sempervivum

Hmm. Both Cade and Michael have songs that basically consist of strings of chant/talking, followed by a (admittedly) catchy chorus. Can Cade summon up the sense of humour needed to sell that song? 'Take you to my crib and rip you off'? I'm afraid we're going to have to watch him being 'sexy'. And I look forward to Magical Mike singing 'I'm not a woman; I'm not a man; I am something that you'll never understand', LOL. Catie and Maddie switch songs, eh? Wonder how Maddie won that song-I assume she wasn't the only one who wanted it. I haven't seen any evidence that she can summon up the angst of Sinead O'Connor's version, and without that, Nothing Compares 2 U can be kind of mewly and insubstantial. Catie's voice seems wasted on Manic Monday, which is a cute song, but doesn't really go anywhere.

London couple- I couldn't believe this 'princess' claimed she had to (martyred sigh) be forced into moving-temporarily-from LUBBOCK TEXAS to LONDON! Oh the humanity. They could have purchased one of those Victorian cast iron mini-fireplace surrounds at one of the many, many collectible dealers in London, and propped it up in one of the other, cheaper places, since that seemed to be the only thing in the studio that she actually considered 'charm'. Hubby was cute and had a nice dry sense of humor.

Re Kiss: but Caleb doesn't really have a falsetto, does he? That's kind of essential for that song. Michael could do it, though. Actually I wouldn't mind Catie trying it, hmm. I would rather have switched theme nights simply because there is much richer material to choose from the Prince catalog; Disney was pretty weak tea (although they did pretty well overall with it).

Freiburg girl- it's crazy, but it's so rare to see anyone with bad skin on this show that I was totally distracted. She looked like a burn victim; I mean, it's her call, but you're going to be on a very popular TV show, a little concealer would be nice.

My main concern about the Prince theme night is: WHO will get to sing 'Nothing Compares 2 U'? I favor either Michael or Catie. I can see a number of possible/good choices for 4 of them, but what will Caleb find to sing? 'Little Red Corvette' could actually be reimagined as a vaguely country-style number, but I guess he'd have to change it to 'Little Red Pick Up', which doesn't scan very well! (Might not fit his squeaky clean image, either)

The witch ('strange lady in a hat met backstage') was saying that eating the apple, ie death by poison, would relieve Katy of having to deal with the bad feeling of 3 good people being rejected. Not a very clear comment, and I'm not surprised Dennis didn't really understand it.

From what I read, the ratings are good on Sundays, and the Monday shows were neck and neck with the Voice. The abbreviated season was announced from the beginning, and I assume that had to do with ABC hedging it's bet (not knowing how AI would go over on a non-Fox audience, new night, new judges, etc). Rumor has it that it has been renewed and will be longer next year. Cade, yes, and Caleb (who will win). Plus a random female; I've been sure it would be Gabby, but maybe not.

It's going to be 5 after next week, and then 3 for the finale. I would bet that 'they' would really like to have a minority in the finale, but I don't think 'they' will get it. I give Cade credit for paying attention to everyone who suggested 'Kiss the Girl' and for finding a good arrangement. However, vocally, he makes 'Off Key' Lee DeWyze sound like Adam Lambert.

Am I the only one who thought that village in Ecuador was completely depressing? I thought the view from above made it look like a shanty town (except for the beautiful ocean, of course). I was pretty sure that just off camera, there were streets full of starving dogs and beggars . The properties sure were cheap, though!

I don't need to lose weight, but I regard this show and the participants' struggles as 'motivational' in the sense that they give me a general message of hope in triumphing over my own bad impulses. That's why the string of shows where nobody actually succeeds in reaching their goal weight have been so boring and disappointing. This is where I have a problem seeing Melissa as a motivational speaker. Unless she gets back to a reasonable weight, why would anyone want to see her talk about her struggle? She looks pretty bad (and doesn't know how to dress), has a sweet but uninteresting personality, and doesn't seem very smart/funny or insightful. She did initially succeed, with a tremendous amount of help, but then made a ton of bad decisions, including re-gaining a lot of weight. The only reason an organization might hire her would be because she's been on this show, but honestly, there's very little 'motivational' about her at this point.

Casey did such a great job with 'Jealous Guy' at top 7 in his season, and I kept hoping he'd build on that, but he never did. There is a frightening cover on YT of Cade doing 'Can't Help Falling in Love With You' (on piano!); he does not, in fact, have any kind of a voice at all, IMO. He also has a cover of 'Purple Rain', so I guess we know what he'll be performing if he makes it to top 7 (Prince theme night).

Ah, but he wasn't officially out at the time. He saved that for a magazine spread shortly after the show ended, as I recall.

Sorry, proserpina65, I carelessly copied a quote within a quote.

yes, or have it lead to something like Justin Guarini's 'Dr. Pepper' commercials!

Is anyone else creeped out by the number of dysfunctional adults on this show who refer to themselves as 'children'? This woman is 23 years old and has trapped herself in her parents home and care. From the looks of her, Mom is super concerned about appearance; I assume this has fed into this conflict. (I remember with bitterness the day my cute little mother told me that I looked just like my (300 lb) grandmother- I probably weighed 130 lbs. at the time, age 16. Never went the anorexia route, though). I think the teaser referred to some objectionable boyfriend-very curious to see a guy who would be turned on by a walking skeleton obsessed with herself.

Actually, there was an African American winner (Candace S12) and runner up (LaPorsha S15); also Hispanic runner up (Jessica Sanchez S11) in that timespan. Now, S7-10 top spots were all white, but that was preceded by minorities in first or second place in seasons 1-2-3-6. No idea what the racial demo for the AI audience is, so not sure if there's any correlation to the voting results.

Yes, and later Katy commented on Jurnee that she was the 'most qualified for the job' so she couldn't understand how the voters didn't choose her; Katy isn't shy about the political innuendo, is she? Even though I have been enjoying her, this reminds me of season 8, when she showed up for a guest performance on Idol in a cape that was emblazoned with Lambert's name. Shut up, Katy.

This show is starting to remind me of 'Wayward Pines', with a great starting premise but illogical/non-existent world building. The placement of sleepers, as well as the ultimate goal in each timeline, makes zero sense. In this episode, eliminating Johnson = no rock and roll, which= no civil rights movement and no Vietnam War withdrawal. Both of these outcomes are extremely debatable. Plus how do you find a young black woman-like the one in this episode, who tries to shoot Johnson, but is killed herself- who is willing to time travel to the 1920's, live there for who knows how long, and DIE so that the civil rights movement either never happens or is slowed down. How would she think this is worth such sacrifice? The last one with the Salem witch hunters: the plan was to keep Ben Franklin from ever being born so that France wouldn't help the revolutionaries, so that England would win, so that-what?? I want to know exactly what it is that Rittenhouse is trying to create.

I actually don't hate on him, I love rock and agree he has something, including taste. However, I think it's stretching things to say he has a 'voice' since all we've heard has been shout/growling so far. He does seem to be in the general vicinity of the melody, but beyond that, I'm not hearing it. He's going to have to possibly drop the guitar for a minute, and actually allow us to hear whatever it is he does have vocally; I don't think he can win without doing that. JMO

I guess it's inevitable that the producers will try to interfere. Surely the linking of Cade to Katy Perry's '70 year old mom' who's 'obsessed' with him, and the foolishness of KP plucking his hair was no random act? The last thing ABC needs for their shiny reboot is a Fox-style retro rocker winner. Once in a while Luke gives some insight, but mostly seems to be out of his depth (to put it kindly) and Lionel wants to play 'kindly elder statesman of music' with nothing but platitudes to offer. KP for me strikes a nice balance between matter of fact criticism and what I read as genuine appreciation. I'm actually surprised to find myself liking her.

Really. And unless there are thousands of employees at that place, how likely is it that his womanizing wasn't common knowledge? Norman was not even that good looking, lived in his parents' basement, had a low level white collar job and I assume an easily verified FB history of multiple partners, as well as court records revealing his indebtedness; are decent men really that hard to find (I'm probably giving my age away!)? I also don't want to blame the victim, but why would a 21 year old marry a guy who specifically didn't want kids, when according to her brother that was all she ever wanted? She was on the path of serial stupid decisions. I agree with the police that robbers don't strangle people- this was someone she knew. That said, her ex was soooo right as the murderer, too bad about air-tight alibi!

Here are the rules for voting, the schedule, etc. Apparently the top 10 show is going to be similar to the S15/Fox final season, with voters choosing some and judges choosing others. https://www.mjsbigblog.com/american-idol-2018-how-to-vote-top-10-reveal-and-wildcard-details.htm

Costa Rica to Barcelona- couple was OK and I agreed with their choice, but did anyone notice the table manners of their 2 cute kids? The boy was eating with his hands and the girl was awkwardly stabbing big pieces of food and then bringing them to her mouth to gnaw off the utensil.

Nessie- there were 5(?) audition episodes, plus 2 weeks of Hollywood stuff to get to top 50/24, then 2 sets of top 24 performances/eliminations. And yes, it's very 'The Voice'-like, vs. the old AI format. The only good thing is they haven't started 'battles'-and if they do, I'm OUT.

And of course when I see this I can't help but think of the afore-mentioned Shriners/St. Jude's ads with the kid who learned to write with his feet (because he has no arms). Synchronicity.