PhD-Purgatory15

After the debacle that was Anna, I find myself thinking America (& Ezra) would've enjoyed Hawk Tuah Girl more. At least she has a personality & some self-awareness. She might've even been something of a decent dancer too.. I guess I'm a little surprised that Tori also went this week, but if you just watched the dancing, she was about as unsteady on her feet as the two old guys. Reg & Eric need to go next in some order. I know quite a few of the more Senior competitors to do DWTS have been limited, but these two are taking that to the extreme. ER seems like he's going to fall at any moment and Reg seems like he might have a catastrophic injury if he does more than even the most baby-est of steps/moves/kicks/whatever. Danny & Witney are fun to watch. It's nice having Witney back, and Danny is so intense. You can tell the athlete in him does not want to fail. It was particularly encouraging to see him start to enjoy the performance side of things this week. Daniella is a wizard. Every week is going to be a code that she's going to have to "crack" to figure out how best to dance w/ an almost 7 foot human being. So far, she's 2 for 2.. Sasha & Jen are fine. Val and Phaedra are fine, On the dance floor Gleb & Brooks are a little better than fine, it's just everything swirling around off the dance floor that's a little bit exhausting. Jenny & Joey are the surprise of the season to be. Bachelor people tend to be very hit or miss. Joey is a hit w/ his dancing, and he doesn't have a super off-putting personality either. The Olympians are so much fun. Rylee & Stephen are so high energy they really are the perfect match for each other. Hopefully he does okay in the slower more sensual dances like the Rumba/Tango/Waltz. Ilona really had a breakthrough this week. She seemed so much more at ease (& and able to let go) this week. Chandler is totally the ringiest ringer of the season. However she has Brandon who isn't a particularly well liked pro. He also couldn't get Tinashe or Jodie Sweetin past about the middle of the season so I'm not convinced yet that she's a lock for the finale even if she ultimately gets the first 9s and 10s of the season..

Everything that's wrong with this show was just distilled into 5 minutes. Gina Miles, who won two seasons ago came on to sing her "new single" which ends up being a cover of Chris Isaac's Wicked Game (that she sang on the show during her season). Are you kidding me? Two years post-show and Gina Miles doesn't have a single song of her own that the Voice was willing to let her sing live? What does that tell you about the people that Gina has gotten to "work" w/ since she won? She's gorgeous with a reasonably unique voice. If she's not a marketable non-country winner, then who the heck would be??

I wonder where Jack's voting bloc went after he went out in 3rd place. Did they sit it out and not vote? Did they split relatively down the middle? It would be interesting to track.. Abi looks like a dead-ringer for Dorothy in a 21st century Wizard of Oz revival & yet she seems most into darker stuff like her Bring Me to Life Cover, and her duet w/ Bishop Briggs. I think it's going to be very interesting what type of songs that AI lets her record & how they try and market her. Maybe Billie E. would let her be an opener for a couple of dates on her next tour.. Will sounds eerily like classic Hootie. I don't think he'll have too many issues breaking into country. His one original that he did went right to the top of the digital country charts. Not really sure where Jack goes. He's probably happy getting to carve out more of an Indie career, but if he really wanted to he could do a variation of Michael Buble and try to break more into the mainstream that way. I enjoyed Triston & Cody Johnston's performance, & Seal & Jayna's too. They should've given Kayko someone other than NKOTB to sing with. Same w/ McKenna & Kaibrienne. Same w/ Emmy, although I totally understand why they would've brought back Wynona. Honestly, I'm not sure who I think makes the most sense as a Katy replacement (assuming Lionel & Luke are 100% coming back). Kelsea Ballerini? I'm not sure if she'd be at a spot in her career where she'd feel comfortable taking so much focus off of her own music..

R & C winning just left me underwhelmed. Definitely in the bottom third or fourth if we are rating TAR seasons 1 through 35.. Part of me wants to know how much of a lead Ricky & Caesar and Rod & Letiticia get diving off of the boat? Feels like maybe 30 minutes? Ricky took 21 attempts to Wind-balance for a minute and they still beat Amber & Vinny (who to be fair, screwed up the drink challenge the worst of all four teams and probably cost themselves a little bit of time doing that).. Of course, the only time in the whole race that Ricky & Caesar would've been racing from last for even one little section of one leg..they bunch them back up at the Rocky Steps and put everyone back on equal footing. Of course Ricky grew up in the final city. It's not like the overwhelmingly best team at navigation & self-driving needed any extra help winning the final leg. Wonder if it might've been really close had the pilots not visited NJ? It feels like they ran a relatively similar looking leg without that giant error (I'm an Ohioan who has never been Philly and I know Pat's & Geno's are cheesesteak icons!!). Mostly, I just want to erase this season from the memory bank & have the next season get back to actually traveling the world. Some combination of countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and/or Oceania..

Only results I felt comfortable calling ahead of time was Will in the F3 (especially after Born to be Wild) & Emmy not being in the F3. For a split second, while Jack was doing Bowie, thoughts crossed my mind that he could knock out Abi & make it an all 3 dude F3. Thankfully that didn't happen, because Abi's body of work over the course of the entire season was worthy of reaching the finale. Of the three, I do think actually winning the whole thing might be the most hazardous for Abi because there's so many different directions an "Abi Record" could go. Being locked in totally to the AI record deal would mean that she would start from a place of very little leverage.. Triston went out on possibly his worst sounding vocal of the entire show. It was pitched where he ended up sounding incredibly nasally on Life is a Highway which hadn't really happened all season. Still, I figure, give it a couple of years (**definitely thinking a developmental deal") and we've probably not heard the last of TH (especially if you are a country music fan). Will just feels like the winner. He's pretty much felt that way from his audition. IMO he feels like someone where they're would be room for them in country music. He's not really reinventing the wheel or anything, he just has an appealing backstory/personality with enough chops to potentially get played on current country radio quite a bit. Glad Emmy went out on two reasonably strong performances (more so the 2nd rather than the 1st). I still see her as maybe a behind the scenes player in Nashville who writes hits for bigger artists and has a modest fan base of her own fans. Some of it ultimately depends on how "country" does she want to be? Not just vocally, but instrumentally too. There are artists like Ingrid Andress, & Morgan Wade who don't vocally sound super country but the instrumentation and thematic elements in their songs get them played on country radio (to a degree)..

First post of the entire season. It's been an enjoyable watch (sort of) & severely lacking all at the same time.. Did anyone see a rationale online for why this season stayed in the Western Hemisphere (and placed such a premium on Spanish language ability)? Kept waiting for a flight to Europe or Africa that never came.. I'm not really rooting for them but if R & C don't win, it will feel like an undeserving team got the million dollars (even the pilots). Sort of like when the Ice Cream Scientists girls beat that seriously alpha Doctor (or Dentist) and his wife after they had dominated most legs of their TAR season. Part of me wonders if Vinny & Amber broke up during the race and are just playing out the string. Thanks to Vinny's ability to knockout roadblocks like they are nothing and the overall weakness of the last 3-5 teams eliminated they've almost made it to the very end while loathing each other.. Bartolo!!

That's one of Idol's fatal flaws (IMO anyway). At least w/ Will & Triston (and Mia even) you get the occasional Luke Combs or Lainey Wilson, or Kelsea Ballerini song. Actual current country artists on the radio. So you have at least some sort of idea where they might fit in (or if they would fit in) in the current landscape of that genre. You just don't seem to get that (or at least as much of that) from the pop or r&b artists. I remember back last week or the week before on judge's pick night and someone had a Tate McRae song (not even the current current one, but You Broke Me First which is still like less than 9 months old and gets played on current pop stations)..

All of these contestants (w/ the exceptions of Jack, & Triston) are terrified of up-tempo, rhythmically challenging songs so I knew the first go-round wasn't going to be the greatest. I liked Will's "Give Me 3 Steps" & Jack doing Little Richard. Abi kind of went back to the Brng Me to Life vibe, & Triston pretty much did want I thought he'd do. Emmy, Mackenzie & Julia all struggled mightily. At least Mackenzie went out on a good note. That Adele cover of a cover was as strong as she's sounded since her mystery illness. Emmy continues to look more confident & assured on stage. I just wish the vocals lived up to the moment. This was better than Walk the Moon but still wasn't a total hit. I feel like next week has to be the point where her race comes to end.. I'm surprised Julia didn't do Skyfall.. Jack & Will picked smart Adele songs for their voices/styles. Jack veered into Buble-land for the first time in a while. Triston also picked what I thought might have been a strong song, but his vocals were lacking a lot.. Abi's the vocal unicorn. However she doesn't have the country mulitiplier & easy likability that Will has or the sob story/underdog tale that Triston has. Now what she might have is a final three of herself, Will & Triston that would involve Will & Triston splitting a lot of votes & opening it up for her to take the title. Jack's the unknown quantity. If you believe that the order Ryan rattled off tonight wasn't actually random, then he's sitting in 2nd to Abi. He's also musically on another planet to everyone else whose left. And unlike Kayko, he isn't actively attempting to sabotage his own chances at trying to win this whole thing.

Mia picked the absolute wrong time to have a nervous looking/sounding performance (& forget the words at one point) Who is voting for Julia & Kaibrienne? Other than the states' of Maine & Utah apparently. I will say the more in the "rock" lane that KB stays, the better it is for her. Artists like 3 Doors Down just sort of naturally fit her voice better.. I'm with those upthread & think Kayko might've tried to get himself sent home. Like it all of sudden dawned on him how little potential freedom he might have if he "accidentally" won the whole thing. Will should just be elevated to Nashville. An AI ascension if you will.. Tristan still comes across somewhat odd on screen. I also worry that his speaking/singing voice has such a distinctive slow drawl that when sings super fast tempo songs like "She's Country" it sounds more garbled/rushed than it actually is.. In the eternal battle of McKenna & Abi, for no real reason..we are McKenna fans in the Purgatory household. Emmy continues to both frustrate & intrigue. Doing Blink 182 was intriguing (I thought for sure it was going to be Miss You), but then she mucks up the Na Na Na parts. How is that the part of the song that trips you up consistently?!

Annber03, I always thought one season Idol should've forbid songs older than 3 or 5 years. You want to be a current star (pop, country or otherwise) in 2024? Prove to us that you can consistently kill/sing songs released in the 2020s over an entire season. Sadly it's just a pipe dream because If they actually did that, they would have to change the entire make up of the types of singers they like to have round out the Top 24 (& take a significant voting hit too)..

I thought the whole purpose of these theme nights was to get some contestants out of their comfort zones. Instead, thanks to it being the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame night we get Nya & Jayna (and Jordan) doing Whitney and Mia doing Dolly Parton et al. Sigh.. If Jayna & Roman go tonight, America will have resoundingly rejected all 4 of the judges' wild cards and Ajii will be vindicated. Or something like that Jack is inexplicably growing on me. I absolutely not a fan of his initial auditions (and thought the judges were smart to say no to him), but since Hawaii he's been one of the more enjoyable contestants to listen to. Makenna might have dodged a huge bullet tonight. That Chicago cover lacked a lot. Will be interesting to see if her voice comes back tonight. Roman is so manic & over the top, he borders on unwatchable. I will be very happy if he exits stage left tonight. Kaibrienne should do rock songs (that aren't so emotional she can't handle them). She absolutely has the voice to do Heart, Pat Benatar, Hole, Alannah Miles' Black Velvet, even male artists like Alice in Chains or something like Switchfoot/Lifehouse. It would seriously differentiate her at this stage of the competition. Abi has an amazing voice, and is probably safe until the Top 6 or so. But I do wonder once it gets down to the super likeable (or root-for-able) contestants like Will, Mia, Emmy, Kayko..I wonder if that's where her race will end.. Thank you Kayko a million times over for not subjecting us to Creep. You could tell though through that first verse that we was really uncomfortable doing someone else's song in a setting like AI. Luckily for him he got over it and finished strong. Emmy continues to impress. She's willing to try and push her voice (even if it doesn't always land). Which is good, because once you get to the tenth song that sounds like Norah Jones or Allison Kraus it becomes a bit much. Speaking of being predicable, couldn't Will have found a rock artist that doesn't scream Southern or Country? I would've liked to hear him try Pearl Jam, or even the Foo Fighters like Jayna thought about. Triston had more fun pretending to be Elvis for 3 minutes, than maybe he's had in his entire life. It was nice to be reminded he is still just a teenager (and a young one at that) instead of someone who feels like they have had the rough life experiences of a 35-40 year old.

Kayko & Jack stand out because they seem to be the only happy individuals having fun with Idol. Everyone is different shades of bleak (or their doing Gospel for the Lord).. Really annoyed that America voted Kaibrienne through. Exhibit #9,342 why we need someone with Simon's perspective (or even KP in her early seasons) on the judge's panel. If you can't make it through a song, either pick a different (less emotional) song or get off of this show. Obviously the WC's were mostly done to bring some "balance" to the Top 14. Still annoyed that Abi did MCR and didn't give any nods to how Black Parade should sound. Triston just depresses me. I mean clearly the kid is scarred for life from being homeless and growing up basically on the streets. He's also a dead-ringer (vocally) for the country singer Tracy Lawrence which is always a little jarring. Emmy still seems terrified, and yet her vocals seem to get stronger the farther she makes it in the competition. I do hope the producers force her & Kayko to do some covers and not use originals every single week. Roman is so OTT it's ridiculous. For me, for you it's harder to watch him than it is Jack & his bizarre facial contortions. Sad for Ajii, but I was worried that the Audioslave song was the absolute wrong choice. Really nobody should be coming within 40 miles of trying a Chris Cornell vocal on this show. Will is probably your winner, although I do think both Mia & Makenna could push him all the way to the final. Julia was definitely better than her previous two songs but I'm still not a major fan.. Good riddance, Jennifer and your horribly unpleasant voice. Stick to writing songs for other people & you'll have a very productive career behind the scenes.

Anyone want to hazard a guess as the total count of "C'mon Dad's" for the entire season? Over a hundred (that we heard on air) at least.. Rob & Corey got the perfect final task, because Rob didn't need to say his quote out loud while he was memorizing it. Hearing someone else vebalizing a diferent quote while I was trying to memorize my own quote would've driven me crazy.. It did seem like Ana Leigh had done a ton of RB's (generally quite fast). So it wasn't surprising to learn that Steve was going to have to both. And really, it wasn't on his RB performance that they ultimately lost. It was there navigation (wondering if AL was unable to drive a stick at all, or if she just realized she would be better suited for the navigator role). They lost time getting to swimming challenge, the hurling RB, pretty much everywhere that required driving.. First time in how long that we have an all male Final 6?? It feels like Greg & John's to lose (just because they never seem to have any issues with almost any RB or Detour tasks & they for the most part have been rock solid navigators). I'm also assuming "taxi luck" won't play a major role in the final leg (although I could be wrong).) As someone of Irish descent w/ negative levels of natural rhythm, having Phil eliminate me after 87 unsuccessful passes at Riverdance would've been a combination of mortifying/infuriating/tragic. So kudos to Steve & Joel for getting close enough after 8-10 tries to get a pass from the judge. BTW, I'm on team Corey + His Irish Dance Teacher as well :-)

If it plays true to form, then basically all of the females except for Ruby & (maybe) Lila are in immediate jeopardy tonight. I expect some combination of Kara Tenae, Mara Justine, Nini Iris, & Azan to be the 3 who go home. I thought Mac was his usual solid self. I thought Tanner at least took a homerun swing with Fall Out Boy. His execution only reached the level of ground rule double. Maybe. Every time I want to be more impressed by Huntley than I actually end up being. I think Jackie Roar will survive tonight, but I do wonder if doing a song that wouldn't have been super well known was the right play on the very first audience voted on show. I never know quite what to think about Jordan...

aradia22, your comment made me think back to the Social Media season and Burnie/Ashley (the married couple from RoosterTeeth). That theme about being cognizant of how they would portray themselves on reality tv for posterity came up over and over again in their "inside baseball" recaps/podcasts during and after that season. I even thought all the way back to Real World: San Diego and the last two contestants ever who approached that show with even a thought to their own dignity, a guy named Jahquise and future respectable actress Jamie Chung. The following season in Hawaii had Ruthie & Teck skinnydipping in the pool in the first 5 minutes of the very first episode lol.. I also think Todd and Ashlie didn't end up making the Subway train that teams 2,3, & 4 did. I think the editing was to make it seem like Ana Leigh was seeing Todd & Ashlie, when actually she was seeing the other three teams (including the Beardos) on the Pit Stop Mat basically waiting for them to finish up.