American Idol – Recap & Review – Savannah, Georgia

photo: fox

American Idol
Savannah, Georgia

Original Air Date: Jan 18, 2012

Patricia Morris Buckley —Sr. Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

It’s time for the 11th year of American Idol. And the producers, now faced with the competition of X Factor and The Voice, spent the beginning of the show trying to convince us that it’s still the best.

“It’s one chance to make your dreams come true,” said Ryan (not true!). “It’s the one place to make them come true!”

But that Idol magic still works as 9,000 hopefuls showed up to the audition. And of those, 42 are moving on to Hollywood. I really only saw a few stand outs, the rest looked like they’d get ground up and spit out on the first day in Hollywood. Ah well…

The first two singers were the ones that impressed. David Leathers, Jr. may look 12, but he’s 17 and had an in-the-rafters voice that has the potential to be special. Interesting back story — he was in a talent contest a few years ago with Scotty McCreery and won! Talk about Mutt and Jeff – him with that high voice and Scotty’s ultra deep one.

Gabi Carrubba, also 17 and a tap dancer, had something really special going on with her singing. The judges went crazy over the last singer, Phillip Phillips (yes, that’s his real name – and his father’s too), but he seemed like a screecher to me. I don’t like screechers.

Schyler Dixon, 16, returned this year after doing well last year, only to once again share the spotlight with her older brother, Colton. He hadn’t planned on auditioning, but the judges roped him in. Colton almost made the semi-finals last year and many think he should have. They both quickly received golden tickets.

Like last year, the crazies were kept to a minimum. Mawena Kodjo came from Africa to be a country star, even though he couldn’t sing. Same goes for Shaun Wiseman, whose real claim to fame is that he resembled Ryan and even sounded like him.

While W.T. Thompson got a golden ticket, I think he still qualified as a crazy. His wife is pregnant and he quit his job to come to the audition. Not very responsible. He got through, but barely. You won’t see much of him after day one of Hollywood.

For the most part, the judges agreed one who to send through and were fairly nice to those whose voices just didn’t measure up. I sure do like this nicer and gentler Idol.

Thursday it’s Pittsburgh.

Did you see anyone you thought had a serious chance? Anyone whose head should be examined? Are you just plain glad our favorite TV addiction is back? Give us your TwoCents…