Category: reality tv

Last night American Idol went to San Francisco in American Idol Season 8 Episode 3. The show was desperately starved for talent, but we did see Adam Lambert and Kai Kalama toward the end of the night.

Tonight’s stop is Louisville, Kentucky. The first trick for the contestants is to figure out which pronunciation of Louisville is correct.

Tiffany Shedd is up first. We know she’s going to bomb, but at least she’s going to college when they reject her. She sings Mariah Carey’s Hero. Simon calls her a donkey. After walking out, she’s angry that the show is just looking for nerds and freaks, which explains how she got on it.

Joanna Pacitti has been trying to make it in the industry since she moved to LA at age 16. A&M Records signed her back then. In 2007, she was dropped from her label a year after her debut album. So much for this show being about the best undiscovered talent in America. Granted, it’s obvious nobody discovered her music when she had a record deal. She sings Pat Benetar’s We Belong. It’s obvious this chick can sing, but I’m not liking this trend of people coming on Idol for a second/third chance.

Mark Mudd, Jr. has a story about how he’s almost died 5 times and how he’s related to Samuel Mudd, the doctor who fixed John Wilkes Booth’s leg after he broke it while shooting Abraham Lincoln. He sings George Jones’ White Lightning. Sounds better than I’d expected. Simon suggests he go on Wheel of Fortune instead. When he’s walking out of the room, he tells the judges to be careful, which they believe is a threat.

Brent Keith Smith sings Bad Company’s Something for You. Paula is pleasantly surprised. Simon didn’t like the song, which leads Kara to pout. He says yes anyway, as does everyone else. Then Paula and Kara go under the table for some reason.

Dueling piano player Matt Giraud sings Gavin DeGraw’s I Don’t Wanna Be. Different but with potential. Simon worries about his lack of self confidence. He’s through to Hollywood.

Ross Plavsic knows about stuff nobody else cares to know about. He’ll be singing Cara Mia by Jay & The Americans. Allegedly, the reason he sounds so bad is because his throat is scratchy. So he takes a sip out of Paula’s cup.

Stay-at-home mom Alexis Grace, 21, has a 2 year old daughter named Ryan. She sings Aretha Franklin’s Dr. Feelgood, and she pulls it off. The judges hope she comes out of her shell but vote yes based on her voice.

Aaron Williamson is so pumped and wants to scream loud enough so that everybody gets annoyed by him. He sings (aka shouts) Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Have You Ever Seen the Rain? Eventually the judges get out of control, too, until Simon gets them to stop. That was a waste of time.

Rebecca Garcia was on the local news the morning of the show. She sings Carrie Underwood Before He Cheats. These news people should really screen these people before putting them on. Kara thinks it’s a joke, but the tears convince her otherwise.

After that, we very quickly skip through four good singers since it would be too much trouble to actually show us some talent.

Leneshe Young grew up homeless. She’s there with her mom to move on and go forward. She sings an original song, which the judges like for some reason, but regardless her voice is strong. Kara calls her brilliant.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of American Idol Season 8 episode 5, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on Fox.

American Idol 8 Episode 2 and Kansas City brought us Ashley Anderson, Jason Castro and his brother Michael Castro, Matt Breitzke, Danny Gokey, and Lil Rounds.

Tonight we head to San Francisco, where Katharine McPhee and, more importantly, William Hung auditioned.

Tatiana del Toro from Puerto Rico (Simon points out they’re going there and she could have saved the airfare) is… confused. She rattles off a bunch of job titles which may or may not be jobs she actually does. To help her through her confusion, she went to a psychic who said she’ll be in the top 12. She sings Aretha Franklin’s Never Loved a Man, among other songs. She’s not as good as she thinks she is, but she’s good enough to proceed. Simon and Randy warn her she doesn’t have the big voice she wants to have. Randy says yes. Kara doesn’t think she has the vocals but likes the vibe. Paula says yes. Simon doesn’t vote, but Tatiana wants him to change his mind anyway. Hopefully when she gets to Hollywood she’ll pick up a new laugh.

Dean Anthony Bradford is in the wrong decade. He sings Stars by Simply Red. What the bloody hell is this?

Jesus Valenzuela is trying out for this show since it’s a family show and his kids are really into it. He sings a couple lines of something before Simon stops him. Paula kinda likes him, and the opportunity arises for him to bring his kids into the audition room. Simon says no regardless, but the others say yes. Somehow Simon gets a hug out of this.

Dalton Powell finishes his Rubik’s Cube pretty quickly. He should probably stick to that.

Akilah Askew-Gholston is studying anatomy, which she believes will teach her how to sing gospel. If only she could pronounce any of the body parts (or anything else). She doesn’t know the difference between Simon and Randy either, although she somehow knows who Kara is. She sings an original song Make Sweet Love. Simon tells her that her song sucks, so she sings A Natural Woman, which convinces them she’s not a singer. Her argument is that the bad high note came from the wrong rectum and she should be given another chance. Oh, and Paula makes her nervous because she had a hit song in the early 80s when she was a child.

Annie Murdoch plays instruments and scats. She could quite possibly be possessed.

Adam Lambert from Hollywood has been singing since he was about 10. He’s been in the cast of Wicked for the past year and a half. He sings Bohemian Rhapsody, Simon’s favorite. Paula calls him one of the most diverse singers they’ve seen. Simon thinks he’s very theatrical. Randy says yes. Simon agrees. Kara reluctantly sides with Simon. After his story about how he had a crush on Paula back when she was famous, she says he’s the best they’ve seen.

Closing out the show is Kai Kalama, who’s been taking care of his sick mother for about a year. He sings Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by The Platters. Simon likes the voice but not the ship singer personality. The others have the same line of thinking, but everybody says yes.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of American Idol Season 8 episode 4, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on Fox.