American Idol - Recap & Review - Top 5 Results

American Idol
Top 5 Results

Original Air Date: April 29, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

The shock didn’t come in the elimination — oh no. It came in who ended up almost being voted off — Adam Lambert. You know, the heir apparent of S8. Fourth. Not first. Not second. Not third. Fourth.

And that’s just not right.

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[photo: fox]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Top 5

American Idol
Top 5

Original Air Date: April 28, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

I never thought I would say this — after all, it’s been a long time since I de-boarded his bandwagon — but Danny Gokey may have pulled off the best performance last night.

Other than that, it was kind of a sleepy night of ballads for Rat Pack Week. The contestants all dressed up in suits and even Allison Iraheta had on a party dress. Anyone notice that Ryan and Kris Allen were almost twins with the same tone gray suit, white shirt and dark tie (only Ryan’s was black while Kris sported blue)? Guess no one else got the memo…

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[photo: fox]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Top 7 Elimination (take 2)

American Idol
Top 7 Elimination 2

Original Air Date: April 22, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

How fickle is the American public? If Matt Giraud had been eliminated last week without the judges save, then only one person would be going home this week. And that person would have been Lil Rounds.

Instead, it was Lil and Anoop Desai.

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American Idol - Recap & Review - Top 7 (Again...)

American Idol
Top 7 (Again...)

Original Air Date: April 21, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

The annual and much hated Disco Night wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. That’s because several of the contestants turned their songs around (to quote disco singer Vicki Sue Robinson) and gave us — gasp—non-disco versions.

Plus, all four judges commented on each performance and a TV miracle happened — the show doesn’t go over 60 minutes!

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[photo: FOX]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Top 7 Results

American Idol
Top 7 Results

Original Air Date: April 15, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

Call it a tax day miracle, but Matt Giraud became the first and only contestant blessed by the “Judges’ Save” this season. The judges only had two more weeks to use it anyway.

This episode had all the extra filler we come to expect on a results show ¬— such as performances by past Idol contestant Jennifer Hudson (delivered with very little passion) and Miley Cyrus. The movie preview style opening gave us a nice chuckle or two. The CGI of the Ford commercial impressed more than the singing of “Freeze Frame.” The group number of “Flashdance,” except for singers popping up in unexpected places (i.e. next to Simon), wasn’t anything Jennifer Beals would get excited about.

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[photo: FOX]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Top 7

American Idol
Top 7

Original Air Date: April 14, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

Whoa — Quentin Tarantino gets to say the words “This is... American Idol”? Ryan must really love him. But really — Tarantino as a musical mentor? I just don’t get it. And a lot of his advice is useless. And quite unmusical. So maybe that accounts for no real break out performance this week.

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[photo: FOX]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Top 8 Results

American Idol
Top 8 Results Show

Original Air Date: April 8, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley - Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

The saddest thing about tonight’s elimination was how Anoop Desai didn’t look as much like ‘Noop Dog as he did Hang Dog. He seemed to walk in knowing he was going down. And even when he hit the Bottom Three, how cruel was it for Ryan, in sending one of the three back to the couch of safety, to say Anoop’s name, then say it wasn’t him? From the Wild Card Round on, they have jerked poor Anoop around. Yes, Hang Dog sounds right.

The good news is —Anoop is actually safe. Sigh.

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[photo: FOX]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Top 8

American Idol
Top 8

Original Air Date: April 7, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley - Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

OK, who thinks there are ought to be a law that the judges don’t talk too much in the beginning of the show so that contestants in the end will get more than 30 hurrried seconds worth of comments? Or worse, they get no comments at all because the DVR has shut off and practically no one even gets to see their performance?

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[photo: FOX]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Top 9

American Idol
Top 9

Original Air Date: March 31, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

Once again, only one singer really stood out — and it wasn’t Adam Lambert this time. Last to perform in the “pimp spot,” Kris Allen not only played piano instead of his usual guitar, but also recrafted a song in a way that made it totally new.

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[photo: FOX]

American Idol - Top 10 Results Show

American Idol
Top 10 Results Show

Original Air Date: March 26, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

Why have the Top 10 parade around, lip-syncing to a Motown medley when you have Stevie Wonder singing in the same show? And Season Two champ Ruben Studdard. Plus Smokey Robinson dueting with Joss Stone. Heck, who needs idols with that kind of talent showing up?

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[photo: FOX]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Top 10

American Idol
Top 10

Original Air Date: March 25, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

Last night, judges were almost more amusing to watch than the singers. Paula got out a coloring book for Simon, noting his immaturity (tell me that joke wasn’t setup). Then Simon drew a crayon mustache on her that kept Allison Iraheta laughing so hard that the 16-year-old singer couldn’t hear the criticism they gave her (it was mostly good).

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[photo: FOX]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Elimination Show

American Idol
Elimination

Original Air Date: Mar 18, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

When Ryan announced that this week’s elimination would be shocking (code for “a favorite is going home”), I assumed it would be Lil Rounds. Face it — she didn’t do a very good job on Country Week and her ouster would fit the definition of shocking (although we know the judges would save her).

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[photo: FOX]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Country Week

American Idol
Country Week

Original Air Date: Mar 17, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

I guess that country music is the great equalizer. Last night, the singers we expect to do well did well—but not great. And the singers we expected to be road kill on the way to the Kodak Theater stepped up their game. Stepped it up considerably.

As a result, no one really stood out as extraordinary.

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[photo: FOX]

American Idol - Michael Jackson Week - Results Show

American Idol
Michael Jackson Week Eliminations

Original Air Date: March 11, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

Ryan starts the show off with the news that 33 million people cast votes for the first round of the Top 13. I begin by wondering how many of those votes were mine, via continuous redial, for Anoop?

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[photo: FOX]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Michael Jackson Week

American Idol
Michael Jackson Week

Original Air Date: March 10, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

Last night, American Idol threw me a surprise party. OK, it wasn’t actually a party or specifically for me — but I was surprised. Every single singer stepped up their game and there were no out-and-out crash and burns.

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[photo: FOX]

American Idol - Recap & Review - The Wild Card Show

American Idol
The Wild Card Show

Original Air Date: March 5, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

Did your DVR cut off the last five minutes of American Idol? Could you hear the screams from my house as they were about to make the final selection — and the screen went blank? I can’t believe I missed the whole “we’re going to have 13 finalists” moment. All thanks to yet another round of Tatiana the Terrible’s crying.

Thank God for YouTube.

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[photo: AmericanIdol.com]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Top 36: Group 3 Results

American Idol
Top 36: Group 3 Results

Original Air Date: March 4, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

Oh no, the Tatiana of Terror is back!

OK, before we get why she’s back, three more finalists made it to the safety of the silver stools. Knowing that there was NO suspense at all in Lil Rounds’ advancement, Ryan started off with her and quickly proclaimed her “safe.” Duh.

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[photo: AmericanIdol.com]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Top 36: Group 3

American Idol
Top 36: Group 3

Original Air Date: March 3, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

Whoa — finally a night where the women outshone the men. The last two semifinals ended with two men and one woman advancing to the finals. Doubt that’s going to happen with this batch of 12 semi-finalists. And it’s about time, isn’t it?

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[photo: AmericanIdol.com]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Top 36: Group 2 Results

American Idol
Top 36: Group 2 Results

Original Air Date: Feb 26, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley — Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

Finally, Nick Mitchell, AKA Norman Gentle, is gone. The comic who occasionally sings made it much further in the competition than he frankly had a right to. Yes, he was funny. At times. He could almost sing well too. But he never was a serious contender. And knowing how much Simon loathes him, I don’t think there’s any chance he’ll be back for the Wild Card Round.

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[photo: FOX]

American Idol - Recap & Review - Top 36: Group 2

American Idol
Top 36: Group 2

Original Air Date: Feb 25, 2009

Patricia Morris Buckley - Associate Staff Writer
pmb@thetwocentscorp.com

Last night, another group from the Top 36 tried to get one of the three spots for the finals by choosing songs from Billboard’s Top 100. After so many did so well last week, this night turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. While all the singers showed they had good singing voices, only one showed he had a great voice.

And the producers knew it.

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[photo: TVGuide.com]