Archive through April 18, 2003
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TV ClubHouse: Archive: American Idol (FOX): Miscellaneous Gossip (ARCHIVE): Archives: Archive through April 18, 2003

Hotlantan

Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - 04:16 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Thanks for the link.
BTW, friends and I have had a running joke for weeks: Clay singing the 50 Cent songbook, complete with all the theatrical affectations. Nothing gets me smiling faster than imagining the Broadway version of "In Da Club"...

Marameko

Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - 07:49 am EditMoveDeleteIP
News bulletin to Corey Clark.........
You would have NEVER won, not with Reben, Kim L and Clay breathing. DUHHHHHHHHHH

Seamonkey

Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 11:58 am EditMoveDeleteIP
This morning I flipped on the TV.. the cable was set to Fox (not news) from taping last night and I caught the last 10-20 seconds of a piece that seemed to be about GLAAD (gay/lesbian org.) protesting Ryan Seacrest's continual gay innuendo "jokes", saying that this just makes it open season on using innuendo that someone is gay as a put down.

I expect I'll see more about this, hopefully, but I must say, I agree.. I've been fed up by this stuff for weeks..

Fruitbat

Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 12:53 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I wholehearted agree and mentioned it days ago in one of the AI threads. It is obnoxious. I noticed that it has not happened in the past two weeks. They may have been called on this and stopped.

Seamonkey

Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 04:13 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Bat, I know you've mentioned it and I have and at least one other poster as well.. I found one article where Simon and Ryan were criticized for the exchange about "Its Raining Men" where Simon said it was Ryan's favorite song and Ryan later said that Simon's favorite was "YMCA" which he first heard at the "Manhole". I think they carry their private needling public and it grows quickly old.

Jbean

Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 08:41 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
just for everyone's info, kelly is scheduled to appear on the View tomorrow (Fri. 4/18) and on the late late show on monday 4/21. i'm guessing she will probably sing her new single, but hope there will be interviews, too. i am excited that i will be home, as we are off work tomorrow...woo hoo. :)

Wcv63

Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 08:56 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
She's also supposed to be on Access Hollywood tommorrow and on Dateline on Friday (they are covering her signing in Burleson). She taped Caroline Rhea today and the show will be shown May 12th. Thanks Jbean...it's good to know someone else looking forward to seeing her appearances!! :)

Jbean

Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 09:12 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
thank you, too, wcv. so dateline will be tomorrow or next friday?

Wcv63

Thursday, April 17, 2003 - 10:53 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I've heard it reported both ways. It was taped on Tuesday if that means anything. I'll be checking this week just to be sure I don't miss it!

Brenda1966

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 08:54 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I just saw Kelly on the View.

When she performed Miss Independent on AI I was not that impressed. Just now, on the View, I was very impressed. It sounded less "produced" and you could actually hear her voice. She also looked more natural (and looked great) and not overdone.

It was enough to make me think about running out to get her album... I mean CD. :)

Seamonkey

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 10:10 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Thanks, Brenda!! I hope she didn't perform in the first 11 minutes, cuz I just saw this and switched to The View..

Mak1

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 12:20 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I bought the AI single of God Bless the U.S.A. last night. It is great, of course. All 10 finalists are listed as the performers and have their pics on the label. The back of the liner also tells what is forthcoming from AI2.

In stores April 29 will be AI2 All Time Classic American Love Songs from the 11 finalists.

In stores May 28 will be AI2 Winner's Single.

In stores in July will be AI2 Winner's Album.

Seamonkey

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 12:27 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Brenda, I got to see Kelly, thanks to you!! She was awesome!

Hobbs

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 12:38 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
There going to put an album together by July?!? They don't even know who the winner will be. The style of the songs will depend on who it is. We're talkin' just a couple of months here. Maybe they have already decided who it is... Do the words Carmen and conspiracy come to mind? Hmmm.

Monkeyboy

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 12:40 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
lol Hobbs

Hobbs

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 12:44 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Just wait monkey... you'll see. YOU'LL ALL SEE!!

(Oh no. Here come the men with the nets again. I don't want to stay in that nice padded room again this weekend.)

Gracieo

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 01:06 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
LOL Hobbs. If I may join you in your madness, however (misery loves company?)...

I have thought for some time now that there was something conspiratorial about Carmen's continued presence. Back when Simon made those unflattering comments about the producers, I suspected that it perhaps it had something to do with "his" wild card pick being chosen for him and then his obligatory ongoing support (until a couple of weeks ago). It seems very unlikely to me that he could find something to criticize in Ruben's performance but not with those early Carmen performances. I think he has a keen ear and a tight fist, and she does not seem to fit his criteria for allocating his support, either verbal or financial.

A monster has been created, I think. Despite the fact that her performances (IMO) increasingly pale in comparison to the others', which consistently grow more professional every week, she seems to be invincible.

I could be wrong, of course ;).

Texannie

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 01:25 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I saw Kelly on The View and thought she was such a doll! She was asked about her new sophisticated look and she said "yea, it's amazing what a little money can do for the wardrobe"! LOL Am liking the song better each time I hear it.

Wcv63

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 01:26 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
The only way they could have an album out by July for the AI2 winner would be to use songs sung during the competition. A "rehash" album of cover songs. Too bad. They gave Kelly the time and support she needed to put out a superior product.

Hobbs

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 01:34 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Gracieo, I have been going on about the Carmen thing since I started posting here a couple of weeks ago. Since I will be repeating myself, I will be brief. (I can hear everyone saying "Yeh, right.") Simon is a producer of the show. He is also one of the producers of the finalist. They (the producers) want someone that is marketable to the record buyers (teens and young adults). Someone like a Britanny. They didn't see that in the top 8 before the wild card. They didn't even see it in the top 32. So they went outside the 32 and found what they think they can market. A cute teenage blond that will make teeny-bopper girls want to imitate her and teen boys lust for her. Simon even said it after one of her performances, "You're not the best singer of the bunch, but you're the most marketable." They are giving her massive face time in hopes of creating a pop idol. I'm sure they are hoping for a top 4 with her. Anything above that is bonus. The contract is already in their pocket for the day she gets kicked off. They'll just filter the small problems with her voice for her records.

Brenda1966

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 01:57 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I watched Extra today (no cable downstairs is my excuse why...) anyway, they had a clip of Simon saying that Kim C went this week because girls don't like her. He also said Carmen will be next. He said something smart-alek like "One will go this week, the other the next. The order doesn't matter to me." I didn't see any great outpouring of love for Carmen in his comments.

I think he gave her a chance because he wanted another female and he sees potential there. I think he's right that there is potential there, she's just not ready yet.

Seamonkey -- I'm glad you got to see Kelly! She is such a great AI winner.

Maris

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 04:38 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
A Closet Case

http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,444582-2-2~3||266575|1~americanidolsgayjokes,00.html


''American Idol'''s gay jokes hit a sour note -- The show's gay fans (and at least one out-of-the-closet former finalist) find the banter between Simon, Randy, and Ryan insulting by Mark Harris


If you watched ''American Idol'' the week of April 4, you might have noticed something was missing -- and we're not talking about Ruben Studdard's ''205'' jerseys or Trenyce's ability to hit high notes. Gone, all of a sudden, was a line of recurring banter between judge Simon Cowell and host Ryan Seacrest -- an insult contest marked by each man's suggestion that the other was gay.

Straight viewers may not have detected it, but for gay ''Idol'' fans, the barbs were hard to miss -- from Cowell's sneering claim that the gay anthem ''It's Raining Men'' was ''Ryan Seacrest's favorite song'' to Seacrest's remark that Cowell likes to listen to ''Y.M.C.A.'' at ''the Manhole.'' (Such knowing references for a pair of just-kidding guy's guys!) Even judge Randy Jackson joined in with a lame jab about Seacrest giving his number to audience members: ''Oh my God! There's a bunch of dudes standing up! What's going on, man?''

What's going on, indeed. All this back-and-forth has raised eyebrows -- and questions. Here are two: What message do three grown men on a national TV show send young viewers by suggesting that calling someone gay is the worst insult you can throw at them? And how does this hostility disguised as humor jibe with the notion that the American Idol can be anything -- male or female, black or white, as skinny as Clay or as supersized as Ruben?

''It's just a joke!'' says a clearly peeved Seacrest (who's more often the target than the joker). ''It's never meant to be mean-spirited. I use every opportunity, whether on my radio show or on television, to break stereotypes. Simon and I constantly wind each other up. What about when we make fun of Randy not speaking in full sentences? People who don't speak in full sentences -- do they get offended?''

Not good enough, responds Scott Seomin, entertainment media director of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. ''The fact that this was just in jest is not the point. Gay viewers are insulted, and straight viewers are given permission to marginalize an entire community. I've heard the my-client-isn't-homophobic excuse from Ryan's and Randy's publicists, which is frankly insulting. I don't care if Ryan has gay friends or if Randy has worked for gay artists. What they say in front of 20 million people is what matters.''


Even some ''Idol'' alumni are bothered. ''I've noticed the homophobic banter...and it's ridiculous,'' says Jim Verraros, a gay finalist (''and not the only one,'' he claims) last year. During the contest, Verraros says, Fox told him to shut down his website, which revealed his sexual orientation. ''They claimed it was me advertising for myself.... Whatever,'' says Verraros, who used an interview in the gay magazine The Advocate to come out more publicly after he was eliminated.

In light of Verraros' experience, it's worth asking whether the verbal towel-snapping is of a piece with a larger conservative vibe on ''Idol.'' This is, after all, a show on which Cowell suggested that outspoken liberal Dixie Chick Natalie Maines be replaced by contestant Carmen Rasmusen (thanks, but having heard Carmen, we suspect the Chicks will pass), and in which the contestants were roped into recording a charity single of Lee Greenwood's ''God Bless the USA,'' a virtual Republican national anthem since the Reagan era. (And before you write those letters, yes, we are proud to be Americans, where at least we know we're free to say that we think it's a bombastically lousy tune.) While MTV's ''Real World,'' CBS' ''Big Brother'' and ''Survivor,'' and ABC's ''The Mole'' have been models of inclusiveness, Fox's reality TV tends toward such hetero fantasies as ''Joe Millionaire'' and ''Married by America.''

Whether out of gay-friendly consideration or concern about the appropriateness of Manhole jokes on a family-friendly show, it was Fox itself that finally ordered the shenanigans deep-sixed. Fox and ''Idol'' producers had no comment, but insiders told EW that network brass was aware a problem was brewing and spoke to the producers about it. That may not close the matter, though. Verraros is out; Will Young, the winner on ''Idol'''s British forerunner, came out as soon as he won; and for two seasons running, Fox's own chat rooms have been rife with speculation about the sexuality of several contestants (and, for that matter, Cowell and Seacrest). Given all that, it may not be much longer before ''American Idol'' crowns an openly gay winner. Until then, says Verraros, ''You can look at [the jokes] as totally degrading, or you can say to yourself 'Simon is just a moron.''' For the show's gay viewers, that choice may be no contest. (Additional reporting by Nicholas Fonseca and Jessica Shaw)

Seamonkey

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 06:29 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Thanks for posting that.. about time, IMO. Funny how gay insults can be used and they expect people to accept that as being gay accepting..

On the View, Kelly said Rubin is her favorite this year and she would love to do a duet with him (this was suggested by Star).. and about Simon's nasty comments, Kelly said that Simon is usually right, even if his remarks can sting and she said it helps them to prepare for the real world, like now, no matter what the reviewers may say about her and her cd, she can just shrug it off, having survived Simon..

Jbean

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 07:16 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
kelly was on dateline tonight, too. she is just a darling girl. she seems so sincere and down to earth. she said that if all of this success ended tomorrow, that it wouldn't matter because she would find a way to sing, that it was just meant to be.

both the view and dateline asked her about her relationship with justin. she said it would be the last time to tell everyone "no, they were/are not a couple" but that everyone could just believe what they want because nobody believes her answer.

i do think that the right person won last year, and i am glad that they gave her the time she needed in order to do the kind of music she wanted to on the new cd. otherwise it would have been more crappy songs like "a moment....", and "i never lived..." not that i don't like those songs, but i don't think i would if anyone else were singing them. those were manufactured songs for the show. they don't show her versatility.

Jbean

Friday, April 18, 2003 - 07:21 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
also, as far as simon's comment about carmen being the next one to go...he has no clue. (not that i don't WANT her to be the one). but i remember seeing him on one of those shows last year... think it was after the big band show, and he said that nikki would be the next to go....and we all know what happened there. she came in 3rd place. and that was pretty early on in the show. i really hope that carmen isn't this year's nikki. there are people more deserving to be up there than her IMHO.