American Idol: And the Award for the Lowest Number of Votes goes to ...

Those teeth! So bright!
So white! So straight!

Tonight, I have to be brief. This will be the quick and dirty (well not really dirty) version of tonight's results show. Thankfully, there was no big group open, just three performances throughout the hour. First up were Scotty and Lauren who sang a Lady Antebellum song and sang it well. I think these two could record a hit country duet.

Next up Casey and Haley did a jazzy song called Mornin' (or was it Mourin'). Haley's voice lends itself naturally to a jazzier feel. As much Idol tries to force Casey on me. I just don't get it. He is not a great jazz performer.

So the two duos were the first to face elimination and Ryan informed us that one of them was not safe. As our first duo (Scotty and Lauren) made it back to the sofa, it was either Haley or Casey who'd be taking a seat on one the the Bottom Three stools.

Next, we got another taste of country flavor when we heard from Kelly Clarkson and Jason Aldean. Our duets gave way to a quartet as the guys (Jacob, James, Paul and Stefano)  performed several songs from The Graduate: Sounds of Silence and Mrs. Robinson.

When it came to the four of them, it was no surprise that James was the first to be sent back to the safety of the sofa. What was sort of surprising is that Jacob was the next one sent to safety. The Bottom Three was complete with Haley, Paul and Stefano.

Next we had a slow song from Rihanna. I like some of her songs but I'm not a huge fan. I'll give her credit though, she was good. I have to say that I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate the red hair. Bozo the Clown has never been sexy.

Anyway, back to the Bottom Three. So far, as Ryan reminded us, since the Top 13, only female contestants have been eliminated. So when Haley was sent to safety, it was clear that the first male contestant would be going home. And, it was ... Paul.

Unlike last week's tearful exit. Paul went out with his Pepsodent smile and a rousing version of Maggie May.

American Idol Goes to the Movies

Tonight's show was more flop than
blockbuster.

The Top Eight took on songs from the movies tonight. So far this season, I have been impressed by this crop of contestants but tonight ... not so much. I wish instead of movies, they could do songs from TV. I bet Jacob could do a mean cover of the Jefferson's theme song. I digress.

Paul McDonald kicked things off with Old Time Rock-n-Roll. Okay, I think I'm sort of over Paul. I still like his energy and his smile but his voice is starting to work my nerves and please, lose the floral suits! I've heard his band Grand Magnolia and he's a solid singer with his group. But as an Idol contestant, I'm over him. If it doesn't work out with his band, maybe he could do commercials for Orbitz gum or Crest White Strips.

Lauren Alaina had an uphill battle with Miley Cyrus's The Climb. I hate this song but I usually like Lauren ... not tonight. She bored me. Sure, she hit some big notes at the end, but it was too little and too late.

Ironically, it actually could be The End of the Road for Stefano Langone. He can hit the big notes but for me his interpretation of the song is always off. Tonight, it felt rushed to me. The judges loved it but me? Meh. And what was he wearing? He looked like he was taking a walk down Sesame Street!

Scotty McCreery was going to sing Everybody's Talking At Me and I thought that would have been a great song choice. However, he changed it up and decided to do George Straight's Cross My Heart. Don't know the song but he seemed to do it justice. I always feel off-center watching Scotty. The way he tilts his head and his mic are just odd.

Casey Abrams went creepy jazzy with Nat King Cole's Nature Boy. The jazzy feel was nice. It was actually a bold choice. He gets a few points for that. However, he loses points for the weird grunts, the creepy glances and the scatting. Of course, I could be wrong, after all, he ended up getting a standing ovation!

Hayley Reinhart channeled her inner Debbie Harry and sang Call Me. As a huge Blondie fan, this song is actually harder than it seems to pull off. She started off well but by the end was way too screamy and screechy for me. Loved the dress and the boots though.

Jacob did his version of Bridge Over Troubled Water. I loved the dressing down Jimmy Iovine gave Jacob in his intro package. Jimmy asked, "How is he going to lecture 24 million viewers about The Man in the Mirror when you haven't even recorded a record yet?" Jacob needed to be humbled and he was. He emerged this week more restrained and not so full of himself. I sort of hoped he'd do the Aretha version of the song but I'm sure he didn't want to alienate people by going too gospel.

James Durbin closed the show with Heavy Metal. Jimmy and Will.i.am had a few different song suggestions for James but in the end he went with his gut. I'm not sure whether or not that was a good choice. He nailed it but it was really heavy metal so I don't know if he might have turned a few people off.

My picks for the Bottom Three:

1. Lauren
2. Haley
3. Stefano

Celebrity Apprentice: Fool's Gold

Yes, Mark, I'm just as perplexed as you
are. Exactly what does Gary Busey have
to do to get fired?????

If he didn’t know it before, Gary Busey emerged from last week’s boardroom knowing he had a target on his back. He wasn’t happy about that. Yet, the focus quickly turned to the record-setting amount of money the teams made. Focusing on the win/win provided a desperately needed positive vibe.

The Project: This week’s project would be all about Australian Gold sun care products. Both teams would have to work with a 10 x 10 glass box and determine a theme for the products that would start in the box but also incorporate the area outside of the box. They’d be judged on creativity, brand messaging and what was going on outside and around the box.

The PMs: Mark McGrath stepped up quickly for the guys, as did LaToya for the women.

Backbone
The guys started brainstorming and immediately came up with a pirate theme. They’d dress up as pirates and feature lots of hot chicks! In true rocker fashion, Mark stated, “You can never get enough chicks.” Meat Loaf, when noting that ASAP had a former Playmate of the Year on their team, said the guys had to “fight cleavage with cleavage.”

In the first of several significant moments, Gary Busey gave everybody a creepy feeling. When the representatives from Australian Gold came to talk with the guys, he interjected, “It [Australian Gold products] gives you a sexual feeling.” Immediately I got a scary visual of Gary using some Australian Gold lotion to feel ‘sexual’ and threw up in my mouth a little bit. You could see one of the female representatives actually squirming in her chair (I think she had the same visual).

In a wise move, Mark sent Gary and Lil Jon (to babysit Gary) to the costume store while he, John Rich and Meat, got down to the business of the task. When they met with the builders for the box, they knew exactly what they wanted and the builders got busy creating it.

Their box looked good. The costumes worked and the boys even had a jingle/chant about Australian Gold. Tons of fun, great energy, everything was going well until the AG reps showed up and Gary hijacked them. He went on one of his passionate, rambling, nonsensical speeches and then started trying to pitch himself as an Australian Gold spokesperson. When Mark, tried to come over and redirect the conversation and get it back on task, Gary gave him a little shove. Eventually, the guys did get it back on track, but the damage had been done.

ASAP
Speaking of damages, ASAP’s brainstorming was more like brain drizzling – very light and misty. La Toya eventually came up with a gold guy and girl (models) painted in gold and having fun in the sun. It wasn’t original, but no one had anything else. It was almost as if the girls (especially Nene and Star) wanted to lose so they could get rid of her.

Since this seemed right up Hope’s alley, even though it was cold, she offered to be the bikini girl. La Toya didn’t agree. Apparently, she thought a former Playmate of the Year would be better utilized as a shopper on the task instead of the face (and body) of the task.

With no clear vision, they headed into their meeting with the builders of the box. The looks on the builders’ faces were priceless as they quickly realized that the plan was that there was no plan. The girls ended up making their own box.

The only thing La Toya really wanted was sand. She wanted lots and lots of sand. She called Nene and asked them to bring 125 fifty pound bags of sand to the site. Marlee did some quick math and determined that was over 6,000 pounds!

At the last minute, La Toya, scared that her idea wasn’t creative enough, added a snow scene to her ’vision’ because you need sun screen on snowy days too. So they had a box with a gold painted guy fanning a girl and outside the box a beach volleyball game to one side and snow on the other. And this was creative?

No it wasn’t and when Donald Jr. popped by the display Nene couldn’t wait to tell them how badly her team sucked and what a terrible project manager La Toya was. And, … she did it while holding up the head of the koala costume she had to wear.

Boardroom
Of course, before the boardroom the Australian Gold reps had to talk to Trump about the winner. They too had hoped that Hope would show off her ass…ets for Australian Gold.



Against all odds ASAP one and La Toya lived to annoy her team yet another day … if Nene didn’t kill her first. The women were dismissed and went to watch the proceedings on TV. Instead of being happy about pulling out a win, Nene went after La Toya for going after her in the boardroom (even though Nene has gone after La Toya with every opportunity she’s had … including the koala conversation with Donald Jr). She called La Toya “old” and told her she needed to act her age. She also called her “Casper the Ghost” which was hateful but kind of true (you know how those Jacksons love to look light!).

Mark McGrath threw himself on the sword saying if the pirate theme was the problem that he’d be the one who had to go. When Trump asked his team who should go everyone agreed … Gary. So it came down to Mark and Gary and even though he hasn’t contributed anything to any project (but kookiness), Trump kept Gary and fired Mark McGrath (who is crazy hot when he doesn’t have his hair slicked back Gordon Gekko style).

American Idol Results: Full of Surprises!



Talk about a stunner!



Last week's duets were a nice change of pace, but this week we were back to our amusement park-like opening number - a mash-up of I Love Rock n Roll and My Baby Wrote me a Letter.

I was ready for some results ... but not so fast. We had a package featuring Russell Brand who dropped by to teach our Idol wannabes about stage presence. Well,at least they seemed to enjoy him.

The first three to learn of their fates were Lauren, Casey and Stefano. Lauren was the first to return to safety, followed by Casey. It was a bit awkward when Ryan revealed that Kelly Clarkson had a crush on him. He had nothing to say, a wise movie, especially if the rumors of he and Haley being an item are true. Stefano, well he wasn't safe, he was sent to one of the three ominous stools.

After the break, we heard from Season 4 alum and Tony Award nominee (Rock of Ages) Constantine Maroulis. He did a rock take of Unchained Melody. For me it was an odd rendition. On the bright side, he looked good.

Next up we were treated to a package about yesterday's feature stylist, Gwen Stefani. If you were wondering what the hell Lauren was thinking in those scrunchie shorts, or why Pia looked like a Jersey Girl heading to Studio 54 circa 1977, you got your answer.

The next three facing elimination were Paul, Pia and Scotty. It wasn't a surprise that Scotty was the first of the three sent to safety. However, I was completely surprised when Paul was safe and Pia was the second one sent to the Bottom Three.

Since this episode seems to be pretty package happy, we had another package where the Harvey and his team over at TMZ gave the Idols a little media training. It was funny but I was ready for some more results.

The final three were James, Haley and Jacob. Poor Jacob he looked devastated. He looked as if he knew he'd be in the bottom three and ... he was right. So there were had our troubled trio: Stefano, Pia and Jacob.

Of course, we couldn't just get to the results. We had to hear from a resurrected Iggy Pop who cavorted around the stage shirtless singing Wild One. He actually looked pretty good for his age and for not being dead (I really did think he was dead).

The first person sent to safety with a major fake-out by Ryan was Jacob. I was stunned. However, the real stunner was what happened next. Stefano was safe and Pia was sent packing.

The audience erupted with boos. The judges were ticked off. Randy was mad. Steven was upset. Jennifer was stunned. I thought the save was wasted on Casey and this proved it. She should have been saved.

She went out with class and sang, I'll Stand by You. I had her making it to the top five if not top three. Damn.

American Idol: Cleveland Rocks!

On the banks of luscious Lake Erie
sits the jewel of Northeast Ohio, the
Rock n Roll Hall of Fame.

I was born and raised in Cleveland, and there aren't many occasions where my hometown gets a lot of love. However, we do have the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame going for us. Tonight our Fine Nine had to choose songs from Hall of Fame inductees. The great think about the Hall is that there are all kinds of inductees from Elvis to Johnny Cash to Run DMC. Everyone should be able to find a song that fits firmly in their wheelhouse (even Scotty). This would be an interesting evening.

Jacob Lusk didn't disappoint. He kicked off the night with Michael Jackson's Man in the Mirror. He's been listening! Less facial contortions and a more restrained performance. The only issue I had was at the end of his introductory package he said something about if he was in the bottom three it wasn't because he didn't sing well but because America wasn't ready to look in the mirror. That arrogance will cost him some votes.

After being compared to her all season, Haley Reinhart decided to tackle the Janis Joplin classic, Piece of My Heart. The judges loved it but I didn't think she did Janis justice. If anything, she showed how much she isn't like Janis to me.

Keeping up the classic rock vibe was Casey James. With his upright bass in tow, he took on Credence Clearwater Revival's Have You Ever Seen the Rain? This was actually a good choice for him as he actually sounded a little like CCR's lead singer, John Fogerty.

Lauren Alaina put a country spin on Aretha Franklin's Natural Woman. The irony is that Gwen Stefani, who helped style the Idols this week, made sure she didn't look like a natural woman! LOL! She had her faux-hawk, and heavy make-up with bright red lipstick. Her version was sung well but it was a bit lethargic. I wanted more energy.

Energy is something we usually get from James Durbin in spades. This week he toned it down and tackled The Beatles While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Since Rock-n-Roll night was firmly in his wheelhouse, I didn't know what to expect from James, but I didn't expect this. It was a bold choice and he sang the song well and saved the scream for the end. Restraint paid off again.

Channeling his inner Elvis, Scotty shunned his country shenanigans and went straight rock. He seemed to have a good time with That's Alright. He got the crowd involved and even had an Elvis like gaggle of girls run up on stage at the end.

Pia Toscano promised she'd go more uptempo if she made it through last week. She kept her word. She went with Tina Turner's River Deep, Mountain High. She's a solid singer so she nailed it vocally. However, I've seen trees on a day with no wind that aren't as stiff as that girl. She needs to get some moves!

Finally! Stefano Langone actually connected with the lyrics. He sang Percy Sledge's When a Man Loves a Woman. For I think the first time this season, he seemed to have an emotional connection with the words.

Closing the show was Paul McDonald. He made a curious song choice, Johnny Cash's Folsom County Prison. Okay.... Paul's unique voice didn't quite seem suited for Johnny Cash. Yet he took the stage with his guitar and a few other musicians and made it feel like a concert. He actually made it work

Predictions for the Bottom Three:
Hayley Reinhart
Jacob Lusk
Stefano Langone

Celebrity Apprentice: For Those Who like Their Meatloaf Kind Of Spicy

Nobody puts Meat Loaf in a corner!

I was excited for this episode for two reasons. First, it was the first Dionne-free episode. Second, they've been hyping up the Meat Loaf meltdown all week and I wanted to see it in all of its beefy glory.

The Task: The teams were challenged to get artistic. They had to create works of art to be auctioned off. They also had to each design a baseball hat and the person with the best design would win $25,000 for their charity.

The PMs: John Rich stepped up immediately for Backbone. Both La Toya Jackson and Marlee Matlin jumped up for the women with Marlee taking the lead.

Before the task got underway, Jose Conseco approached The Donald. His father, who was suffering from cancer, had taken a turn for the worst and he would have to leave the show. My assumption is he won't be back. Trump said he would donate $25,000 to his charity.

Backbone
John Rich made it clear upfront that his goal was to raise as much money as possible. He wanted to show that he was a cowboy who wasn't "all hat and no cattle."  He told everyone to call in all of their big donors because at the end of the day it was about the money and the charity. He was having some big wigs fly up from Nashville and he expected the rest of the celebrity apprentices to follow his lead.

It was off to Michael's for art supplies. Gary Busey asked Meat Loaf to buy his supplies and Meat got a little ticked off. Since Meat's artistic vision involved basketballs, he and Mark McGrath headed over to a sporting goods store and Mark tried to diffuse some of the tension.

Back at their studio space, all of the guys were finding their supplies and getting started. As best as I can tell, Meat and Gary got a lot of the same items. When Meat couldn't find his bag, he went off on Gary. I mean yelled, screamed, tried to get in his face. Gary wisely (yes, I just said "Gary wisely") chose not to respond. McGrath and Rich separated the guys and John Rich reminded them that this was all about charity. Then Meat found his bag of art supplies, so all of the drama was over nothing. While tensions still simmered they were able to get work done. In fact, they worked together so well, that they got to their studio space and set up early.

Now that he'd had time to cool off, a teary-eyed Meat Loaf (or would that be soggy Meat Loaf) offered an apology to Busey. Busey accepted his apology and offered his 'definition' of forgive: Finding Ourselves Really Giving Individuals Valuable Energy.

When it was time to open the doors, they had an impressive line of people waiting to get in. As Lil Jon offered, "It felt good to be rolling in the dough when you open the do'." They got $5,000 in cash from former Celebrity Apprentice and country singer Trace Adkins, not to mention, a few really large sales and donations including one for $470,000.

Richard Hatch was extremely nervous because as a reality star recently paroled from prison, he really didn't have friends with deep pockets. He did his best to drum up sales but he really wasn't pulling in the big bucks. He put a lot of effort into his baseball hat design, coming up with one that included little roses. The hat prompted Lil Jon to say, "Damn Richard! That's a really gay ass hat! But, hey, that's you."

ASAP
Marlee Matlin wasn't having it! She started of saying there would be no backstabbing or fighting and that the women would come together. Period. It seemed to work as the women got through the Michael's shopping spree in one piece.

Marlee stated plainly (to the camera and not the group) that it was time for La Toya to step up her game. And La Toya did step up in a big way. She donated one of her brother Michael's t-shirts. It was a very limited edition of the last shirt he had approved for his tour before he passed. It was autographed and she carried it around with her daily. She knew he was all about charity and said he would have wanted her to donate it.

The ladies put some serious work into their art but it put them behind time wise. They ended up stuck in Friday evening New York traffic and didn't arrive at the studio until 30 minutes before they were set to open. In fact, several guys from Backbone (Mark and Lil Jon) decided to take a peek at how the ladies were setting up and were shocked to find their space empty.

At first, with smaller crowds and their late start, it looked like the girls were easily facing their fourth loss in a row, but Marlee and company didn't just work the crowds they worked the phones and the email. Star manned the email and the phone and started taking in some major orders.

The Boardroom
Both groups did amazing, according to Trump. In fact, in this one episode, they raised more money than they had in an entire season. John Rich was confident that Backbone had won. Marlee was just as confident. So before announcing a winner Trump asked the two if they wanted to strike a deal. Because so much money was earned, Trump wanted the loser to be able to keep the money they earned for his/her charity. They quickly agreed.

And the winner was ... ASAP! Marlee broke the losing streak by earning $986,000. John Rich wasn't too shabby either. Backbone earned over $600,000. Since she was so close , Trump donated another $14,000 to Marlee so she made a cool million.

La Toya proved herself not just with the t-shirt but by winning the baseball hat design challenge and earning $25,000 for her charity and her team.

Since Jose had left and both teams had earned a boatload of money, Trump left it up to the ladies to decide who, if anyone, should be sent home. Since they had suffered so many loses, they agreed that one of the guys had to go.

Trump let the ladies sit in on the elimination and offer their own opinions. Not surprisingly, the guys wanted Gary gone. Marlee came to his defense touting him as a creative force. The tides then turned to the one who earned the least money ... Richard Hatch. Without even giving him a chance to defend himself, he was fired.

Just Catching Up

So it’s been a busy week but I couldn’t let it go by without commenting on two shows.

Body of Proof

Sassy swagger is great but I'm going to
need more than that if I'm going to keep
a new show on my TV schedule.



Dana Delaney is a medical examiner in Body of Proof. The pilot aired Tuesday and although it was sort of rocky, I’m willing to give it another chance. Delany’s Dr. Megan Hunt is a former neurosurgeon who can no longer practice because of an injury to her hand several years ago. Clearly a career switch was in order, enter medical examination.

The case involved a jogger who was found dead by the Delaware River. Hunt and her partner, ex-cop Peter Dunlop (Nicholas Bishop) are assigned to the case. Needless to say, they clash with the homicide detectives assigned to the case, Bud Morris (John Carroll Lynch) and Samantha Baker (Sonja Sohn). Her boss is played by Jeri Ryan - who offered little more than a cameo in this episode.

This was a pilot episode so I’m willing to give it some time to gel. Right now, I enjoyed watching Dr. Hunt and her cocky brilliance, but no one else was really allowed to shine, the rest of the characters fell flat and there was little chemistry between Hunt and her partner. I’m going to need them to flesh out the supporting cast a little bit before I am completely on board with this show.

Also the de rigueur story line with the ‘evil ex-husband’ and the 'estranged' pre-teen daughter is already tired to me so I hope they take that in a more interesting direction very soon.

Grey’s goes Glee

If I watch this/ If I just watch this/
Would you promise me to/ Never do it again?

A singing dramatic episode immediately brought Cop Rock to mind. The difference being I never actually watched an episode of the short-lived, ill-fated musical drama. I did watch this. And well, it was … okay. It was wildly uneven with some questionable song choices but okay. I’m saying okay because of the non-musical elements not so much for the singing. I liked the way the relationship between Mark and Arizona and Mark and Lexie were handled. As far as the singing, it should never ever happen again. Also why have Addison come in for a cross over cameo and only give her like two lines? What was the point of that?

Back to the music. Thankfully, Callie did most of the singing. She won a Tony for Spamalot. In the first song, Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol, she was joined by Broadway vet Chandra Wilson (Chicago, Carolyn or Change, Avenue Q and On the Town) and Kevin McKidd (who plays Owen), who has a strong rock vibe. The lyrics fit the scene with Callie being worked on by all of the doctors (We'll do it all / Everything / On our own / We don't need/ Anything / Or anyone / If I lay here / If I just lay here / Would you lie with me / And just forget the world?)

However, as the show rolled on, I found a lot of the songs didn’t fully fit the situation like How We Operate (Gomez). Breathe (by Anna Nalick) worked best as well as The Fray’s, How to Save a Life at the end - although the singer lost a friend because he didn't know how to save a life. Then there was Running on Sunshine which gave everyone a chance to have a little light-hearted sex romp montage while Callie and baby fought for their lives. I’d give Shondra Rhimes and company an A for effort … I mean they did try something different; but I’d give them a C on execution.