Idol Chit-Chat
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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Hollywood Week Comes to An End...

It’s now Day Four in Hollywood, and Ryan tells us there are 72 contestants remaining. You may recall that at the end of Wednesday’s episode there were 75 contestants remaining. So what happened? My guess is that people dropped out or they discovered something that made them ineligible…

During this round, the contestants perform with backup singers and musicians and can also play their own instruments. There is no judging feedback, just sing and get off the stage.

We see the contestants in the main holding room as the judges deliberate in the theater…

Cut to the performances. Adam Lambert is first…Cut to his first Hollywood audition. Kara said she felt like he was still doing theater, but Paula disagreed…Back to final performance. Adam does Cher’s “Believe” as a ballad, and it’s definitely interesting. The judges are a little hard to read with this one and I thought it was a little over the top…

Matt Giraud, who reminded everyone of Elliott Yamin, does “Georgia On My Mind” with the keyboard and it’s pretty awesome. He gets a standing ovation from all the judges except Simon…

It’s 7:45 p.m. and the judges are still deliberating. The contestants are still in the main holding room and Jamar is freaking out a little bit. Cut back to his performance of “Hey There Delilah” as his best friend Danny Gokey looks on. Everyone loved it. I thought it started out kind of weak, but he worked it out…

And then my guy Danny took the stage and absolutely nailed “I Hope You Dance,” a song I am completely over, by the way, but he made it awesome. Even Simon gave him a sly smile…

It’s now 8 p.m. and the judges are still deliberating…

Cut to Anoop Desai singing “My Prerogative” and Jorge Nunez doing “Closer.” They’re both pretty good…

Scott MacIntyre (the blind guy) does “Home” at the keyboard. Paula gives him a standing ovation, but I thought it was kind of pitchy…

Kendall Beard does “Before He Cheats.” They should really retire that one from the competition…

Stevie Wright does “Bubbly”…

Lil Rounds does “If I Ain’t Got You”…

Kristin McNamara (of Team Compromise) does “Because of You,” but it’s a little overblown. Ryan tricks her into thinking that Nancy is there to apologize to her…

Mishavonna Henson does a song that I don’t recognize. Cut to her only making it to the second day of Hollywood in season seven. Back to her performance which is a little iffy…

It’s now 8:30 p.m. and the judges are sending one group of 18 to a room. Matt and Anoop are in that room—Room #1…

It’s 8:45 p.m. and Room #2 has been decided with Tatiana Del Toro in this room…Cut to her singing eight different songs during her time on “Idol,” since she always refused to stop. She sings “I’m Your Baby Tonight” for her final performance and Kara makes a face because it’s bad with a weird ending that made Simon laugh. She, of course, tells the camera that she was awesome…

Cut to other performances from Room #2: Alexis Grace does “Before He Cheats”…Kenny Hoffpauer does “I’m Yours”…Jasmine Murray does ‘Tattoo” and I thought it was a little rough…

Nathaniel Marshall does an acoustic “Disturbia” with a guitar. Cut to all of the drama of Team Compromise…

Joanna Pacitti does “If I Ain’t Got You” and totally forgets the lyrics…Casey Carlson also forgets the lyrics to “Tattoo”…

Stephen Fowler stayed up all night practicing his performance of “Time of My Life” with the keyboard. He tells the camera that it’s not hard to memorize because it’s not lyrically difficult. So of course, he forgets the lyrics and asks to start again. But when he forgets them the second time, he just gets up and leaves the stage…

It looks like Von Smith is also in Room #2…

Cut to the judges who realize the numbers are off with men and women. Someone comes in and removes Tatiana from Room #2…

It’s now 9 p.m. and there are two rooms filled while Tatiana freaks out in the hallway…

Nick Mitchell is waiting in the holding room. Cut to his Hollywood Week. Day One he performed as Norman, day two as himself and his final performance was as Norman. He sits on the piano and does “Georgia On My Mind” and then crawls all over the floor…

The judges finish their deliberation on the remaining contestants and Room #3 and Room #4 are filled…

In Room #4 is Nick Mitchell. Cut to other performances from Room #4: Ann Marie Boskovich does “I Hope You Dance”…Ju’Not Boyer turns “Hey There Delilah” into a sultry R&B ballad…

Tatiana is placed in Room #4, which concerns everyone in there…

It’s 9:30 p.m. and all of the rooms are filled…

In Room #3 is Kaylan Loyd. Cut to her performance of “If I Ain’t Got You,” which Simon actually cut off. That song should also be banned…

Leneshe Young does “Love Song” and it’s pretty weak…

Cut to performances from Room #2:

Kai Kalana does “Part-Time Lover” but his voice is completely off…

Cut to Michael Sarver, the oil rig worker, and his good Hollywood Week. Back to his final performance, which is “Nothing At All,” a GREAT song…

The judges are finally done, and Simon leaves to catch a plane for London…

In Room #2, Nathaniel is trying to figure out his fate, but then the judges come in. The judges are clearly stalling…They’re through…That means Alexis, Joanna, Casey, Ariana, Kai, Jasmine, Steven, Michael, and I believe Von are through…

Now to Room #3 where they hear all of the screaming…

Cut to India Morrison, who had a good group performance (She was the rapper.), but her solo of “Disturbia” was bad…

Michael Castro is also in this group…

They’re not through. Because of her story of growing up with nothing, Leneshe gets the extended goodbye montage…

It’s 10 p.m. and two rooms are remaining to hear their fate…

In Room #1 is Danny, Matt and Adam…The judges come in and it’s pretty clear, pretty quickly that Randy is stalling. How could those guys not go through?...The group also includes Scott, Jorge and Jamar…

Now to Room #4…Tatiana is falling apart while the judges go on and on about “raising the bar” each season and how hard it is, blah, blah, blah. What they’re saying, and the math tells you that they’re stalling. Finally, Matt the welder asks Paula if it’s a no. After a dramatic pause, she tells them they’re through…

After a montage of people celebrating and saying goodbye, we get a preview of tomorrow’s “Green Mile” episode, which will reveal the top 36. Apparently there’s a judges’ mansion now and Ryan promises us a “new twist.” The previews show Michael Sarver singing for his survival…

And there’s your recap. I’ll have some more thoughts in a few…