"AI" Hollywood Week Episode 2

The above picture is of one of the potential Idols sent home that I will miss the most, Rose Flack. Thanks to poptower.com.

Hello,

Here's my review of the Hollywood Episode 2, the painful group performances. Why are we subjected to this? This is "American Idol", not "American Idols". The numbers quoted by Seacrest didn't match, he stated both 107 and 104 people started out this round. There seems to be agreement that 75 people finished this round and are still alive in the competition.

"AI" please, please get rid of the group performances, they only detract from the show. The group numbers in the final 12 are also excruciating. I said to my significant other that if this was the first "AI" I had seen I would have never watched it again. I know that Fox is milking it for all the drama it can, but parts of this show were unwatchable. For instance, anything involving Tatiana.

They were broken into at least 8 groups. Warning spoilers ahead. The next round means they made it to the Top 75. If they have a (36) by their name, according to votefortheworst.com they have made it to the Top 36. The following I got from watching the videos and help from mjsbigblog.com. (That is a great, great website.)

1) Team White Chocolate which featured India Morrison (no to 36), Matt Giraud (36), Kris Allen (36) and Justin Williams (no to 36). They sang the classic song, "I Want You Back". The doo-wop, harmonies and the rapping were all good. I could tell they worked on being creative and original. All four people of this group advanced to the next round.

2) No team name, although they probably should have been called Team Utah. Ahfua, Cisneros and Ahfua are all from Utah. (They seemed to merged the showing of two groups together and calling them one.) Their versions of "Get Ready" were rough. This montage contained Nick Mitchell, Julissa Veloz, Maryn Azoff, Austin Cisneros, J.B. Ahfua, Jorge Nunoz, Shelby Swartwood. Randy said the guys were through and the girls had to go home. The only 4 whose fate we were shown were Nick (36) and Jorge(36). Shelby and Julissa were sent packing.

3) Action Squad: This group featured Alex Wagner-Trugman (36), Ann Marie Boskovich (36) both advance. They beat the hell out of Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow". Fortunataely Ryan Pinkston was sent home. Unfortunately Emily Wynne-Hughes also was sent home. Wynne-Hughes handled the rejection with class and appreciation. Pinkston handled the rejection with stupidity, saying he saw "evil in her (Paula) eyes".

4) The Rainbow Coalition: This group featured Danny Gokey (36), Jamarr Rogers (no to 36), Taylor Vaifuna )36). I can't figure out who the other girl is. I really liked their version of Queen's "Somebody To Love". They all announced to the next round.

5) No Team Name: Jeremy Michael Sarver (36), Adam Lambert (36), Matt Breitzke (36), Jesse Langseth (36) and other unidentified singers sang "Some Kind of Wonderful". This is the first we have seen of Jesse Langseth and I was very impressed. Lambert seems to be a good singer, but he needs to avoid oversinging.

6) Team Divas: (I took it on myself to change the name to Team Train wreck.) They did no favors to Duffy's "Mercy". This team featured Lauren Barnes (no), Katrina Darrell (no), Rose Flack (no) and Jasmine Murray (yes). Only Jasmine Murray (36) advanced to the next round. Darrell will be appearing in a Playboy soon I'm sure, maybe she can be the Hef's new girlfriend.

7) No Team Name: This team featured Muna Hiluf, Tatiana Del Toro and two unidentified singers. All made it through to the next round. The round of 75 was the end of road for Muna (no to 36). Unfortunately Tatiana (36) moved on. She is an okay singer, but the emotional baggage she brings with her isn't worth it. Tatiana must go. Tatiana is a freak and stated, "This means everything to me". Tatiana you getting sent home means everything to me. She almost makes Sanjaya seem cool. Randy originally said "no" in the audition but folded like a broken chair. Randy you could have brought something to this show finally, and you choked.

8) Team Compromise: (Team Drama) Tatiana joined this team for a few minutes. That would have been three of the worst personalities working together. This group featured Nate Marshall (36), Nancy Wilson and Kristin McNamara (36). Marshall sounded the best on Duffy's "Mercy". Marshall and McNamara advanced to the next round. Wilson went home. The enduring memory of her, if anyone remembers her, will be bitter and bitchy.

After this train wreck of a show we lost a couple of my early favorites, Emily Wynne-Hughes and Rose Flack. I really liked Wynne-Hughes take on Heart's "Barracuda" in the audition round. Flack's "I Feel The Earth Move" had it's problems, but she has a lot of charm. I could see her resurfacing in another capacity. Deanna Brown was also sent home. Her audition singing "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" was pretty good.

By my count only 16 of the 36 finalists were given screen time in the group performances. I know Fox is using "AI" to get viewers for it's other shows. But since "AI" is by far their biggest show, maybe they should make that show their #1 priority. I wish the first two episodes from Hollywood week would have been at least 90 minutes. I would have liked to see all the group's full performances. Tuesday is the third episode from Hollywood, it will be another hour long show. On Wednesday the Top 36 will be officially announced in a two hour show. We will find out then how accurate votefortheworst.com's leaked list is. I am guessing they are at least 95% correct.

Have the rest of a good weekend, themusicaddict.