photo: fox
LA
Original Air Date: Feb 3, 2011
Patricia Morris Buckley – Sr. Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com
Who would have thought LA would be the least interesting of all the audition cities? Seriously, I heard only two singers with enough talent to perhaps to reach the semi-finals and they only sang one song between them.
In fact, Ryan never did tell us how many Golden Tickets were given out. Perhaps because the number was so low? It’s really possible from what they showed us. In fact, the show had a lot of fluff in it as if there weren’t enough singers to show. And many of the ones they did show were terrible or downright looney tunes.
In past seasons, that would be normal, but not this one. For the last two weeks the focus has been on the real talent. And it’s been refreshingly nice.
Not in LA. Instead we got the judges ordering out for food, friends who tried out without a lick of talent between them, a woman who brought her own microphone then chased Randy around the room, a belly dancer (who got a yes in the same way Bikini Girl got hers, thank you Mr. Tyler) and a 59-year-old James Brown-lookalike who got really scary with his ranting. Then we had a few singers who got through with the bare minimum talent.
The only singers who sounded really gifted were brothers Mark and Aaron Gutierrez, who played up their sibling rivalry even though it’s obvious that they’re close. They came in together and the judges asked them to do a duet. Their “Lean On Me” was absolutely beautiful, so much so that the judges never asked them to sing separately– they were that good. They’re also good looking and quite charming, so it will be interesting to see how far they go.
One contestant, who wasn’t bad, Karen Rodriguez, came through the internet auditions on My Space. I wonder if she had to pay her own way from New York? But as she got a ticket, it was probably a good investment.
Did it seems silly to you that the LA contestants screamed, “I’m going to Hollywood” when they were actually standing in Hollywood? And did they think we wouldn’t notice when “the last singer” came in on Day Two that J. Lo had on her Day One outfit? If she hadn’t worn a scarf on Day Two and they hadn’t shown her getting out of a car in short-shorts (she had to pull them down for the camera) on Day One, perhaps it wouldn’t have been so noticeable. But they think we don’t pay attention.OK, we probably didn’t pay that much attention because this episode — yawn — was rather tiresome.
Next up is San Francisco. Then we get to Hollywood.
Does it seem like there were fewer cities this year or is that just me? Is J. Lo is getting bleeped almost as much as Steven these days? Is there anyone you’ve seen so far that you don’t want cut in Hollywood? Give us your TwoCents…
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