TVCH FORUMS HOME . JOIN . FAN CLUBS . ABOUT US . CONTACT . CHAT  
Bomis   Quick Links   TOPICS . TREE-VIEW . SEARCH . HELP! . NEWS . PROFILE
The Top 12 in the Media

The TVClubHouse: American Idol/Canadian Idol/Other Talent Shows ARCHIVES: American Idol IV: The Top 12 in the Media users admin

Author Message
Konamouse
Member

07-16-2001

Saturday, March 19, 2005 - 12:36 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Just to get things started - when the local fans start supporting their favorites.

Here's something on Scott:
http://http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/11109692537250.xml

"American Idol" finalist Scott Savol has a foot on each side of the color line.

'squeek'

Tishala
Member

08-01-2000

Monday, March 28, 2005 - 2:14 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
This isn't really about the top twelve, but about the AI phenomenon...the article takes up three web pages, so it is edited quite a lot below. I have retained the material that relates directly to AI.

How Broadway Lost Its Voice to 'American Idol' NY Times
frenchie
Give the people what they already have. This reigning philosophy of Broadway has been translated into a multitude of musicals inspired by popular movies and vintage pop songbooks. So why not reality television? "American Idol" also-rans have been dropped into Broadway replacement casts, including Tamyra Gray ("Bombay Dreams") and Frenchie Davis ("Rent"). "Brooklyn," Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson's gooey fairy tale of street people and pop stardom, actually features a climactic "American Idol"-style sing-off between a pair of crowd-courting divas.

But such examples are superficial, the equivalent of a matron who piles hip-hop accessories on top of her St. John's suit. The tentacles of the "American Idol" sensibility actually reach much deeper, into the very throat of the American musical, and may change forever the way Broadway sings. This is not a happy prognosis.

The style of vocalizing that is rewarded on "American Idol" - by its panel of on-air judges and by the television audience that votes on the winners - is both intensely emotional and oddly impersonal. The accent is on abstract feelings, usually embodied by people of stunning ordinariness, than on particular character. Quivering vibrato, curlicued melisma, notes held past the vanishing point: the favorite technical tricks of "Idol" contestants are often like screams divorced from the pain or ecstasy that inspired them.

The Broadway musical has always had its share of big-voiced belters, from Ethel Merman to Patti LuPone. But they have usually belonged to the tradition of Broadway as a temple to magnified idiosyncrasies, to performers for whom song is an extension of individuality. Which is why when Simon Cowell, the most notoriously harsh of "American Idol's" judges, describes a contestant as "too Broadway," it is meant as a withering dismissal. Carol Channing, Robert Preston, Jerry Orbach and Gwen Verdon wouldn't stand a chance in the court of Cowell. And if they were starting out today, they probably wouldn't stand a chance in Broadway musicals either. [snip to remove long discussion of anonymous Broadway voices in the past several decades ...]

Bernadette Peters, Audra MacDonald, Betty Buckley, Mandy Patinkin, Tonya Pinkins, Michael Cerveris, André De Shields, Mr. Butz and Ms. Chenoweth, among others, have all demonstrated that it is possible to go pop on Broadway without sacrificing individual flair. (And to be fair, "American Idol" has produced at least one star - Fantasia, last year's winner - with a voice and approach of her own.)

We must cherish such performers. Good, well-trained voices that can carry a tune and turn up the volume come cheap. What does not is the voice that identifies a character as specifically and individually as handwriting.

Tishala
Member

08-01-2000

Friday, April 15, 2005 - 9:00 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
AI Criticism, courtesy of renowned NY Times critic Stephen Holden.

[...] While watching "Tribute," I thought back to the Broadway anthology unleashed on the April 5 edition of "American Idol," whose nine contestants struggled to articulate fragments of songs like "The Impossible Dream," "People," "My Funny Valentine" and "Hello, Young Lovers." The paradox of this toxic singing contest, which is the rough equivalent of the old "Ed Sullivan Show" in suggesting the median level of mass musical taste, is that it has the power to canonize songs, which its clueless judges then go on to treat as stunts in a gymnastic competition that rewards crude physical prowess.

To listen to Simon Cowell dismiss the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic "Hello, Young Lovers" as a "mind-numbingly boring" song that belongs on "a washing powder commercial in 1965" was to hear an ill-willed philistine sneering through a cloud of his own noxious vapors.

The contestants are urged not to be "pitchy" (the program's favorite pseudo-technical word for off-pitch, which they usually are), and are congratulated for their high notes and telegenic appeal. ("I admit I'm falling in love with you," Paula Abdul gushed to one. "When you smile you melt America's heart," she blubbered to another.) The third judge, Randy Jackson, doesn't know the difference between a dude and a "dogg" (his two favorite words).

Let's not kid ourselves: the ascendance of "American Idol," and its turning of music into sports, signals the end of American popular song as we know it. Its ritual slaughter of songs allows no message to be carried, no wisdom to be communicated, other than the screamed and belted song of the self.

Alisons
Member

01-10-2003

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 - 4:13 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Did you see "The Soup" this week with the "Constantine Maroulis School of Hypnosis"? I thought that was a hoot! They did a spoof saying, "Wonder how he gets so many votes? Having trouble getting women out of your league? Join the Constantine Maroulis School of Hypnosis." Then they showed all his different "stares" giving each one a different name - the Koala (eyes and nose scrunched up), the Roundabout (where he follows the camera around in a semicircle), the Double Windsor (where they show him and another angle of him up on the screen), the Bend (where he makes the phone sign telling people to dial), the Spiritu Sancti (praying hands) plus more that I forget! Then they show a hot woman cosying up to a dorky guy saying "You are so creepy - yet so irresistable!" and the guy saying "Thanks Constantine!" You have to see it, it loses alot in the telling, but I thought it was pretty funny!

Tishala
Member

08-01-2000

Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 11:44 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Some ‘Idol’ performances still reverberate today
MSNBC on the Top Ten AI Performances of all time.

10. (tie) Constantine Maroulis, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” season four
Maroulis’ Steven Tyler-esque manner of hair-stroking and seducing his microphone had a polarizing effect on viewers and judges alike. Even Simon told him, “If this were Smoldering Idol, you’d win hands down.” Yet Maroulis’ peak was the gutsiest song choice of any competition: Queen’s rock-operatic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which — come on — might be a classic, but also is the kind of song you never try to take seriously. Maroulis, 29, pulled off an electric performance — tongue-wagging and all, inching toward the head of the pack by showing that showmanship really does go a long way.

His close second: “My Funny Valentine”

10. (tie) George Huff, “Take Me to the Pilot,” season three
Huff, a last-minute replacement for booted finalist Donnie Williams, was best known for looking a decade older than his 22 years. But on an Elton John-themed night, Huff leapt from his role as an also-ran to a serious contender by singing the lesser-known “Take Me to the Pilot.” Showing a gospel flair and what would become his trademark calf-exercising bounce, Huff’s husky-voiced rendition not only revealed an old-school soul, but a guy whose joy of singing was so infectious you couldn’t help but smile.

His close second: “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg”

9. Bo Bice, “Spinning Wheel,” season four
“American Idol” hadn’t seen a finalist like 29-year-old Bice, whose early comparisons to fellow “rocker” Maroulis turned out to be premature when he slunk onstage for Blood, Sweat & Tears’ “Spinning Wheel.” With confidence, charisma and his ubiquitous leather pants, Bice raced across the stage, barely gasping for breath and swinging his microphone stand like a baseball bat. His funky rasp brought a “fearless” from Randy and a standing ovation from Paula.

His close second: “Whipping Post”

8. Jennifer Hudson, “Circle of Life,” season three
In the battle between ground-swelling orchestral power ballads, it was hard to pick between season 2 finalist Kimberley Locke’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and Hudson’s “Circle of Life.” The edge, however, goes to Hudson for finally walking the diva talk she’d been splaying in the weeks prior. Blowing the roof with a goosebump-inducing rendition of Elton John’s Disney hit, 22-year-old Hudson set out to prove she deserved to be named with the likes of fellow “divas” Fantasia Barrino & LaToya London. She succeeded.

Her close second: “I Have Nothing”

7. Christina Christian, “Ain’t No Sunshine,” season one
It’s usually the girls with the big voices who make a splash on “Idol,” but sultry 21-year-old Christian went the other direction, turning Bill Withers’ very mellow “Ain’t No Sunshine” into a sexy serenade. Simon, who admitted a little crush on the finalist, compared her performance to Sade. Other male fans, meanwhile, bent to wipe their drool off the floor.

Her close second: “Glory of Love”

6. Clay Aiken, “Build Me Up Buttercup,” season two
If this list were about overall consistency, Aiken, 24, would have ranked much higher. Save for an uber-cheesy rendition of “Grease,” the season two runner-up turned in one strong performance after another. The Foundations’ “Build Me Up Buttercup” was an unusual but welcome choice for the balladeer, who hadn’t loosened up until then. Oddly enough, the song became a favorite of his many fans, who likely not only downloaded the original but used it for new signs, such as: “CLAY YOU’RE MY BUTTERCUP.”

His close second: “Bridge Over Troubled Water”

5. Justin Guarini, “Get Here,” season one
Sure, now he’s a Trivial Pursuit punchline, but think hard and you’ll remember that Justin Guarini, 23, was once in hot pursuit of Kelly Clarkson’s season-one title. He first made his mark singing Oleta Adams’ “Get Here” during the final auditions, bringing Paula to tears. With a romantic croon free of the Michael Jackson facial expressions that haunted other performances, Guarini had the same mesmerizing effect when he sang it in two more rounds of the finals. Randy called it the “best performance in this whole competition.” Just goes to show that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

His close second: “Let’s Stay Together”

4. Tamyra Gray, “A House is Not a Home,” season one
Would you rather have a flawless performance that leaves you cold or a near-flawless performance that chokes you up? We pick the latter, and 23-year-old Gray delivered, with a raw, heart-wrenching rendition of Dionne Warwick’s “A House is Not a Home,” sung on a Burt Bacharach-themed night. Had she connected emotionally with the audience more often, this technically gifted singer could have won the title. Meanwhile, as Simon said, it’s “one of the best performances on TV I have ever seen.”

Her close second: “A Fool in Love”

3. Ruben Studdard, “Superstar,” season two
The 25-year-old “velvet teddy bear” with the 205 jerseys sang the Carpenters’ “Superstar” on his very first appearance, and the early notes (“Long ago, and oh so far away…”) seared right into the spot on your body that makes you shiver. Though he sang with a dimpled smile, the wistfulness in his buttery-rich tenor broke hearts. Studdard, the eventual season-two winner, was greeted with a standing ovation from both Randy and Paula. A champion was born.

His close second: “A Whole New World”

2. Kelly Clarkson, “Stuff Like That There,” season one
It's really difficult to pick a “best” Clarkson performance, as nearly every number earned raves. (Clarkson’s also the only winner to have never landed in the bottom three on her way to winning the first season.) So why pick the jazz standard “Stuff Like That There,” which she sang for the Big Band-themed night? Because, in her little polka-dot dress with the string of pearls, she mopped the floor with previous front-runners Tamyra and Justin, who had preceded her that evening with strong performances of their own. Clarkson was the true revelation of the night, and she hasn’t looked back since.

Her close second: “Natural Woman”

1. Fantasia Barrino, “Summertime,” season three
Barrino, a 19-year-old single mom whose rasp reminded listeners of Aretha Franklin, was starting to lose fans for being all swagger and no softness. Then she sat down on a stage for a movie soundtrack-themed show and belted “Summertime” from “Porgy and Bess.” The result was so overwhelmingly emotional that Randy thought it was the best performance in “Idol” history. The eventual season-three winner sang it again in the finals, and Simon summed it up by saying, “You are without question the best contestant we’ve had in any competition.” Now that’s memorable.

Her close second: “Something to Talk About”

Roxip
Member

01-29-2004

Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 12:16 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Gosh doesn't that bring back some great memories?

But I think I would have to replace Bo's top song now.

And I still love George Huff!

Jedisan
Member

01-11-2002

Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 5:17 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I would buy the album TOMORROW that had all of those songs - and even the second placers.