THE RECAPS
STORMSEEKER.COM RECAPS! Reality editor Gordon Pepper provides
recaps of each show.
May 28, 2003 June 4, 2003 June 9, 2003 June 11, 2003 June 18, 2003 June 25, 2003 July 2, 2003 July 9, 2003 July 16, 2003 July 23, 2003
Debbie Allen wants to give you FAME! Excited yet? Well, in this talent contest, we combine singing and dancing as we start with 24 semi-finalists and wind up with one champion! Excited yet?
I'm not either.
Joey Fatone starts us off with the gig - and we are introduced to Debbie Allen. We then get to be introduced to the day before montage. And the montage is a good perspective of what Debbie will be doing - she hears some singing, she sees some dancing, then she cuts a lot of people and leaves a few left.
We get the montage - and we get 17 people out of New York, including a woman who lost her job and got into a car accident. We then go to Miami, where it seems like most of the vocal chords got into an accident. Yuck. This is sort of like American Idol - but without the witty banter from Simon or any insight from Debbie - she seems to be a cross between Paula and the happy side of Randy Jackson. We also don't get to be really up close and personal with the potential contestants - we hear a 3 second clip of them singing, so it's not really recappable. Everyone is happy - they are even happy when they get booted - because it was a great experience. So this is a happier cheerier American Idol/Star Search clone. Yawwwwwwn. But enough about my opinion - the show must go on, and Debbie's choice of the triple threat (singing, dancing and personality) we get 11 people from the land of the Sol.
It's now time to go to Chicago - the Windy City - and the rapping city, as there was a huge urban flavor - and very scary contestants. Kimberly stopped in the middle - and then she hides in the corner crying. No, she doesn't make the cut - and most of these people don't either as they fall victim to the dance callback. We get 11 survivors out of Chicago.
After a surprise visit from Benjamin Bratt and Juliana Marguiles as wanna-be contestants (which has been the most entertaining part of the show so far), our final city is Los Angeles - the land of the weird people. Weird including a drag queen (who doesn't make it) and a scantily adorned woman (who also doesn't get in). Unlike Chicago, these guys could dance - and this may be the power choreography group.We get 11 power players from L.A.
So here are the 24 semi-finalists who will be going up against each other...wait a sec - 24? We had 68 people who are there - how did we get from 68 to 24? We'll never know, which is really lame, if you ask me. But no one did ask me, so we get to see our final 24. Carolyn Zeppa, Michelle Livigne, Alexis Adler, Danny Alvarez, Judy Ho, Jamison Tiangco, Johannes Williams, Harlemm Lee, Mackenzie Thomas, Allyson Arena, Christine Evangelista, Brandon O'Neal, Raymond Lee, Serena Henry, Alex Boyd, Ryan Chotto, Sean Dolan, Lauren Hildebrandt, Todd Evans, Justin Jacoby, Shannon Bex, MOY, Garry Adams and Dion Watson.
Now that last part was inspiring - too bad that we got that energy at the end of the hour - and not the beginning of it. We get to see people profiles who made the top 24, people who didn't make it, and other people who have just magically appeared on our screen, and as to how we got there? I have no clue how. This has been pretty much a waste of a good hour (sans the last few minutes). Sure, we will be seeing them in action, but I know nothing more about this show or the people in it after an hour - and that's not a good sign.
And now just like they were hearing me type this up, here are the rules - the first round will group everyone into sets of 6. Everyone will be doing a solo and a group performance. Three of those 6 make it to the next round, where it's up to YOU the voters (or whoever's left of you) to decide who the winner is. Whoever wins this shebang gets the deal, a year in luxury, a singing contract, and all of the goodies that go with living the high life.
In order to find out who will get to the round of 12, we need to find some judges - and the second hour starts with an intro of said judges who will determine who advances. They are talent finder Johnny Wright, Wilson Phillips former fattie Carney Wilson, and KISS FM's Jojo Wright. 2 Wrongs don't make a right, but 2 Wrights, in this case, make a talent show (yuk yuk yuk).
Here are the first 6 contestants - Shannon Bex, Danny Alvarez, Alex Boyd, Judy Ho, Gary Adams and Mackenzie Thomas.
We start off with Shannon Bex. She does a rendition of 'Hot Stuff' witch was more like camp ground girl scout by the fire stuff. Not too bad - sweet and stuff, but she could not hit the high notes and she is certainly beatable. Her dancing is nice though, and she has a sweet body, but she didn't blow me out of the water. The judges...we,, the judges are all sugary, and they compliment her dancing over her pitchy singing.
Danny Alvarez is next with 'Isn't She Lovely'. Remember when I mentioned about Shannon's pitch? Forget it - I love Shannon's pitch compared to Danny. Absolutely brutal to the point of pain rendering as he is incredibly flat. I did like his dancing and leg shifting, but that does not do enough for me to forgive his awful crooning. The judges think that he is stiff and they didn't like his pitch, the moves were ok, but he didn't dance and sing at the same time. It would be hard for them to put them in the top 3 - and I agree with that.
Mackenzie Thomas is next as she sings 'Don't Rain on My Parade.' Debbie is scolding her on the dance moves in her video and that is already not a good sign. She is going to rely on her singing, and after listening to her, that's not a good sign either. Very very pitchy = sometimes she id dead on and sometimes she is all over the place. I think she will get better with practice, but will she get a second shot? Not according to the judges, who saw 2 parts of the tripe threat. She will come back with the group dancing - but is that a good thing?
4th up is Alex Boyd, and according to him, 'I have never had a dance lesson in my life'. I would say that that would be a problem, but based on what I've seen so far, I can see him skating through with a decent effort. He is doing exactly what Mackenzie should have done - he is playing to his strength - he knows that he can't dance so he does a bunch of leg movements and wiggles that make him look much better than what he really is. He also has a nice voice, and I will be shocked if he doesn't make it into the next round. The judges agreed - and they thought that it was a smart and smooth choice for him. He's the best so far. But could there be some favoritism? Alex was in a Debbie Allen production before. Bias? Hmmmmmm.....we may check back on this in a few weeks....
Judy Ho is the next to go. Her vocals flow, but do her movements show? No. Like Mackenzie, Judy is relying on her vocals (which are very very good) to prevail over her movements (which are very very bad). The judges think that nerves got the best of her - and that's not a good sign. Debbie is sticking up for Judy, but she is not one of the judges. I still think that she is in the top 3, but she would be in a tentative third, and I think the door is wide open for the last performer.
And that said person is Garry Adams, who does Michael Jackson's 'Rock With You' He considers himself out of shape, and it shows. I didn't like his movements either, and it will be a toss-up with me between him and Judy for the last spot. Although Judy has the better voice, I would give it to Garry, because he seemed more into it and it seems like he wants it more. The judges believe that he was off on the high notes, but he does has the charisma. That swings it in my opinion that Garry, Alex and Shannon will advance to the next round.
But YOU can join in - if you go to nbc.com/fame to join in the fun - if you give them a tape by July 1. Let's see if anyone has any hidden talent - or if the people are so pitiful that they may need to go out and recruit some more talent.
Up next - the dancing medley, where we get to see the people dance for YOU! I am not expecting a heck of a lot here, since three of them have already said that they can not dance. It actually didn't look that bad - and everyone got an equal part - but if the final dance was between Judy and Garry in terms of survival, I would have to give it to Garry.
But it doesn't matter what I say - it matters what the judges say - and here's their decision - Alex Boyd is first, then Shannon Bex, and finally Garry Adams. Exactly how I predicted it. I love being right.
But as for the people who didn't make it, they were at least professional about it, as Debbie Allen tells them that this is but one step in a long road. We'll see the next three people to hit the road next week...
We get a demand to this week's 6 contestant's to keep their head up and deliver. We start with the same 'we came to work' montage that started last week's second hour, and then we see the 6 finalists - Brandon O'Neal, Michelle Livigne, Todd Evans, Serena Henry, Ryan Chotto and Jamisen Tiecgo.
We start off with Brandon O'Neal. This guy is smooth. He has the moves and he has the voice. The face you can probably stuff in a paper bag, but from a talent perspective, he blew all of last week's competitors out of the water. There should be no way that he is not in the top three. The judges also think that he's got it going on.
Michelle Livigne is next. She does Alannah Myles 'Black Velvet'. Not as strong as Brandon, but I don't think anyone is going to be as strong as Brandon. She also has it going on, and it seems clear early on that this is going to be a much stronger group than last week's bunch. If she was there last week, she's top 3 material - but how will she do against this week's group? The judges thought that she was uncomfortable with the song - and Carnie is horny. Did we really need to know that? It wasn't the best choice of song, but she would have gotten away with it from last week. What will happen this week?
Todd Evans happens this week, and he, according to Stevie Wonder, is 'Overjoyed'. I'll be overjoyed when he stops singing. Awful on the pitch, no real sense of choreography, and it feels like he's singing by numbers. He picks it up near the end a little, but it's too little, too late, and based on the judges previous picks, they should agree. The judges say that it's good but over-the-top and Todd thought the rehearsal was better. He's definitely in that 'on the edge' position.
Serena Henry is next up - and she definitely brings that strong charisma - that 'you will sing with me and bounce with me' feel to it. She is also walking like Todd, but she moves with the song and her movements fit the song, unlike Todd, who just seemed like he was walking around the stage. She's got the voice, too, so that makes her a triple-threat in my eyes. The judges give her a standing ovation, and she also seems like a Top 3 Lock.
Can Ryan Chotto lock up the third spot? He looks like Derrick 'Butt Implants' Flowers on Fear Factor - but Ryan is more nimble. He is a back-up dancer, and he does have the moves, but I wasn't feeling it in the vocals in 'Dancing in the Streets'. Neither were the judges, where they feel like he could have room for improvement. Ryan admits that he picked this song at the last minute, and that third spot is wide open.
Jamisen Tiecgo is the last singer for the evening, and she sings 'You're Making Me High' from Toni Braxton's repertoire. The singing is definitely there, but the moves are not, and although I think she has an edge, it could boil down to the final dance number to see who breaks the 3-way call between Jamisen, Michelle and Todd. Do the judges agree with me? Yes. The judges feel that she needs some improvement, but they liked it. I think the final spot is hers to lose.
Will she lose it in the final dance segment? No, but Michelle is giving her a strong run for it. I still give Jamisen the edge, but I wouldn't be surprised if Michelle snuck in.
Serena Henry and Brandon O'Neal are the first 2 people, which surprises no one. The third vote goes....to....Jamison. Once again I am 3 for three - but I'll say this - Michelle got stuck in the wrong group, because I feel that she would have gotten in if she was in last week's group.
Next week - we get a double dosage - Monday and Wednesday! The hottest new show gets to plug in holes on NBC's Line-up as we see a week early who the second half of the final 12 are. Catch it.
Apparently, a lot of you have caught the Fame fever, because we have a special Monday night gala. The gala will be even better for three of the 6 people who have come to work. Three of the other people though will come to go home.
After Debbie Allen's traditional horrific monologue to start the proceedings, we see the 6 people who are here to work today - Alexis Adler, Dion Watson, Allyson Arena, Justin Jacoby, Christine Evangelista and Raymond Lee.
Despite her opening intros, Debbie has gotten better at this - while Joey has gotten worse. Can i actually say that Joey could have gotten worse from last time? Yep. Where's Lance?
Alexis Adler starts it off - and she says that she's a normal girl. She just broke up with her boyfriend, but she says that it won't affect her performance. It certainly doesn't. She's probably the most creative so far, and her vocals are dead-on. She did the 'Hey Big Spender' from Chicago the musical version - table and all - and if the judges were offended by last week's performances, how would they react to this? Favorably - 'I thought you did amazing'. 'I feel really guilty for that because you're 16 and I'm not.' says Jo Jo Wright. That's weird that they wouldn't be offended by her 'Flashdance' act, but according to the judges, she's solid.
Will the judges feel the same way about Dion Watson? He also has a distraction - his brother is in Kuwait right now, and he uses dancing to feed off of his nervousness. Dion does James Brown's 'I don't Want Nothin'. He definitely has the moves - but he does not have the vocal chops to advance in this competition. In the words of Anthony Rojas, Meow, meow, meow. The judges were really nice on him in terms of pitch, which makes me believe that they are not going to be mean at all in this series. I miss Simon Cowell right now. I really do. Sniff, sniff, sniff...
Hopefully, Allyson Arena can help me take out the cotton in my ears. She gets emotional when she talks about how she gets rejected. Will the public be next? As she sings 'Cabaret' (yes, with the chair), I see that I will not be one of those people who will be rejecting her. Damn, where did she get those legs? Her voice has too much tremolo for me, but that body and those long legs do it for me. The judges thought she was outstanding and a potential Broadway star. The women who play with furniture look to be 2-0 tonight.
Justin Jacoby will not be playing with furniture, but he will be doing an original rap. Where's that cotton? The good news is that I won't be using the cotton - but the bad news is that I will be covering my ears with a plunger instead. Truly, truly dreadful. Like Dion, he can move, but like Dion, he needs to keep his mouth shut. I'll give him bonus points for being original, but please, Justin, stop taking off your shirt on stage and keep your clothes on. Carnie says that she lit a fire under her butt. Well, there's a lot of that butt that can be going around...
Christine Evangelista is a self-professed entertainer. She's dedicating her performance to her grandmother and sings 'All that Jazz'. She also uses a chair (tonight must be Broadway and balsam night). Unfortunately, the other 2 girls blew away her performance, and for her sake, she needed to do anything different to have a realistic shot at this. She was good, but they were better. The judges say that she has a lot of potential - which is good because she can get better, but it's bad because we all know that we aren't going to see her get better on this show.
Raymond Lee is trying to break the stereotypical dorky type as he sings 'I'll Be There' from the Jackson collection. Ugh. The pitch was mediocre, and he could not dance at all. None of the men can sing tonight, and this solidifies Alexis's and Allyson's spots in the final three. That third spot is wide open - I think that Christina should get it, but I can't see three women advancing. The problem is that I can't see any of the guys advancing either. I'll have to say Raymond just because he was the only guy who came close to pitch.
By the way, if you think that you can sing better then the guys (which wouldn't be that hard), you can send in a 'Spoiler' Application if you go to the NBC web site - just make sure that your tape is in before July 1st.
Even though Raymond may have the upper hand, the other guys may have a shot in the group production, where the choreography is highlighted more than the singing. Unfortunately, we have to hear the guys sing, and it's pretty atrocious. Christina didn't play her way in though - she was breathy. The only guy who may have improved his stock was Justin - but will it be enough?
There may have been a reason why this was the Monday special - with the exception of Allyson and Alexis, this was the weakest bunch so far. Michelle (from last episode) should be kicking herself, because this is probably the group that she would want to be in. Sure enough, Allyson is first. The second person is...Justin? I guess his performance on the group effort really did pull him through, which means that he must have outplayed Raymond, since the third person is...RAYMOND??? Wha??? None of the guys could sing, and the judges accept TWO of them??? What about Alexis??? Were these judges watching the same performances that I was?
Uhhhhh....I don't get it. I'm 2 for three, but I still do not understand how Alexis is out. I guess the risque performance did come back to bite her in the same area that Carnie wants Justin to light a fire under. This Wednesday, we'll see who will be kicking butt to Fame, and who may be needing to kiss some...
We are down to the last set of semi-finalists. Let's see if they are actually going to judge these people on the 'Triple Threat' standard, or by some strange standard that no one knows about except the judges. This week's guinea pigs...Er, I mean contestants are Harlemm Lee, Carolyn Zeppa, Johannes Williams, Lauren Hildebrandt, Sean Dolan, and MOY.
We start with everyone's favorite short bald guy, Harlemm Lee. Harlemm has always been a loner, and this experience has made him a better person as he cries all over his intro. AwwwwwwwBLEAGH. Is it just me, or does everyone cry on their intros. What an annoying trend.
Harlemm sings Janet Jackson's 'Control' which I would deduct points for by singing a female song (when you are not a female), but he more than makes up for it with his pitch and his choreography is sweet. He also has a charisma which will makes him a legitimate threat in the finals. Debbie Allen calls him an ambassador for the human race. I wouldn't go THAT far, but mark my words, he will be in the finals.
Carolyn, who also cries through her intro (argh), sings 'I Got Ya' from the musical 'Fosse'. She also did a nice job, but I did not think that this was the type of song that would be good for this competition. There is not a lot of singing in this song, and that's what the judges have heavily leaned on. Carolyn simply did not do her homework in my mind. She could have gotten away with this last week and in week 1, but I don't think that she is going to get away with it for this week.
Johannes Williams, who is suffering from ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), is the next contestant. Thankfully, he doesn't cry in his intro. I am crying during his song. He does a little L.L. Cool J (Rock The Bells) - and not only is he not singing, he does not do a good rendition of it. I was not impressed by the choreography or the performance, but they did put a rapper into the finals last week, and he was worse than Johannes - so who knows? The judges say that he did much better now than he did at the rehearsal - wait a sec. The judges actually get to judge the rehearsals too? Wha? I don't get that at all...
Maybe Lauren Hildebrandt will help me out here. Maybe not - she would choose Fame over her boyfriend. She sings 'Hit me with a hot note', which is yet another musical song. Now this is the song that Carolyn should have done - it's a nice cross between dancing and singing, and she does it very well, blowing Carolyn out of the water. The judges agree, and Lauren is well on her way to the Finals.
Up next is Sean Dolan - and he sings a little Justin Timberlake. His moves are nice, which are good, because they cover the less-than-passable vocals. What's up with the guys who can't sing in this competition? This has been nothing less than brutal for almost all of the male singing. It's a good think that dancing was part of this, because this would be an almost all-female finals if it wasn't. He definitely has the charisma, too, according to the judges, but they also go after his vocals too and that is not a good sign.
MOY is the last person for the evening, and she sings Beyonce Knowles. I have one word fo the one worded MOY - Smooth. She is very polished and looks very comfortable on the stage. I would have liked to see more choreography, but she holds her own and with her silky voice, she should have no problems getting into the finals. 'Moy Bien!' says Joey. Enough said.
Like the other 2 shows, I think that 2 of the spots have been locked in (this time for Harlemm and Moy) - and I think the third spot is up for grabs (between Johannes and Lauren). It could come down to the final dance number. But first, a reminder that if you want to be a spoiler, to get those tapes in by July 1st.
Here comes the dance scene - and straight from the pages of American Idol, it's disco night - Boogie Wonderland is the song that they are playing. now will I be the talent expert or the jaded cynic here? If it was just on talent, then Lauren should get the third slot. But talent does not always win here...Johannes, who was clearly outperformed by Lauren in the group number, could get the last spot if you based the decision purely on Demographics. Johannes, although certainly not deserving of the Top 3, could get the spot by being different, just like last week, when Justin and Raymond both got sports that they didn't deserve (in my opinion) due to demographics.
Everyone's questions will be answered, as Joey reads off the three finalists. MOY gets the first slot - and Lauren Hildebrandt takes second. That renews my faith in the judging contest - and it will really renew it if Harlemm Lee gets the last spot. He does. The bad taste from last week has been partially refreshed from my mouth as we move on to the finals.
Now is when the contest becomes interesting, because the contest is no longer judged by the celebrities - it's judged by you. Next week is the 2 hour special where we all get to see all of the finalists in action. Be there so you can also get your right to vote in action as well.
The smoke has cleared, and we are doen to the dirty dozen. We will be finding out exactly what people will be doing for Fame, and apparently, some people will be doing more things than others.
All of them came to work - and we see that in the quick recap and the intro. The announcer (America decides who stays and who goes) sounds eeerily like the guy on American Idol - but this is pretty much the singing/choreography version. Neither Ruben or Clay would make the first cut here - but then again, judging by the voices, none of the people from Fame would have made the first cut on American Idol, so we have a draw.
Here are the rules - you may vote up to 5 times. The top 10 move on, and the bottom 2 go home. Johnny Wright, Carnie Wilson and JoJo Wright will still be around to give their own critiques, but they don't have their say - you do.
After watching a clip of a woman who thought that they were auditioning for Flashdance instead of Fame, we start with the individual performances. Raymond Lee is bringing a fiddle, but he wants all of you to know that he's not fiddling around. He considers himself the ugly ducking - and I'd agree with that - but it's not looks that count, it's talen...oh what are we kidding, of course it's looks. He does '1-2-3', which was popular in the 70's by the Jacksons - and so was the leather outfit that he is wearing. From an image level, he's goofy, but from a talent level, he's pretty good - it doesn't blow me out of my chair, but it wasn't brutal. The judges thought that it was a case of nerves, and they didn't like his self-esteem issues. I have to agree with the judges.
Jamison Tiencgo is next - and she sprained her left foot. She has a hurt leg ad she performs Janet Jackson's 'Miss You Much'. If a horse has a bad leg, you put him out into the pasture and shoot him. She is clearly limited my mobility, but she has a sweet voice, and although, like Raymond, it's wasn't 'blow me out of my seat' competition, that should send her into the next round of the competition. The judges weren't blown away by Jamison either. Gee, tough crowd.
We get to see some of the 'spoiler' tapes (the ones that people from home are supposed to send in to try to crash the show). And they wer...shall we say...crappy. And it also looked like that they picked only 7 tapes and showed the same people over and over again. Did they only get 7 tapes?
Moy is broke and a starving artist - so she needs to stick around in the competition so that she can earn some Moy money (ok fine, that stunk, but I HAD to use it once in a pun joke). Moy croons out 'Unbreak My Heart', which is a song that I can't see much dancing going to. I'm right there - and I did not like the singing either - especially at the end, when she seemed to lose it. That is not a good start, and when the judges say that the best thing about the performance is their outfit, then it could be Bye-Bye to Moy.
Brandon O'Neal doesn't want to join Moy on the wagon of Suck, but he also picks a slow song from Stevie Wonder's ('Knocks me off me feet') repertoire - and his vocals, though better than Moy's, are still sub-standard. Where's the choreography, people? The judges liked his voice a little better than I did, and they thought that Brandon was smooth. They put him at the top - which is not hard to do, because the performances so far are leaving me wanting to see some spoilers.
Can Alison Arena do better than a spoiler? She got out of the wrong crowd and she sometimes likes/hates her daddy. She sings 'Because You Loved Me'. and I am more than ready to see the Spoilers come on. The voice pitch is completely off and no choreography on a slow song whatsoever. OK - please explain something to me - this is about DANCING too, right???? RIGHT???? This is one of the problems that you have when you try to satisfy the demographics - you lose talent, and when you don't have that, you lose the ratings. At least American Idol, when they did that, got the talent part right. The judges applaud the fact that she made the effort, but effort doesn't match performance - at least not this time. Ugh.
Justin Jacoby's dad has come back - and he asked to be the head of his security. Wha? He has his own rap - which is just as awful as his first rap. At least his choreography has to be better, right? Wrong. He does a little feet shuffle at the end, but that doesn't cover the fact that he was as stiff as a board for the first 90% of the song. He does have the charisma, though, and just because he is different (not talented, but different), he could be one of the favorites.
Now before everyone starts writing in saying that I am a rap-basher, let me point out that I do love GOOD rap. I enjoy listening to CLEVER Rap - like KRS-One, Young MC, Salt-N-Pepa, Faithless and Strike (a rap group from the UK). And yes, when I am in that sort of mood, I do like Notorious B.I.G., and (when he's actually trying to relay a message and be insightful instead of spew obscenities) Eminem. Those artists are all examples of clever rap. Cliched rap, like what Justin gave us, is not enjoyable. Blech.
We have our first group effort of the evening at the half-way mark, as Harlemm plays the piano while everyone else sings 'Fame'. This is pretty much a synopsis of the show together - they do the ballad of the song, with people warbling out of tune and NO dancing whatsoever. They finally do get to dance, but the self-gratification number has taken it's toll on me. PLEASE let's see some TRIPLE THREAT action in the second half of the show!!!!! PLEASE????
Next up is Harlemm Lee, who wears goggles to hide his eyesight. He is also hiding something else - he lied about his age, and Debbie Allen calls him on the carpet for him to tell the world that he is actually 35 years old. Oops. He sings Oleta Adams 'Get Here'. If you have been reading some of my earlier writings, you know that one of my biggest pet peeves is when men try to sing women's songs (and vice-versa). He actually combines choreography with ballad-singing, and he has a pretty decent woman's voice. Unfortunately, he's a guy, and when I am giving the greatest praises in terms of vocals to a man who sings like a woman, I am signifying a problem with the talent as a whole. The judges think that he can win this, and I have to agree - but I don't know if the reason why is because he is good or because the rest of the competition is mediocre.
Lauren Hildebrandt wants us all to know that she is falling in love with her boyfriend. AwwwwwwwBarf. She sings 'Last Dance', which would be a good song for a Triple Threat - nice vocals, and an opportunity for some nice dancing. She doesn't really dance, but she does move around the stage (which is better than most people), and her nice vocals makes her one of the better all-around singers. The judges thought that she took the easy way out - and she did, but she was solid, and solid in this stage of the game is better than nice effort, but rotten performance.
One of the clues that your show may be in trouble - When you see a transvestite as one of the rejected people, and you are thinking that the trannie has more talent and potential than half of the people that are still in the competition.
Garry Adams gets frustrated a lot (and I would be too if I was watching this show...wait a second, I am watching it. Grrrrrrrrrr....). Last time, he had the moves, but not the vocals. He is singing 'Never Too Much' by one of my faves - Luther Vandross. Garry has a MUCH better performance this time around, and this was more what I was thinking about with the triple threat. The pitch still isn't perfect, but the moves are and he is getting better musically. If he can get the song part in there, then he could be a heavy hitter.
Shannon Bex was the first person out here, and when I saw her first, I thought she was mediocre. My opinion changed when I saw the rest of the competition, and I put her up in the top half of the standings. My stock in her continues to rise as she does a bang-up job of 'Rolling Like a River'. Vocals - very solid, Choreography - nice, and the charisma (and body) is definitely there. This is easily my favorite performance of the night. The judges agree, and they think she's a star. Shannon could be the person to beat in this competition.
Alex Boyd used to be the fat kid - and look at him now! He's singing 'I Wish' - and we are back to the shlumpy first half of the show. He is livelier in the choreography than the others, but that doesn't make up for the weak vocals. The judges think that he is charismatic - but is the charisma good enough to mask everything else?
Our last performer is Serena Henry - and she thinks that her toughest competitor is Harlemm. I think that there are a few competitors that are better than him - and she is one of them. She has a very solid performance, and although it wasn't a blow-me-away effort, she does have the triple threat going, which is more than I cay say for most of the people here. JoJo thinks that she will win it, and while I don't think that she should be anointed just yet, she is one of the people to beat.
We get to see a group performance of 'Staying Alive' (which I would have better off not seeing - that was just plain hideous. Message to producers - if you are trying to promote your stars, DO NOT give them a numbers that their vocal talents can't accurately perform), and then the 1800 numbers for each of the performers. After a thank you to the judges, that's a wrap.
Now that I have seen the final 12 competitors, here, in my opinion, is the bottom line on this show. For the first half of the show, Fame was not doing what it says that it should be doing and instead of being a 'Triple Threat' effort, it turned into another watered-down American Idol wanna-be. If I was not covering the show, what I saw for the first half would be more than enough for me to change the channel and watch Paradise Hotel.
The second half of the show was markedly better, and we actually have some people who have the triple threat capability. I think your top performers are Shannon, Garry, Lauren, Harlemm, and Serena, with Justin thrown in there as someone who will probably be in there (though not one of my favorites). The 2 people who won't be seeing any time next week? I don't know what the audience would vote, but I would say Jamison and Moy would be on their way out.
In my opinion, I think the producers went out of their way to find raw talent and see them improve up to greatness (aka American Idol) instead of already polished talent who was just a few exposures away from hitting the big time. With the competition level being raised by shows like AI and Star Search, that may have been a huge mistake. The talent pales to those shows, and it shows. Even the front runners need to step up their game, or the finals of this show may be seen on BRAVO. We'll see if that happens - and which 2 people will be happy to appear on BRAVO - next week.
We have spent so much time with the 12 (well, only a few weeks), but we will be spending less time with 2 of them. There is no opening number this time around - they all came to work, but 2 of them will be leaving work a little earlier than expected.
Here's how it works. They will be announcing the finalists right here and now - and then they immediately have to perform. That's not a lot of time for the people to compose themselves, and I'm thinking that some of these performance will be less than stellar because of it.
We'll see if I'm right very quickly, as the first person to make it is...Serena Henry! Now we don't know in what order that they are singing in, but let's take Joey Fatone's word and say that they are performing in order. Serena, based on last week's effort, deserves to be in first - and true to form, she is shaky on her start. She does make a nice recovery, and although there isn't much movement in Toni Braxton's 'Breathe Again', it's still very nice. The judges agree, and she should still be in there next week.
The second person to make it is...Raymond Lee! He preforms 'I'll Be', and once again we have a ballad. Well, charisma and personality has to play a major part of the voting - because it sure as heck isn't singing. An absolutely off-pitch effort, but that didn't stop him last week, so I don't see why it would stop him this week.
Well, this changes things a little, after seeing who the audience supposedly put up first and second. If it's image over talent, then my 'safe' picks aren't so safe. Garry and Lauren were both egomaniacs, while Harlemm lied about his age and Moy wasn't helpful. Could milquetoast and non-offending be better than talented but brash?
The third finalist is Alex Boyd. i can't argue there - he is the only true white male crooner in the group, and as long as he doesn't run over anyone's cat, he should be there for the long haul. He croons some more with Etta James 'At Last'. A male singing a woman's song - yuck. But like Harlemm last week, he does pull it off well, but again, slow song means no dancing. Well, the dancing part of this is gone right out the window and this is now the American Idol - minor league division.
Coming in 4th is Jamison Tiencgo!!! Wha????? She sings 'God Bless the Child' and I am wondering what these viewers were watching when they were voting. She had by far the worst effort (right there with Moy) and she is in 4th? Talent is definitely a requirement here as we get - yep, you guessed it - another stinking ballad and another non-choreographic effort (no, her pacing around the stage does NOT count as dancing). A MUCH better effort this time around, but I'm guessing that because she was good, she'll be in trouble next week.
At the halfway mark, performer #5 is Brandon O'Neal. He sings 'Thank you for Letting me be Myself'. The vocals are better than last week, and he i the first person to actually put moves into his work. This shows me 2 things - 1. he should be in for this week, and 2. Either Moy or Garry Adams (or both) will be on the outside looking in. Mr. Wright tells him that he didn't have the focus this time around - well, gee, you were only told 20 seconds ago that you advance - would you be that focused? Duh.
We celebrate the intermission with a group number. Oh yeah - that makes sense. Why don't you take the people who didn't get in yet and geek them even more by making them perform in a number in the middle of the show. If they weren't going to sound rotten before, them being out of it after the performance would be. And speaking of rotten, the performance was horrid. People were out of key and only Serena hit her notes accurately. Anyone have a large gong that I can borrow?
Ok - we're back from the icky group efforts and we will now be starting the icky individual efforts. But don't say that to Shannon Bex - tough I have to wonder why my personal favorite was in 6th. She sings 'Can't Fight The Moonlight.', which wasn't as good as last time, but she does shimmy to the music and tries to get a little funky with it. She could be in trouble - a song that she sang ok in - which is a song that was good enough to think that people may not vote for her, but one not good enough for her to get more groupies.
Going in 7th is Harlemm Lee - and the lying about his age didn't get booted. Maybe his opening song will. He completely misses the notes, and he mangles the words to boot. He does give the choreography a good effort, but this was truly retching. This was sad, but I can't see him going yet.
We are down to 4 slots and 6 people to fill them. One of those slots is going to Allyson Arena. She sings Material Girl - and she needs a material voice. The performances are going exactly as I expect them to go - lousy. Remember when you could have shut the TV off after hour 1 if you thought that these people sucked? They saved the suck this time around for hour #2. Debbie is happy about this - but then again, I think you can have Debbie happy about carved ham right about now - and the hams are all onstage.
We have 2 slots left - and Joey will be getting rid of one of the 2 people right now - and it's LAUREN. So they take the most talented person who's left and eliminate her. That's great, audience - thanks. Justin the rapper is lucky #9 - but unlucky to my eardrums as he raps 'No More', which is pretty appropriate, since I don't want to hear any more of him.
So we have 2 people left - Moy, the woman who was awful, and Garry, the person who was good, but had the ego the size of Mt. Rushmore. Since personality has clearly gotten the upper hand over talent this evening, I will say that moy sticks around and Garry leaves - and I'm right. So you have gotten rid of 2 of the better people while Moy sings 'Black Cat'. She mangles up her lyrics and misses half of them. The dancing was good - but does that rescue her from being eliminated?
Well, I was completely off, but I know how the audience is voting - which is screwy. It's image over talent in the worst way, and when you knock out the talent, you're making this a real bad show. My picks for going bye-bye next week from a talent standpoint are Justin and Allyson, but it's the audience that's voting, so I'm guessing that they are both safe.
I remember one Mr. Rome (from ESPN) said that American Idol was a glorified Karaoke Contest. He didn't see this show. The talent is clearly inferior to AI and even Corey Clark would make the finals in Fame. If these people don't pick it up, the ratings will be leaving along with the competitors.
We have spoilers! We have eliminations! We have...Lauren and Garry?? Well, sort of. We start with them saying how much they loved it, with Garry telling the remaining people to be happy, since he is the person who got voted off, not them. Very true words - though he may be happy that he got off the sinking ship before the rats departed it...
But the first person who is stuck on the ship is Allyson Arena. Ok - I am now convinced that these people are not selected based on voting offer - especially after she butchers 'We are Family'. Awful awful awful. Here's the triple threat - the singing was bad, the dancing was bad and the charisma is not there, as I have the feeling that I am in for a very long night.
We interrupt the bad talent to see what the contestant's reaction is on the 'Spoiler' - and as you can expect, no one is happy. Well, in life, there is someone who skates into a position that they don't deserve - but in this case, I'm thinking that It will be deserved - unless the producers purposely try to bring in someone who royally sucks to try to artificially enhance the value of the people who are still on the show.
The second person who gets in is...Justin Jacoby. Maybe they are doing the voting order in reverse this week. Once again, we are subjected to verbal torture, and I'm not going to bother in citing some of the rap lyrics. WHERE'S THE SPOILER????? BRING ON THE SPOILER!!!!
Next up is Serena Henry, who sings 'Wind Beneath My Wings'. OK, I have given up seeing good dancing, but the singing is very very nice, and this may be the best song that I've heard in this competition. Maybe we should just fast forward this contest to the final 3 to see Serena, Harlemm and Alex competing - because that's probably who it's going to be at the end.
We are up to our first group number, and we get, for a holiday tribute, the song 'America' - by Prince. Wha? Someone didn't do their homework on this one - Prince's song is not a tribute to America; it's actually a song saying how far the values of America have dropped. This is pretty representative of the show - people who did not do their homework - and as a result, instead of good performances, we're getting this hideous mess. And don't even get me started on the lack of knowledge on how to use the cane/baton/whatever you want to call it. And yes, it's as awful as it sounds.
The 4th survivor for this week is Alex Boyd, who tackles Stevie Wonder's 'Sir Duke'. Remember when I said to stick Alex in the top 3? Maybe I can stick Shannon Bex in there instead. This is not one of his better efforts, as his pitch is off and I'm not too thrilled about the dancing either (The only person who's actually has done anything worth watching in terms of choreography is the 35 year old geriatric. Go figure.). I don't think that he's vulnerable, but in this group, you never know...
Four down, four to go. The first of the four is Moy, who sings 'Let's Stay Together' by Al Greene. Moy may not be together with the show for much longer - she is off pitch in a song where it is very hard to be off-pitch on. Not a good sign at all, and even though she's skirting by, that effort may have been the one that does her in. Of course. I have said that before, and that resulted in one of the better people getting knocked out last week...
Harlemm Lee is next - and it seems like h e's been getting the most amount of votes. How do I know this? They are doing the same thing that they did with Ruben - they are already trying to market him with a 'Planet Harlemm' shirt. MUST we copy everything from American Idol? I hope, just so they can fall on their face, that Harlemm gets booted before the final 3, but it won't happen this week, as he is the best in the group so far. He sings 'The Greatest Love of All', which I would originally take to task for a man doing a women's song, except for the fact that it was sung by a man before Whitney Houston sang it, so I'll have to let him slide.
The four people left are Shannon Bex, Raymond Lee, Brandon O'Neal and Jamison Tiencgo. Three of these people have actually given us good performances - Shannon, Raymond and Brandon - so it sucks that one of them has to go while we are still stuck with Moy and Justin. Jamison should be a no-brainer to go bye-bye - but it's Raymond Lee that's the first person to leave.
I can't really argue that one, as he was brutally off last week. I also can't really argue that Shannon gets to stay, as she does Christina Aguilera's 'Fighter'. Shannon is back to her old self, and I'll put her in the top 3 - for right now.
But will she be unseated by...THE SPOILER????? We'll see, but first we need to see who the second person to be eliminated is. There's no way that Jamsion is going to stay on, is there? No - she leaves, and Brandon O'Neal sings 'Ain't No Sunshine.' He was ok, but he could have been better - but then again, judging the talent, OK, in this case, is more than adequate to stick around.
And now we FINALLY get to the spoiler, who has been singing for 10 years and dancing for 15. Big deal - I would expect all of these people to be doing that. This person is Tyse diorio, and he is greeted as warmly by the cast as a wolf who shows up at a 3 Little Pig Family Reunion. We don't hear anything from him, as they will be giving him a week to work with Debbie before he gets to go onstage. Wha? Nothing from Tyce? Booooooooooooo...
Well, since I can't vote off Tyce, I'll say that Moy and Allyson are toast. Honestly, until we get to the final three, this show is pretty much toast. We'll be serving up another slice next week.
We open this show t=with the contestants being annoyed with the bump-bumping with the drums. That's ok - we're all annoyed with it while we are watching. What's also going to be annoying? The performance of the rigge..I mean spoiler.
Rigger, you say? Well, it turns out that Mr. Tyce D'Orio not only not an 'outsider', but he happens to have worked for Ms. Allen, as well as for Joey Fatone - and it also turns out that he was a teacher for a couple of classes that the contestants were in. Well, that sort of sucks.
What doesn't suck is the fact that the judges will not be commenting after each performance. They will be saying their peace at the end - which means that we only have to listen to one meaningless segment of tripe, instead of 7.
Speaking of those 7, we are going to find out that the first survivor is...Brandon O'Neal. He sings 'You Don't Have To Call Me' from the repertoire of Usher. It sounds more like the Fall from the House of Usher. A completely rotten choice of song, and he can't hit the notes to boot. He can dance though - whoopie - but that doesn't mask his lack of singing. That being said, he could skate on, just simply because of the lack of depth we have in this competition. Does anyone out there think that the final 3 won't be Shannon, Harlemm and Serena?
Shannon happens to be the next person to be called - and she sings 'R-E-S-P-E-C-T.' She looks like she has a big red drape covering the top of her body - but I like it - and I like her. She's not the blow-you-out-of-the water sort of performer, but what she does, she does very well - and she's an entertainer.
The 'bump-bump' is getting annoying to the point that even the audience and Debbie Allen is laughing through it. Why don't they stop it already? Moy doesn't want it to stop - she's the next person to be selected, and she sings 'New Attitude' from Patti Labelle. She needs a new set of vocal chords. Another painful performance, as her voice is off, her dancing is not matching the beat, and her little rap at the end of the song was pathetic. For the third straight week, I don't want any more Moy.
I don't want any more group numbers either - but we're stuck with one - and the regulars are stuck with a group effort with the spoiler. Alex was the most unhappy camper of the group 'Maybe I'm just jealous.' Or concerned. What concerns me is their group number - 'Love to Love You Baby'. WHY must there be an insistance to pick songs with vocal ranges that are obviously way too high for their voices? Another pathetically bad vocal performance, and even though the dancing is decent, that doesn't stop my ears from falling off and running to the restroom to spend the rest of the hour there.
My ears don't even care that Harlemm Lee...well they sort of care, and the peer out of the bathroom enough to listen to him sing 'Lean on Me.' Aftr hearing his opening, my ears quickly run back into the bathroom and bolt the door. This is the first real stinker from Harlemm. Harlemm + Gospel = Yuck. The choreography was cute, and this seems like the dancing will outpower the singing this week. 'Age ain't nothing but a number' says Harlemm.
We are down to 4 - and my ears are delighted to know that Justin Jacoby will be rapping on some other show - he is the first person eliminated this week. The next person to sing will be Serena Henry - and that gets my ears out of the bathroom. They like what they hear, as she sings 'I Can't Make You Love Me.' Not nearly as good as Kimberley Locke's version (but then again, nothing here was as good as in American Idol), but that is more than good enough for her to advance to the final 3.
We are down to Alex and Allyson, and it seems pretty clear that Allyson is gone. It's pretty clear to everyone...except America, who gets rid of Alex. Wha? It seems like Alex did get taken out by the spoiler, and the spoiler didn't even do anything. You can say the same thing about Allyson, who sings 'The Way You Love Me'. She sang decently enough, but not enough to blow me out of the water and it's going to be a very tough order for her to get into the top three.
And she'll have to get past THE SPOILER!!!! We get to see a little of Tyce - he's a Brooklyn boy (like me), who is a huge dancer. We hear nothing about his singing, so my ears race back into the restroom. Tyce sings 'What's Going On' - and my ears will be taking Maalox. The moves are definitely there - the singing isn't and he wisely avoids attempting to vocalize the high middle section of the song.
We FINALLY get to hear from the judges. Johnny Wright says that Harlemm, Serena and Shannon are the stars. Carnie likes Harlemm as her favorite, and Jo Jo goes wth Johnny. I agree with the judges - especially with Alex gone, Harlemm, Serena and Shannon have to be the favorites. But only four people survive next week, which means that three of the people have to go. So my final four are Serena, Harlemm, Shannon, and...well just pick anyone else in the group, since that person isn't getting any further than fourth, anyways.
In the race to the end of the show (and in this cases, mercifully), America will make it's "deepest cut yet" - three of the performers go home and we will have four left. Translation: We have 7 people - instead of milking this and getting rid of 2 people each week, we can end this mess in 2 weeks by getting rid of three people each week.
After Debbie Allen mangles her opening speech, Joey tells us that we will be voting on the final four - and that next week's show will have the results of the winner. We have our 7 contestants (or 6 contestants and the spoiler, so to speak), and the introduction of the judges who have been, at best, superficial, and at worst, unnecessary. Simon, Paula and Randy, they ain't.
After the people who are currently in the competition tell us in a video recap who they think are the top competitors (and Shannon, Harlemm and Serena are the ones most commonly named), we get to see a group (groan) Motown medley number. We start with 'Baby Love' with Moy wearing some sort of dead animal on her head. The guys then continue with 'I can't Get Next To You'. The singing is around 100 times better than it has been - and maybe the producers have figured it out that you need to put the group number at the BEGINNING of the show and if you keep the movements SIMPLE and the songs easily RECOGNIZABLE, then the performers come out sounding halfway decent and you have a good show. Too bad that these people figured that out with 2 shows left and with the ratings sinking quicker than the tassles on a Las Vegas showgirl.
So we now have our seven people onstage, and the first person who is selected is...you know, these pauses are getting longer and longer, by the way...is Serena Henry. She sings 'I'm Your Baby Tonight', and if this is the final song that you have to sing before America votes on you for the last time, this is NOT the song that I would be choosing - and if I was, it was NOT the effort that I would want. She recovers after an AWFUL start, but the damage has been done and her choreography of high kicking in various parts of the song does not match the rhythm of the song itself. Serena's family, who is bouncing back and fourth, has better rhythm in this song than she does. Debbie notices the hairdo, and even though it looks like she has grapes coming out of her hair, it still looks better than Moy's weave, which looks like her hair is the current residency of Cousin It.
'Only three more performers earned enough of your votes to join (Serena)' says Joey, who runs through everyone's names again in a blatant attempt to stretch the space filler quota. I can probably order a pizza through this current space filler. Alison Arena will be able to do this from the comfort of her home next week when she is watching the finals, because she will not be performing in it. The Staten Island resident gets her walking papers.
The next performer is...Harlemm Lee. Harlemm starts in some sort of freaky yoga lotus position as he sings 'Vogue'. Again, I am not thrilled with a guy singing a woman's (in this case Madonna), song, but he does make it his own - and he creates his own lyrics to it. ('I may be short, I may be bald, I'm 35 years old but I'm beautiful.') He blows Serena out of the water, and this guy has 'Broadway' printed all over him. Even if he doesn't win, he definitely has a future in that sort of performance venue.
We continue with the four people who are left - and America has decided that they don't want any Moy. The woman with the poodle on her head also has to vacate the stage, but not before saying that she didn't think her performance was so bad. She needs to watch that tape over again - at least another 30 times.
This means that Shannon Bex, the next name that Joey Fatone calls, is up to sing 'I Will Always Love You.' She has a very tall order to try to match what Harlemm did earlier - and she doesn't do it. She has a very solid effort at the beginning, but she goes flat and loses it in the second half of the song. The solid effort is good enough for second place, but Harlemm clearly outperformed the ladies today.
We are down to 2 people who are very similar in styles - they can both dance, but you need to stuff a rubber chicken in their mouth to mute their voices. It really doesn't matter - whoever wins this one will wind up in fourth place. Can the Spoiler survive a vote? The answer is...no. Brandon gets the fourth and final spot. The Internet Grass Roots campaign to derail Tyce, combined with Tyce's lousy vocals, does him in. He is very gracious but I think that NBC is breathing a huge sigh of relief that this one won't be under any more scrutiny.
As for Mr. O'Neal, Brandon performs 'A Song For You' which was originally done by Leon Russell. Now if you know that your strength is your dancing and your weak spot is your singing, you would choose a good upbeat song - maybe Madonna's 'Vogue' or any other fast paced song that you can display your feet instead of your mouth. So what does Brandon decide to do? He chooses a slow-moving love song with no movement whatsoever. The results are to be expected - the vocals, although vastly improved from previous efforts, are still subpar to Harlemm, and the one aspect that he can outshine Harlemm in - the dancing - he doesn't implement at all in his final song choice. Brandon has clearly not done his homework this week and deserves to finish in fourth.
We finish this week's group efforts with a number that emphasizes the dancing. This was another very good group outing, but where in the world has this been and why are we only seeing this now instead of at the beginning of the series, when you want to attract viewers, instead of scaring them away with lousy singing and lousy dancing? The judges and I both agree - this was the best show of the series - too bad that this has to happen at the end.
Who do the judges think should win? Carnie likes Harlemm, Johnny likes Shannon and Jo Jo likes Brandon. No one picks Serena, so she will be the dark horse - but an ever capable dark horse. We get the final showing of the contestant's phone numbers, and then we're done.
As for who I think should win this? This is clearly Harlemm's to lose. With the exception of last week, Harlemm has delivered good performance after good performance. Serena and Shannon should be neck and neck for second - I'll give Serena the nod for second - and Brandon, although the most improved, should be in fourth - but I can see him going as high as second thanks to his second-place performance tonight.
By the way, my pizza that I ordered during the second long pause when they read the names off is here. Maybe I can do some sushi next week. Someone will be dining with some caviar. Tune out next week to find out who.
It's time for the big, bad finale. Hopefully, it will be more of the big than the bad variety, but as the show is an hour long and the final results already in, just waiting to be announced, I am sensing a dump truck load of space filler to satisfy my evening with.
After the mandatory (and significantly longer) recap, we are on our way with the introduction of the four finalists. As a 'special treat' according to Debbie (or a blatant effort to create some space filler, according to me), all 12 finalists return to the stage and do a group reprise of 'I Came To Work'.
We would be better off not seeing the reprise, as the piece is a flashback to what made me cringe about this show in the first place - the choreography was uneven at best, and mangled at worst. In addition, it seems like the singers have taken a page out of the Milli Vanilli playbook as you can now see the lip synching.
Also noticeable - or shall I say not noticeable - is the non-appearance of Tyce Diorio. Either Tyce had a very important dinner date that caused him not to show up, or he got trashed in the popularity contest fairly badly. My money would be leaning on the latter.
Let's see - what else can we do for space filler? I know! Let's all do individual performance by the four finalists! Serena Henry starts off this shebang, and after a 5 minute montage of her past, present and future, we see her perform America the Beautiful. Now THIS montage is what we should have gotten at the beginning introduction of the contestants instead of some silly flaky piece on why they wanted Fame.
One of my pet peeves about singing (besides singing the wrong gendered song), is to take a piece of American history and try to Top 40/bastardize it. Whitney Houston may one of the only exceptions to the rule, as she did a magnificent Star Spangled Banner. Serena was not an exception. She was horrifically off pitch and she mangled the song. This was a terrible performance and she deserves to come in fourth.
Next up is Harlemm Lee - and it's meant the world to the favorite. We also get his montage and he creates a Rent-ish/R and B version of 'Tomorrow'. Now he does a very good job of making this song his own (and Serena should be watching his effort and taking notes). That being said, I would like to see him doing something else besides a Broadway rendition of songs, but since part of the grand prize is a leading role in a Broadway musical, I can't complain too much, since he is doing his homework in terms of musical styles.
Our third finalist is Brandon O'Neal, who also has to deal with going to school (being that he's 16) as well as performing in this competition. Wait a sec - this is the Summer. He's taking classes now? Brandon says that he is not ready for Fame. That's OK, because Fame may not be ready for the 16 year old either.
Being a 16 year old, he has made a very good showing for himself. He finishes his solo efforts with the song 'When a Man Loves a Woman'. His vocal skills have vastly improved from the beginning of the competition, but I honestly believe that he could have won this contest had he have been smarter in his song selection. If only he exploited his choreography more and his vocal talents less, then his feet may have carried him over the top.
Before we see Shannon Bex, we get a blatant space filler (and an even more blatant advertising space) by the Willhemina Models. The finalists get modelling and fashion tips. Whoopee. Shannon will get the Martina McBride look, Brandon gets the youthful look, Serena will get something that will accentuate her, and Harlemm will have a look that will accentuate his heritage. So basically the man representing Willhemina models gives us absolutely NOTHING of value. We are treated to 5 minutes worth of nothing, and we have somehow magically fritted away half of the show.
We start the second half with Shannon, and she is overwhelmed to be there. After seeing her journey to the Final Four, Shannon graces the stage with I Will Survive. I don't like the musical arrangement, but that's not Shannon's fault. What is her fault is the fact that she was consistently sharp throughout her piece. This was her worst effort of the show, and event's obvious that her thoughts are elsewhere. Fortunately, the votes have already been cast, so this less-than-wonderful effort will not cost her.
But the performances of the past will be costing 2 people, as we are whittling down the finalists from four to two. The first person to be knocked out of the box is....DUM DUM.......DUM DUM......time to order the sushi......DUM DUM......DUM DUM.......SERENA HENRY has been knocked out of the competition. She came in fourth, and rightly so. She may have been the best on paper, but she didn't sound like it on her efforts.
So now we get to hear one of the finalist names - and that person is Harlemm Lee. That was said rather quickly - like there was no doubt. And there is no doubt in my mind who is going to be winning this competition.
The other finalist is....DUM DUM.....DUM DUM...by the way, there were 8 DUM DUM's between Joey talking and him announcing who the next finalist is. That is very, very annoying for the viewer. The second finalist is SHANNON BEX. Brandon finishes in third.
And the winner is....come on, now, you don't think that they would say who the winner is with 20 minutes left, do you? Of course not. We get another group performance - this time, a number featuring Harlemm and Shannon in the song 'I Sing the Body Electric.' It sounded much better than the first group piece - almost bordering on inspired - though the dancing was a little goofy.
We are down to the final two - and now it's time to see who the final winner of the competition is. That winner is...going to be listening to Debbie once again talk about what the winner gets. Anything to milk this out, eh? We get the final judges analysis. Jo Jo picks Harlemm, Carnie stays with Harlemm, and Johnny (after a quick Wire Records plug) stays with Shannon.
I'm not going to even bother counting the DUM DUMs in this - or all of the space filler that Joey is going through. I'll just give you the final quote. 'Harlemm Lee...congratulations. you did it.' Harlemm gets mugged and elevated by his fellow competitors. AwwwwwwBarf.
Harlemm's final quote? 'This has been the best experience of my entire life. Every single one of us...I believe we are all stars and that you will hear every single one of us...that's exactly what I go to sleep and pray for every single night - and here I am.'
Harlemm sings a new song - 'I Love You - Love Me.' I liked his version of Tomorrow better. The song is not a well-constructed one - but we get through it.
Johnny Wright has a little surprise to end the show. Johnny is putting his money where his mouth is, as he also gives Shannon a contract to his recording studio. A tearful Shannon accepts. AwwwwwBleagh. We end this show with the group singing a rotten version of the title song, and we fade to black.
My Take? The song that Harlemm is singing is a perfect analogy to the show itself - not well constructed and should have been thought out better. The producer's first mistake is that they obviously did not take the best talent that was out there. Although the talent was not bad, it was blatantly (and sometimes painfully) not ready for prime time. Taking raw material and molding it does not work - and it shows right here. I would much rather see talented people who are just one break away from making it than talent that is this raw. With the exception of Harlemm and Shannon, none of the other singers get close to making it on any version of American Idol.
Another problem is the group numbers. Those should be done at the end of the evening, not in the middle, where you give the people who have already performed a decided advantage over the people who haven't. I don't care if people say that 'they are an entertainer, they should be used to it'. The fact of the matter is that with someone's adrenaline pumping that hard, and with someone not used to the television pressure, the person could be very well spent after one number and they should be expected to play at an uneven level than everyone else.
This show could have been a welcome reprise of the roots of it's past - possibly another Star Search. Instead, it turns out to be another American Idol-wanna be - and an unattractive one at that. This one gets a 'D' from me, and if there's a second season, the producer's have a LOT of fixing to do with this one. Judging by the fact that they rushed this one out the door, I think Fame has seen it's 15 minutes of Fame run out.
