Wednesday, February 18, 2009

American Idol 8: The First 3 Finalists.

There's hope!

Despite my prognostication, and the general internet buzz, I had a nagging doubt about whether America would vote Alexis through. She didn't have the screen time or VFTW support of Tatiana, and she didn't have the early sweetheart vibe of Anne Marie (oh AM, are you, like, totally kicking yourself for screwing up being the pimp'd out girl in the first group? now you might not be a part of their world! i still love you, though, all purse upper lip and all). And yet -- she's through!

Sure enough, Michael and Anoop were within a tooth's skin away from each other voting-wise. 20,000 votes out of how many? Minnesotans scream bloody murder for a vote differential bigger than that! But, like the rest of us, how can Anoop stay mad at Michael for taking his dream? Especially when Anoop has to know that he's done enough to make it to the Wild Card Round.

And of course there's Danny. How funny/creepy was it that he was about to thrust Tatiana off the stage so that he could hog all the spotlight. At that moment, I actually didn't know who was more desperate to be famous. He's going to be ripped when he finds out that the producers kept the cameras on Tatiana--poor deluded Tatiana--the entire time he was singing Hero. I can't wait for the world to be over Danny. He doesn't have the aw-shucks-ness of David Archuleta to pull off riding early frontrunner status far. He reeks of holier-than-thou-even-my-glasses-are-cooler-than-you-ness. And his family is now selling out his deceased wife? I'm sorry, enough is enough. Let her rest in peace.

So there it is--Danny (Robert Downey, Jr. minus the charisma and likeability*), Alexis (the Spitfire), and Michael (the dancing polar bear).

I've read conflicting reports on who chooses the Wild Card contestants -- the judges or the producers or both. Either way, I gotta think that Anoop is in. The judges like him, and I think the producers sense they have a fanbase ready to pounce. Anne Marie might have a shot if the judges get to pick. And I'm sort of afraid that if the producers get to choose, they'll trot Tatiana out once more to humiliate with no intention of putting her through. I actually got the sense from Simon's look when they told us the good news, that he was disgusted by the blatant exploitation of this girl who clearly has SUBSCRIPTIONS of issues with her need for acceptance and validation. Simon might be the "mean" judge, but even he stopped short of fanning the flames that was the ignominy of Antonella Barba and her toilet.

*Notice: I'm not saying Danny can't sing, because he can, and I'll always recognize him appropriately for any good to great performance he has. But he hasn't earned that Aretha-style sense of self-importance, at least not on a national stage like this. So I, in the grand tradition of cowardly internet posting, am going to take him down a peg until he cries... genuinely.

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