It’s no secret that this hasn’t exactly been the most electrifying batch of audition episodes in the show’s run.
The two main problems, in my opinion, is that the show hasn’t really showcased enough people with true superstar potential (or maybe they have and it’ll come out on the Hollywood stage) and that the judges have been WAY too generous in letting through borderline/mediocre-at-best contestants. The latter problem has been especially annoying to me since almost all of these borderline people have no chance advancing beyond Hollywood Week, so why are we wasting our time on them.
Then I realized that it may not be so much the judges’ fault as it is the contestants for this show becoming savvier than they ever have.
As I mentioned in an earlier recap, in past year’s, you could pretty much tell who was going to be horrible just by looking at them (how superficial, but true). This year, the task has been almost impossible. Methinks people are intentionally making themselves look a little train wreck-y to 1.) Get the producers’ attention and receive the opportunity to audition for Randa, Paula, Kara and Simon, and 2.) subconsciously lower expectations.
There were two great examples of this last night in the Jacksonville auditions. I mean, did we really expect Joshua Ulloa (the Justine Guarini wannabe) or Julissa Veloz (the latest Latin pageant princess) to be ANY good? Of course not. We thought they’d be delusional messes. So when they unleashed some shockingly decent Marvin Gaye and Whitney Houston, respectively, we were probably more impressed than we would’ve been if they were wearing normal clothes and we weren’t expecting a disaster. That being said, I enjoyed Ulloa’s instrumental sound effects during “Let’s Get It On”, and I actually thought Veloz was one of the evening’s stronger singers. Still, I don’t really expect any of them to advance past Hollywood Week.
At least they were both better than Sharon Wilbur, who actually had an interesting voice when she wasn’t dipping into a Britney Spears impersonation. I’m with her dog (which actually yawned during her audition), and I don’t really expect to see her past Hollywood Week either. Oh yeah, for some reason Paula thought it’d be funny to demonstrate “girl power” by pretending to makeout with Kara (and causing one of her boobs to almost pop out) at the end of this audition. Whatever.
Two people I actually could see making it past Hollywood Week are T.K. Hash (pictured, left) and Anne Marie Boskovich (pictured, right).
It’s not like T.K. Hash is an amazing singer, but he has a good enough voice and, more importantly, serious heartthrob potential. He was the contestant this week who inspired my girlfriend Erica to make her bi-weekly “I think I’ll start dating THAT guy” joke. At least I tell myself it’s a joke. Nevertheless, Simon and Randy WERE right in that his “Imagine” was WAY too overworked. The difference was that Simon said no to T.K. and the Randy-bot said yes. T.K. will probably be fine as long as he learns to tone things down (and stays away from my girlfriend).
The best singer of the evening was Anne Marie Boskovich, who, I thought, sounded better on “Bubbly” than Colbie Caillat. The judges REALLY seemed to like her (did you see the smiles plastered on their faces, including Simon?), but asked her to “come back as a different person” after her first audition. Anne Marie was sweet, kind, respectful and complimentary of Kara, so of course she needed to completely change (eye roll!) Thankfully, the major transformation consisted of a taking off her jacket, changing her shoes (we didn’t see them the first time), adding some eye makeup and tussling her hair a bit. Whatever. Either way, Boskovich looks like a solid threat in this competition.
I actually think Michael Perelli would’ve been an interesting addition to the show, had he made it through. He was the nervous guitar playing guy who freaked out once he realized he’d have to sing without his instrument. I actually liked his slightly emo-y/rock sound, but I was mostly glad that the judges actually had a legitimately borderline contestant to argue over. And they said no! At first, I felt bad for the kid, but after watching his immature reaction I agree with Simon — the desperate kid got on my nerves.
The whole thing also led to one of my favorite (non-ironic) Seacrest moments ever. (My favorite ironic Seacrest moment is still high-fiving the blind guy). When Michael pushed his mom away after she tried to comfort him, Ryan said “That’s your mom, you can’t do that.” Right on, Seacrest! (However, I was much less impressed with Seacrest’s video segments in the more rural parts of Jacksonville — why were you lost?! You were in Florida, not the jungles of Costa Rica!)
At least Michael Perelli’s freakout was compelling. Darin Darnell’s crash and burn — he was the really happy kid who got really depressed really quickly when his friend didn’t make it — was just sad.
Still, my favorite of the train wrecks is definitely George Ramirez, the monotone-speaking physics student with the unfortunate beard. I’m not sure why, but the guy just cracked me up. That also may have been the one guy I guessed correctly on when I guessed he wouldn’t be able to sing just by looking at him.
So what’d you think of this episode? Did you see any potential “Idols” in Jacksonville? Do you think there’s something to my “lowering expectations” theory? Finally, which stylistic choice is more unfortunate? George’s beard or Randy Jackson’s 80’s high top while playing with Journey? Yikes!
The two main problems, in my opinion, is that the show hasn’t really showcased enough people with true superstar potential (or maybe they have and it’ll come out on the Hollywood stage) and that the judges have been WAY too generous in letting through borderline/mediocre-at-best contestants. The latter problem has been especially annoying to me since almost all of these borderline people have no chance advancing beyond Hollywood Week, so why are we wasting our time on them.
Then I realized that it may not be so much the judges’ fault as it is the contestants for this show becoming savvier than they ever have.
As I mentioned in an earlier recap, in past year’s, you could pretty much tell who was going to be horrible just by looking at them (how superficial, but true). This year, the task has been almost impossible. Methinks people are intentionally making themselves look a little train wreck-y to 1.) Get the producers’ attention and receive the opportunity to audition for Randa, Paula, Kara and Simon, and 2.) subconsciously lower expectations.
There were two great examples of this last night in the Jacksonville auditions. I mean, did we really expect Joshua Ulloa (the Justine Guarini wannabe) or Julissa Veloz (the latest Latin pageant princess) to be ANY good? Of course not. We thought they’d be delusional messes. So when they unleashed some shockingly decent Marvin Gaye and Whitney Houston, respectively, we were probably more impressed than we would’ve been if they were wearing normal clothes and we weren’t expecting a disaster. That being said, I enjoyed Ulloa’s instrumental sound effects during “Let’s Get It On”, and I actually thought Veloz was one of the evening’s stronger singers. Still, I don’t really expect any of them to advance past Hollywood Week.
At least they were both better than Sharon Wilbur, who actually had an interesting voice when she wasn’t dipping into a Britney Spears impersonation. I’m with her dog (which actually yawned during her audition), and I don’t really expect to see her past Hollywood Week either. Oh yeah, for some reason Paula thought it’d be funny to demonstrate “girl power” by pretending to makeout with Kara (and causing one of her boobs to almost pop out) at the end of this audition. Whatever.
Two people I actually could see making it past Hollywood Week are T.K. Hash (pictured, left) and Anne Marie Boskovich (pictured, right).
It’s not like T.K. Hash is an amazing singer, but he has a good enough voice and, more importantly, serious heartthrob potential. He was the contestant this week who inspired my girlfriend Erica to make her bi-weekly “I think I’ll start dating THAT guy” joke. At least I tell myself it’s a joke. Nevertheless, Simon and Randy WERE right in that his “Imagine” was WAY too overworked. The difference was that Simon said no to T.K. and the Randy-bot said yes. T.K. will probably be fine as long as he learns to tone things down (and stays away from my girlfriend).
The best singer of the evening was Anne Marie Boskovich, who, I thought, sounded better on “Bubbly” than Colbie Caillat. The judges REALLY seemed to like her (did you see the smiles plastered on their faces, including Simon?), but asked her to “come back as a different person” after her first audition. Anne Marie was sweet, kind, respectful and complimentary of Kara, so of course she needed to completely change (eye roll!) Thankfully, the major transformation consisted of a taking off her jacket, changing her shoes (we didn’t see them the first time), adding some eye makeup and tussling her hair a bit. Whatever. Either way, Boskovich looks like a solid threat in this competition.
I actually think Michael Perelli would’ve been an interesting addition to the show, had he made it through. He was the nervous guitar playing guy who freaked out once he realized he’d have to sing without his instrument. I actually liked his slightly emo-y/rock sound, but I was mostly glad that the judges actually had a legitimately borderline contestant to argue over. And they said no! At first, I felt bad for the kid, but after watching his immature reaction I agree with Simon — the desperate kid got on my nerves.
The whole thing also led to one of my favorite (non-ironic) Seacrest moments ever. (My favorite ironic Seacrest moment is still high-fiving the blind guy). When Michael pushed his mom away after she tried to comfort him, Ryan said “That’s your mom, you can’t do that.” Right on, Seacrest! (However, I was much less impressed with Seacrest’s video segments in the more rural parts of Jacksonville — why were you lost?! You were in Florida, not the jungles of Costa Rica!)
At least Michael Perelli’s freakout was compelling. Darin Darnell’s crash and burn — he was the really happy kid who got really depressed really quickly when his friend didn’t make it — was just sad.
Still, my favorite of the train wrecks is definitely George Ramirez, the monotone-speaking physics student with the unfortunate beard. I’m not sure why, but the guy just cracked me up. That also may have been the one guy I guessed correctly on when I guessed he wouldn’t be able to sing just by looking at him.
So what’d you think of this episode? Did you see any potential “Idols” in Jacksonville? Do you think there’s something to my “lowering expectations” theory? Finally, which stylistic choice is more unfortunate? George’s beard or Randy Jackson’s 80’s high top while playing with Journey? Yikes!
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