I know. I’m obsessed. I couldn’t help myself. When Cat Deeley announced on last Thursday’s So You Think You Can Dance results show that American Idol would re-run an episode for the first time in eight seasons, I couldn’t help but set my DVR right away. Sure, I had already seen the season 8 Top 13 telecast, featuring songs from Michael Jackson’s catalog, but like any Idol-obsessed TV watcher, I had to see it again. Not just because re-running the show was a fitting way to remember the King of Pop (it was). But also because this was a landmark in American Idol history, and I’m just fanatic enough to force myself to follow through and celebrate it.
And before I get to the episode itself, I should mention something: Like any Idol fan will tell you, it is an incredibly stressful experience to follow the show. You constantly root for your favorites, hoping that they won’t get knocked out by some lark (think Scott Savol besting Constantine Maroulis back in season four). When a contestant you don’t care for garners praise from the judges, your heart knots up a little in fear for whatever non-pimped underdog you’re hoping makes it past the week. That’s what made watching last night’s top 13 show so interesting. Knowing that my favorites (Kris Allen, Anoop Desai) had made it into the top 11, I was able to actually enjoy contestants that I loathed the first time around. Most notably, Michael Sarver, whose “You Are Not Alone” I found to be boring, average and not worthy of the praise he received the first time around. But since I went into last night’s viewing knowing full well that Anoop made it past the travesty that was “Beat It”—and two deserving contestants went home—I decided to put my bias aside and actually listen. And you know what? When I closed my eyes (I still can’t tolerate the boy band hand movements, sorry), Michael was really good. He actually delivered a sincere, above average performance (embedded below).
My newfound respect for Michael made me wish that Idol would choose to re-run other episodes. Would I change my poor opinion about Syesha Mercado? Nikki McKibbin? John Stevens? (Okay, probably not). But some performance shows were so stellar, I’d love to see them again in their entirety. (Especially since some performances are still not on YouTube.) A few of my favorites: season one’s big band night (see Kelly’s awesome performance after the jump), season two’s movie soundtracks night, season three’s movie soundtracks night (with Quentin Tarantino as judge!), and season seven’s first Beatles night.
Tell me, PopWatchers: Did you watch last night’s Idol re-run? Who was better on the second listen? Worse? And which performance night would you want to see Idol re-run?
Actually, I didn’t mind Michael either. Just don’t let ontd_ai know.
Thanks for the Kelly clip – I had never seen that one. Terrific! I too was “pulling against” Michael – so that was nice to see.
I watch Idol re-runs in their entirety all the time online – you just have to know how to search for them. I often find my opinions change about performances – although funnily enough I thought Michael Sarver was worse the 2nd time around. In any case, I definitely recommend watching episodes again – you forget stuff, and especially if you watch really old episodes you realise how much the show has changed over the years without you realising it.
Did anyone else notice that they cut out Kara’s comment, after Adam’s rendition of Black or White, that went something like “I hope Michael Jackson is watching tonight”? Then Adam says “I love him.”
After listening to endless Michael Jackson songs after his death for the past few days, I realized that they all sounded karaoke the second time. I don’t think anyone of them is MJ material.
I DVR’d the show last night. Adam and Allison were still my favorites. The one that surprised me, however, was Anoop. The first time around I saw the performance as a disaster. This time around I found it a little endearing. I was once that kid dancing to
“Beat It” in front of the mirror. That’s the vibe Anoop gave off, and with Jackson’s death, all of those memories are a little bit sweeter.
Anyone who watched this the 2nd time around really needs to get a life. NO offense.
What was surpising, was that Jorge Nunez was actually not bad. If he had sung the song he did in spanish or portugese – it would have surely kept him in the competition. The fact that he spoke 2 words of english, didn’t help him – so he should have gone the other way and pulled a Jose Feliciano.
Rewatching American Idol is ridiculous and a half. Go rewatch something that takes some brain power Lost or Arrested Development, or if that’s too much for you try CSI or Big Bang Theory.
Hi Kate, thanks for the post. Haven’t you seen American Idol Rewind? They took the original episodes, add new comments from the contestants, and add footage never before seen.
Watching it again proved to me that Jorge and Jasmine shouldn’t have made it and Jesse Langseth and Ricky Braddy should have instead.
I also thought Sarver was better this time around. But Gokey was WORSE. Gokey was SHOUTING and just off key most of the song. It was so ridiculous how they (especially Paula) pimped him…it wasn’t very good. And I liked it the first time…I guess I wasn’t paying attention as much.
I also noticed that they cut out Kara’s Michael Jackson remark. Good catch on the part of the editors. It might have been embarrassing had they missed that.
Being UK, we don’t have this 2nd MJ re-run televised, so I went to read your first MJ week comments which I haven’t read before. Found really strange that not many people liked Adam then (inclusing EW yourself). Read the blogs again People. I am a big fun of Adam from the begining as it is so clear he is someone very special. He is not screaching or screaming, it has a tune and on the key. Go back and listen Robert Plant, ian Gillan etc… Anyhow you American must have changed thier mind regarding Adam and decised to love him? somewhere between MJ week to the final? I honestly hope that people will tresure and appreciate his talent for the long time coming.
I loved re-watching the episode! I realized the second time around that I didn’t hate Adam until AFTER the Ring of Fire debacle. His Black & White performance was totally tolerable. Re-watching it also reinforced my love for Allison, Kris and Matt. Amazing.
Idol does re-air old episodes, via “American Idol Rewind.” I believe it’s syndicated.
I like Danny’s, Allison’s, Alexis’s, and Anoop’s as much as I did the first time. Yeah, I didn’t think Anoop was awful, I think the biggest letdown was that he was going for energetic and his energy level was nonexistent. I loved Matt’s so much more than I already did. That’s always been my favorite Matt performance. Lil, Scott, Michael, and Jasmine didn’t do anything for me the first and second time. I didn’t like Kris as much the second time. Same with Adam, who was missing notes all over the place the second viewing. His performance made up for the singing though. And for whatever reason, I just get happy fuzzies when Jorge sings, no matter how bad it might be. And Megan . . . I actually skipped that performance.
Ever since Kat Deeley announced that they’d be showing A.I Michael Jackson week I could hardly wait fo Monday night to come around and the only reason for that was to see Adam perform and hear his wonderful voice again, the others I didn’t care about I just wanted to see Adam, I’ve missed seeing him so much, but I had to sit through the others till finally Adam came on stage, after he finished his performance I switched off, there won’t be another contestant like Adam Lambert.