I never thought I’d say this, PopWatchers, but I miss Corey the Warm Up Comic. Yes, it’s true, on Tuesday nights now C the WUC defects to ABC’s Dancing With The Stars one studio over on the CBS Television City lot, leaving American Idol to seek out a replacement funny person to rile up its audience for its all important performance nights. (For the time being, it appears C the WUC has kept his Wednesday night gig. Not that you were worried.)
I’m told by my esteemed Idol colleague Shirley Halperin (out this week for vacay) that last week’s warm-up guy was actually funny, pulling audience members on stage not to enact cringe-inducing bootie jiggles but to, you know, sing, which makes so much more sense given Idol‘s a singing show and all. More importantly, suddenly it looked as if my long dashed fantasy of actually busting out a big note on the Idol stage (oh, c’mon, you know you’ve all imagined it at least once while warbling in the shower) had new life after all.
Even when I turned to the press colleague next to me to ask if thisweek’s replacement for C the WUC was the same dude from last week, andshe shook her head no, I still kept my spirits up. Surely, someone hadclued in this new guy, Billthe Stand-In Warm-Up Comic, what the audience was feelin’ and what itwasn’t, right? He’d see me dutifully scribbling in my steno notebookand think "I’ve gotta see this cat’s ‘Desperado,’" right? What’s that?Bill the SIWUC’s pulling up an elderly woman on stage to shake herbooty? And now he’s asking her to spank him? And she’s obliged? Well,at least Bill’s passing out t-shirts. Corey never did that. Hmm? NowBill’s onto fanny-pack jokes? Ah. Corey never did that either.
Indeed, Bill the SIWUC was so, shall we say, undercooked, that Debbiethe Stage Manager (i.e. the boss of Studio 36, the one who keeps thewell-oiled machine running on time every week) felt the need toreprimand him via her live mic more than once — No, Bill, we can’t pull up audience members to dance on the catwalk behind the judges table five minutes before the show’s going to begin — providing by far the most off-camera entertainment of the night.
Otherwise, during the ad breaks, I watched the crew set Phil’s micheight, Gina and Sanjaya racing over to hug Jordin after herperformance, and the judges, Ryan and exec producer Nigel Lythgoewarmly conversing with So You Think You Can Dance judge and choreographer Brian Friedman(kinda the only "celeb" any of us could see). Exciting. And I can tellyou there was a scary moment when Debbie the Stage Manager wasliterally pushing LaKisha to her mark for her coming-up-next shot rightbefore the final ad-break — Kiki literally made it up there with notime to spare. Ummm, what else… If you couldn’t tell, the dude Ryanwas aggressively hugging while introducing LaKisha was Papa Malakar.Oh, and that hot mic squeal during Jordin’s stand-up with the judgeswas the result of Jordin bringing the singing mic in her hand too closeto her interview mic clasped to her shirt. Scintillating stuff, I know.
Speaking of sound, though, I must say the in-studio sound system playedsome serious tricks on my ears once again. Jordin’s "On A Clear Day"grated when I heard it live — it sure was big, but it had none of thewarmth and grab-you-at-your-seat snap of Mindy Doo’s "I Got Rhythm"(more on that in a sec), and many of Jordin’s notes felt sharp withinthe studio’s walls. Watching it back on TV, though, I realized thatJordin was playing to the cameras, not the audience, and singing to hermic, not the back row, so it read (and sounded) so much better onscreen. Gina had the opposite problem; I loved the subtle restraint shebrought to "Smile," especially in her final note, which soared withjust the right tone — and which for some reason you barely heard athome. (It also helped that I couldn’t so much see Gina’s hair from Sec.F, Row 7, Seat 2.) And though Blake may have underwhelmed on TV, Igotta say his "Mack the Knife" came off with such assured polish andstyle in person that for the first time the guy gave me goosebumps.(And goosebumps, you know, they don’t lie.)
Finally, turning back to Mindy Doo (pictured), I think it was pretty obvious shewas an audience favorite, but maybe not that she was by far theaudience favorite. Most everyone instinctively leapt to their feet asshe rounded towards home on "I Got Rhythm," a thrilling moment ofgenuine, rousing, spontaneous connection with an audience that’s beenall too rare this season and was never really replicated the rest ofthe night. But as Slezak’s pointed out in his TV Watch, on the screen Mindy’s biggest problem is that she doesn’t come across as, well, spontaneous.The camera craves the (seemingly) unrehearsed moment, and, as Simonalluded last night, Melinda’s such a consummate pro, she’s pretty muchincapable of providing one. That may make her the best live performerof the Top 9, but I can only hope that she can find a way to translatethat into people’s living rooms. Otherwise, with no true standout toget viewers on their feet, the reign of Sanjaya will only continueunabated. And while that may make the 9-year-old sitting in front of mevery happy indeed, my nerves would just as soon not have to experienceanything close to the unique torture of the first few bars of his"Cheek to Cheek" again.
Okay, question to loyal American Idol viewers. This is the first season I’ve actually watched regularly, so I’d like to ask more seasoned viewers this: is Blake actually any good compared to other Idol wannabes (past and current) or is he just considered good this year because the rest of the guys are kind of bleh? For me, every time he comes on screen I kinda want to punch him in the face, but every critic seems to gush over him, so I will admit that he may just be inexplicably irritating to me. Inquiring minds want to know…
Yeah, Ive heard the judges mention how different something suonds on camera…but honestly I didnt think Jordin’s performance sounded that great on camera either. While I love the tone of her voice, I didnt actually think Jordin did more than a nice copy.
I was blown away by Lakisha & Melinda..think Chris connected well. Blake was ok, but something got lost in his visual this week.
I agree with the “want to punch him in the face” sentiment towards Blake! Glad I’m not the only one.
the appeal to Blake this year is that he’s so “different”, meaning he discusses how he changes programs on his computer & fiddles with electronic sound. Plus he adds beatboxing (which I think 1 contestnat got ridiculed for in the top 24 a couple years ago) and does current dance moves (tho not very good, because Ciara, a GIRL, does that foot slide thing in her “like a boy” vid. way better than he does).
Yet mainstream America think its ‘cool’ since that stuff mostly isnt done on AI, so hes the resident cool kid.
Blake is allright. I think the reason he gets all the attentions is because he’s the best GUY. However, there are three girls that are much better than him so saying he’s the best guy doesn’t mean much.
Also, he’s cute and entertaining. Vocally, I’m with you. I just don’t get the hype at all.
I’m very glad I read this. I do think some of Melinda’s presence translates to the small screen, but she obviously doesn’t *play* to the small screen the way others do, and I think in some ways, people read that negatively.
Stacey, I do think Blake is talented, but not overly so. I don’t think it’s a weak season for the boys… I think it’s been tough for Idol in SIX seasons to find a lot of high quality male vocalists. If you look at the pop charts, there are many more females than males – I think it’s much tougher for men to break through than females.
I like Blake a lot and think he’s definitely the best guy this year — but if you put him up against some of AI’s past very best male vocalists Chris Daughtry, Elliott Yamin and Clay Aiken he wouldn’t stand a chance
Truthfully I think that the only people that are marketable to the young audience at this point are Blake, Chris R.,and Jordin. Mindy is amazing, but a bit too professional and too mature. She is the female Luther and I am really shocked that no producer asked if she would have considered cutting a record before becoming an Idol contestant. Haley looked like Amy-Lynn Baxter minus boob job as Tinkerbell. It was too risque.
I’m not sure which is scarier…Phil’s eyebrows or you wanting to punch someone in the face.
Interesting that, good or bad, every single comment to this article is about Blake… he’s obviously the attention getter.
Please, PLEASE punch him in the face! He’s so freakin’ annoying, and not talented at all!!!
For the record, I wouldn’t actually resort to violence if I were to come across Blake face to face. I’m not that kind of girl. I would, however, call him a tool under my breath and try not to laugh as I walk away.
So, I guess the answer to my question (which seems to have hijacked the comments – sorry), is that Blake is 1) different than everybody else, which in AI terms equals cool and noteworthy 2) Good, but not as good as his predecessors and 3) prone to making people swoon or rage, depending on whether you love or hate blonde beatboxing boy-bandy types.
Got it. Thanks everyone.
I really like Blake because he is different and he brings the now factor into choosing his songs. He is modern. And yes he is getting the attention because he is the best guy and let’s face it, the guys aren’t that good this year. I like the girls, but the fact that they seem to sing a ballad almost every time bothers me. And when Melinda does her little innocent “really? me?” look when the judges say she is good really bothers me. I don’t know why. Hello? She has to know that she is good.
I agree that Blake may not have the most powerful voice of the competition, but I do think he sings pop music well and we all know that there are a bunch of people on the pop charts that have no voice (Ashley Simpson, Avril, Brittnay Spears, Fergie, that annoying chick from the Disney channel – oh yeah, Hilary Duff -in case you need names). I think thta Blake is better at singing than all of them, so imagine what he would sound like in the studio with the same producers that work with these pop-tarts – it would be great. As for Melinda – eh – sure she sings well but she has ZERO personality and frankly who is her audience going to be? If ya’ll LOVE her so much have fun when she’s the opening act for the Gladys Knight/Anita Baker tour. Same for Lakisha (altough she’ll open for Mary J – which would be cool). For me it comes down to Jordan and Blake – they have the most potential to reach the biggest audiences so I am sure the producers are hoping for them too.
Say what you will about them all. But if an undeserving charlatan wins this year, be prepared for ‘The X Factor’. The Brits cancelled Idol because the voters were choosing ‘Sanjayas & Haleys’.
Mark my words…….