THE JUDGE'S CONSTIPATION WILL GO TO HIS HEAD: You know, I was all ready to hate the new version of American Idol. I mean, I expected to despise Jennifer Lopez, and I couldn't figure out why Steven Tyler would do it, and I know for a fact that Randy Jackson is useless. I know it's just one episode of auditions, but for my money, that couldn't have gone much better. As it turns out, taking all of the passive-aggressive tension and the muttering and the mind games and the could-give-a-shit tardiness and truancy out of an audition episode left nothing but a loose, breezy good time. Surely Tyler's sexual harassment of 15-year-olds will grow old (incidentally: he is who he is, and we knew who that was when he was hired, so I'm kind of glad he's not going to change just because he's on TV). Surely reputed diva and self-described Gervais-threatener Jennifer Lopez will not continue to be all smiles and candy. Surely, uh, Randy Jackson. But this was an important episode for Idol, and it went well.
ETA: What didn't go so well: Ratings down 13% from last year's premiere. Ratings, of course, correlate to expected quality, not actual quality.
My thoughts exactly. I found Tyler's zaniness spontaneous and refreshing.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's a lot easier on the eyes to look at J-Lo for two hours instead of the previous female judges...
Yeah, I found Tyler to be surprisingly coherent and hilarious. And I expect that once the auditions are over he'll stop singing along with the contestants because that will get old. JLo was fine but will be much more compelling once the nice girl facade drops. Randy remains the least relevant and with the least amount of insight.
ReplyDeleteless (judge)drama, less torture. Step one- positive.
ReplyDeleteAnd I still knew when to fast-forward, except for the bright orange NJer who ended up being able to sing. For me, of course, starting the show with Opera Girl was perfect.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I didn't know what to expect and tuned in out of curiosity. They've got me at least another week. I usually can't stand the pre-Hollywood episodes because in the past they descended into a parade of the semi-disturbed, deluded, disabled and attention seekers. It seemed like, in addition to fresh judges not quite so jaded or tired of the process, there was a decision to focus less on the train wrecks and more on the singers. What a relief.
ReplyDeleteIn some way, the fact that much of this first episode was about the new judges and seeing the auditions through fresh eyes, it had a different and better energy than many of the freak show and pony parade episodes have in the past.
ReplyDeleteFour hours of auditions over two days is way too tedious, though. See you next week, or more likely in Hollywood.
So it seems like they turned it into a comedy show, which is fine with me. I laughed more in two hours last night than in the previous few seasons combined.
ReplyDeleteRandy Jackson put down one of my favorite bass lines in all of rock music -- for my favorite band, Blue Oyster Cult -- I can't not like the guy, whatever else. It's not fancy, but this song doesn't work right without it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMFL4OS5FRM
The judges were fine, but I find the Idol audition formula of pathos mixed with bad singing to be getting tiresome. At least cut it down to an hour. Two hours of that is just too much.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised how entertained I was. Admittedly, I only watched an hour (two hours is a lot) and I'll probably zip through the rest of it early tonight by FFing the commercials and train wrecks. But so far, so good.
ReplyDeleteI didn't get to watch last night, but I will be YouTubing the good parts as Jacob conveyed them. I know one of the contestants that made it through from the open mic circuit, so early on I've got a horse in this race.
ReplyDeleteI have no comment on Idol, having never watched it. I just wanted to say that the song referenced in the title was my twice yearly "I'm done with finals" celebratory play in college.
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