American Idol 2014

[mercfan3]

I think it's very simple.

1. Buzz
2. Idol likes their TCO. It's strange really..it's like they can't stand being wrong..or having the audience feel differently about a contestant than the producers do. Sam was TCO..so try and save him. Heck..that might have been what this "crucify Jessica" thing was about. She was the easiest frontrunner to bus.

[john]

I think that is true -- following the save they switched to a bottom two reveal. I have little doubt that Sam was #3 each those weeks.

Perhaps -- but this isn't the first year they've done that. Last year, they started with the Bottom 2 at Top 7 week as well (and stayed with it) -- and there was no save last year. (Also, at that point they were desperately trying to get rid of Lazaro!) Someone on the TVLine board said that there was an earlier year when that happened as well.

And, yes, those posting on the TVLine message board certainly have gone "over board" with their "conspiracy theories" regarding this incident. They've been, as a whole, pretty crazed throughout the season, but last night/today really seems more OTT than usual.

I thought "the twist" was that TPTB were taking a page out of the Survivors notebook. After all, AI's ratings are declining while Survivors' s rising

That's good to know that they did this before. Of course they may have been manipulating things then as well.

TPTB have a lot invested in having a successful show. And "successful" doesn't mean "fair" or anything like that. I think they try to tilt things in various ways for various reasons. The comments by the judges is an obvious way as are edits, but there are other ways too. To think they don't do things that could be construed as "manipulation" would be naive, and it is fun to ponder what is and what isn't.

There is plenty of OTT stuff, always, on the internet. And MJ and Slezak and others benefit from the traffic I guess. I think some of the OTT stuff is akin to venting for some. Without the intrigue there's nothing going on.

[kaypea]

Sam was definitely the one to go this week.But I have a feeling that the results might have been different if they still had the old voting system where you would have had all of his adoring females power voting and texting a gazillion times.

[mercfan3]

yea..the new voting system has really helped out in that regard. We'd still likely have Dexter too.

I remember them switching things up season 10...after Haley's RITD performance. I always had a feeling that after that performance (which had followed the Haley and Casey duet) That Haley was actually running second behind Scotty, but they still wanted to give the impression that she didn't belong.

RITD, HOTRS, and IWHN essentially went viral on youtube. I thought she was running second (where they wanted Lauren) and that was where the bussing came in.

[kaypea]

I remember back in season 10 where people were posting that they were up half the night trying to cast as many votes for Haley as they could after it became known that lots of young Scotty fans who were wizards at power texting.and using multiple devices,etc.were voting-who knows how many times.

[Tusk]

Caleb would be an ironic, but cosmically apt since he's a friend of and similar to James, elimination at 4th too

He's on his way to 4th, just called his fans retards for his song selections,
http://www.mjsbigblog.com/caleb-johnson-...-video.htm

Things got dicey when the interviewer, from After Buzz TV, asked Caleb if his opinion of social media has changed since American Idol:

“Yeah. It gives access to a bunch of retards to talk to me. I don’t really enjoy having to see somebody telling me what song I have to sing…at this point of the competition I can pick and choose my own songs…I don’t need 10,000 people saying ‘You should sing this, you should sing that, listen to me.’”

Here, he looked at the camera and said, “Fortunately guys, I’m going to listen to myself, whether you like it or not.”

In a previous interview, he said he hates the Aerosmith song, "I don't want to miss a thing", but had to chose 2 songs from a list of 3 songs given to him by the producers...
(Remember that list of 3 purportedly given to Jena that included "Undone"?)

[john]

^ Oh well. Dealing with the press and the obsessive, and at times misguided, fans is all part of the AI experience.

To blame the song choice on the fans seems a little goofy to me. I'm sure that the producers received many, many song suggestions, and then they cut it down to three (or whatever).

Caleb's mouth and attitude have been brought up before. I recall Slezak calling him out for being disrespectful during a performance (not a contestant's). He seems ready to go.

Avatar
Ringo Pascual Eilonwy_has_an_emu • 6 hours ago
So the fairy-tale romance of Jena "Me, Me, Me" Irene and Caleb "Effing Retard" Johnson unfolds. Is it any wonder the PTB didn't want to see Sam Wolfe go? Is it too late to bring him back?

Jena Irene Asciutto says she wasn't happy to be put in the position of casting a vote that ultimately sent Sam Woolf home. But she also noted that it would have been the second time the heartthrob would have been spared elimination this season. "It's always been Sam. Sam went home, and they decided to do a thing," Asciutto told reporters of Woolf, who was saved by the judges once in April.

[Tusk]

Commence backpedaling

[john]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0kaS90CBqA#t=38

doodAndrea ‏@Jena_Irene_Fans 1h
"Sorry if you felt this way" isn't an apology, it's blaming others. "Sorry I said it" is an apology. @CalebPJohnson

SW ‏@Way2goPP 3m
@P2_Philatic @CalebPJohnson He "apologized" by calling people wackos instead of r*tards? Nice try, haha!

Megan Elizabeth ‏@mcaro05 14m
@CalebPJohnson doesn't really mater if you were addressing haters or fans, still can't use that word.

Looking over his twitter feed suggests that he now has a lot of former fans.

@CalebPJohnson way to be a fucking prick. Calling your fans "retards" was your one-way ticket home. Props, dummy. You don't deserve success.

@CalebPJohnson Fame brings its price for exposure, wanted and unwanted. But NOT a smart idea calling fans "retards." Lost my vote...sorry.

@calebpjohnson use of the r word is never appropriate. Having no filter is not cool, you're old enough to realize how offensive that word is

@CalebPJohnson dude disappointed in your statement calling people retards, sorry but no respect for that shit.

@CalebPJohnson Hey caleb. Just another retard tweeting you a great advice: next time, you should think through what you're saying

Kyle

Kyle Brooks ‏@Taithleach 2h
@CalebPJohnson I don't appreciate being called a retard. I was a fan who occasionally wanted you to sing certain songs. WAS. Bye

Marko • 6 hours ago
The real R word is Randy.

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This Instagram photo by Jessica in the studio shows lyric sheets for You and I. She is singing Haley's songbook. I wonder if JLo will like it this time. It's interesting that she her song choices include Call Me and apparently YAI, two songs that the judges didn't care for when Haley did them.



As a side note, Jessica wrote a song call You and I that she posted on YT in her pre-Idol days.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sny-OWOuP8

[Miguel]

I wonder if JLo will like it this time.

I will be waiting to see what she, the other judges and RJ have to say about it.