American Idol, Season 5 **Official Discussion Thread**

[damo]

So what did we all think tonight, time to start the discussions.

The guys were scary.

 

[Philadisney]

I really liked the 17 year old that sang Billie Holiday...her squeaky little talking voice made me a little nervous...but man can she sing!

she was one of my 2 faves tonight (although i must admit i missed the first 20 minutes). my other favorite was the chubby blonde guy who simon said should have been wearing a dress i just really enjoyed him.

 

[Nancy]

The guys were scary.

I saw the one that was shaking his tushie and singing, he was a little freaky, I wonder if he did it on a dare? I don't think I saw the chubby blonde guy...just coming home from work I miss bits and pieces. I really have to watch the tape.


Who was the famous person the 17 year old girl was related to? I heard Randy say something about her talent and my kids said she was related to someone, but they don't know who it was, I missed the reference.

 

[Philadisney]

I saw the one that was shaking his tushie and singing, he was a little freaky, I wonder if he did it on a dare? ..

yeah, i'll bet he was another actor. like "scary mary" http://myspace.com/maryroach
she was totally a fake. but a funny one!

 

[Planogirl]

I liked the cute blonde girl, something Pickens was her name. She was really sweet and she had a nice voice.

 

[ChristmasElf]

Kelly Pickley was her name. She has had quite a life. Her mother abandoned her when she was just 2 years old and her father has been in and out of prison most of her life due to drugs and the Grandfather is raising her. Bless her heart I hope she wins. She did great tonight!

 

[disney50fam]

I swear... Why do freaks think they can sing???
I was laughing so hard at some of these wierdos,
The gay guy with the magic carpet ride... a whole new world.......
Tooooo funny but he seemed like a sweetie...

 

[Virgo10]

Worst of the night:

The whale in the tube top with the potty mouth.

The girl who was a stripper's daughter and wore the purple lingerie.

The girl who sounded like a Munchkin. I expected her to sing Follow the Yellow Brick Rd.

Most of the guys!! Especially the Michael Jackson wannabe and the Aladdin weirdo.

Almost forgot the guy who held and held and held the notes. He had watched a Randy and Paula DVD on singing? Simon was really amused about that. I liked when Randy said something about the song taking 3 days if he continued to sing it that way!

Best of the night:

Kelly Pickler, the blond who's mother left her at the age of 2.

Steven, the guy in uniform who danced with Paula at the beginning of hour one.

The girl who had an 11 yo daughter. She only looked about 20! Did she have her daughter when she was 9????

The girl who had been in 40+ foster homes and had 3 children.

Paris, the granddaughter of some singer Randy was thrilled to see. I think the grandmother was a gospel singer maybe?

The firefighter guy.

Best Simonisms of the night:

To a plus size contestant who said she could be bigger than JLo and Whitney: In a way you already are.

To one of the more untalented contestants instead of absolutely not:
Absolutely NEVER.

To the Aladdin guy: We have Sylvesta Stillone's younger sister singing Paula Abdul.

Can't wait for tonigh!!

 

[krdisneybound]

AI sure is bringing out a lot of different people to light. For someone (people) who never gets out of their "surroundings" their whole life, it is quite amuseing.

Tonight's show should bring more fun for us

 

[DwarfMaster]

Oh I love this show.
My favorites....

The girl with the 11 yr old ~ she was really good. I think they said she was 26?

I liked the first blonde country guy ~ Ryan. He was good.

The guy that danced with Paula ~ the "Let's Get it On" guy. Whew ~ Hose me down

 

[Nancy]

Ryan was good! I liked how Simon said he was the first Ryan he had met with talent. Took a few seconds for everyone to get the little jibe at Seacrest!

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Kelly Pickley was her name. She has had quite a life. Her mother abandoned her when she was just 2 years old and her father has been in and out of prison most of her life due to drugs and the Grandfather is raising her. Bless her heart I hope she wins. She did great tonight!

Yes, I cried like a baby when she made it. I was really hoping they would show her calling her granddad.

 

[BARBARAAPPLE]

I am from Greensboro NC and there where a few people that I kept saying please don't let that nut be from here

that girl with the potty mouth wearing the mini skirt and glitter outfit she is not from here THANK YOU GOD

 

[vettechick99]

OK, I finally watched last week's recorded AI and last night's...and I definitely have some favs. Love the Kelly girl, I'm really rooting for her. I also loved the cowboy (Ryan maybe?) who sang Rascal Flats. He is sexy, yum.

I got weepy when that singing legacy (Paris) sang Billie Holiday...wow! Amazing! Had some other favorites, but those really stuck out at me.

I think it's going to be a good year!

 

[lillygator]

my DD 3 loves to watch the singing show and when the guy starting with the Whole New World song she look mortified and said "mommy, he can't sing good!"......he was terrible. I like the Pickley girl as well as the Billie Holiday singer, the one who serened Paula, who had a wife...I see Paula hooking up again this season....she keeps giving some of these guys "looks" - I also liked the Rascal Flatts guy who made it...the other one truly butchered the Broken Road!

 

[wvrevy]

Too early for me to name a favorite. Shoot, last year my 2nd favorite (Bo) wasn't even shown until much later than this. But last night had a couple of my favorite moments so far:

1 - The "Pickles" / "Pickler" / "Whatever" girl making it through to Hollywood and then just breaking down completely when she got outside with her friends.

2 - The "Billy Holiday" girl (who's grandmother was the lead singer in Sounds of Blackness if I'm not mistaken). After her first song, it was pretty clear she could sing, but the looks on the faces of the judges when she started in on that Billy Holiday song...you could almost tell that they were just letting the audition continue because they enjoyed listening to her, not because they still had a decision to make.

There have been plenty of really good singers so far, and only a couple that made me wonder what the judges were thinking. (Yeah, even you girls' favorite pretty boy could really sing ) Should be an interesting season...

 

[Disney1fan2002]

How freaky are they, really? I got this tidbit from a friend on another bb.

The guy with the dummy? Who sang to his wife at their wedding?

He tried out and made it through to Simon, Paula and Randy. In the interview the day before, they asked if he had any other talents or anything. He (his name is Richie) said you can't tell my wife I told you this, but when I was a kid, I had a dummy and did ventrilaquism (creative spelling?). He said DO NOT TELL HER. They said they wouldn't and let him through to S, P & R. That night they called and said "bring the dummy" and he said nuh uh... no way. They said "don't worry about your wife... we'll send her flowers." He finally agreed because they said they wanted to do some bits with Ryan Seacrest.

So he goes the next day... they do the bits with Ryan and then it's his turn. At like 4 pm (he'd been there since 6am). He says I'm not going in with the dummy because I don't want to be seen as a freak. They put their hand on the door and said "no dummy, no audition" and made him go.

He goes in with his dummy boxed and apparently they make him sing with him (with him putting up a fight). So then Simon or Randy says... nope, you can't go through, but your dummy can ...

He totally trusted the producers and they totally screwed him.

Now I wonder if the guy in the fire get-up was put up to wearing it in. he seemed HORRIFIED when he thought they were serious telling him he had to bring the fire stuff to Hollywood.

 

[DwarfMaster]

How freaky are they, really? I got this tidbit from a friend on another bb.

The guy with the dummy? Who sang to his wife at their wedding?

He tried out and made it through to Simon, Paula and Randy. In the interview the day before, they asked if he had any other talents or anything. He (his name is Richie) said you can't tell my wife I told you this, but when I was a kid, I had a dummy and did ventrilaquism (creative spelling?). He said DO NOT TELL HER. They said they wouldn't and let him through to S, P & R. That night they called and said "bring the dummy" and he said nuh uh... no way. They said "don't worry about your wife... we'll send her flowers." He finally agreed because they said they wanted to do some bits with Ryan Seacrest.

So he goes the next day... they do the bits with Ryan and then it's his turn. At like 4 pm (he'd been there since 6am). He says I'm not going in with the dummy because I don't want to be seen as a freak. They put their hand on the door and said "no dummy, no audition" and made him go.

He goes in with his dummy boxed and apparently they make him sing with him (with him putting up a fight). So then Simon or Randy says... nope, you can't go through, but your dummy can ...

He totally trusted the producers and they totally screwed him.

Now I wonder if the guy in the fire get-up was put up to wearing it in. he seemed HORRIFIED when he thought they were serious telling him he had to bring the fire stuff to Hollywood.

Hmmm.... Makes you wonder

If I remember right ~ I don't think the guy with the dummy was that bad was he? I'd probably remember if he was really good ~ but he wasn't horrible.

 

[Nancy]

That is exactly what I mean about this being a TV show and a lot of it being staged. My thoughts are there really can't be that many strage, weird people trying out...I think they are put up to it, maybe some are given a fee . In the end, this part of the "show" is just that a show. It's not till the finalists that we really see the "real" competition.

 

[Fantasmic303]

I agree with the fact that much of this is staged. Actually, I had a friend who auditioned a few seasons ago... Season 2, I think. Anyway, when she talked about it, it really changed how I viewed the audition process.

My friend is very talented, as well as attractive and with a good, outgoing personality. She's been a performer as long as I've known her, and she's had major auditions on Broadway, for Disney, and experience as a pageant queen.

She said that the first day of auditions, they cattle call everyone in, and you sing whatever you prepared for the producers. They then weeded people out to come back the next day or two later - some were very good, some were very bad, some were just...memorable. They were told to wear the same clothes (especically if the clothes were a costume) and, basically, do everything identical to the day they auditioned for the producers. None of the footage taped that day was to be aired. In fact, I think she actually told me there weren't cameras that day for the auditions, just for the lines and stuff.

Anyway, she got called back, and the second time was when they went in to meet with Simon and crew and be filmed. She came prepared with her songs, but they also asked her to sing something else, which she forgot the words to. From what she told me, at some point, you were given a choice of select songs, and you HAD to sing one of those, so if you didn't know the words, you were screwed. (I don't recall 100%, but I'm vaguely remembering that the early auditions for one of the seasons asked contestants to choose from a fairly short list of songs, but I'm not sure if that's what she was talking about.)

My friend didn't get sent to Hollywood - in fact, her audition was part of the blooper episode that season because of the mishap with forgetting words. Sicne then, however, I've taken the whole process with a grain of salt. Hearing stories like those from dummy guy, and last year's Malfetta (or whatever their name was) twins who were told they had to audition as a pair, it doesn't surprise me.