#206 - american idol preseason

getting ready for american idol season yet? only a couple more weeks 'til the first episode (also just a few more weeks until new man vs. wild episodes, woo!). is it sad that i'm so into this show? probably, but screw it, letting yourself go with the media flow is healthy sometimes, allow yourself to get caught up in pop culture every now and then, it's fun (and then you have something to talk about to your 40 year old co-workers).

anyway, to warm up for american idol season fox reality channel is showing old episodes of last year's american idol. these are TONS better than those dumb "american idol rewind" shows with all the dumb commentary and "exclusive" interviews. after watching a few of those you start to realize what a crappy show american idol was in the very beginning, or in other words, it makes you realize how great of a show it was last season. not only were the singers pretty great all around, they were very likeable... even the dummies like jason castro had their merits (like i probably would have liked them a lot if they didn't go so far in the show instead of some of my other favorites). in fact, last year i didn't DIS-like anyone in the top 12 and i could've even saved some people from the top 24.

so i had the dvr running 'cause they show a few episodes every day and i just finished watching all the audition episodes and the hollywood episode, i was getting all nostalgic kinda. that's embarrassing. but i really liked all those people. i guess that's really what makes the show huh? i mean, talent is one thing, but you gotta be interested in caring about what happens to the people, and that they definately got right last year. so we'll see what happens when the season starts up again this month...

all that being said... what did happen to all those american idol people? usually i really don't care if any of the past idols and idol rejects "make it" or not, in the past seven years there's really only been two people worth talking about, kelly clarkson and carrie underwood, the rest of them no one cares about anymore. but last year's contestants were actual good people, like they actually liked each other and were pretty genuine and so i would like to know what happened to them all, so here we go:

1. david cook - well he is doing good, of course. i actually bought his whole entire ablum and i really like it. it's in my car stereo right now, in fact. it's got the campy new-rock generic songs as fillers, but there are some good songs in there too and he's got a good voice. so good for him.

2. david archuleta - not so great. well, he went the pop route which was probably a great choice considering the pre-teen audience he's got, and i've heard a couple of his songs on the radio and on itunes previews... and they sound like post-idol pop songs (re: crappy). haha, oh well, i still like him, once he gets past the initial post-idol stuff and starts getting better material i think he'll start doing well.

3. syesha mercado - well, she's got some obscure single out and is "working on an album," eh. don't care much about what she's doing actually.

4. jason castro - y'know, i had forgotten, but he was actually a pretty welcome distraction in the beginning, his performances were wimpy, but they were kinda cool and relaxed so it was good interspersed between all the over-the-top shouting "songs." but, then he just went too far in the competition and therefore i had to hate on him, oh well, i don't care much if he's doing good or junk now, but my research says he's "working on an album" and released "white christmas" on itunes (as a free download, haha). oh but his younger brother auditioned for this upcoming season of american idol and he at least got to hollywood, so that's kinda cool (he also says that his brother is a better singer than he is, no duh, haha).

5. brooke white - i really liked her. she actually had an album that didn't do too well before she was on american idol, so it seems like she's not in a huge rush to make another one. i don't think i would buy it, but i would definately check it out and maybe pick up a single or something on itunes.

6. carly smithson - she also had a record out before american idol, and is also "working on an album." i'd take a preview of it.

7. kristy lee cook - guess what? she also had an album before idol. it didn't do well, of course, but after idol she signed with some county label and put out an album that did okay in the country charts (her single was called "15 minutes of shame..." barf.), but just last month she split with the record label so i don't know. oh well, it's country anyway, who cares about country, haha,.

8. michael johns - surprise, he had an album out before idol also, y'know i really think that this is might be the reason behind the "shocking" early eliminations last year, i mean, even though they didn't do well enough to make a career out of it, people might think that these guys already had their chance, y'know? anyway, he's also "working on an album" and also released a christmas song on itunes (i previewed it, not great).


9. ramiele malubay - she's a cutie. too bad she went off to the philippines, i guess she's doing okay, but it's the philippines right? i dunno, go ask jasmine trias. anyway, she's still cute.

10. chikezie - "working on an album," couldn't really care though.

11. amanda overmyer - "working on an album," don't even want to hear it though.

12. david hernandez - stripping. haha, just kidding, he has two singles, but no record deal. but that's not bad, 11 of the top 12 have record deals? pretty good i guess.

okay, that's enough, after doing all that research i'm completely over the last season of idol now, ha.

so, looking forward to next season, i found out that they're going to run the "semi-finals" like they used to, they're gonna have 3 groups of 12 guys & girls who will sing on the same night, then the next night the top guy, the top girl, and the next highest vote getter (either guy or girl) will be choosen to be in the top 12. after those 3 groups go they're gonna bring back the wildcard episode and the judges will pick the last 3 of the top 12. i like this... i like it because we really don't need an even number of girls and guys in the top 12 and i like the judges wildcard picks, but we'll see what happens... one week to go...