And just like that, Group 1 of the Top 36 is no more. Kind of disappointing, isn't it? Unlike the past four seasons, this is the last we will see of most of the semifinalists that performed on Tuesday, save for the three that automatically advanced last night and of course whichever ones are lucky enough to be called back to perform as potential wildcard choices. With that in mind, is it safe to say that the Top 12 of Season 8 is off to a bang?
I think not.
Although Alexis Grace definitely was the strongest vocalist on Tuesday, she is lacking in star quality, which is something someone like Ann Marie Boskovich exuded. It's too bad that one performance pretty much dictates whether or not a contestant will advance the way this format is set up, whereas in years past all it took was for there to be two contestants that were worse than someone else for that person to stick around to try and improve their chances.
As for the way Ryan handled the reading of the results, it was very shoddy and disorganized. Really, Ryan, did anyone honestly think Danny didn't have the most votes of all 12 from that group? Did you not think it might be more exciting to announced Danny first, then announce Alexis and hold out on leaving it between Michael Sarver, Anoop Desai and Tatiana del Toro for the third ticket to the Top 12? Maybe it's just me, but I think that would have been much more watchable.
And people are complaining about Danny being insensitive to Tatiana right before the results were read. Honestly, what's he supposed to do, stand there and pretend to be nervous? Anyone who has been following this season from the beginning (or anyone with a computer) knew it was his for the taking, and so did he. On the contrary, however, the judges better yield on their incessant praise over him, because it could end up hurting him down the road (I mean you, Kara). At least Simon is there to hold down the fort.
On the positive side, Michael Johns and Carly Smithson sounded as good as always on their duet of "The Letter," even though I feel like I've seen that before. Hopefully there are more of those nice surprises than there are with the results, because if not, we're in for a long season.
As for IDOL LIVE's predictions, we're 2-3 in both the semifinals and the Top 12. Hopefully next week is more kind.
Showing posts with label group 1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label group 1. Show all posts
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Analysis: Boring results show brings no surprises
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
IDOL LIVE predix: Group 1 of Top 36
Only three will advance, and after last night's horrendous outing it could be argued that only one should be allowed to make the Top 12, with the other two being drawn from the latter two groups. But regardless of how things should work out in an ideal world, reality sets in and shows that there is really only one scenario that will play out tonight.
Read my predictions below.
The three lucky Top 12 members are:
>Danny Gokey
>Alexis Grace
>Anoop Desai
First of all, Danny is leaps and bounds ahead of his competition already, so singing last night was just a formality for him to get into the Top 12. He was not only the top male vote getter, he was the top vote getter period.
Alexis was the best of the worst among the girls last night, and that is the only reason she will make it in over an early favorite like Ann Marie Boskovich or Casey Carlson. They will try to make it interesting by placing Alexis and Tatiana del Toro side by side to make it more dramatic, but ultimately the spot belongs to Alexis.
As for the third spot out of Group 1, it has to be Anoop. Even though the judges gave him lukewarm praise last night, he has two things that do wonders for contestants on this show: 1) the likability factor and 2) a cool name. Michael Sarver is the only other semifinalist that could give him a run for his money, but I'm willing to bet he will be saved for the wildcard.
And there you have it, my predictions for tonight. They will probably be all wrong but at least I'm brave enough to take a stab at it and put my money where my mouth is.
About last night: Will the real Tatiana please stand up?
So there's no way to get around the fact that this was an extremely odd night. Not only was Group 1 supposed to be the best of the three groups, but it was supposed to be the best by a mile. There were so many promising semifinalists, and yet we were left with Tatiana being one of the best of the night. Yes, that Tatiana del Toro.
Jackie Tohn led off the night with a vocally rough but spunky performance of "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley, which showed she was more interested in appealing to voters than she was impressing the judges, but she still earned somewhat alright reviews. she might not make the Top 12, but at least she had fun.
Another "fun" performance came from Brent Keith, as his vocals were perfect for the kind of "hick" song he did (in spite of the intro package mishap), and he was able to smile some in an effort to make it believable. But most of the night was full of boring performances, as underwhelming performances from Stephen Fowler and Ann Marie Boskovich failed to excite anyone.
Anoop Desai's take on Monica's "Angel of Mine" was a pleasant surprise, even though Simon wasn't all that impressed. Besides the performance, Anoop showed he could carry himself as a class act when he handled Simon's rude questions without even raising a (bushy) eyebrow.
There were two main trainwrecks tonight, as Stevie Wright killed Taylor Swift's "You Belong With Me" relatively easily, while Casey Carlson's gender-swapping "Every Little Thing [S]he Does Is Magic" bombed faster than the audience could turn its heads away from her winking and facial expressions.
The night's lone showstopper was Danny Gokey, whose rendition of Mariah Carey's "Hero" was an interesting choice and beckoned back to David Cook's take on the aforementioned's "Always Be My Baby." He dealt with the over-pimpage from the first three judges fairly well, but Simon was thankfully there to bring things down to earth. And what was up with the random shot of Jamar in the audience? Talk about the producers trying to play with the audience's emotions.
Alexis Grace and Tatiana (color me surprised) were also bright spots of the night, as Tatiana left her drama queen alter ego for the less exciting robot she brought tonight. And Michael Sarver wasn't good but he was better than most, and apparently the judges really are pulling for him despite his lackluster performance of "I Don't Wanna Be."
As for who will be advancing out of this group, it seems that Danny is the sure bet, while Tatiana will duke it out with Alexis for the top female vote-getter, and then either Michael or Anoop will take the next highest vote recipient. Look for official IDOL LIVE predictions later on today.
As for what to do now, we recommend looking ahead to next week as fast as possible. Like, start now.
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