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Singer Danny Gokey - American Idol Season 8 Finalist - Apr 29,2011

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:00:00 GMT

Danny Gokey, American Idol Season 8 finalist, will chat about his charity Sophia's Heart and his career. He will be singing the National Anthem for this years 12th Annual Country Music Marathon in Nashville (April 30th). Danny made his acting debut earlier this month and will be on a summer tour with country music super star Taylor Swift. www.dannygokey.com

American Idol | Danny Gokey | Country Music Marathon | Sophies Heart charity | Truth Be Told movie

Kara DioGuardi is Officially Leaving American Idol

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 09:55:51 -0700

Kara DioGuardi is Officially Leaving American Idol Kara DioGuardi is following Ellen DeGeneres and Simon Cowell out the door at American Idol. Her departure leaves Randy Jackson, who's been with the singing contest from the start, the last judge standing, for now. Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez are the reported front-runners for the panel. Read more for her statement.

'American Idol': On the scene for Top 11 'performance' night - Entertainment Weekly

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:50:24 GMT+00:00

'American Idol': On the scene for Top 11 'performance' night
Entertainment Weekly
I have learned my lesson after yea these many years of writing blogs on this here website: You commenters can be tough, but you are never more cutting than

American Idol Performances: Ke$ha and David Cook

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:03:20 EST

It was a tough week for Lacey Brown on American Idol, as the singer became the first season nine finalist to be voted off the show.

But things went better for Ke$ha and David Cook on Wednesday night. Both stars took to the stage and performed their hits "Blah Blah Blah" and "Jumping Jack Flash." Enjoy both performances below:

Blah Blah Blah

Jumping Jack Flash

On Tuesday, American Idol will return to the air. Will Siobhan Magnus continue her run toward a title? Tune in. Find out.

X Factor and Idol's first choice for judge is a music industry exec; Jamie Foxx also named

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:15:28 -0500

American Idol's search for a judge to replace Simon Cowell and Cowell's search for a judge to join him and (most likely) Paula Abdul on The X Factor has led to the same music executive, someone you've probably never heard of: Mariah Carey's ex-husband Tommy Mottola, who co-owns Casablance Records and managed people ranging from Jessica Simpson to Jennifer Lopez.

He leads Idol's list of 25 potential Cowell replacements, according to Deadline Hollywood's Nikki Finke, whose reporting is nearly always accurate thanks to her well-placed sources. An insider told her, "Mottola is frontrunner for Idol, but when Simon became aware of this, he began trying to get Tommy to team with him and Paula Abdul for his new show The X Factor." Also on American Idol's list: is Guy Oseary, who's 38 and Madonna's business partner, and is number two "because they're cautious about skewing too old," the source said. Number three is music producer and Interscoe-Geffen-A&M chair Jimmy Iovine.

The interesting thing about all three names is that they aren't A-list, Ellen DeGeneres-style names who will immediately draw viewers. Contrast that with Life & Style's report that Jamie Foxx is "a strong contender," although the magazine also says Iovine is, too.

Meanwhile, Madonna's brother Christopher Ciccone is campaigning on Facebook to be the next judge, and even Martha Stewart sort of expressed interest, though not really.

'American Idol' vs 'X Factor', As Tommy Mottola Is First Choice To Judge Both Shows (And Paula Is Involved, Too) [Deadline Hollywood] Jamie Foxx a strong contender for Idol [Life & Style]

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American Idol disqualification rumor, reason spreads despite lack of evidence

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:04:13 -0500

The rumor that Michael Lynche was disqualified from American Idol 9 remains that, but some members of the media have been making a connection where there never was one.

Today, multiple publications reported that there's a definitive link between a story in the St. Petersburg Times by Eric Deggans in which Lynche's father confirms his son made it to the top 24 and the disqualification rumors. Yet there has never been any evidence of that, and they're simply mashing together what they've failed to read carefully. How embarrassing!

In my post Friday, I pointed out that there was no public evidence of Lynche himself violating his confidentiality agreement--I checked around, like on his MySpace page-- and only linked to Deggans' report as evidence that Lynche had made it to the top 24. Even the initial Joe's Place report said nothing of the connection, although its post later added a link to Deggans' piece.

But that didn't stop the press, which can't be bothered with nuance when it can create a link where there wasn't one: The New York Post said he "was booted over the weekend" because "his father told a local newspaper that his son made the semifinals, a violation of the show's confidentiality rules." People said he "was reportedly told to pack his bags after his father revealed to his local Florida paper, The St. Petersburg Times, that Michael had made the top 24." And then other outlets passed along the misinformation and kept the story going.

Perhaps it is true that that Lynche was disqualified, though that remains rumor, and while it may have had something to do with the confidentiality agreement, I can't quite imagine Fox disqualifying someone because a relative of his talked to a newspaper. But Fox isn't talking and neither is that relative: Deggans reports today that "Fox network has continually refused to comment on the status of contestants before it is revealed on the show and Marque Lynche Sr. has now disconnected his home phone in Sarasota, declining to comment."

So without any facts to go by, let's just make up stories and amuse ourselves with those.

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American Idol 9 top 24 contestant may have been disqualified already

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:02:04 -0500

A top-24 American Idol 9 contestant may have already been disqualified and replaced.

According to generally reliable Idol spoiler Joe's Place, Michael Lynche, who "was rumored to be THE favorite in Hollywood this year," may have been "disqualified for breaking the confidentially agreement that American Idol makes all contestants sign, and was replaced by top 50 contestant, Antwan Michael."

There's no immediate evidence that he broke the agreement, but his father confirmed yesterday to to the St. Petersburg Times' Eric Deggans that his son made it to Hollywood. He wasn't featured in the Orlando audition episode this week.

Lynche's brother, by the way, Marque Lynche, Jr., made it to the semi-finals during the third season.

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Dancing Baby jigs to Jennifer Hudson audition

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 09:56:23 -0700

American-Idol-Underground.com

Katrina Darrell Says Kara DioGuardi Looked "Stupid" on Stage

Fri, 22 May 2009 16:02:10 EST

We weren't huge fans of Kara DioGuardi as the fourth American Idol judge this season.

Too often, the songwriter came across as overly serious and/or pompous.

Still, in DioGuardi's feud with former contestant Katrina Darrell, it's impossible not to take Kara's side.

This rivalry appeared to be dead following Wednesday night's unexpected duet between the pair, as they sung together on stage and even bared their bikini bodies together on stage.

Are you on Team Kara or Team Katrina?

However, sensing an opportunity to tack on a new 15 minutes of fame to her resume, Darrell called out DioGuardi in a new interview with Radar Online.

"I don't think she got the reaction she was hoping for. I think she probably thought I would cry or get mad, and I didn't - I played it off," Darrell said. "Looking back at the tape, she just made herself look stupid. She didn't make me look stupid."

Darrell says she had no idea Kara would join her on stage, a claim we find highly dubious.

Did Katrina really think she had earned her own performance on the finale?!?

Fergie's Futuristic Sunglasses: Boom, Boom... Wow!

Fri, 22 May 2009 13:49:27 EST

On Wednesday night's American Idol finale, Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas performed their latest single, "Boom, Boom, Pow."

Upon seeing this sex symbol's latest eyewear, we reacted with: Boom, boom

Kris Allen is Really, Really Nice

Fri, 22 May 2009 13:41:02 EST

As much as any other American Idol fan displeased with this season's outcome, we thought Adam Lambert should have been crowned champion.

But our effusive praise of the unique singer was never meant to disparage winner Kris Allen.

In fact, ever since his victory, Allen has been nothing short of grateful, humble and extremely appealing every time we hear him speak.

First, upon winning, Kris immediately said Lambert deserved the crown. Now, take a look at the American Idol during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

How can anyone not adore this laid back Arkansas native?!?

Kris Allen on Leno

Clay Aiken hates Adam Lambert; Carrie Underwood is richest Idol; No Boundaries studio version is slightly better

Fri, 22 May 2009 11:57:04 -0500

How big was Kris Allen's victory? We still don't really know. Access Hollywood claims that "a top FOX source told Access Hollywood that the vote left Kris as the clear winner by a large margin." How very specific and detailed and clear.
Yesterday, a story from the Little Rock, Arkansas, Fox affiliate got a lot of play when they reported that more than a third of the votes cast came from Arkansas alone, but they quickly retracted that statement. According to Reality TV World, KLRT initially reported that "AT&T says about 38 million American Idol votes came from Arkansas last night," but retracted that yesterday, saying that "AT&T is denying that 38 million votes came in from Arkansas."
AOL's Popeater has the studio version of Kris Allen's "No Boundaries," in case you wanted to listen to that drivel again. A press release said the "studio recording is better than the live version," which isn't hard to believe, considering how much it sucked live. But it really is better, and there's even part of it that's vaguely catchy.
Kris now joins a group of seven other winners. Among them, Carrie Underwood makes the most money, earning $14 million last year. In second place was Jennifer Hudson, with "an estimated $5 million." Last season's winner, David Cook, "earned an estimated $2 million since June of 2008," while David "Archuleta made an estimated $1.3 million from sales of his first album and more than 100 live concerts," according to Forbes.
Speaking of past winners, The Associated Press looks at how each of them are doing now, from the impressive (Underwood) to the not-so-impressive (Taylor Hicks).
Clay Aiken is glad Kris Allen won--not because he watched the show, but because he hates Adam Lambert. Gawker reproduced Clay's members-only blog post in which the season two runner-up calls Adam's performance of "Ring of Fire" "Contrived, awful, and slightly frightening!", and says he "wasn't really a fan and found myself surprised whenever folks told me that they liked him," although Clay admits, "I never saw another performance." He also "never saw Kris sing on the show" but writes, "I couldn't be happier about the way AI ended this year."

Clay, shut up.
Everyone is still speculating about why Adam Lambert lost, but besides being not as surprising as it seemed, it's really just all bullshitting. (TV Tattle rounds up a bunch of those morning-after theories.) But all theories are at least somewhat plausible because no one has any actual evidence, and never really will. So media, shut up.

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Dominant American Idol's finale was second-lowest rated; season viewership down, too

Thu, 21 May 2009 14:36:00 -0500

Ratings for American Idol 8's pee-in-your-pants shocker of a finale were down from last year, a reversal after ratings rebounded for last season's finale. That made the finale the second lowest-rated ever, only beating season one's Sept. 2002 finale.

During the 127 minute results show, about 28.8 million people watched, according to TV By the Numbers, although that number could change slightly with DVR viewers and because of the seven-minute overrun. And The Hollywood Reporter notes that the finale "peaked at 34 million viewers in the final half-hour countdown." (About 23 million watched Tuesday night.)

The average viewership was down from season seven's 31.66 million viewers and even season six's 30.7 million. Three years ago, 36.33 million people watched Taylor Hicks win. Taylor Hicks!

Overall, the show's ratings fell this season, but it remains television's number-one show by a long shot. Variety notes that the finale "was easily the top-rated program of the May sweep" and "drew roughly three times the demo score of the next highest-rated program on Wednesday, the season finale of 'Criminal Minds' on CBS."

American Idol finale surprise draws 28.8 million [TV By the Numbers] 'Idol' finale scores all-time ratings low [Hollywood Reporter] 'Idol' ratings down, still dominant [Variety]

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Kris Allen beats Adam Lambert in not-so-surprising upset

Thu, 21 May 2009 08:04:36 -0500

In a Dewey versus Truman moment, the Associated Press sent out a one-sentence story to the wire tonight that said Adam Lambert won American Idol 8, confirming what most people expected. But no: Kris Allen actually won the competition, forcing a correction.

The AP can possibly be forgiven, since the biggest! upset! ever! was even a surprise to the winner. When Ryan Seacrest announced he'd won, having received the majority of the world-record nearly 100 million votes, Kris Allen's always-cute face said it all, but then the mouth part of his face said even more: "Are you freakin' serious?" he said. "It feels good, but Adam deserves this."

Both that awkward, not-quite-epic moment and Ryan Seacrest's comments--he said "the underdog, the dark horse, comes back and wins the nation over"--immediately established Kris' victory as an upset.

As surprised as I was, upon second thought, Adam's loss and Kris' victory is not all that surprising. Besides the failure of conspiracy theories and the general unpredictability of viewer voting habits, Adam and Kris have been basically tied: three weeks ago they were in the bottom three together, and last week just one million votes separated them. For all we know, Kris was in the lead both weeks. Here's my expanded thinking on why this shouldn't have been a surprising outcome (if that doesn't work, check back; the story will be live shortly).

The shock came after plenty of previous shocks during the 127-minute finale--which finished on time, and even a full minute early. Incredible, just as it was incredible that the whole set stayed intact after the show started with an amateurish technical problem: Adam and Kris' mics weren't turned on when Ryan Seacrest asked them questions. It's challenging for the show's producers to come in on time and pot up a mic. And while there was a lot to mock and make fun of, and it went on too long, it was actually a decent finale.

While I'm going to forget and try to ignore the lame faux-awards presented to the losers from the auditions (which was topped off by a staged routine in which Tatiana pretended to take over, but was so fake it wasn't even funny), there were other amusing moments, like Jason Mraz singing and wearing a hat like Matt Giraud's, and Santana singing while wearing a hat like Matt Giraud's. And let's not forget Steve Martin promoting his album The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo by playing banjo during a song he wrote, "Pretty Flowers," even while looking pretty much like a lot some of the guest stars: uncomfortable about having to perform with the top 13 losers that kept joining them on stage.

Ultimately, though, the talent was strong and relatively credible, definitely more than it has been in the past, from Queen Latifah to Queen, Cyndi Lauper to Kiss. Kris Allen did a duet with Keith Urban, and Adam Lambert performed with Kiss and tons of pyro and a costume that seemed like it was about to light up because he looked like a float in the Main Street Electrical Parade. Together, Kris and Adam performed "We Are the Champions" and were joined by Queen, and unsurprisingly, Adam owned it more than Kris.

When the Black Eyed Peas performed, they were apparently censored; an awkward moment of silence and a shot of the stage was inserted in the middle of their performance. But a Fox rep said it was pre-planned, which makes it seem even stupider than censoring something. The AP reports that "[a] Fox spokesman said it was singer will.i.am's decision to stay mum, apparently to keep an expletive from airing during Wednesday's performance."

If that was true, though, wouldn't they have just shown the dancing that was happening on stage, even if he skipped a line in the song? Clearly, they didn't trust him.

But they did trust Kara DioGuardi to strip to a bikini, sort of. First, Katrina Darrell, also known as Bikini Girl, showed up along with her brand-new girls, which Ryan Seacrest made an actual joke about: "I was going to ask you what's new but I think I know." The producers let her sing, but only so she could be interrupted by Kara joining her on stage, an awesome moment if only because it clearly pissed off bikini girl Katrina. And at the end, Kara unbuttoned her dress/coat/thing to reveal a bikini undereneat, Criticize Kara all you want, but I can't see any of the other three judges even considering to do the duet, never mind the swimsuit part.

That was just one of many nutty moments, from to Danny Gokey's male camel toe, which we learned during the live blog is called "moose knuckle."

Speaking of the live blog, if you weren't one of the 700+ people to join us live, or if you were and find yourself bored today, relive the finale minute-by-minute with both my comments and the far wittier and hysterical comments of other readers whose thoughts made it past my autocratic filters. We'll definitely do it again soon, as long as TV keeps giving us great crap like American Idol.

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Because sometimes there is nothing I like better than a big ole list of bullet points

Thu, 21 May 2009 07:43:40 -0700

So Kris Allen won American Idol and I could not be happier! Apparently 38 million of the 100 million votes came from Arkansas. We don't mess around. Now if only we could vote for who wins football games