Juliet's Journal

I Love American Idol

March 12, 2008

March 12, 2008

Is it me, or has anyone else noticed that office lunchrooms — those little, basic, no frills deals with a fridge, sink, water dispenser, coffee machine and vending machine — always seem to smell like some odd pasta substance?

I’ve mentioned it before, but if you haven’t been watching Celebrity Apprentice, you should start. It’s so entertaining this season. Even without Gene Simmons! We’re big fans of Donald Trump, so I’m probably a bit biased, but if you get a chance, check it out!

Another amazing show — American Idol. We’re into the top 12 now and I’m impressed with the crop of singers they have this season. There are quite a few who have really nice voices, but not the ‘star quality’ of a Jordin Sparks or Kelly Clarkson. But as I recall — Kelly came alive right about this time back in the first season.

If you don’t watch — just skip this part…

I think tonight’s victim will be David Hernandez. He has a good voice, but he’s a bit too slick. And last night’s performance was, as Simon said, desperate. David H was totally cheesed out, which only added to the call for his ousting; a call being kept alive because of his past as a male stripper.

I actually picked up the phone at the end of the show and called my vote in for David Archuleta, the high school junior who, despite an absolutely awful performance last night, I think is going to make it to the top two. He was clearly nerve-wracked. We forget that this is a 17-year-old who is still trying to fit school into his daily Idol workout of singing, dancing and mounting pressure. I think he psyched himself out last night, feeling uneasy with his song choice, unprepared and then forgetting the lyrics. Ooooopsie! But he’s been so good, so solid that I’m letting this slide and I guarantee others did too.

The other standout last night — well there were actually a few but I’ll start with the first one that comes to mind, Chikezie. I was sitting watching him perform and screaming for Doug to come into the room to watch. He “owned” that stage and totally made that song his own. He picked the perfect song, the perfect arrangement and I don’t think there’s anyone who doubts the guy will go on. That wasn’t the case prior to his performance.

Carly Smithson (“the Irish girl,” as Simon inexplicably called her last night when he seemed to not remember her name) (I mean, what?!) was terrific also. She seems to rise above the rest. A mediocre performance for Carly would be an awesome performance for many of the other contestants.

Michael Johns, the hot Aussie, is going far, too. I have to watch what I say here because my boyfriend is on to me that I think he’s dreamy. He’s married, though so I’ll reserve my comments. The Aussie, not my boyfriend.

The rest to me were fine but not overly memorable. I know everyone loves David Cook, but for some reason I just haven’t gotten on that bandwagon. Diana DeGarmo, a previous season contestant who has gone on to Broadway, was on Fox 5 here in NY today critiquing the performances. She said David C is Chris Daughtry times a thousand or something like that.

WHAT?!??!

If David H doesn’t go tonight, Kristy Lee will I think. As I said on Tom Sullivan’s radio show today — John Lennon is rolling over in his grave right now after the butchering of “Eight Days a Week” into some strange sort of country thing. She’s cute, she is visually appealing, she seems to have personality, seems to really try, and took a risk with the arrangement but that oddity last night was a train wreck for her career on Idol.

Brooke is not my cup of tea either although every time I think Simon is going to rip her for being boring, he falls all over her. I don’t know why I feel like it’s all a bit of an act. The sweet-to-the-core, you-can’t-corrupt-me thing isn’t sitting right with me, but maybe I’m just being really cynical. It feels a bit like an act; the shoes being left behind at the piano last night — a perfect example of why I feel she’s contrived. Although that’s not necessarily a bad thing: When the NY Times reviewed our show in the early days, it referred to Mike as “smarmy” and me as “contrived” so she’s in good company, haha.

Who did I forget?

I’m in my office watching this Spitzer drama unfold. His wife looks like she’s lost about 10 pounds in the course of a couple days, which shouldn’t be a surprise. They’ve been holed up in their swanky Fifth Avenue apartment for two days straight and I’m sure there wasn’t much food and fun going on. I can’t even imagine how horrifying it is for her and their kids. Supposedly, when the two girls leave for school, the press photographers follow them, taking pictures. Awful. I think that’s just cruel. I haven’t seen any pictures and hopefully it stays that way.

We had the ex-wife of the former Governor of New Jersey on today. Dina McGreevey stood by as her hubby announced he was gay. Hello. She said she had no idea. I have to be honest — I had friends in New Jersey politics and even I heard he was gay; months before he actually came out. As she said, the wife is always the last to know. But none of her friends ever said anything?

Because of all this Spitzer-mania, our segments ran a bit long. We had to tape the Skeet Ulrich segment — and we will bring that you at a later date. He was very, very nice. I also thought it was a really good interview; he’s open and friendly and was keen on talking about his personal life, including the fact that he had open heart surgery at a young age.

I’m about to head out to a library here in NYC to interview Parker Posey from the new show The Return of Jezebel James, also starring Lauren Ambrose from Six Feet Under. We’ll also be showing that a little later this month, after we get back from hiatus.

Oh yes, did I mention our vacation starts after the show on Friday? We’re only off for a week — we’ll be running some “Best of” shows, which are always fantastic.

I’m heading out to California to see friends and hopefully get a ton of rest. Talk to you later in the week!