BogoGog24

Honestly the owners never seem to be aware of how bad the state of their kitchens/refrigerators are. So they don't make the connection that that's why their food is bad. I also think they just want the free dramatic makeover because they can't afford it themselves, but know they could probably use new decor and new equipment. I don't see a thread for last night's episodes but the only thing I can really say is- say what you want about Amy's Baking Company. They had batshit crazy owners but their kitchens were spotless and they didn't have freaky mannequins in the entryway. Both episodes last night were enough to make me want to vomit. I felt so sorry for poor Chef Ramsay, having to even set foot in those places. *shudder*

Yeah I don't know how Anton managed to get away with serving food to the chef's table before Ramsay had checked it...

I agree with you joystick- I looked at the photo again and I don't see any caption that says who's tagged in the photo. The only caption is from Sam which says "I love these guys" I would take anything the contestants say in the dinner scenes with a grain of salt, as they are clearly extremely scripted. I'm sure to an extent they discuss how the show went and how they felt they did and the results the next night, but they probably talk about normal things the rest of the time, what's going on back home and all that.

If the snoring really bothered Alex that badly, he could probably request to room with someone else. AI's budget clearly isn't as big this year since they are staying in a hotel this year and not the Idol mansion. Maybe their budget really isn't that big after all. The person Alex had coffee with was Jason Mraz. I forget how he said they met. But I know, because he's dating Jillian Jensen, that he is buddies with Alex and Sierra from X Factor. Maybe it's some sort of connection like that. Plus his cousin is some semi famous country singer, so it could be through her as well. Alex also once was an opening act for a radio-sponsered concert and he got to meet Gavin DeGraw.

I don't get the problem with the "fans" comment. Sure they are not super famous yet but they do have a legion of fans. How else do you think they survive in this competition? Because they have each built up a fan base of some sort that will most likely follow them even after they are eliminated from the show and keep up with whatever kinds of projects they do in the future. They do have fans and I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to say it.

I don't think Sam can win at this point. He's been in the bottom 3 times. And he had to be saved. In the past for guys like Scotty and Phillip, they never ended up in the position where they might go home. Sam was an early frontrunner but once he started having connection issues, he gave up the frontrunner status to Caleb and Alex. He might make Top 5 at best.

I was born in 1993 so I mainly learned about all the old movie stars and celebs from that time period by watching the show (Hedda Hopper, John Wayne, Talullah Bankhead, Maurice Chevalier, William Holden, Richard Widmark, etc.)

I feel like the women should have chosen Joy as their captain instead of Melanie. How ironic that she says how great she is at cooking fish and then she sends up a raw piece of fish. Not a good look for the team.

It's either gonna be Caleb, Alex, Jena or Caleb, Alex, Jessica. Both Jena and Jess have now been in the bottom once. Either way, I think it will be a Caleb/Alex finale.

As much as I think the judges were spot on about Jessica last night and don't really agree with those who say she was "picked on" or "bussed" or whatever, I don't think she was B2 worthy. CJ should have been there with Dexter and probably should have gone home, just based on overall body of work. If we're basing it purely on last night's performances, the B2 is probably correct, especially with Dexter, and with Dexter going home, but I feel like at this point it should be based on overall body of work. CJ managed to have 1 good performance out of 6. He doesn't get a pat on the back for that. Tonight just solidifies to me that Vote For the Worst is still alive and kicking around somewhere because I still don't get how he's lasted this long. Even those who only like him for his "likability" wouldn't stand his pitch issues for this many weeks and allow him to outlast better contestants. I wasn't much a fan of Dexter, but Lucky Man was one of my favorite performances of the whole season. If he had just sung more ballads, he probably could have lasted way longer.

Well what I meant was that, even though they had 6 songs to choose from, all 6 songs were still chosen by someone else. Although I think all of them made it clear which songs or artists they liked, so the contestants tried to sort of pick songs they knew the contestant would have wanted or chosen for themselves. They probably just ended up choosing from the best of the bunch. I can't remember what other options Caleb got, but maybe the KOL song was the best one out of the options he was given.

It is not a Pistol Annies song, it's a Miranda Lambert song. It's on her 2007 album Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I don't think those things, especially his reaction to the theme, make him fake- just that he likes attention. He's my favorite and everything but even I can admit he seems like an attention whore. He's probably always been like that, that loud and obnoxious kid that always has to be the center of attention. Some people think he's following a "script" of what a rocker "should" be and that could be why he comes off calculated. I don't think he sits there thinking "I'm gonna spin the mic stand here and whip my hair here", but to some extent he may have a preconceived notion of what a stereotypical rocker should look, act, and sound like and he thinks that's what he needs to do.

I agree. She wants people to believe so badly she is the next coming of Haley Williams/Amy Lee or something. But I don't view her in that way. She seems most authentic when she is at the piano. She reminds me of like a darker version of Angie Miller or Regina Spektor. That should be her lane. This "I'm badass and I peed my pants at my first gig with my band when I was 12" is just too try-hard and off-putting to me. It doesn't seem authentic. I think maybe it's just that phase that teen girls go through where they want to appear tough and then a few years later, they look back on it and go "Why did I dress like that?"

They are too busy panning to JLo every 10 seconds to worry about what Harry's doing.

Oh, let me just add I'm really starting to get actually irritated with all the JLo closeups. It's getting super annoying seeing her every 5 seconds during a contestant's performance. Like please, stop it already! I would like to see the contestant who's performing, not her. She gets plenty of screen time during critiques and bits in between performances. And it's annoying when they only pan to her and only very rarely, if ever, to Keith or Harry. Stop stop STOP!!!!!! Also, I happened to notice from a quick Wiki check that every contestant had at least one of their songs chosen, except Jena. Heh. Caleb had 2 songs chosen, everyone else had one. I thought it was interesting though that Jena was the only one whose songs didn't get chosen. I actually feel bad for her that no one wanted to choose her songs.

I also agree that they should have switched up the duets this time. Jena/Caleb and Alex/Sam have already sung together. I'd like to see Caleb/CJ, Jena/Jessica, and Alex/Sam/Dexter. I think it'd also be pretty funny to match up Caleb and Sam since they are like polar opposites, energy wise. Maybe Sam/Jena would be a good match too. Just something different than what's already been done, I don't care to see the same pairings over and over again. Also, if I have to hear one more person say "I chose this song because I used to play it in bars," "it's been in my setlist for years," "We were playing it at the hotel," "I'm a huge fan of this artist," I'm going to throw my TV out the window. These guys need to stop thinking about what they were doing "before" Idol. Playing a few songs you've had in your repertoire for years is okay- doing it every week though shows you have no desire to learn anything new or go outside your comfort zone. It's like they are treating the show as just another concert at the local bar instead of a singing show. Michael and Melinda said it perfectly on Reality Check- they need to prove WHY they deserve to win over America and win a recording contract. They think what they've been doing for years was good enough for the people at the bar so it's good enough on Idol, but it's not. They've got to step outside their comfort zones and make an effort to learn some new songs or try something they normally wouldn't. It looks amateurish when they say things like "I chose this song 'cause I used to play it at the local bar back home."

I agree completely- can't stand this new format where they wait until after commercial to give critiques. Makes no sense and it's kind of awkward/rude to make the contestant stand there and wait to hear their critiques. It serves no purpose, really, doing it that way. Jena's lower register is weak but so is her upper one- she just shouts her way through the high notes and you can tell she is straining her voice. Have the vocal coaches not tried to correct this, as well as her pronunciation issues, ever? I agree her affected way of singing is annoying. The only thing I honestly like about her is that she has managed to do some good arrangements of songs and her piano playing is good. Don't like anything else about her though, from the "look" to her voice to her personality. I'm on the fence about her, really, because I've liked several of her arrangements/performances but don't like her voice, personality, or the way the stylists dress her. And I totally agree about the iTunes mention- add Caleb to that list. Faithfully reached #2 on iTunes Rock, right behind the original, but did that get a mention? Nope! In fact, that was probably the highest charting performance the whole season and I think Alex led the overall charts with Story of My Life and Fairytales. They are pimping Jena hard, but I don't see her winning, honestly.

Caleb- Vocally there was nothing wrong with it and he's my favorite and all, but this wasn't exactly different from anything he's done before. This week he can have a pass since he didn't really get to choose the song, but one week I'd like to see him strip it way down and just sing with like an acoustic guitar or something. Jessica- I agreed with the judges on this one, particularly Harry. She never seems to move to the rhythm of the song at all. And vocally, she brought nothing new to the song. It sounded like a good karaoke rendition. There's nothing about her version that would make me want to buy it on iTunes when I could just listen to the original. I agree with Harry that she needs to move to the rhythm of the songs she sings more instead of awkwardly walking around all over the stage or moving out of time with the music. CJ- Surprisingly he was in tune most of the time, so that was good. This was probably his best performance, but that's not really saying much. I still think he'll be Bottom 2 tomorrow and possibly go home Dexter- Meh. Sounds like everything else he's done before. Nothing new here. Alex- Great song choice for his voice and style, but again- nothing different than what he always does. Sam- Probably his best performance on the show to date. Really strong vocally and I think he did a little better with the connection since he wasn't worried about being mauled by a bunch of teenaged girls this time Jena- I only liked the parts where it was just her and the piano. I didn't like the part with the band at all, it got too loud and she just started shouting like she usually does. I would have preferred if the whole song was just her and the piano. But overall I guess I liked it Duets/Trios: Alex/Sam- I disagreed with the judges here. I really liked their rendition and that they made it more cutesy. Their harmonies were gorgeous too Jena/Caleb- The chorus seemed off until the end. They have great energy together though Jessica/Dexter/CJ- I may have to listen again, but I didn't hear anything go off key here. I thought they sounded really good together, especially Jessica. Her voice really stood out on this one Prediction for B2 (if they do B2 again this week): CJ and either Dexter/Sam/Jessica Going home: CJ Way too much filler tonight with all the random guests, JLo's dress talk, etc. And then they ran out of time to give Jena proper critiques. Facepalm.

Oh no it didn't! I was just making a general comment because I've seen several people say they think he's outdated and that they can't see him being marketable in the present music industry. They concede he's talented but don't know where they see him in the music industry today. However, as I stated, plenty of artists go for a retro sound whether it's pop, R&B, rock, etc. but find a way to incorporate a modern twist. If Caleb found the right producers, I'm sure he could do the same. Clearly people like what he's bringing to the table as it is, so "marketability" is probably not something he needs to really worry about at the present moment.

Whether his sound is "outdated" or "tribute band singer" or not, there are clearly people who enjoy his sound. He is one of the few contestants left to have never been in the bottom 3 and his songs have been charting well on iTunes (his highest charting song was Faithfully, reaching #2 on iTunes Rock) He is one of the few contestants who has any sort of charisma or any idea how to work a stage/audience. The others are like deer in headlights. He seems the most ready of any of them. All he needs is more variety. I do agree with the judges that he likes to be loud all the time, even on ballads. He has to think of the show like a concert and really strip it down one week and not seem like a one-trick pony. If he can figure out how to add some variety, he could turn out to be the most marketable and successful contestant of the season. He is ready to rock arenas, for sure. The song he did called "Pressure and Time" was by a modern band, but has an old-school sound. He's clearly got fans who dig that classic sound. As long as there is an audience out there who's willing to buy his albums and concert tickets, it doesn't matter how "outdated" his style is. There are quite a few artists today who have done retro music with a modern twist such as Adele, Haley Reinhart, and Ariana Grande. No saying that Caleb couldn't possibly do the same. He has also shown a lot of promise, at least to me, as an actor. His impressions of the contestants and judges had me in tears. He could possibly go into a Rock of Ages type of thing or a rock-styled Broadway show. He has more possibilities than some of the others do. Some of them can't even get past the issue of singing in tune.

I agree. The Men vs. Women thing has gotten so old and tired. In the first couple seasons of the show, the men and women were mixed, but they were just randomly put on a team together. Maybe they could be separated geographically, like the east coasters versus the west coasters.

Go on YouTube and search "Caleb Johnson- Down By the River" I think you'll find what you're looking for there. ;)

Has anybody ever watched the hour-long episodes? I just got through watching them all yesterday. Some are good, some are eh. I feel like many time the story dragged on too long to fill the hour-long slot.

This has gone really off topic lol

Actually Amy stated she thought Gordon Ramsay was gonna come in there and rave about how delicious her food is to prove all the "haters" wrong. I'm sure they also would have wanted the free makeover and publicity, but the main reason, which she herself stated, was that she thought Ramsay would say how delicious her food is. She was looking for validation and for someone influential to prove the reviews wrong.