photo: fox
American Idol
Top 12 Results
Original Air Date: Mar 17, 2011
Karen Belgrad – Associate Editor
karenbelgrad@
thetwocentscorp.com
This… is… American Idol. Tonight I’ll be filling in for vacationing recapper Patricia. And someone’s journey will end tonight!
Last night brought us the time honored theme of “Songs From The Year You Were Born.” The performances, in my opinion, ranged from bizarre (Paul, Casey, Jacob, Naima) to bland (Haley, Thia, Karen), with a sprinkling of decent (James, Stefano, Lauren) and expected (Pia, Scotty). But who will be leaving us tonight?
My money is on Haley, since the safe performers tend to leave before the wacky. And seriously, what do you remember besides her lipstick fiasco?
The show opens with a montage of baby photos and what the singers thought they would grow up to do. Pia and Thia knew they’d be singers, but I love Scotty’s astronaut dreams! We then see a recap of last night’s overpraising from the judges and we’re off!
It’s group number time. Ryan claims it’s live…. And during the boys’ opening verse there’s a sound flub that shows it may actually not be lip-synced! They mash up the boys singing Steppenwolf’s ”Born To Be Wild” with Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way”. Casey and James have enough grit to pull of their verses, but the rest of the guys do not pull it off. The choreography is right out of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour. Uh-oh… Haley Reinhart is wearing the Haley Scarnato Hot Pants Of Doom…
Ford Music Video time! They’re singing Bowling For Soup’s “Val Kilmer.” It takes place at a drive-in and they’re all in and out of the movie clips. It’s pretty bland and I still don’t want to buy a new car.
Video montage of what we don’t know about our Top 12… Casey can moonwalk. Scott can wiggle his ears. Karen is bilingual (shocking). Scotty and Haley do bad accents. Everyone mocks Lauren’s accent that she doesn’t know she has. Paul has a blind 14-year old weiner dog. And, apparently you can’t say the dog breed Shih Tzu on television, as Pia gets bleeped.
Results time! Ryan dims the St. Patty’s lights and calls Jacob, Lauren, and Casey to center stage. Randy takes a moment to define pitchy (over/under the note). Jacob is safe. Lauren is safe. Nirvana-singing, goop-having Casey is also safe.
Next, Ryan beckons Haley and Paul from the safety couch. Haley defends her random song choices and Paul still seems only semi-excited to be there. Haley’s facial expression seems to already be expecting the bottom three and she’s not wrong. Haley is in the bottom three and Paul is sent back to the couch.
Last year’s winner, Lee Dewyze, shows up to sing his newest single, “Beautiful Like You.” In the almost-year since he won, I think Lee’s actually regressed into a duller performer than before. It’s a bland Top-40-esque single with little personality or originality. At least his pitch problems don’t seem as bad?
Back to the results, Ryan calls Scotty, Pia, and James down for their fate. Wow, do the girls in the crowd go nutty for Scotty! And Ryan is hilariously diminutive next to James. And all three are safe and sent back to the blue couch.
Naima and Stefano are called down next. Stefano promises more eye contact, especially with Jennifer. Naima professes she’s beginning to have a passionate hatred for the word pitchy, but promises to work on it. Naima is in the bottom three and Stefano is safe.
Finally, Karen and Thia are called down. Karen’s hair is flat, perhaps rebelling from last night’s manic poof. Thia appears to have actually morphed into Pocahontas with her loose braids. Thia promises to ditch the weekly ballads. Thia is safe, and Karen is in the bottom three.
Our next musical guests is The Black Eyed Peas, hoping we’ve all forgotten their Super Bowl performance, with the world premiere of their new single, “Just Can’t Get Enough.” Fergie sings her melodic parts well enough, but the rest of it is annoyingly auto-tuned as much as Rebecca Black’s “Friday” (have you seen that?).
After the break, Ryan reminds us that Karen, Naima, and Haley are the bottom three. He sends Naima back to the safety of the blue couch. And the person in danger of leaving is… Karen. Haley returns to the couch and Karen Rodriguez sings “Hero” for the judge’s save. She sings it well enough in English and Spanish, but it doesn’t really have the same impact as the first time we heard it. The judges agree, and it’s goodbye to Karen Rodriguez.
As strong as she started, she really seemed to falter into blandness and off-key singing this week and last. And boring always goes home first. So although I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Haley go home, I’m not saddened by Karen’s departure.
Well, those are my TwoCents! Share your TwoCents, feedback, and comments below!
TheTwoCents 
Excellent recap. There is a transparency with this year’s panel of judges that I cannot get past. While Thia was “bland”, James Durbin and Paul McDonald (my fav), were really off key, and borderline “talking”. Anyone that has gone to a number of karaoke shows like myself know that James wasn’t “right on”. As a family watching. Had it not been for the opening of Bon Jovi’s guitar work, we wouldn’t have known the song. I had to take the praise with a grain of salt however, since they were also praising “Paul”.
Is it because people cannot hear themselves? Is that why they are giving a “pass”?
I like Thia a lot, but the judges make her look terrible! For someone who is boring and pitchy, the public voted her “in” the top 10, and she has never been in the bottom three.
Pia and Lauren really really annoy me. Yes, diva. Yes, you both have a good voice. The problem is, I would change the station every time for both of them. There is nothing original about them. In comparison to a “Siobhan” last year, these girls remind me of beige paint. Perfect in the right setting, but still, beige paint.
At this point I watch only for the entertainment. Paul McDonald is so much better on youtube, and on his “The Grand Magnolias” cd. Every song is a hit.
This show has proven to me, that you don’t need the title to go on in the music industry. Daughtry, Hudson, and others have proven that America knows what they like.
Besides Paul, and Scotty when I am in the car with Rick, will be the only ones I think I will hear.
It is really weird how they keep mentioning the sound issues. I know they redid the whole arena, but you’d think with the millions that show generates, they could at least get the sound right. (It reminds me of the time I went to a hockey game and they canceled it because they couldn’t get the ice to freeze… it’s like- duh- the minimum requirement people!)
I’m not a huge fan of Paul’s on the show. He just comes across as smarmy and not interested in being there… That and everything he’s sang sounds like “Maggie May” with different lyrics. I’ll have to check out his solo stuff.
Scotty’s voice kind of wigs me out. When I listen without looking, I think it sounds a little sexy. Then I look and see Alfred E. Newman and I feel like Mary Kay Letourneau!
I think I give James a bit of a pass because I personally like his taste in music, LOL!