Objectively speaking, opening night of American Idol‘s eighth-season semifinals was not good, dawgs. On the women’s side, if it wasn’t abysmal song choice (Ann Marie Boskovich), it was abysmal singing (Stevie Wright), or abysmal styling (Jackie Tohn), or abysmal all-of-the-above (Casey Carlson). For the men, once-promising performers took spectacular nosedives (Stephen Fowler), middling performers got praised just for being nice (Michael Sarver), and personal favorites (Anoooooooooop!) didn’t quite live up to expectations. (It’s okay, ‘Noop Dawg, I’m still a fan.) Oh, and regardless of the gender of vocalist, the American Idol band (Rickey Minor and the Karaoke Backing Track Orchestra!) sucked with all the fury of a hungry 10-year-old trying to make a too-thick milkshake climb up a narrow straw.
My gut tells me Danny Gokey and Alexis Grace will score tickets to the top 12, with the non-gender-specific third position going to Anoop Desai. Possible spoilers? Ricky Braddy? Maybe Michael Sarver? Or, if America doesn’t buy the judges’ too-hasty labeling of Alexis as the next Kelly Clarkson, maybe Ann Marie or…um…can we do write-in texts for Leneshe Young?
But hey, I still need to ponder all this excitement for the next few hours as I work on my full TV Watch recap. Check back for it around 6 a.m., and until then, check out the latest episode of Idolatry and head to the comments section below to share your thoughts about tonight’s show.
More on ‘American Idol,’ ‘AI’ graduates:
‘American Idol’: Michael Johns, Carly Smithson to duet on Wednesday night
‘Idolatry’: Making sense of American Idol’s top 36
‘American Idol’ recap: Hollywood Week, episode 4
Joanna Pacitti out of ‘American Idol,’ Felicia Barton in.
Who is the reigning ‘Idol’ Fashion Victim: Paula, Kara, or Randy?
‘Idol’: The 10 Best — and 5 Worst — Song Choices Ever
‘American Idol’ recap: Hollywood Week, episode 3
‘American Idol’: 10 Greatest ‘Hollywood Week’ Moments
EW’s ‘American Idol’ HQ
‘American Idol’: Get the scoop on what 14 of your favorite former contestants are doing now
Fantasia covers ‘Lady Marmalade’! Roof height at venue permanently altered.
Come on, Michael- we are usually on the same page, but I think you are in denial about one thing…..Tatiana was right up there with Alexis. Danny has the male vote in the bag. Alexis and Tatiana are duking it out for the women, and Ricky and Anoop round out the possibilities. Everyone else was left in the dust.
I was simply shocked that Tatiana wasn’t COMPLETELY horrible. She actually sang decently. Unlike 4 of the other 5 females.
P.S. It was great to see Jamar in the audience. Go Danny – Milwaukee pride!
I do not get why everyone is so hyped up over Danny Gokey. Like Simon said, he was good, but not amazing. Anoop has more personality and likability, while Ricky could sing songs around Danny.
Actually I have to say my fave tonight was “crazy girl”… who wasn’t crazy tonight. Tatianna sounded amazing (albeit a few rough spots) … otherwise …Gokey and the one who got “dirty” LOL. Whatever that means. Del Toro all the way.
my favorite part is when the judges told Tatiana to “be that crazy girl! where’s the crazy girl?”…. it was obviously a ‘dance monkey dance’ moment… it was heinous. they have a role for her and when she didn’t play along it threw them. I felt bad for Tatiana, which I did not expect.
ricky braddy was amazing yes?
I thought Ricky was great. Having not remembered him at all throughout the show so far, his was the only memorable performance and we are only an hour or so removed from the show. I thought Alexis was overrated, but I’m still a fan. Gokey’s was cheesy, but he’ll sail through. I haven’t seen much from him except that he would be a great motivational singer. And I won’t even mention “she who must not be named.”
Tonite was really painful to watch overall, especially the girls. The ONLY good female was Alexis.
TATIANNA TATIANNA TATIANNA… great singing tonight.. and can you imagine the upcoming meltdown!!!!! Come on everyone… make her top 12. TATIANNA TATIANNA TATIANNA
I truly can’t help but think Tatiana, by playing down her craziness, totally stole that female spot. I can get behind Alexis’ voice, but her clothing is driving me insane! Hooker-ish even. blech…
Danny will get the male spot while Anoop takes the gender-neutral spot. That’s how I feel it will go down.
omg this was awful. this new “Top 36″ idea fell completely flat. Obviously 12 of these people don’t even deserve screen time. The only exceptions being Ricky Braddy, Anoop, Danny Gokey and Alexis Grace. I think It will be Gokey, Grace and Anoop in from this group, even though tonight, I thought Ricky did the best vocally. Hope next week doesn’t reek this bad.
What exactly are people hearing when Danny sings?? It certainly isn’t his voice, which is mediocre at best. I completely agree with Simon – he was okay. Definitely not great. And so not deserving of the massive overpraise the other judges were lavishing on him. Ricky was the best male singer of the night. By a mile.
If I had never heard or seen any of these kids before tonight, Tatiana would def. be in 1st place with Anoop a very close 2nd–although he is my favorite. Danny is a given. Too bad Michael S. won’t get his shot. Maybe the wildcard?
I guess I’m pleased that Tatiana is smart enough to have realized that America HATED her and she needed to tone down her personality. That shows a level of reflection that most reality show contestants don’t have (“I’m just keepin’ it real dude”). That said, I’d be ok with dumping this whole lot. Nobody stood out to me. They were horrible, boring, or cheesy. A lot of it was the terrible, terrible song choices.
Please god…. Tatianna Del Toro. I love her wackyness and you ALL have to admit she was the BEST of the girls tonight. no denying.