Still smarting from last night’s snore of an episode? Not much news to muse on today.

A coroner concluded the Paula Abdul stalker Paula Goodspeed committed suicide with prescription drugs in November. Not much more to say about that.

Idol early ratings last night were 22.4 million, down a whopping 26% from a week ago and 23% from a year ago’s comparable episode. But then again, it was up against all that Inauguration coverage. And it was a lousy episode. You have to wonder if the Fox execs, knowing about Inauguration stuff, purposely placed the obvious dud on last night. If so, smart move!

On a more pleasant note, Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You” is getting pretty monstrous support from top 40 radio, debuting last week at No. 27. (Mediabase has the song at No. 26) It’s already poised to pass David Cook’s “Light On,” which is struggling at No. 23 on the Radio and Records chart. I expect Kelly’s song will be in the top 10 in two weeks, top 5 in three and …

Continue reading 1/21: Paula Abdul stalker ODed on prescription drugs, ratings way off, Kelly Clarkson’s hot single »

Good news: only one hour this week. And it was exceedingly boring.

We saw seven good singers in an hour out of 12, though three in quick succession. I’m not bowled away by anybody yet. We’ll see in Hollywood. Wow. San Francisco only drew 12 people to Hollywood? That’s not that good of a city despite the judges’ comments. Most cities draw at least 20.

I have more hope for tomorrow in Louisville.

First up today: Tatiana Del Toro, the pretty gal with the fake-sounding laugh and annoying personality from Puerto Rico and her own press kit, uses way too much vibratto. “I think you would do a lot of things very well but not singing,” Simon said, noting her sexy photos. “The problem is you keep trying to copy these big…” She interrupts him by singing again. Sheesh. “You’re wild and I like it,” Randy said. I suspect she might give Hollywood some fun moments but won’t end up in the top 50.

After the break, we get snippets of good singers: John Twiford (”Overjoyed”), Allison Iraheta …

Continue reading 1/20: Idol audition episode #3 in San Francisco »

MJ listed all the “Idol” folks at Inauguration parties. David Archuleta already appeared last night at the Latina Ball and will be a guest at the RIAA ball tonight. Daughtry is at a black tie affair tonight for high school students. Fantasia will be at the Urban ball with Atlantans Big Boi and Ludacris. Jordin Sparks will be at the Commander in Chief ball, to be aired at military bases overseas. Lots of Inaugural love for Idols!

And sorry I’m late on this one but as expected, Jennifer Hudson and Carrie Underwood will perform at the Grammys. Underwood pretty much shows up at every major awards show now, eh? Hudson will appear a week after singing the anthem at the Super Bowl, which will be her first major performance since the deaths of her family members in that tragic triple murder in Chicago in late October.

Plus, on a much less nourishing note, bikini gal Katrina Darrell was briefly a Hooters greeter.

This line on the Foxnews story is especially amusing:

Darrell …

Continue reading 1/21: Bikini Girl used to work at Hooters, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson at Grammys, Inauguration fanfare »

With “American Idol Rewind” coming up, the PR folks set me up with four of the season four contestants. I’ve already posted a catch-up with Vonzell Solomon. Now it’s my favorite from that season, Nadia Turner. As you can see, I got a lot more from her than Vonzell. She’s much more analytical, very thoughtful.

I loved her fresh look, her unique sound, her sexy persona. I loved her take on “Try a Little Tenderness” and “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me.” But part way through the competition, she seemed to be picking songs for her, not for the audience. She rearranged a Cyndi Lauper song in such a strange way, it was hard for a lot of people to relate to it. But her choice of obscure Crystal Gayle song “When I Dream” led to her elimination in eighth place, not nearly as far as she had hoped (or I had hoped.).

“I was trying to keep it real,” Turner said nearly four years later. “I was trying to stay true to me.”

Turner said early on, she was praised by the judges for being …

Continue reading 1/19: Catching up with… Nadia Turner, Fox prez promises more behind the scenes stuff »

Chris Sligh from season six is not only a performer but a rigorous songwriter, too. One of his songs (co-written with Clint Lagerberg) landed in the laps of one of the biggest country acts in the United States Rascal Flatts and they have decided to use it as their next single! The song title “Here Comes Goodbye.” It hits radio early next week.

“I was on my way to a show and got the call,” he told USA Today’s Idol Chatter. “I just about drove off the road.”

Virtually everything Rascal Flatts releases goes top 5 nowadays so this is a big coup! I’ll update this if I can get a hold of Chris today, else, I’ll update on a future blog entry when we can link to the song.

More here in Idol Chatter.

Congrats, Chris!

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Lots of pretty pictures of “Idol” Hollywood-bound contestant Casey Carlson here at Campus Girls USA. Yowza!

More controversy about a Hollywood gal: TMZ says Emily Wynne-Hughes has to wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet, post D.U.I.

She was also has a strange connection …

Continue reading 1/16: Chris Sligh writes Rascal Flatts single, sexy shots of Casey Carlson »

Just got the early ratings numbers and “Idol” actually saw its numbers pretty much stay the same from Tuesday at about 30.3 million. The final numbers for Tuesday was 30.4 million, or about 9 percent down from a year ago. The 18-49 numbers were down about 15 percent.

This is the best retention “Idol” has had from day one to day two in at least four seasons. That’s a good sign for the show and I’m sure the execs are high fiving themselves.

-News is out that Diana DeGarmo has found a new theater gig playing Dorothy in “Oz: The Musical.” More info here.

For now, the tour only has Texas dates, however, for next month. I can’t tell if this will go national or not.

More news forthcoming.

Continue reading 1/15: Idol ratings hold steady Wed., Diana DeGarmo to play Dorothy in “Oz” musical »

“Idol” comes to Kansas City, David Cook’s town. Big crowds, lots of enthusiasm, even Jason Castro pops by to support his brother.

Overall, I get a sense “Idol” is focusing less on the freaks, more on the future top 36. That’s a good thing for us regulars. There was some seriously good talent in K.C. I especially liked the bald welder Matt, the bubble tea gal Casey, confident Jessica (who sang Janis Joplin), Jason Castro’s bro, the Indian dude and the last gal Lil Rounds.

Thank you Mike S for tracking the numbers. We saw 10 of the 27 who made it through last night (similar ratio as last year’s first ep in Philly) and 12 of the 26 who made it through tonight (slightly better than the 10 out of 24 last year in Dallas) We’ve seen 41.5 percent of the Hollywood bound vs. 40 percent a year ago.

Ryan, in a teaser, says 147 make it to Hollywood.

Parsons, KS waitress Chelsea Marquandt is up first, noting how her friends and family encouraged her and told her how great she was. She …

Continue reading 1/14: Audition night #2 in Kansas City »

Early ratings report that the opener of “Idol’ drew about 30 million viewers, down 10 percent from a year ago. That is about what I expected. No surprises. It’s the smallest opener since 2004, season three.

Marc Malkin of Eonline reports exclusively that Jennifer Hudson will sing the National Anthem before the Super Bowl next month.

Hudson has not performed or made any public appearances since her mother, Darnell Donerson, brother Jason Hudson and nephew Julian King were shot to death a little over two months ago. William Balfour, the estranged husband of Hudson’s sister Julia, has been charged with their murders.

Back in the day, I used to be able to go to Hollywood for the Television Critics Association gathering where networks would cart out their stars to get publicity for their shows. Alas, not anymore for me. Here’s what Paula Abdul had to say at TCA yesterday. Not much, from the sounds of it:

“For whatever reason, Paula Abdul, the name, makes people start creating …

Continue reading 1/14: Opening ratings down 10%, Jennifer Hudson back in spotlight next month? »

InTouchweekly.com is reporting that David Cook and Kimberly Caldwell broke up right before Christmas.

Overall, “Idol” did a good job with the first two hours and the 27 that made it through. Plenty of great back stories and we got bikini gal, too. Not as many nuts and it still worked.

Kara DioGuardi was fairly cautious and nondescript except the time she sang and interacted with the gal who loved her. She told reporters she felt a little out of sorts the first audition day so that’s understandable.

Funniest moment was when Ryan Seacrest tried to high-five the blind guy. Whoops!

To start with, we get a rather random video of the highlights and lowlights of the first seven seasons including the “Like a Virgin” singer from Georgia, that yellow peacock gal from Georgia and even our very own Brittenum twins. I remember it all. Scary!

We see Ryan through the years, then the opener with video of all seven winners. You can (barely) see Taylor! With Ryan by the Grand Canyon, it’s …

Continue reading 1/13: Idol auditions night #1, David Cook/Kimberly Caldwell kaput? »

As you see, ajc.com has made a major streamlined redesign today. That’s what the tech folks have been working on. It looks good! Hopefully, they can get to adding the embed video plugin here soon!

Anyway, I will be live blogging tonight, though I may not necessarily do so down the road for audition episodes. (I will have a blog entry up if you want to live comment, though, as usual.)

For newbies checking this blog out, welcome. We are on a new platform. I’m still getting used to it and haven’t figured out all the functionality yet. I provide some original content such as interviews, plenty of links, and when the show is on, commentary.

Here’s the link to hear Kelly Clarkson’s new single “My Life Would Suck Without You,” debuted this morning on Z100 in New York. This is the same place “Crush” was debuted a few months back.

The new song has gotten hit written all over it and Kelly sounds amazing as always. Much better than “Never Again” from the last album. All those rumors of …

Continue reading 1/13: “Idol” back tonight, new Kelly Clarkson single, catching up with Vonzell Solomon »