PamelaMaeSnap

I'm going to throw in just one quick comment which could certainly be argued but what the heck ... I'm not sure specifically what neighborhood it's implied the kids live in, but there are definitely some school zones which could encompass both ends of the scale within their zones. Admittedly, not as many as there used to be when I was a young whippersnapper going to school in Manhattan -- there are so many more schools now that the zones have shrunk and, I'm sure, been gerrymandered a bit in the process -- but just on the Upper East Side alone, say, a school like PS 198 would fit the bill, I think. Plus, there are many public schools that are unzoned and either specialized based on areas of interest or lottery.

And since everything is subjective anyway, one person's (okay, probably more than one) using Haley Reinhart as an "example" of JLo not liking an auditioner because she was gorgeous and talented is another's person's (okay, MY) detesting Haley Reinhart from the get-go because I found her grating and unappealing as a performer.

RatGirlAGoGo et al I officially invite you to come to dinner at my house if you feel like schlepping to Montgomery Village, MD ... I can say with ZERO bias that my husband makes THE best chicken matzoh ball soup I've ever tasted in my 50-plus years of growing up in midtown Manhattan. In fact, I managed to eat about a vat of it over the last 48 hours thanks to waking up Wednesday morning with a burgeoning cold from hell and getting over to Wegman's just before the pre-blizzard storm and buying up all the chicken, carrots, celery, dill et al. Right down to his nine homemade matzoh balls. All he had to do was make it for me <3 True love. I actually used to like my grandmother's CMBS even though she was the worst cook in the world perhaps because she was the world's first anorexic (though she made great ice cream sodas with Cotts Diet Coffee Soda) ... but she made great matzoh balls. You could play handball at the Men's Athletic Club with them. I'm totally not a fan of Katz's ... it has nothing to do with the deliberately surly service. I just thought it was really overrated and not worth the hype. I DID like 2nd Avenue a lot (all of this is what I call "back in the day," say, the mid 70s?) ... Carnegie was good for sammiches. Hubbie liked Wolfie's more (spelling?) ... and if any of you iived on the Upper East Side or thereabouts in the 60s/70s, my favorite was actually the Madison Avenue Deli for matzoh ball soup, the best turkey sandwiches (the party platters at every awkward teenage dance party I had through jr. high/high school which would make a good sitcom actually) and the chocolate pudding with whipped cream. But just give me hubby's soup and I truly believe I could get it verified as Jewish penicillin and get a prescription for it. Now that they've taken the chefs down trips down hellish memory lane this week (well, some of them, anyway ... I won't bore you with what MY 10 Years After dish would have been had I been 25 like Kwame, but at 15 it would have involved a big bowl with a mash-up of Miss Grimbles Cheesecake and Baskin Robbins Jamoca Almond Fudge Hot Fudge Sundaes that I was the designated eater for when people brought them to my terminally ill mom's hospital room in hopes of getting her to eat something/anything ... Everything was shoveled/shuffled off to me, the fat teenager, in the chair next to her bed to inhale so no one felt bad when they came back and their gifts were uneaten. Why yes, I DID gain 50 pounds that year.) ... I'd love to see them cheer them up again by having them create an awesome dish based on their perfect comfort foods. Kwame deserves to cook happy this week. PS I know my husband could/would never make it on Top Chef but there are times I think if he had the desire he could do something on Masterchef. He's the best cook/chef I know. And he grew up in the kitchens of some of the top restaurants in NYC in the 60s and 70s. Meanwhile, I am the lucky recipient on his rare nights off.

I was also curious about that, Susannot ... I had assumed when I read he was Jamaican-Nigerian that his dad was from Nigeria because of his last name. But if the break with his dad was that traumatic, it's more than possible that he uses his mom's last name (or for that matter it's also possible his parents were not married and that his dad was indeed the Jamaican half of his ancestry.). ETA: Just found article that confirms that his mom is Jamaican and his dad is Nigerian.

I'm reading all of these reviews and either I actually slept through the first part of the show or else these auditioners were so forgettable that I remember only a handful of the ones that BogoGog and others mentioned. Or else my TGA-created short-term memory retention issues were out in full force last night. A birthday party for Harry? Totally missed that. And a few people have said something about being sad about Hollywood Week ... HW is also my favorite part of AI ... they ARE still having HW, right? Massive slashing cutdown first thing, group meltdowns, green mile and all?

My heart was just breaking for my sweet Kwame (glad I am not the only person on this usually snarky safe-place that is just all squeeeeeee-love over a cheftestant) and his deep-seated (seeded? never sure) sadness over his dad. I would have been broken-hearted if this had sent him home, especially over bitchy-plaidjacket and insufferable-manbun. I am SO excited about the imminent arrival of Shaw Bijou. That goes right to the top of our restaurant bucket list! Like MaggieG said, Isaac always makes me laugh. I'd love to hang out with him and eat his spicy Cajun food. And Mr. Snap and I have been loving Amar sightings since Week One and still have him pegged as our stealth threat. So my three faves all managed to pull through another week! I would like to be a bigger fan of Marjorie's since she's the other "local" restauranteur but her personality just bugs me.

Ginger Lush for the win.

Ditto to everything Bluepiano said ... and for me, showing my age, having gone to see "The Harder They Come" five nights in a row at the local (and only) movie theatre in town my freshman year of college (double feature with "Kentucky Fried Movie," of all things), "Many Rivers To Cross" will ALWAYS be a Jimmy Cliff song for me.

I already want Emily Brooke off my screen for no good reason I can express accurately, but I suspect she is going to be there for the very long run. And she really is great and I hope I start to like her ... I'm keeping an open mind. On the other hand, I was surprised by how much I REALLY loved MacKenzie Bourg (maybe because I never watched "The Voice"?) ... I liked his style, his voice, and found him just really entertaining and enjoyable. I think if he makes it through, he could be a guy who will have good success at making the songs "his own dog." Hope he will be able to change things up a bit with tempo, etc., but he strikes me as reasonably creative and imaginative, and that can go a long way on this show. I have a feeling that we may not have seen the last of Mario Barnes (IMHO, really good voice but in and of itself the "no" probably wasn't a bad call -- he was certainly better than some of the contestants who've been put through to Hollywood, but I suspect most of those contestants will NOT make it through to the 24 -- but if they know he's not going to go through too many more rounds, maybe they just feel it will seem crueler to eliminate him later?) ... Still, the comment by his (brother?) about maybe going back and auditioning again -- I can't remember exactly what was said -- made me think perhaps that does happen and we'll see it tonight ... or even a decision they'll make later and send him a golden ticket. Not saying it will happen, but it wouldn't surprise me either. Finally, while I don't remember Adam Lasher from last year per se, I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other about him yet (though I think he's cute) but I really appreciated his thanking Michael. Maybe I'm biased but Michael is the unsung hero of 15 seasons of American Idol and deserves a feature of his own this season (or at least his own thread here on PTV!), and it's nice to see someone who obviously remembered him from last year to thank him ... he makes a lot of people sound better than they would without him.

As much as I hate to sound like a beeyotch (oh, who am I kidding? No I don't!) Jordyn really bugged me. Gorgeous, yes ... mature-looking, yes ... Talented, yes ... but personally, I found her really robotic, from the runs to the gestures. Maybe that wouldn't irk me as much if she was 25, I don't know ... but she seems like she's been being groomed for this since Season 1 (and I did get a little love child of Jordin Sparks/post-AI J-Hud as well). I don't think she'll implode or deal with vocal problems or anything because she's been programmed, I mean trained too well. But I'd rather see someone with all that talent actually seem human. I am sure she will go far ... it will be interesting to see how the voting public reacts to her, though. I find her very shiny and pretty and trained and not that relatable ... and god knows they're playing up so many of the sympathy/sob stories that the voters will already be emotionally attached to. ETA: Okay, I did a little googling around on her and am more than willing to give her a second chance (not that I have a choice, I'm sure) ... Perhaps she was styled a bit more preternatually maturely for this audition than she might be in "real life" ... I do hope that come Hollywood she will let her hair down and at least SEEM closer to 15 than 25. I think it would work in her favor because she is really talented. Still, as far as the 15-year-old girls go, I am totally Team Tristan at this point. I have found very few people I am all in for in this week's audition episodes. I loved Tank but I doubt he'll make it past the first or second cut in Hollywood unless it really WAS that he was out of breath (very likable, though!) Found most of the others forgettable or annoying. I was glad to see John Wayne Schulz back (I too remember him from the showdown at the OK Corral with Scotty M), though I think he needs to drop the middle name ... aren't all guys named John Wayne XYZ serial killers? But he has a gorgeous voice, seems like a sweet guy, and I look forward to seeing what he does -- and I'm not even a country fan. Okay, let's bring on the last week of auditions and then I can get excited for HOLLYWOOD January 27! Am definitely loving the fact that my daughter (aka Cazzie Lite on TWOP) who abandoned watching this ish years ago, is also watching religiously for this final season and we can have day-after East Coast/West Coast chats about who we like and don't like (she has known a lot of the contestants over the years, and has been involved in the music biz for long enough that she's pretty opinionated but not snarky enough for my tastes).

My unpopular opinion ... I did not like Trent AT ALL. Didn't like his voice, his style, his off-putting face. I was surprised by Harry's comment that it was the best audition he'd seen to that point. I'm hoping the comment above about Tristyn's unexplained early departure during Hollywood week was an off-the-cuff joke and not a spoiler. I'm really hoping to see a lot more of her. Loved her tone and her poise. Liked her and her family so much that I didn't mind the tear-jerker story. Man, if something happens and she leaves I wonder how the show will feel about having pulled a lot of strings and probably spent a lot of money to get her mom home ... and I'm guessing she must have kicked massive ass at the earlier auditions for them to go to that trouble before she walked into the room. Good thing she didn't melt down that day. Think they want a female winner or what? But no matter how much they stack the deck, some milquetoast pretty boy with a name like Fick Nadiani will still end up winning with the tween-grandma vote. I find Olivia Rox much more appealing/less off-putting than Jax but she needs to change the name. Why not just use Hill if they're ID-ing her parents anyway? She's not anonymous anymore, that horse is out of the barn. And finally ... was it just me who was sort of surprised by Harry's going nuts over that guy's rendition of Phantom of the Opera and how refreshing it is to hear someone put a different spin on a song ... um, Joey Cook, anyone? David Cook, for that matter? Any number of people ... American Idol: Making Songs Your Own Dog since Season 1. Oh also, Aunt Lada, I have the same T-shirt! Love Glarkware!

I am sure Adam will be absolutely yummy as Eddie. Looking over this thread, I'm kind of shocked how little I followed it in recent years (after being pretty much obsessed through the first several seasons, and part of the core TWOP crew -- a moment of silence for EEEEeeee and the great Carmen's Dairy). My all-time favorite idol was far and away Ruben, who has not even been mentioned on here as far as I can tell. And my favorite contestants remain, to this day, Rickey, George and Melinda (all early seasons). However, I am going to be all in this year, unspoiled ... I have the first four audition episodes stacked up for a binge watch this weekend (I am off for the next 10 days) ... Still, I would be surprised if anyone really gets my interest up the way they did back in the day. It's just so pre-fabricated and manipulated now ... I mean, I guess it was to a degree in the first few seasons but nothing like it is now.

ARGH ... wrote long (too long?) post and deleted it. So, nutshell after watching first two eps back to back: For starters, one of my 2016 resolutions was to stay completely unspoiled on all my reality shows, so I haven't peeked at Reality Steve (or Spoiler Pad for Idol or anything else) and so what little I knew coming in was the stuff very public in previews and Twitter. Ben -- Not quite as much of a dumb box of rocks as I thought after first half hour or so but no thrill and I don't get why so many people are calling him the Best! Bachelor! Ever! (then again, thinking back, not a high watermark there). I get zero sexy appeal. BUT ... give him big props for being seemingly unable to even begin to "fake it" by being forced into the producer pick of Lace each week. He visibly shudders. Lace -- Single purpose here: Promo material for next BIP. She's not even particularly pretty IMHO. Caila -- On intro night, she was my first favorite. Super cute, even though I wanted to reach through the TV screen and put a scrunchie in her hair during that convertible ride. I don't think she'll "win" but is being showcased as next B'ette. Olivia -- Just ugh. Velociraptor. And you know, an Austin anchor gig is a very sweet stepping stone but I think this show has pretty much put permanent kibbosh on any future as a newscaster. Look for her on some third-rate entertainment show as an on-air gossip queen. And maybe on BIP first. Jubilee -- I just love her. Maybe because, you know, she's a war veteran. I think she'd have a better shot at winning a pageant than this show, though. Hope she finds love somewhere. Or fame. Or whatever it is she's looking for (and by the way, her training partner in her audition video looked pretty hot as well). Why is Becca here? She's a virgin, right? If she were not a virgin, would she still be showing up on these shows and being a producer's pick? And why do we care if she's a virgin? And maybe she has lost it since then but doesn't tell anyone because then that would ruin the one thing she has going for her when it comes to this franchise. Or am I confusing her with someone else? She's just forgettable for me other than that ... And finally, my sure-to-be-unpopular opinion -- When I read about the hot blonde twins, I knew I'd hate them. So imagine my surprise when ... I really didn't! I actually find them both really likable and charming and funny. They're among my favorites of the hamsterettes. I'm sure there is drama ahead (as they're going head to head and whatever), but I'm a fan (and, again, am expecting both of them to show up as BIPsters.). OH ALSO ... I think the reason they put "twin" up as their identifier is that the odds are two hot tall blonde twins living in Vegas are probably models/actresses/showgirls, and we know they do NOT like to ID people as models/actresses (even though we know that's what many of them are or want to be). So if they can't find something else like a part-time job or former job or "chicken enthusiast" I guess the best they could do was "twin." My predictions: Lauren B for the win (she does absolutely nothing for me but seems to be Ben's favorite blonde and has the same sort of forgettable bland prettyishness) ... darkhorse JoJo. Caila for next B'ette. Also? Ben really must not like gingers because Red Velvet was SO much cuter than about three-quarters of the girls he picked (Mandi? Scary-ugly plus she's a dentist.)

I've got a whole stack of these lined up for January viewing ... the one I'm most excited to watch is "Once Brothers" because my husband, who doesn't show a lot of emotion, told me he cried watching that. Just watched "Prince of Pennsylvania" basically the day after watching "Foxcatcher" and it was very interesting to see the two juxtaposed. (The film had irked me, through probably no fault of its own since it's not a documentary, by how it dealt with the timeline without ever explaining it and as a result Dave's murder seemed SO random ... yet in fact Foxcatcher really DID have the world class team that DuPont had dreamed of once Dave was there, and I don't think that was explained in the movie). Also stoked to see the Marcus Dupree episode, which my sportswriter colleagues have said is THE best of the bunch. As a longtime rotisserian (started back in 1987 though stopped a few years ago), I was most disappointed in "Silly Little Game." Maybe because I expected more from it but found it kind of boring. Glad to have found this thread and will return after my 30-for-30 marathon ...

I actually waited until last night (48 whole hours!) to watch the finale because ... well, to extend its life in my warped mind. I love this show beyond belief. What an amazing, amazing episode ... to echo others, I laughed, I wept, I fell in love with DiDi all over again like I do every episode, but especially her face framed in the door ... she is so beautiful! I also loved the cameo (is it a cameo when you're on throughout the show?) by Janis Ian. Her voice is still so beautiful ... also (because I notice these things anyway but especially with this show this season), obviously a lot more music than usual but glad that it was a music supervisor/coordinator's dream of not probably having to worry about getting any of the rights cleared!!! I would give anything for them to come up with a way to revive this series ... and hoping that the subplot of them all moving to (can't remember the name of the hospital where Rita Moreno works) gives them that flicker of hope for continuity!

I had a feeling about Ainsley when they seemed to play super-dramatic soap opera music/sad trombone when they kept showing that awful first dish. Plus, I guess show-stopper counts for extra points and that was just a hot mess. At this point there's really no one I'm rooting for ... I'm just watching to get ideas. I guess I'd find some sort of karmic satisfaction if the nice Jewish girl wins the holiday baking championship, though.

Yourpointis ... your mind is totally on point!!! Yes, that was me ... I did/do love the AI forums (probably more than I love AI, at least since the George Huff era, but I'll still miss it like heck!). And yes, my daughter, The Artist Formerly Known As Cazzie Lite, was indeed in a high school band in those days (they were called Lemonface and had a small but dedicated following in DC for awhile that actually included more than just their parents.). She did put together two solo EPs while in college (got her music degree in songwriting at Berklee) but never auditioned for any of the reality shows (though several of her friends did and a few made it to TV rounds, plus she became post-AI friends with a few contestants who went on to Berklee AFTER their AI days). Actually, not sure she COULD have auditioned for AI because I have a long-time friend who is closely enough involved with the show that her knowing him would likely have made her ineligible. She no longer performs but works in music supervision which she LOVES so she knows all about the seven circles of hell of getting songs cleared!!! Sorry for hijack answer ... and back on topic, I'll add that I found myself surprisingly liking Mikey more and more as time passed. Plus, when he sort-of cleaned up I thought he was even kind of hot (the shots of him with the hair down but that gray suit? Very fine indeed!). In fact, I'll go so far as to say I think TyTy finished the cycle, for the first time ever (for me, for you) with four finalists with whom I'd have been happy with ANY of them "winning." I will really miss this trainwreck. Hoping that now they can start airing reruns from Season 1 on for me to enjoy (the short-term memory issues I have now make every show a new show!)

As a (former) sportswriter, the fact that I always referred to it as "Raymond James Stadium Where The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Play" got me a lot of strange looks.

Thanks, Cooksdelight. So I was not only memory-epic-failing but also completely wrong in thinking that was a stupid thing to do with the ingredients. I love my new life!

Urgh. I thought it was just me not being able to remember this year's cheftestants as quickly as usual because I had some medical issues about a month ago that have wreaked complete havoc on my short-term memory ... so I've been thinking Isaac was Jason over the first two weeks. Which cheftestant made the egg drop soup dish (I can't remember exactly what it was but I remember thinking Oh no no no, don't do that!)? I'm still mixing up all the brunettes and I hadn't even remembered there was someone with pink hair. I fear for my reality TV watching future if this condition doesn't resolve. I think my two favorites are Kwame (DC rep! I can't get behind Marjorie for some reason, maybe because as mentioned I mix up all the brunettes) and Isaac (who isn't Jason). Glad Kwame won and thought that was one of the best non-monetary prizes they've had in a while. It took me a week to figure out who Philip reminds me of and I think it's Derek Hough (I don't watch Derek Hough shows but I do read People Magazine, the next best thing to making sure you know who the B-list reality show celebrities are). Gotta say I love the concept of the California road trip for this season ... looking forward to vicariously sightseeing and picking out new places to visit when we move there in a few years. So right now I want to move to Santa Barbara (after I win the lottery) and go hang out at this vineyard.

I'm not a pageant expert (and if I was one I probably wouldn't admit it!) but I did stay at a Holiday Inn where most of the pageants on Toddlers and Tiaras (love) were held ... and have watched way too many reality TV shows based on pageantry ... and my daughter was friends with a girl who was a perennial first-runner up in the local teen pageant scene ... That is to say, I'd be stunned if Mame wanted anything to do with this scene unless she was actually competing. She is gorgeous and competitive and has so many other options. Being involved with a pageant on the "other" side would be such a comedown for her. It seems like most of the people we see running these pageants, especially at local levels, are either overaged wanna-bes who could never have been contenders or long-ago winners of Miss Petal on the Sunflower Honey Bee Queen of Lower Magnolia County (hey, maybe we could get Hadassah to run a pageant?) or skeevys guy who runs the local used car lot (or was that "Smile"?) (I really wish they'd run a marathon of Toddlers and Tiaras and/or Showbiz Moms and Dads.)

I'm not sure how many more pageants Mame can go back to ("fame" from ANTM notwithstanding) ... after finishing Top 5 at Miss USA, she's out of the Trump-i-verse now (he still owns that line, right?), my assumption being that if it's anything like the other big pageants, once she's won her State title (no less made it to Top 5 in Miss USA) then she's no longer eligible to return. I guess there's Miss World, but that's kind of a cheap knockoff imitation. And I can't imagine her going far in Miss America ... aside from not knowing if she has any talent, this doesn't seem like the kind of PR they'd want (hey, our Miss Maryland is an also ran from Miss USA and ANTM). I think her pageant career is over BUT I think she's gorgeous and the notoriety of ANTM and being the last woman standing on the last episode could help her pro career now. I hope so, anyway. I could totally see her having that rare post-ANTM commercial modeling career. She photographs like a dream and has a great look. She was definitely my favorite girl.

"Kinda like in the old TWOP fav "Showbiz Moms and Dads" where Shane Klingensmith's Mom was blabbering on and on how Shane was playing at the "Raymond James Stadium Where the Bucaneers Play" and he was really singing on a flatbed truck parked outside in the lot." BEST. THREAD. EVER. (Should all of us out ourselves with our old TWOP names, asked Jazzie Cazzie?) And yes, I DO still have my "Shane Klingensmith: Big In Belgium" T-shirt. Poor Glark with the crying Debbie Tye phone call (at least I always assumed it was her). And hey y'all ... POT LEDOM!!!!!!!!

Prefacing this to say I am having major memory issues so I could be totally wrong on this, but IIRC didn't Padua make some pretty amazing-looking rugelach last week? I remember being impressed that he threw those in there as part of his repertoire. They looked MUCH better than anyone's attempt at it this week. And also, totally epic fail for the show to have the contestants make MACAROONS for Chanukah. That's like having an egg hunt for Christmas. I'm okay with the rugelach because I think of that as an all-occasion treat, but YES they should have gone with the sufganiot! I still love Adalberto. How cute was he when he tilted like his croquembouche (sorry on the massacred spelling ... but, hey, a tower of cream-filled puffs? YES please!)? And Steve can leave my TV screen forever right now. PLEASE NO on the possible return for FNS. He is NOT a FNS. He is an annoying guy who can bake pretty well and is not anywhere near as funny or engaging as he thinks he is. (Though I think I have used up all of my FNS good karma points by getting Eddie as our winner this year and now I'll never have another winner I like and I'm okay with that.).

Maybe Devar could get that modeling gig that Loren has planned for Alexei. Because IMHO in the looks department, Devar > Alexei bigtime.