It's here! As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll be commenting on some of the auditions and other tomfoolery. After the fact, I'll probably add some images to this post.
So, sit on down in your comfy chair and make yourself comfortable -- and feel free to comment, too!
It's opening to "Time Has Come Today" by The Chambers Brothers. We're off to Philadelphia, a city I personally enjoy.
Joey Catalano, first up, has lost 204 pounds. He has a boy band voice if you ask me. He made it to Hollywood, but Simon seems a bit hesitant about his looks.
Okay, Ryan is talking with an Egyptian guy who loves America and uses the BeeGees as a sample of American bands he loves. Um. Well, he seems nice enough, but can he sing? "Uka" they call him. "How Deep is Your Love" isn't quite cutting it.
A Taylor Hicks back-up singer, Melanie Nyema. Hmmm ... not my cuppa for sure. But she made it to Hollywood? I predict she'll not make it to the final group.
Tour guide James Lewis first totally bad singer of the night -- I'm not quite sure what he's doing, but it's not singing. Maybe he's impersonating a foghorn? Calling ships at night?
A quick run of good and bad. They have some talent, but I'm not loving anyone yet.
Ryan's talking to a female football player named Sybil but called Temptress. She has a sob story. Uh-oh. She isn't making it -- not a laughable try, but not really ready for this show, for sure. She was such a sweet kid that Simon was even nice. Hell must be frozen over, eh?
Mark Hayes from Folsom, NJ may be able to make neat cricket noises, but he sings with absolutely no emotion. So, he goes for the crickets.
Another bad singer who thinks he's good. I never get this. I know I can't sing. He should know he can't.
Ah, what would AI be without a run of comical bad audition snippets? Done to "I
Love Rock and Roll."
Alexis Cohen, her mom, and two cats live in a studio apartment in Allentown, PA. It's a Billy Joel song, not Bon Jovi, Alexis. She likes attention and sparkly things. She will be odd. Simon thinks she's possessed. "Simon didn't like me, but he's a big fat bad word." Oh, then she got nastier.
Angela Martin from Chicago, with an ill daughter is being bio'd now. I think she might be able to sing. We'll see. A truly tragic illness for the daughter -- Angela wants to use the money to provide health care and research. She works as a singer, so ... oh, she IS good.
Alyse W. oh my. She's frightening me. This run of bad auditions is making me cringe. Some older guy wants to sing a song called "No Sex Allowed" for the judges. Milo Turk, a social worker. Um. I think the pressure of his job may have cracked him.
Kristy Lee Cook came all the way from Oregon. She does cage fighting and loves horses. She's pretty. She sold a horse to get to the audition. She sings "Amazing Grace" just fine.
A man in a cloak is just what we need. He should leave the cloak on. They're going to let him wax his chest hair and come back. Ew.
More bad audition runs. I'm going to have nightmares tonight.
Yikes -- a guy is singing a stalker song he wrote for Paula. He's creepy. I recommend a restraining order.
Nice segue to a girl named Beth Stalker, though. Ah, nice jazzy voice. Simon voted no, Randy and Paula yes. I liked her voice. So there, Simon.
Cloak man Ben Haar is back hairless. Worse. His act is as bad as his look.
Chris Watson, with good looks and dreads, sings well and makes it through to Hollywood.
The reject doorway shots are always so uplifting, aren't they?
Christina, a Princess Leia wannabee who wants to leave Enfield, CT, promises a huge flop. It's American Idol or become a corrections officer for her. I say she
would shine in prison. I'd give her 10 to 15 years to start.
Last audition of the night is Brooke White, a nanny. She could definitely be successful with a singing career. It's an interesting voice. Onto Hollywood.
29 made it through to Hollywood in the two days at Philly. Princess Leia is still fussing about the looks of the contestants. Tomorrow night is Dallas.
Are you ready for the madness that is American Idol? Yep, it's that time of the year once again. The auditions run from 8 PM to 10 PM ET/PT on FOX tonight. I'll be posting about it all without a doubt later tonight. Please feel free to join me in comments as I live blog the season premiere! I'll get that post up and running about 8 PM ET.
There's a new Law and Order: SVU that I'll be watching after Idol ends.
And, then there's the season premiere of 10 Items or Less on TBS at 11 PM ET/PT. I've watched the first two episodes via a screener copy sent to me by TBS along with a nifty big tote bag. Cool.
If you haven't seen the show before, it's a comedy set in a supermarket (Greens and Grains). The episodes are based on a loose script and utilize improvisation to round everything out. There's a rival supermarket, rival supermarket workers, a clueless boss, and more quirky characters.
Can an armed robbery be seriously funny? Well, yeah, under certain circumstances.
John Lehr (pictured on left -- the one without the stocking mask), who plays clueless boss Leslie Pool, has a lot of comedic and improvisational work in his background. But what I find very interesting is that he's one of the GEICO cavemen in the insurance commercials. He's the caveman at the therapist's office. "He doesn't say anything because he's a doll." You know, that caveman.
If you're looking for something a tad less serious than the 11 PM news, check 10 Items or Less out -- it makes me smile.
Oh, no. I don't know if I can handle this. The show is starting on time here in the NYC viewing area. Yikes.
As it airs, I'll post updates in real East Coast time including the elimination -- and we know we can expect one tonight. Late tonight my full episode review can be found over on TV Squad. But, for now ... commentary is always welcome here!
In Taipei Ron and Christina have a slight lead. TK/Rachel, Donald/Nicolas, and Jennifer/Nathan are bunched together at the airport, so TK and Rachel have overcome the 3 hour gap. They haven't done any tasks yet, so no Speed Bump yet.
Speed Bump completed. Ron and Christina still ahead. Donald/Nicolas and Jennifer/Nathan awaiting 8 PM train, TK and Rachel on their way to the train station.
At this time, on the way to the Detour, Jennifer and Nathan are last and bickering. Ronald and Christina are on their way to the Pit Stop and likely will be first. The other team standings are all fairly close.
Ronald and Christina came in first, won a trip.
2. TK and Rachel (yay!)
3. Donald and Nicolas!!!
My thanks go out to all of the readers who declared Nathan and Jennifer the fan favorite team last week. Due to our hard work and telepathy, they were Philiminated and won't be in the finale.
A young skateboarder rides the bench at the Bridgewater, NJ Train Station. He was going to stop when I arrived, but I told him he could keep skating as long as I could take some photos. His friend's camera equipment made my little digital camera look like a play toy. In this shot, I used layers to make the background black and white while keeping the skateboarder and bench color. I showed him the shots I took. "Rad," he said. Skateboarders are like that, yes they are.
You notice it's January and there is no snow. We've had a heat wave this past week with temperatures ranging up to nearly 70 F on a couple of days. We even had thunderstorms, rare for January, yesterday. It's more common to have thundersnow this time of year -- snowstorms with lightning and thunder. That's all supposed to change tomorrow night as the area is expecting 4-7 inches of snow for the Monday commute.
I saw Roofus the cat briefly today as he leaped from one roof to another, then out of sight. Alas, he moved too quickly for me to capture him with the camera.
In TV Newsy Bits:
- I watched three episodes of Orangutan Island (Animal Planet) last night which mark my introduction to the series. My verdict? I approve. I enjoy Meerkat Manor and this is sort of similar yet not as life and death (although I hear one orangutan named Oyoy died in a previous episode). What's next? Taco Bell Rats?
- In a message posted a few days after Christmas on her MySpace page, casting director of Big Brother 9 Robyn Kass announced that all the finalists were selected for the show. I know I'm reporting on it a bit late. So, if you applied and haven't heard anything ... you didn't make it. I didn't hear anything, but then again ... no way would I ever apply!
- Meanwhile, Sophia Loren thinks we're wasting our time watching Big Brother. Do we honestly care what Sophia Loren thinks of us? Poppycock!
- TV Funspot has an article on the upcoming Survivor Micronesia which includes a map of both tribe camps, the tribal council area, and the Exile Island. Yes, it appears that aspect will return this season.
Today's musical non-sequitur:
Hey now you're an All Star get your game on, go play
Hey now you're a Rock Star get the show on, get paid
And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars break the mold
-- "All Star" by Smash Mouth
Oh. And how did the kid get on the bench ...?
Its finest days long gone, this was apparently once a fine furniture store in Plainfield, NJ. Now its only letters left in the cool old sign on the front of the building are F-U-------RE. The sign atop the building is even worse off. It hasn't been a furniture store since I've been in the area (almost fifteen years). For several years a gay/lesbian multimedia company occupied the building and always had cool cardboard cut-out figures of Star Wars characters, Alfred E. Neuman (MAD's "What me worry?" mascot), Edvard Munch's "The Scream" figure, and more. They're gone now as is one of the two large stone lions at the entrance. Now, those lions have to weigh 400 pounds or so. How does one go missing? Are lives in danger with a stone lion roaming the streets? You can click on the photo for a larger image.
In other quasi-local news ... what was going through the minds of those two elderly men who wheeled their dead friend in an office chair to a check cashing store to cash a Social Security check which arrived after he died? I think a few too many brain cells are gone from the guys, don't you?
In Bloggy Bits -- the response for the signed book giveaway is great! Remember, the deadline is Wednesday, January 16 at midnight ET.
In TV Newsy Bits:
- I know a lot of the blog readers really enjoy Grey's Anatomy and its star Patrick Dempsey. I received an email and it said in part -- "Patrick's mother, Amanda, is a two-time ovarian cancer survivor. She was first diagnosed in 1996 and is now cancer-free. During her battle with cancer, Patrick was actively involved in caring for his mother. One of his concerns was keeping his mother mentally and physically active during treatment. To help with this, he purchased a farm so his mother could stay active with gardening, renovating a new home and enjoying the outdoors."
"Because of his family's experience, Patrick was motivated to join the Breakaway from Cancer™ initiative, which helps increase awareness of the variety of professional and educational resources available to patients, caregivers and survivors, including those provided by the Breakaway from Cancer non-profit partners, The Wellness Community and the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship." If you want to find out more, check it out! - Starting on February 14, a new late late show will start a thirteen week run, mostly on ABC after Jimmy Kimmel, but it will be on My9 here in the NYC area. Jake Sasseville sounds like a wild and crazy 22-year old. The show is called The Edge with Jake. I tend to fade by that hour, but I might have to check him out.
- Blog reader Loren shared a link with me which says that this season's impromptu Big Brother 9 will again have the After Dark show on ShoToo for folks with that cable channel. I, of course, will have the feeds. I sort of already have them but they're not there. I still have my SuperPass, that is. That reminds me -- I have to put in for my music credit for the month! Thanks, Loren!
Today's musical non-sequitur:
She has robes and she has monkeys, Lazy diamond-studded flunkies
-- "Love Street" by The Doors
Tour guide James Lewis first totally bad singer of the night -- I'm not quite sure what he's doing, but it's not singing. Maybe he's impersonating a foghorn? Calling ships at night?
Love Rock and Roll."
Cloak man Ben Haar is back hairless. Worse. His act is as bad as his look.
would shine in prison. I'd give her 10 to 15 years to start.
