No obvious ‘Idol’ deep in the heart of Texas
-
- January
- 18
Sorry for the delay in posting this “American Idol” wrap-up, but I don’t have too much to say about the good contestants featured on Wednesday night’s episode because, compared to what we saw from Philly, there weren’t many of them in Dallas.
Aside from the Britney Spears impersonator with a decent enough voice (Kady Malloy) and an admirable showing by Nina Shaw on Whitney Houston’s “Run To You,” no one from the Dallas auditions was memorable for the right reasons.
Also, how many mom contestants and horses are going to be shown in B-roll footage? It’s not called “Amomican Idol.” Show some range with your contestant profiles, “AI”!
As Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Slezak correctly pointed out, the potential for “new Sanjayas” skyrocketed when judges sent to Hollywood a bunch of contestants with mediocre (or worse) voices and (allegedly) compelling backstories.
I had to check my notes to remember most of the Hollywood-bound auditions. Jessica Brown, the former meth addict, was meh. Brandon Green provided a perfectly blah rendition of Hall & Oates’ “Rich Girl.” Car accident survivor Kayla Hatfield was a sweetheart with an average voice that strangely got a yes from Simon Cowell and a no from Paula Abdul before Randy Jackson’s vote put her through to the next round. Colton Swon apparently got to the next round because his name fits the part.
But no worse service was done to viewers when they saw the B-roll footage of farm-boy caricature Drew Poppelreiter—a classic warning sign that he might go to Hollywood or have a weak audition. Strangely, both criteria applied. Even weirder was when Paula Abdul admitted to feeling no “wow factor” about him, then changed her mind after Cowell teased her for not agreeing with Randy Jackson’s random endorsement to allow Poppelreiter to go to Hollywood. Mr. Poppelreiter, meet Mr. Malakar. Please go away now.
The Philly episode got me psyched about the prospects for Season 7. Dallas had just the opposite affect on me, with too many of the stretched-out audition deliberations desperately needing some editing.
So what did I enjoy from Wednesday’s ep? Seeing footage of Texas Stadium being used to host a competition not involving the Cowboys, whom Big Blue eliminated with a big win on Sunday.
Also, although producers and judges probably tried too hard to make Renaldo Lapuz’s audition live up to the hype, I will admit I laughed a few times. In addition to Randy Jackson’s singing contribution, I thoroughly enjoyed Paula Abdul’s interpretive dance, Ryan Seacrest’s uncomfortable cameo and Simon Cowell abandoning his serious persona to laugh at the ensuing train-wreck.
What did you think? Did you find the talent comparable in the first two cities to be featured on “Idol”?
(Photo by Michael Becker/FOX)
This entry was posted
on Friday, January 18th, 2008 at 1:44 pm by Chris Serico.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print
| 
Email
They tried too hard to hype Renaldo’s audition? LOL!! No hype could have possibly been too great for that amazing audition. That was truly special. The man has a heart of gold, he wrote an extremely heart felt and catchy song. If it wasn’t for his voice going psychotic at the beginning, it was no train wreck, it was pretty good. But other than the singing itself, that was just incredible. Renaldo is inspiring and genuine, and there’s nothing embarassing about that. No train wreck, I am seriously singing that song to friends, and not just as a stupid joke with bad singing. I put my heart in to it just like the inspirational Renaldo.
You are so wrong about Drew Poppelreiter. He has an AWESOME voice! He was just nervous. He’s from a small town and it’s gonna take him a while to adjust to the “hollywood” lifestyle. I think voters will love him bc he is a true southern gentleman and a great guy.