At long last, American Idol moved into its semifinals stage, and the results were decidedly mixed. Things started off promisingly at first with one increasingly strong showing after the next, but then the performances went south very, very quickly. Not helping matters was a glitch-laden broadcast that featured so a number of miscues on the technical end, it sometimes felt we were watching public access. Ryan, who came to us dressed in a saggy, Mr. Rogers sweater, did his best to keep this raggedy production together, but even he seemed caught off guard by such improbable accidents as the Stevie Wright video package playing instead of the one for Brent Keith. Of course, Ryan was left speechless a fair number of times, particularly when Ann Marie Boskovich mentioned sitting on "the hard part" of the couch. Silly giggling by Ryan ensued, which was unfortunate because no one else in the studio seemed to be on his wavelength (don"t worry, Ry-Ry. My dirty mind was right with you).
As for the judges, Kara fit in quite nicely on her first live show, often offering pointed criticism and some occasional fiery passion (see Danny Gokey). Paula, meanwhile, continued her coherent streak with several well-stated and articulate comments. Don"t worry though. She still had some loopy moments, such as her muddled proclamation of "Two words. With a hyphen. Sold-out arenas." But hey, at least she didn"t threaten to decapitate anyone and hang their cranium from her rearview mirror. Baby steps.
Posted by: B-Side
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