I’m also bored with the top 3 although still like DC best but am excited by the finale to see MJ and the others back again. I just hope they skip those dreary & lame awards to the most outrageous auditioners.

As for season 7 I really wish I could like it, but Brooke, MJ, Carly, and Cook were the top 4 for me and when three of them left before that it was just very, very meh for me.

I downloaded Brooke’s album from itunes and I really like it. I hope she releases more- she definitely has a distinct sound.

ETA: Can’t WAIT to see Taylor on TV again!

I still think he really represents what the show claims to be about: finding true, undiscovered, raw, untrained, unseasoned talent somewhere in the country. How cool that he made it to #4.

will miss Jason in Top 3 but it sounds like he just couldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t keep up – I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think he quit as it sounded like he was trying to problem solve – such as picking songs he knew this week – but things just werenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t working for him as far as the judging – and he knew it and accepted it with good humor. IMO he wasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t a slacker at all – as he said he was pretty inexperienced. I still love his voice and personality and am listening to his studio recordings right now. He tried his best and that is all anyone can do. I wish him success and happiness with his new found fame

I couldn’t have said it better, Dante. I’ll take it one step further… I’m glad he owns up to all that in his interviews instead of pretending otherwise. That will serve him well in life, IMO.

American Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  winner Taylor Hicks performs at the 2008 A CAPITOL FOURTH, which offers an evening of patriotic and uplifting music followed by a stunning display of fireworks over the Washington Monument.

http://dc.about.com/od/specialeventphotos1/ss/CapitolFourth_3.htm

Advantage = Archuletta
They will give him a gift and the other two will be given an impossible task to accomplish. Then Archuletta will finish the evening off with ” The Star Spangled Banner ” , the judges will swoon and their little prince takes the crown.

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“One of the problems that has plagued Underwoodà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s post-à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ Idolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  performing career is her lack of personality onstage. This was my third time seeing her, first as a headliner, and it seems that the charming young woman who had emerged on her 2006 tour with Kenny Chesney has been lost in the din of oversized video screens, catwalks, costume changes, routine audience patter, an unevenly paced set and a woman who seems more concerned with hitting her marks than hitting people where it counts – in the heart.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

Carrie just never really did it for me. And this quote pretty much says that nothing has changed about her stage presence since she was on Idol.

Her performance Tuesday night for a nearly packed house of 6,700 at the Don Haskins Center was not a great show. It was an OK show, but certainly not up to the level of many of the genreà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s more seasoned superstars.

I hope Carrie didn’t read that — OUCH! that hurt, worse than what Simon would say.

More:

“One of the problems that has plagued Underwood’s post-”Idol” performing career is her lack of personality onstage. This was my third time seeing her, first as a headliner, and it seems that the charming young woman who had emerged on her 2006 tour with Kenny Chesney has been lost in the din of oversized video screens, catwalks, costume changes, routine audience patter, an unevenly paced set and a woman who seems more concerned with hitting her marks than hitting people where it counts – in the heart.”

Not good

I too think Simon liked Jason but was disappointed when his performance level stopped accelerating.

Randy is useless this year and I guess he has no class as well. Pffft.

I know how the fox affiliates do it, that they are in one place and fed in, but what about when they are traveling to live shows with performances and allà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦like Ellen, Regis and Kelly, Leno, etc.

Taking a guess here, but I think they get an appearance fee from the talk shows, years ago it was about $1000, but with the contracts and all it’s more than that now. I read Fox411 that Jennifer Lopez’s recording company (Epic/BMG) paid for her stylists, makeup person, catering when she promoted the last album on the morning shows and it cost the rec. company a bundle; something like hundreds of thousands of dollars. And there was speculation that she would be dropped because she was an expensive “diva” who no longer could sell albums. Oprah pays for all travel expense: hotel, air, amenities…but her guests usually promote something like a book or clothing.

So to answer your question: it varies and sometimes it’s shared between the show and the record company. As for Idols, the talk shows prob. pay for all expenses. But they come cheap compared to big stars. Think about it: how much would it cost to clothe and makeup an Idol compared to Jennifer Lopez?

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not sure, but I think things started going south this year with Michael Johns premature ouster. I think he was part of the glue that kept that crew together.

I’ve felt the same way but it’s nice to hear it from someone without the Michael bias, MJ. I think he kept them laughing and having fun during the stressful times. He certainly made the group songs from being dreary with his goofy antics.

I’m curious about that too, Judy. I always assumed it was the shows but could be Fox or AI.

Caffiend, sounds like the AI Extra confirms that Jason was just mentally and creatively drained. Maybe some would like to say he “gave up”, but I think he just couldn’t produce anymore, not that he didn’t want to. I think he is one that can’t “fake” enthusiasm when he isn’t feeling it, either. Some of these kids are just better cut out for the pressure cooker environment. Look at Syesha, she thrives on it, and it has served her well. Cook is calm and collected, no matter what. Brooke, well, we all know what the pressure did to her. Look forward to viewing the interview.

Just curious, as I actually don’t know! :dunce_tb:

LOL, star. I’m glad you can give serious suggestions.

At any rate, I’m definitely intrigued by Simon’s remark, so I hope he does get to choose for DCook!

ETA: haha Sarah, we were posting at the same time!!

Apparently Simon mentioned in a satellite interview that the judges will pick later today and he hopes he gets to pick for DC and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“push him in a different direction.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

As I mentioned to a couple people via email today after being told about this statement – what is he gonna pick? An instrumental jazz number? Or maybe a Spice Girls song?

Star, what were some of our other suggestions? You were being more serious than me – I was being really sarcastic. I pulled a DC and woke up in the wrong frame of mind today. Heh.

Gosh, Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m getting irritated at Jason watching all these interviews. So Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not posting any more. SIGH. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a little disappointing that he bailed on us these past couple week, or more like ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s disappointing the media has portrayed it that way. Lots of Brooke and Carly love in the mediaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’Jason, not so much.

I hope he gets picked up by an indie label, but who would take such a risk on someone who canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t handle the pressure? Maybe he should have left at #6.

I feel ya, prime.

Edited to add: The MTV interview is great. Jason is not the idiot some would make him out to be. He said his problem the last few weeks was he couldn’t find songs he could connect with and having to pick more than one made it worse. He also talks about his complete lack of performing experience before Idol. Interesting that none of the interviews bring up the “stoner” label- I suppose 19e won’t allow it.

Here are a few more Jason vids from this morning:

Chicago

Twin Cities

Jason says his favorite day was Wed b/c of the group numbers.

EW Interview

Some interesting quotes:

Let’s talk about Tuesday night. When Simon said no one should ever cover ”I Shot the Sheriff,” did you think of reminding him that Eric Clapton did a great cover of the song?
You know, sometimes he says things that are obviously wrong. But no, I wouldn’t have said that to him. My mom taught me never to make a person look wrong. I am just respectful. It’s my place to sing a song and his place to judge.

Speaking of next week, what were you going to sing?
Two of the songs would not have been my choice. We were going to be given two songs. For the third, I was deciding between ”Blue Eyes” by Cary Brothers and ”Green Eyes” by Coldplay. Next week was all about the eyes.

Is that so, Lashes? Seriously, I would have loved to have heard either of these.

Did you want to kill Andrew Lloyd Webber for dissing you on stage?
No. I thought it was humorous. He was really very kind, but we’re just different people. I don’t think he gets me. I saw a lot of passion in him, but he couldn’t pick up on my passion.