SnarkyTart

Right? Of all the singers last night, winners and losers, Devlin was at the bottom of my list all by himself as absolutely the worst. I find his tone harsh and unpleasant, and his vibrato is out of control and sooo annoying. Josh's style isn't one I particularly like, but the guy is so good that I've had him pegged as top 3 since his audition. Great steal for Usher. I also think Tess is top 3, and a great steal by Shakira. Maybe the show is stacking the deck so Shakira and Usher have a better chance of winning this season.

It is weird not seeing Ballas wearing the Spats of Doom every week, isn't it? I agree with these comments. Is there room for one more on this handcart to hell? I don't think we'll be seeing her "dance" per se, because she can't exactly. She's extremely fit and athletic, graceful, has good timing and musicality. But, to state the obvious, she has no legs (from the knees down) or feet. I'm not trying to be a terrible person here. She's a beautiful woman, she's engaging and courageous beyond description. But the only conceivable way for her to compete on this show is for her to be judged by an entirely different standard. I disagree with that, and find it unfair to the other contestants. Thanks for that information! If you get a chance to watch a replay, I'd be interested to know if you think that Charlie was on the beat, whereas Sharna was behind it. If the following partner in a jive isn't supposed to be a beat behind the leader on kick sequences, it doesn't make sense for Carrie Ann to deduct points from Charlie's score on the basis of him being ahead of Sharna if he was on the beat. I could see maybe deducting points for the couple being out of synch with each other, but Carrie Ann faulted Charlie for this, and it looked to me like the fault was Sharna's.

Someone on TwoP, maybe ari33, coined the term Boo Cows. I like that. American Idol would benefit hugely by eliminating The Boo Cows and Cheer Bots. (Eliminating Randy Jackson would hugely improve things too, but that's another subject.) I find The Voice much more enjoyable to watch than AI, partly as a result of NO Boo Cows. The judges are free to give performance critiques, and we are saved from hearing the audience boo, without the possibility of a good judge starting to self-censor so as to avoid being stampeded by Boo Cows. It would be ridiculously easy to eliminate these issues by turning the sound down on the audience, as The Voice does. Obviously, the AI showrunners want it this way. I hate the Sway Bots, too, even if they don't affect the judging. Nigel Lithgoe was smart enough to at least get rid of the Sway Bots, but the stupid show brought them back as soon as he was gone.

I'm not sure if this is the right thread to post general discussion about the show? I'd hate to be off-topic in the off-topic discussion thread :) I watched The Voice last night and saw 16 contestants battling to make it to the live voting rounds. Of the 16 contestants, including the ones who were eliminated last night, I seriously thought all but maybe 2 of them would have easily been contenders to win this season of American Idol. American Idol's declining ratings are largely a result of awful talent, in my opinion. The show has done some things right as far as re-tooling and improving the viewing experience. Mainly, revamping the judging panel. It's a huge improvement over last season. Getting rid of the joke auditions was another big improvement, as was shortening the results show to a half-hour. The show also seems to have rid itself of most of the backstory sob fests about dead wives, single moms, etc. and that has made it more watchable. If they'd finally get rid of Randy freaking Jackson, I'd have no arguments with the basic structure of the show. But, bottom line, isn't this ultimately supposed to be a talent show? How do you pull that off when the majority of your finalists are mediocre singers, including a few who can't even sing in tune, and the ones who can sing passably are mostly lacking in stage presence, personality or charisma? This is the same thing that killed X-Factor. Adam Levine was snarking on American Idol last night, and not for the first time. He said he felt sorry for the other singing shows because we (meaning The Voice) have the best singers. He was right, and it's not even close. I'm a huge fan of talent competition shows because I enjoy watching *talented* people perform and compete. American Idol, how is that you can fix so many of the issues that are hurting your show, and neglect the one that matters the most?

Re: Charlie and Sharna's dance. As soon as Charlie completed his entrance and joined Sharna on the floor, for the first minute or so of them dancing together, I was totally distracted by the appearance of Sharna dancing behind the beat. Carrie Ann deducted points because, she said, Charlie was ahead of the beat a couple of times. I don't think so. I re-watched it and it still looks like Sharna is behind the beat and Charlie's right in time with the music. Glad to see Billy Dee withdraw from the show. He made a graceful exit, and now I don't have to worry about whether or not his sympathy votes would keep him in longer than the more deserving "stars." Beyond bizarre judges scoring tonight. Everybody gets a trophy! The fourth judge is almost as pointless as the partner switch-up.