Image Credit: Michael Becker/Fox
As season 10 of American Idol continued last night, my biggest pet peeve of the season — the increased involvement of family in the Idoldome — hit a new high. I’m happy Scotty McCreery loves his grandma, but I don’t need to hear him say it during his performance. Even if it’s a genuine gesture, it comes off as a ploy to tug at voters’ heartstrings. Just sing. There’s time in the pre-song package and post-song interview to give grandma the national TV shout-out she deserves.
Another pet peeve being discussed around PopWatch HQ: The ladies’ use of dramatic pageant arm.
Your turn.
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JLo constantly interrupting and talking over Randy. Must drive him crazy!
Doesn’t bother me since most of what he says is useless
JLO does interrupt way to much love
her but she needs to wait her turn.
My problems with JLO is calling all the contestants “Baby” and her nervous laugh at the end of every comment
How about Randy copying everything JLo says, even if she says it while she’s interrupting him?
Totally, totally agree. She seems to think she’s the “head judge” or something. Stephen Tyler appears to have given up trying to say anything much since he knows he won’t be able to get his sentence out before she jumps in.
Steven Tyler, while entertaining in his own way, has never offered a single useful comment.
I HATE THE CHEESY CASEY ABRAMS. I hate his growls his “I am so sexy” Bull sh*t.
Stephen Tyler calling every performance “beautiful”. I think he averages 1.5 per performance.
This!!
AMEN!
And his little diddies that make no sense. Well slap my knee like a bee in a tree
you have to admit for all his strike outs, occassionally he gets a hit. His comment to Lauren about affording the rest of the dress was classic.
Steven never allows his brain to interfere with his mouth.
Well F a duck and see what hatches!
That is the moment we all started to adore Scotties personality. Not many 16 year olds have NOT heard the “F” word. I’ll take Steve Tyler any day over old negative rude and obnoxious Simon
You are so right!! Steven really doesn’t bring anything to the judges table. I really miss Simon. He would tell Thia she is getting so boring that he forgets her performances as soon as they are over. He would tell Jacob that he’s not too bad as long as we don’t have to see his face when he sings (because of the weird faces he makes). He would tell Naima that her performances are getting self-indulgent. He would tell Stefano that he’s turning into the one member of the boyband that no one ever remembers. He would have told Casey that he looked like an escaped mental patient when he tried to do Smells Like Teen Spirit.
I’ll stop now. I just really miss Simon’s honesty.
You took the words right out of my mouth!
too funny!
Tenney – You hit the nail on the head. I really liked Steven in the auditions but his comments now are all “It was beautiful!” Say something constructive please. Randy seems to be the only one saying it like it is!
I don’t miss Simon at all. His “truthfulness” was just meanness masquerading as constructive criticism. None of those comments you quoted were designed to do anyhting but hurt people. I’ll take JLo’s helpful and on-point comments anyday.
You should be a guest judge !
I agree with MomPerson. I don’t miss Simon at all. Jennifer has picked up with good comments without the sarcasm. Several Season 9 contestants are wisheing they were in Season 10. Steven needs to work a bit more with some good comments. Randy is Randy.
Ugh, yes, totally miss him. There at least needs to be someone who won’t say *every* performance is great.
DIdn’t you know that this is a new drinking game?
Obviously the judges know it and get in an early practice round. By the time Haley sang it was Mardi Gras and New Year’s.
I HATE the Pageant arm. They need to find someone to help them figure out what to do with their limbs, Some are SO awkward.
Not nearly as bad as that blonde girl who sang Benny and the Jets (Haley?), and the way she CONSTANTLY tilts/leans to her left (audience’s right). Honestly, every time she sings, she’s tilting. EVERY FREAKING TIME! Stand STRAIGHT for once!
OMG YES!! SHE is my biggest pet peeve of the season actually. Her growl is annoying, her TILTING is ridiculois and those stupid little gestures she makes when she tries to be cute or endearing. Ur not.
She seems so…. Insincere.
Her.. And her tilt.
100% agree with you
As Randy would say – I agree with you a million bajillion percent. Everything Haley does is a pet peeve of mine.
Yes!! She looks so awkward!
And that damn growl. Gets on my last nerve. Ugh
YES!!!! THIS! I like Haley’s voice, but my god, she lurches, bends over and stomps around like Quasimodo. It is soooo unattractive. I told my fiance that they should put a book on her head in between performances and tell her to keep it there, or else.
I also agree with those lamenting the pageant arm. Don’t these folks have a physical coach? If not, they should. Even though the voices are better this year, some of them are hard to watch because they’re physically so distracting. :/
Haley sings with a “Pee Wee Herman” voice. The judges told her they liked it once and now she does it all the time. Maybe she’s auditioning for Great America.
Haley had one of the best performances of the night. Haley ROCKS! I certainly hope she’s not in the bottome three tonight
I second that! Hayley’s great!
THIS!!! Yes yes yes!!! Haley is the worst at it! Also, can’t stand Paul “pee pee guy” McDonald’s performances or his whispering singing voice!! 1. Go to the bathroom before you perform and 2. You don’t talk in a whisper so stop singing in one!!
I hate the pagent arms too. Good grief get a different move besides reaching out to nowhere.
Some pet peeves, although there are many, not telling the contestants their turn is up, and commenting on their appearance instead of telling them how poorly they did, is not constructive.
Using the phrase, “I think it was the wrong song choice for your voice.”
Throwing in way too much family stuff drama, it down-plays the competition and swings votes for the wrong reason.
Ryan thinking he’s a comedian?
The teeny, tiny suits that Ryan borrowed from Stuart Little and his big, tall hair! The guy is a goof.
Ryan is Eddie Haskell part 2.
Lauren’s giggle at the end of EVERY performance. It’s not spontaneous when it happens every week.
I agree PD, I like Lauren but that giggle at the end of every song is annoying. I was glad she didn’t do it this week.
I thought she did something. It wasn’t the usual giggle, but I could have sworn I heard her make some sort of noise, and even that was enough to irritate the crap out of me.
She is just so unbearably needy for approval.
#1- Steven Tyler hitting on 16 year old contestants.
#1 – 16 year old contestants hitting on Steven Tyler (ok just Lauren, but still)
Agreed.
The guy doing the rhythm tracks on the iTunes recordings. Scotty in particular’s had two weeks in a row where his singing’s fine, but the track’s unlistenable because it’s drowned out by the drum machine repeating the same two bars all song.
1. the true lack of good criticism (looking at you steven tyler)
2. showing the judges during performances
3. lack of good criticism, again. Look if a performance is bad, effing tell them that. The judges are literally afraid to critique them when they suck. This is why not having Simon is hurting them. If they are not good, the judges aren’t doing them a service by heaping undeserved praise on them.
TOTALLY AGREE!
I get the feeling that the bosses have told the judges that EVERY SINGER IS AMAZING, whether you like them or not. The over-pimping of the singers is annoying – going overboard to make you THINK that this is the best year ever makes me disconnect from the show.
The over-use of the word “amazing” is simply amazing … as Donald Trump says all the time.
Totally agree
um i kind of want mandi bierly to marry me. that is all.
I’m truly torn between Mandi Bierley and Annie Barrett, on who I more want to marry. In terms of having crushes on pop-culture journalists, the Team Mandi-Team Annie rivalry matches or exceeds Team Edward-Team Jacob or Team Peeta-Team Gale….
(Although, honestly, is that last one a battle at all? Team Peeta all the way….)
Paul is my favorite and as long as he is there-I can deal with the pet peeves of the show. He brings something new and cool to the show. I love his folk rock vibe and voice. So I’m fine-even if the show is nuts, as long as he is there I’m fine.
PAUL IS TERRIBLE
Paul won me with the suit the first time he wore it. So rocks!
I only have 2 issues with season 10 PAUL and JACOB I’m sorry but they suck
I agree. Jacob is fine for a church choir or gospel. If I NEVER have to hear him sing with that ridiculous trilling voice again I will be happy. I recored it so I can fast forward through his song. What is up with Paul and who the heck is voting for him? Odd, very odd one trick pony.
Yes Jacob’s place is certainly in a church choir
Then I guess it is fair to say that Pia belongs on AC radio and Scotty belongs in Nashville. It is interesting to me that wha distinguishes Jacob is bad but what distinguishes other contestants isn’t.
It is simply true that he’s the most gifted performer on the show. Everyone else is derivative as all hell. You may not like church, but that doesn’t make him bad anymore than my disdain for country makes Scotty bad. The difference is that it’s cool to diss the black folks who are stylized but not the white folks who are stylized.
Thank you Tyler for playing the race card during an American Idol discussion… it is ALWAYS appropriate.
@Tyler “It is simply true that he’s the most gifted performer on the show. ”
That’s a joke right? There hasn’t been a contestant EVER on Idol who has oversung every performance the way Jacob has. You must be confusing “trying too hard to be dramatic” with “talent”.
soo agree! Scotty btw. is doing amazing my only issues with the show this year are
1. Haw sometimes the contestants voices are drowend out by the music
2. the lack of criticism from the judges
3. I want Simon back
4. Jacob, Haley and Casey NEED to go cuz they piss me off! Casey just looks so eeechu blahh like dirty and the other two piss me off
and thats about it
btw GO SCOTTY!!!
uh…Scotty is 1/4 Puerto Rican
Thank goodness. I thought I was the only one. I cannot even listen to Jacob and he’s so over-the-top dramatic and fake. Paul I just don’t get. He’s cute I guess, and seems real enough, but he really can’t sing and he’s not a good entertainer.
Loved Paul at the beginning, even downloaded his album from I-Tunes, but last night was horrible. Jacob’s mouth….nuf said.
not fake. but raised in the black church where such mannerisms are part of performance. his style is no more stylized than Scotty’s country bent, Pia’s power ballad bent, etc. The difference is that there’s a bias against what Jacob is doing. But objectively, his singing is just better than everyone else’s, technically speaking.
Jacob is the worst! I have to change the channel when he’s on. My pet peeve (although it has been going on a few years now) is letting the contestants release their songs on iTunes. What’s the point of trying to win if people are already buying your songs? That’s why all these contestants already think they’re “stars”, but they’ll find out soon enough that they aren’t.
Does anyone remember that Fantasia was a singer in her grandma’s black church in High Point? Let’s not bring the race card into this it’s unwarranted! Her songs ran the gamut of musical variety and she won hands down on her voice. Not because she was an unwed school drop out who happened to be black!!
Was it necessary to bring up unwed school dropout? Doing so speaks volumes.
The point I make still stands, which is that some kinds of stylized performing are fine with most AI voters, others are not. It would be foolish to pretend that the difference has a racialized, sexualized aspect to it. It doesn’t mean people are bad or that they aren’t entitled to their preferences. But it does mean that people are more likely and comfortable denigrating a style like Jacob’s, but not a style like Scotty’s.
that should be : It would be foolish to pretend that the difference DOESN’T HAVE a racialized, sexualized aspect to it.
Tyler, it is simple. Many people just don’t care for Jacobs style. I liked him in the beginning, but he simply became too over the top for me and turned me off. Was this because he was black? Absolutely not. Is it because it got old week after week? Absolutely. My biggest pet-peeve is this right here. People using that race card as an excuse for others not supporting their favorite
It looks like Jacob is one of those you either love or hate…lots of strong and diverse opinions. I love him and my son hates him.
I totally agree…there’e no denying that Jacob is really good, but he should be in the church singing…not in the American Idol!
Agreed. Along with a few others!
One of my pet peeves is that Simonless Idol ignores self-indulgent performances. Looking at you, Naima.
ahhhhh i couldn’t agree more. she’s such a wanna be
cool chick but her act bombs
Ha! I said that three times last night. “Simon would have called that performance indulgent”
AGREED 100% @whatevs. Casey doing “Teen Spirit”? He wouldn’t have left the stage in one piece had Simon been there to critique him. I’m still shocked he got away with that performance with nary a word of criticism. Unbelievable. What a joke!
I can’t believe someone gave them permission to use the song. Dave Grohl’s head must have been spinning.
so glad you said that she just bug’s the hell out of me every time she sings.sure hope she does not make it to long
I would have loved to hear what Simon though of James Durbin’s performance last night. That must be the worst example of over indulgence in the history of the show.
Um that it’s still on a million times a week. Can’t they condense this show into one day of the week?
2 equals a million? really?
“for all its worth”
for all that it’s worth
I find Laurn’s constant pandering to the judges completely annoying. When they compliment you, just say thank you and stop the whining. Ugh.
She is 15 and that is a child that doesn’t know how to behave yet. I think she is sweet>
Um, NO. A 15 year old is not a child anymore. And anyway, she’s 16 now. She’s a year away from driving, but doesn’t know to behave yet? lol, okay!
I adore Lauren also she is so real I would certainly buy her cd’s and I could listen to her and scotty on the radio.