban:- “Apologize”: Poor Tim couldn’t hit the high noted. I really wish some other guys got the final 24 call instead of him.Like Simon said, there’s a reason why he wasn’t originally a top 24 finalist. Grade: D

Joe Munoz- “You And I Both”: After a string of horrible performances, Joe wasn’t half bad. He wasn’t that good either though. All I thought after his performance is there is no way I could picture him in the top 4 or 5. Yes, I’m officially in a glass is half empty kind of mood tonight. Grade: C+

Tyler Grady: “American Woman”- It’s not your fault, Tyler. After every one of his performances the judges have raved about Tyler’s 70s rocker style. Now all of a sudden it’s a problem? If they wanted him to go away from that style, they should have told him when they announced he was in the top 24. Grade: B-

Lee Dewyze- “Chasing Cars”: I thought he sounded very flat throughout the song. He has a nice quality to his voice, but he misses a ton of notes. The fact that Simon said “I fought for you to be here” tells me he overrates him. Grade: C-

John Park- “God Bless The Child”: After not seeing him since his first audition, I was really looking forward to John’s song tonight. Yuck. It was a horrible song choice, and I really hope his first audition was more aligned with what his potential is. Grade: C-

Michael Lynche-“This Love”: Michael is likable, but he’s just not that talented. Maybe the glass is like 3 quarters empty for me tonight. Grade: C-

Alex Lambert- “Wonderful World”: based on the judges’ comments and the few conversations I’ve had with people so far, this was the most polarizing performance of the night. I thought Alex was the nicest surprise of the night. Maybe his stage presence needs work, but his voice is good enough to make it very far in the competition. Grade: B

Casey James- “Heaven”: The best performance of the night. He might have been the only guy tonight who didn’t try too hard or over analyze what to do tonight. Grade: A-

Andrew Garcia- “Sugar We’re going Down”: I thought the judges were too tough on Andrew tonight. He changed up the original like the judges love contestants to do. So what if it was more serious than the original? When girls belt out Whitney Houston songs are they always upbeat? Bottom line, I thought Andrew sounded very good. Grade: A-

Going Home Predictions:

Please send Jermaine Sellers home! He’s as much of a lock as anyone tonight. I think Tim Urban will be the second guy sent home.

Top 12 in order of how they did tonight:
Casey James: A-
Andrew Garcia: A-
Alex Lambert: B
Tyler Grady: B-
Joe Munoz: C+
Aaron Kelly: C
John Park: C-
Todrick Hall: C-
Lee Dewyze: C-
Michael Lynche: C-
Tim Urban: D
Jermaine Sellers: D

5 comments:

  1. Mitch - I pretty much agree with everything you wrote... especially about how hard they were on Andrew Garcia... I thought he was very good... maybe they don't like that song (I do). The strangest part of the night to me was how spot on Kara and Randy's analysis of Lee Dewyze's performance was, and how off Simon's was (I think he's paranoid he'll be wrong about him the way he was about Daughtry and D. Cook). All I know is this has the makings of a historically bad season. In fact to keep people voting, they might have to change the call-in/text procedures to call to vote people out, instead of voting to keep people in.

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  2. This does seem to be a pretty weak season, at least for the guys. Like your grades show, the only two I'm interested in listening to are Andrew Garcia and Casey James. And I think you're right about the two they're going to send home. I actually felt like audition week for a while, where I had to turn the t.v. down because I couldn't bear to hear some of their voices.

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  3. I'll credit Ross for bringing this up. No matter what our expectations are going into the top 24, every season only features 5 or 6 singers at most who are really good. I think it's interesting to think about why every season feels like it's going to be the year when the top 12 are full of incredible singers. Based on the auditions and Hollywood Week highlights, we tend to remember only the great moments of 12+ people. Reality always hits during the first live week. based on this week who are the few singers who seem like locks to make the American Idol tour? I'd say Crystal Bowersox, Andrew Garcia, and Casey James are the only three sure shots.

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  4. Yes,I forgot about Didi. Tonight was surprising. I'll try posting something tonight.

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