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‘American Idol’: Hollywood group rounds
Contestant Mary Powers gets the “idol” editors’ unkindest cuts.
Well, that was a little disappointing.
This season’s dreaded Hollywood Week turned out to be a little tame compared to previous years. There were no freak shows of Tatiana del Toro proportions, although the “Idol” producer and editors tried really hard to make poor “rocker chick” Mary Powers come across that way.The cameras relentlessly followed Powers as she tried to wrangle her mess of a group and engaged in an uncomfortable (but certainly not as dramatic as it was played) exchange with an “Idol” music producer.
We watched as expectant father Michael Lynche tried to juggle rehearsals with his group and hanging on the phone, his wife in the delivery room on the other end of the line.
A couple of groups — Neapolitan and Destiny’s Wild — end a day of annoying complaining about and sniping at each other with a cappella performances of the same tune, Lady Gaga’s annoying “Bad Romance.” The first group seemed to steal the ideas of the second, but the second group’s vocals were way better than those of the first (Destiny’s Wild tossed in some weird, distracting gymnastics moves, though). No matter, it was all just manufactured “Idol” drama, because they all advanced to the next round.
As a side note, it feels really stupid to force these groups to have to come up with “band names” and unfair to force me to have to refer to them by those goofy, one-day-and-gone handles.
Here are the opinions of a few other “Idol” watchdogs.
Entertainment Weekly called it the “TV equivalent of spending an hour in front of an ant colony in the middle of a child’s sandbox.”
“Okay, maybe it wasn’t quite that disorienting. But the way the show’s producers shifted focus seemingly every 30 seconds — The Dreamers aren’t getting along! The Mighty Rangers are destined for disaster! Hey, somebody’s makin’ a baby! — it was hard to emotionally attach to any individual story arc.”
People Magazine said the dreaded group rounds “always feel like a high school class trip you’ve never managed to eradicate from memory.”
“Bummer moment: Matt Lawrence, the ex-con with the husky country presence, tried to sing Gwen Stefani’s “Sweet Escape.” He might as well have been asked to perform Gilbert and Sullivan. He stumbled badly, and left. Fair?”
The Wall Street Journal says the annual hazing is “the ‘American Idol’ equivalent of drawing the Quickstep in ‘So You Think You Can Dance’.”
“Add a new rule to the list: Never, ever choose “Sweet Escape” by Gwen Stefani. That’s what “Big Dreams” did. Maybe that Akon background vocal of “whoo hoo, wheee hoo” sounded like easy fodder, but there are fast scat lines in that song that would give Eminem pause.”
Finally, The Washington Post wrote, “Let’s just say you have one entertaining hour of trainwreck television.”
“On “American Idol,” Hollywood Week isn’t truly Hollywood Week until Group Performance Day. That’s when the real drama kicks in; because until now, we have only seen minute-long snapshots with everyone on his or her best behavior.”
What’d you think, TV Blog readers? Sound off, below!
Meanwhile, enjoy this short “Bad Romance American idol” audition parody video I found on the Internet:
Bad Romance - An American Idol Parody Voovees - The best bloopers are here
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