American Idol Season 8 - Week 1

Another season of Fox's juggernaut "American Idol" kicked off last night, and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I could have sworn, based on the overall performances during the top 36 that this would have been one of the worst seasons ever. Yet, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.

The show started out cheesy enough with a super zoom onto Ryan "I am everywhere" Seacrest, leading into his normal pontification on how wonderful Idol is, how important the show is, blah blah blah. Whatever. We've got thirteen singers so let's get to it Ryan! Of course, it doesn't end there. The announcer for Fox who does all those horrible reality show voiceovers announces the judges - Randy, Cara, Paula and Simon. You know, Paula gets scarier and scarier every season. She needs to leave soon - she is unwatchable and unintelligible.

ANYWAY, onto the performances. Here are my thoughts...

Lil Rounds starts the show off with a bang. For a woman who has an adult film star name, she can really sing. She's one of my top 3 singers that I picked before tonight's show. And she didn't disappoint, belting out "The Way You Make Me Feel" by Michael Jackson. I should have pointed out that tonight's show featured songs by the King of Pop, or the King Plastic Surgery, or the King of Blowing All Your Money, or the King of Sleeping with Young Boys. But I digress.

The judges all like Lil, thus validating my pre-season praise of her! You go Lil!!

Next up - Scott McIntyre. Scott has Leo Sayer's hair, and is visually impaired. I have nothing personal against Scott - in fact, I do find him inspirational, and he is definitely better when sitting behind the piano. Having said all that, Scott is not one of my favorites from a vocal perspective, and Simon agrees with me. He hated the obscure song he sang, and also causes Simon to use the first "I don't think you did yourself any favors tonight" comment of this season. I think Scott will make it through to round 2 because he's got his fans, but I don't think he is a better singer than many that didn't even make it to the top 36. Sorry Scott fans!

After the commercial break, we come back to my favorite singer this season - Danny Gokey. It's fitting that he is the first one to take a song from MJ's greatest album, "Thriller". He starts out really boring with "PYT", but then it kicks in and Danny shows why he is favorite to win it all. No, he can't dance and sing at the same time, but who cares. So he looks like Robert Downey Jr. Some have complained that he has cheapened the memory of his late wife by even bringing that up (which is BS - that's the Idol producers fault, not his...). None of that matters - Danny is a really entertaining singer, and while he does have moments of Michael McDonald in him (I still laugh thinking of the 40 Year Old Virgin), I think he's going to go very far in this competition. Paula likes him so much she says he's going to the finals. OMG - I agree with Paula! Yikes...

Michael Sarver is up next - he puts in a good performance, singing "You Are Not Alone". I actually quite like his version. It's not mind blowing, but it definitely shows off his vocal skills. Oh, and he's an Oil Rigger. Best quip of the night is when Simon says, "I just wish we knew what you did for a living", obviously mocking the fact that the producers keep harping on him being an Oil Rigger. To which Michael responds with, "Hopefully this!" Simon appreciated his effort tonight. All the judges actually like Michael. Good job.

Jasmine Murray takes the stage after the commercial break, and does a good performance of "I'll Be There", but it's a bit on the safe side. She definitely can sing, but it didn't really stand out to me. I like Jasmine, and hope she makes it through to another round. The fact that she's only 16 makes her vocals even more impressive. Randy said she wasn't that bad! What a compliment!! Simon called her robotic, and asks her to act her age. I don't know what that means.

After ANOTHER commercial break (c'mon Fox!), Kris Allen comes out with his guitar to do a version of "Remember the Time". Kris is ok - he's ok, but completely forgettable to me. Of course, the women in the audience go nuts over him. So he'll probably be safe for this week. He wasn't horrible - there were much worse performances tonight - but I don't think I'll remember this performance. Other than his Dave Matthews odd foot movements while playing the guitar. Kris kind of looks like he could be Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh's son! Kara loves him, especially because he's such a nice guy and helped out the other contestants. Simon tries to undress Paula during her rambling. Bizarre. According to Paula, "No one knows Michael's catalog quite like you..." Ok. She also calls him sexy, which causes the women in the audience to go crazy again. Give it a rest people!

Next up is Allison Iraheta, and we learn during her package that she sings regularly in a local department type store. Fascinating stuff. Allison has a good, strong voice. Her hair is really bad, but that's a minor quip. I think she'll actually go far this season, and I may be underestimating her. And like Jasmine, she's only 16. Oh, and she sang "Give in to me", another MJ song I'm not really familiar with. Must have been on one of his later albums? The judges all love her, and rightfully so. Very good job, Allison.

Another commercial break, but before we go to that, we see Anoop Desai doing a MJ Thriller dance. That's a bad omen, and it rings true when he comes back after the break to sing "Beat It". I actually agreed with Paula again when she said there are certain songs you don't touch. I would consider "Beat It" to be one of those. Even if he did something like "Billie Jean", I could see it. But Anoop, while not as horrible as the judges make him out to be, nonetheless comes off as a bit of a cheese ball. I really hope he comes back next week, because he CAN sing. He just didn't give a great performance tonight.

Another commercial break (no, that's not a typo - they took forever telling Anoop how bad he was tonight), and we come back to Jorge Nunez, who sings "Never Can Say Goodbye". I didn't think it was nearly as bad as the judges. He has a strong voice, and while his accent can be jarring at spots, I thought he wasn't too bad. I do agree that he would have been better suited singing something like "She's out Of My Life". And something tells me Jorge MAY just end up in the bottom three. I don't think he deserves to be there, but it's just a gut feeling I have.

Gee, we haven't had a commercial break in a while, so let's have another one. Megan Corkrey is up next, and I have to say, she really looks good this evening. So does her mom. Did I just say that? Seriously, my problem with Megan is her goofy dance moves and her arm long tattoo. She has a very unique voice, which I don't think was effectively used in singing "Rockin' Robin". It's a goofy song, and while she doesn't embarrass herself, I find it hard to take her seriously listening to her. Did I mention that she looked really good? That darn tattoo...ugh. She keeps the goofy dance to a minimum, and I thought in the end it was just ok. She is enthusiastic, and she should get points for that. Oh, and she looked good. And MAJOR props to her for her "Ravens Caw" at the end of the song! I had no idea she was a huge Ravens fan!! LOL. As Randy said, "That's So Megan"...Paula wanted to hear more of the Quirky and Unique tone of her voice. And Simon said, "What a stupid song choice!” Cut her some slack, dude!

After a brief shot of Gordon Ramsey in the audience (I expected a Hell's Kitchen plug, but he had no microphone), we go to Adam Lambert, who tackles "Black or White". I picked Adam for my top 3, but you all may know I don't like his "Sam Harris" tendencies. But the more I listened back to Adam's performance, I was very impressed. He still tends to go off the tracks more often than not, but he definitely put his own spin on the song. You can tell he's been in some stage productions before, as he clearly has some of the best stage presence of those contestants this season. Paula now says that Adam will be in the Final. "Never in the history of American Idol...have we ever seen someone so comfortable, so seasoned..." Adam starts to cry. After 20 more minutes of Paula gushing...Simon says, "But did you like him?" Oy vey! Simon says it was in a totally different league than anything else so far tonight. I think listening to the judges and rewatching it, I liked it even more than I originally did. He does need to go a little easy on the makeup, though!

After the break, Matt Giraud - the singer in a dueling piano bar - does a very nice version of "Human Nature". It's restrained where it needs to be, and Matt proves that he may very well be here for a while. Just stay away from Coldplay! He's got the falsetto working, and puts on his best JT impression as always. I think it was a little pitchy at times, but 90% of the time, he was dead on. Good job Matt! The judges like you too. Paula has her shortest comments of the night - probably because the producers said they only had 10 minutes left in the show!

Finally, after ANOTHER commercial, we get to hear Alexis Grace. Alexis is absolutely adorable. She's also a very good singer. I love the hair, the look, and the voice. My only problem was she picked "Dirty Diana", which is not a favorite MJ song. I think the song is kind of repetitive, but it doesn't really matter. Alexis smokes it - and while I'm constantly thinking to myself, who does she look like - a young Rosanna Arquette? - I really dig her. Another singer I may have underestimated. I really hope she doesn't get the boot anytime soon...I like her, and so do some of the judges. One criticism comes from Paula, who warns her not to over sing. Kara says Alexis is a naughty girl, and she likes it! Simon said she was over the top, and it wasn't as good as Alexis probably thinks it is. Whatever Simon - you're wrong! Of course, am I being blinded by the fact that I think she's cute? I don't know, and I don't care!

Ryan wraps up the show by saying that they will have a surprise twist tomorrow. I think it's just a ploy to get people to watch, but we'll find out soon enough. Anyway, I've written way too much, and I doubt anyone is still reading this. Check back next week for my next installment!