‘Idol’ bits: Clay Aiken on ‘The Apprentice’ so far, the power top 12, Kelly Clarkson
Clay Aiken on “Celebrity Apprentice” is clearly “in it to win it,” as Randy might say.
After four episodes, he’s shown to be catty at times but bright, cunning and hard working, all good attributes to succeed on this show. Last week, he felt George Takei wasn’t leading very well and implied this to one of Donald Trump’s sons without actually saying so by giggling a bit when asked the question. He also didn’t follow a gay stereotype by knowing a lot about fashion, the topic of last week’s challenge.
This week, Clay didn’t do much to draw attention. With the men’s team losing for the second week in a row, the spotlight was squarely on Michael Andretti (ousted for not helming a car-related project), Adam Carolla (who took the second bullet as project manager) and Lou Ferrigno (who survived despite the fact his teammates find him useless.)
Clay has made a few sly references to “Idol.” Last night, he said at one point to Trump that the boardroom is far rougher than any “Idol” elimination.
- So who moved up and down in the expectations chart after last week? Clearly, Elise and Shannon lost a bit of momentum. I thought Heejun and Joshua also lost a step. Erika, Phillip, Skylar and Colton held their own. Jermaine showed his weaknesses, which means expectations did not change. Hollie was probably the person who benefited most last week with her powerhouse performance. Jessica also rose in many people’s eyes, though she was already considered a favorite. Deandre did fine, relatively speaking, though I’m not sure if the haters necessarily changed their minds.
So here’s my version of the Power 12:
1: Phillip Phillips. Still convinced he has the star power, even if he doesn’t have the vocal power. He will have to scale back the growling at some point. (holding)
2. Jessica Sanchez. Aping Whitney Houston note for note is a worthy accomplishment, even if it doesn’t get her any originality points. (up from 3)
3. Skylar Laine. Whitney was not her alley but she pulled it off. I’m still a fan. (down from 2)
4. Colton Dixon. I still don’t get this guy but he didn’t hurt himself last week and clearly has a fan base (up from 5)
5. Hollie Cavanagh. She’s very young but surprisingly interpreted Whitney far better than most of her peers. (up from 8 )
6. Heejun Han. He was a bit boring this week on stage, though continues to be a goof off stage. (down from 4)
7. Joshua Ledet. He showed some of his vocal limitations last week. Still hoping he can get us all excited again this week. (down from 6)
8. Erika Van Pelt. I know I am more optimistic about her chances than others but I do find her engaging. (up from 9)
9. Deandre Brackensack. I’m not loving the guy but even more so than Colton, I can see why he’s appealing (up from 10)
10. Elise Testone. She has an interesting voice, a blank persona. Hated her performance last week. (down from 7)
11. Jermaine Jones. Showed his nerves last week when placed outside his comfort zone. (holding)
12. Shannon Magrane. I didn’t dislike her as much as others but she is clearly not ready for prime time. (holding)
- Theme this week is songs from the year you were born. Scary that most of these contestants are now babies from the 1990s! Vote For the Worst provided some facetious song suggestions. The funniest one is for Elise, stating her birth year as 1957 and recommending “The Banana Boat Song.” If I have time later, I’ll post my own suggestions in a more serious fashion.
- Kelly Clarkson’s “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” is now No. 1 on the Mediabase 24/7 top 40 charts, supplanting Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain.” She’s also No. 1 on the Hot AC charts.
- Jason Castro, Ruben Studdard, Mandisa and Danny Gokey will all be in Atlanta next month to perform on the Dove Awards at the Fabulous Fox Theatre. That is enough to get me there! I’m also trying to get an interview with Ruben about his upcoming album but the publicist has not set me a date.
- And yes, I missed the Adam Lambert concert for Star 94 at the Buckhead Theatre last week. He also stopped by the Voice, Ryan Seacrest’s studios at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston but didn’t request any media. I also heard he did a concert Thursday night for Jezebel magazine but was not invited. Here’s video I found on YouTube:
His album was supposed to come out March 20 but it has been postponed.
- Casey James, from season 9, will have his debut album out March 20. His first single “Let’s Don’t Call It a Night” landed in the top 30 on the country charts.
- In less than three weeks, Carrie Underwood’s “Good Girl” is already up to No. 16 on the country chart.
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76 comments Add your comment
Rickster
March 12th, 2012
11:12 am
Think I’ll skip hitting the “play” button on this one.
Rickster
March 12th, 2012
11:25 am
And I can’t believe Rodney’s stooped to calling people who dislike Deandre’ “haters.”
Really, Rodney? “Hate?”
I don’t like him… but I don’t hate him. Hate would imply a much higher level of emotional intensity that I would ever care to give him.
Mercedes S.
March 12th, 2012
11:26 am
Thanks for new thread, Rodney. We were down to discussing bad airplane trips, which is one step above talking about teeth – of interest to the talker/blogger only.
kelly&carriefan
March 12th, 2012
11:27 am
Lots of Idolandia news. Can’t see the YT until I’m at home, but thanks for posting it.Glad to see Kelly with a # 1 again!
Also, is there a reason why the “Latest Idol News” link was moved from right under About Radio and TV Talk to after the Entertainment Video? I had to look carefully for it, but I’m here!
PS. The Walking Dead last night….OMG. I won’t spoil it, but Sam-A, you really should watch. I was not expecting that at all. And the season finale preview looked intense.
JTesla
March 12th, 2012
11:42 am
Regarding Celebrity Apprentice and Clay: both Adam Carolla and Penn Jillette have pointed out that those with reality show backgrounds do better in this type of competition. Adam and Penn, in essence, said that their careers, which are based on speaking, leads to them speaking their mind, or looking for humor and not looking to play the “game”. Reality show contestants know how to play the game. In other words, Clay has a leg up on the professional gabbers.
Regarding the power rankings: I think you have Hottie Cavanagh down too far, and as far as being “very young” she’s still two years older than Jessica and Shannon. It’s interesting that we have two polar opposites that are 16.
I also think you have Skylar ranked too high. Granted, after last season I’m suffering from country music on Idol fatigue.
Rodney will be at the Dove Awards, as long as his wife isn’t craving a sandwich at that time.
Mercedes S.
March 12th, 2012
11:42 am
As for Adam Lambert…this is EW’s take on the video for “Better Than I Know Myself”:
“Getting dressed in the morning can be so much WORK. The troubled pyromaniac inside you wants to rock guyliner and that black leather trench you borrowed from will.i.am’s ‘Matrix’ phase, but the side of you that likes meditating and reading by natural light is really pushing for a nice shawl-collar cashmere cardigan. Until you figure it out, one thing’s for certain: You’re gonna need a lot of hair gel.” Rating: B.
G
March 12th, 2012
11:52 am
Yep, my “unbiased” rankings are identical to RoHos. I think the 6 & 7 spot between Heejun and Joshua may intermingle, but outside of the top 5 doesn’t seem to matter much. There are no JHud 7-spot mirracles out of this group.
I don’t get Colton or Phillip, but I’m very sure that I don’t like either one of them. I fail to see what’s so entertaining about Phillip. I have yet to hear a clean note from this guy. A lot of hollering and growling to cover up the fact that he really can’t sing. But hey, Idol isn’t totally about talent, right?
So….I guess most of us are caught up on last week’s episode of Walking Dead (Dale)? The small minority of us are caught up on last night? Last night-WAS- AWSOME!!!!
Rodney Ho
March 12th, 2012
11:55 am
Some pretty awful ramifications from what we learned last night, eh? But I wonder about zombies–when they consume “food,’ do they “digest” the food like regular humans. Do they poop like us? They often like to hang out together. Do they have any residual “humanity” that way? And what happens to them when all humans are possibly dead. How long will they stick around?
Deirdre
March 12th, 2012
11:58 am
Just finished watching WD. OMG!!!! times 20!!!!!! Another “not expecting that” moment. Sam, you need to watch it TONIGHT!
JTesla
March 12th, 2012
12:06 pm
Do they poop? Only if the writers pen that in.
Zombies in the open air would last about a month without any animals accelerating the process. After a month they would we skeletons with no connective or muscular tissue. Even within a sheltered environment under cool dry conditions there will be nothing but bones by the one year mark.
Reality isn’t always as fun as fiction.
JTesla
March 12th, 2012
12:07 pm
Another question to ponder: why can I type poop but I can’t type ridikulous (spelled correctly)?
Deirdre
March 12th, 2012
12:09 pm
Isn’t it nice that we have our own resident zombie expert?
Deirdre
March 12th, 2012
12:12 pm
Last night’s episode…….well, I just don’t know what to say.
Anna
March 12th, 2012
12:26 pm
I would hardly call American Idol a reality show. It’s a singing competition. Clay is doing well on the show because he’s smart and because he did his homework by watching the past seasons’ shows. The men commented that he had multiple skills. Clay has great computer skills. Clay said in his blog that he and Dee designed the Buick brochure that we saw Arsenio handing out. He also wrote the script for the Medieval Times show. Plus, I wouldn’t call Clay catty, unless you want to call Dee, Penn, Michael, and Arsenio catty as well.
Sam-A
March 12th, 2012
12:39 pm
Y’all – don’t!!!!!! I can’t watch it tonight – schedule is too full! Making me all itchy all over again! Mind reeling at the possibilities! Tomorrow night earliest – unless I called in sick and watched in the morning, which, after unexpectedly finding myself in the hospital last year, can’t afford to do.
Rodney, POOP – really!!!??? Seems that for the most decayed ones, it’d just fall out of their bodies when it leaves the mouth/throat area. Hey – why am I even speculating to this subject.
I am expecting the guy (name??) Shane shot at the school to return to the house in zombie form. And kinda expecting the father and son Rick hooked up with early on to find the farm, but they’d have to be ok, since it appears the zombies don’t do too much reasoning/thinking.
Shoot, I wish they’d put the danged show on Friday or Saturday nights. Sunday night just before bedtime is stupid – this show causes too much thinking to be able to go to sleep on!
JTesla
March 12th, 2012
12:42 pm
Somehow I received the private message below, not sure how they found me…
“Fanbot 5000 says Clay Aiken not celebrity but kindest man currently residing on the planet called Earth by its inhabitants. The Clay Aiken has been found without defect. Fanbot 5000 finds that your recent comments are not be in line with sanctioned protocol for discussing the Clay Aiken and therefore you are being issued a warning. Please do not commit this offense again.
Have a nice day.”
Deirdre
March 12th, 2012
12:43 pm
Sam, this one is even more mind-blowing than Dale.
shirl
March 12th, 2012
12:45 pm
Is that Lambert in the video?….didn’t bother opening it (no interest here)…haven’t heard his name in ages.
Deirdre
March 12th, 2012
12:45 pm
JT? Gotta watch out for Clay fans!
Deirdre
March 12th, 2012
12:46 pm
shirl, considering that the vids are labeled and you don’t really care, why even bother asking?
Rickster
March 12th, 2012
12:50 pm
RoHo: “But I wonder about zombies–when they consume “food,’ do they “digest” the food like regular humans. Do they poop like us?”
Sadly, my worst fears about what would happen when they combined the AI blog into the Radio & TV blog have now come to pass.
In the immortal words of Jed Clampett…. “pittiful…. pitt-e-ful”
Deirdre
March 12th, 2012
12:54 pm
LOL!!!
Right now, The Walking Dead is probably my favorite show. What a season, and where, after next week’s season finale, do they go from here??????
JTesla
March 12th, 2012
12:55 pm
I don’t know Rickster, I always imagined that the day would never come that my dream thread would be created. Yet here it is, a thread that involves discussing zombie poop and Clay Aiken, it’s like the Christmas morning of discussions.
Rickster
March 12th, 2012
12:58 pm
Christmas morning? More like “April Fools Day” to me, JT
JTesla
March 12th, 2012
1:04 pm
If Clay Aiken were turned into a zombie, which we know can’t happen because he is immune to the effects of zombism, vampirism, and lycanthropy, but if he were to be turned would he then poop? Because we know that he doesn’t now, he is that great! If he were to succumb would he then deficate? Fortunately for us that will never happen, and Clay will continue to keep the world safe from zombies.
Rickster
March 12th, 2012
1:10 pm
Funny, I was thinking that “Clay Aiken” and “zombie poop” were redundant…
But I’d never write that and incur the wrath of the Claymatons.
Jenny
March 12th, 2012
1:20 pm
Now you guys have me wishing I’d watched Walking Dead. It sounds kind of like a variant on The Stand?? (which I love… one of the best “ultimate battle between good & evil” books ever, BTW.) Is it a post-apocalyptic type thing… can someone give me a brief overview?
SAM!!! Love, love, love your 9:53 am post about JetBlue ejecting the screaming child. Yet another area where you & I agree 1000%. Make that 10,000% on this one.
I finally got a chance to watch (i.e. skip through) the rest of the results show… some thoughts in a few.
G
March 12th, 2012
1:26 pm
I imagine it just slides out rather quickly @ RoHo. LMAO!!!
SAM, this thing is too hot to keep a lid on it. I was on the WD group page on FB all last night. Here’s the question……If folks are mutating without being bitten, then how are they turning? My guess is that everyone is already infected. The virus lies dormant until they die. Death triggers the mutation, unless a person is killed through head trauma. Don’t know if its airborn or through the water system.
I also blame Carl for Dale’s situation. Yeah, kids will be kids, but at the end of the day he was at fault. He got into mischief, it came back to haunt the group, and he kept it to himself. I was mad at Carl for the whole week, but I couldn’t tell ya’ll why. My feelings about it today? Redemption.
Rickster
March 12th, 2012
1:35 pm
All this talk about zombies… poop, etc…. and I’m heading for the super-secret, undisclosed, well-armed, highly secure but oh-so-comfy bunker to wait this out.
G
March 12th, 2012
1:48 pm
THIS JUST IN: Phillip Phillips will be added to the Walking Dead payroll as the leading sound effect for the “crazed head zombie” role. This zombie will need to growl loudly on a consistent basis, be as tall as Jermaine, kind of favor Colton by the hair, and will have as much of a stinky attitude as Ellise. More to come……
*sniker*
Shana
March 12th, 2012
2:08 pm
You guys are so predictable. Don’t anyone dare say anything nice about Clay or you receive their wrath and sarcasm.
@JTesla: Both Adam Carolla and Penn Jillette have pointed out that those with reality show backgrounds have an advantage. Both Adam and Penn are Dancing With The Stars veterans so…whatever. Maybe they should be more specific because talent competitions are not even remotely like those Housewives shows and should be called talent competitions not reality shows.
Mercedes S.
March 12th, 2012
2:17 pm
RoHo, now you made me wonder about the vamps on “True Blood”… they cry tears, so one assumes any other elimination would be bloody as well… I don’t want to have these thoughts.
Mercedes S.
March 12th, 2012
2:19 pm
Did anyone else see the Sarah Palin movie on HBO last might? It was actually quite fair to the ex-governor, and explained a lot of questions I’d had about her four yrs ago.
JTesla
March 12th, 2012
2:21 pm
Shana, you are so predictable. Don’t anyone dare say anything that isn’t glowing about Clay or you receive your wrath.
Adam and Penn used their experience on Dancing with the Stars to showcase what they were talking about. They floundered not knowing how the “game” was played. As Penn stated that is HIS fault not his competitions fault, he was respectful of those that played the game the way it is meant to be played and was not dissing Clay. In fact he praised Clay, and so do I for excelling on the show. That is what he is there to do, so I like those that do it well.
JTesla
March 12th, 2012
2:23 pm
It’s odd that I’m somehow in the wrong when I relay something that was respectful of Clay, yet when I say that the man doesn’t poop… there is no disagreement. His fans must really believe that Clay doesn’t poop.
EVER!
He does fight zombies though, Clay is the number one reason why there aren’t zombies today.
Sam-A
March 12th, 2012
2:25 pm
JT I also L’dMAO (if that means what I think it does – I’m old!). Mean to do that to someone who just finished a huge glass of tea and hasn’t been “down the hall” for a couple hours!
However, and Shana, I’m sorta with you, I love Clay and think he was probably the 2nd best singer ever on Idol, with only Kelly ahead of him. I’m certainly NOT a “claymate”, but think he’s a great singer and a good and nice person.
Can’t wait to see what Carl could have done that G and other say he redeemed himself last night. I too was mad enough to blister his butt last week.
Am I the only one who hasn’t seen last night’s show? I will really try to watch it tomorrow night and let y’all know first thing Wed am. Sorry I’m such a drag!
Jenny: WD is a really scary, thought-provoking show, which I’m sure you can tell by the fervent discussions and passion some of us, ie Mercedes, K&CF, Deirdre (Bob, as we now so fondly call her), G and I feel about it. If you have Comcast on demand, you could see a few of this years, but you really need to see the 6 episodes from last season first, then the 12 this time around.
Sam-A
March 12th, 2012
2:29 pm
Mercedes: Friend saw it – her email used “dirt”, “rock”, “toad” a couple times each. For me, don’t have HBO, and wouldn’t have watched if I did. However, Julianne Moore was on Jon Stewart last week – was pretty funny.
Jenny
March 12th, 2012
2:38 pm
Thanks Sam! I think I might end up getting the DVDs at some point. Sounds like a show I might like.
And Shana, I also like Clay… I didn’t watch Idol yet during his season, but I like his voice and what he’s done since. And I youtube-d “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and can tell you if I had been watching, he surely would’ve been my fave after that performance!
Deirdre
March 12th, 2012
2:40 pm
Shana, give it a rest. I happen to really like Clay….I don’t happen to like the Clay fanatics…and I don’t think he does either.
Deirdre
March 12th, 2012
2:43 pm
Talked to Lucas today and “bob” is more “bop” now.
Deirdre
March 12th, 2012
2:44 pm
Sam…don’t read
G…my impression from last night’s show was zombie virus carrying insects
Deirdre
March 12th, 2012
2:53 pm
Jenny, Netflix has the first season of The Walking Dead.
Jenny
March 12th, 2012
3:07 pm
Thanks D! It is on my list of things to watch (once some of the other stuff wraps up!)
Mercedes S.
March 12th, 2012
3:07 pm
POTENTIAL SPOILER:
Just occurred to me – maybe the whole WD world is infected… and people turn to zombies when they die… which would explain the two unexpected zombies on the show last night.
Jenny
March 12th, 2012
3:08 pm
OK, so I finally scrolled through the results show over the weekend. How interesting that Jimmy says Jessica’s performance was THE best he’s ever seen on Idol. Wow…. that is some high praise.
I agreed with many of his takes on the singers. He definitely called it on Skylar and her nasal voice… but I was surprised that he says he likes nasal singing. Really? Do people seriously like that kind of tone? I sure don’t…
I saw there was some debate on here about Jermaine being a little tongue-tied and unsure how to answer questions. My take: I think he’s just an introvert. He may even have been painfully shy at some point in his life. There’s nothing wrong with him.
(And I’m sure his dad’s appearance out of the blue didn’t help. His mind was probably wandering, and he may not have been listening to Ryan. Like back in high school when the teacher called on you, but you were totally daydreaming and had no clue what the question was.
) That’s how it looked to me, anyway.
I was also quite surprised that Steven actually named someone when asked if anyone deserved to go home. Could this be the beginning of him learning to criticize?
Well, I’m happy about 1984, 86 and 87 for this week’s show. Not so much the 90s.
But I do think this is going to be a fun top 12 to watch! For the first time in a while, there’s no one who’s like fingernails on a chalkboard for me (Megan Joy, Casey Abrams.) Sure, there are some I don’t like very well… Deandre, of course, and Skylar’s nasal twang (though I do like her performance skills and the fact that she’s not insisting on singing only hard core country songs.) But overall, I think we may be in for an entertaining season.
Rodney Ho
March 12th, 2012
3:09 pm
@Mercedes. What was up with those two cops from a couple episodes ago that were at that spot where Rick and Shane were going to drop off Randall? They had no scratches on them but were dead. But also had no head trauma. Plus, they hadn’t been eaten by the zombies. Odd.
shirl
March 12th, 2012
3:10 pm
Hi Deirdre…I asked because it didn’t look like him in the picture on the video….sorry, I should have said that…my bad.
Since I’m back, Celebrity Apprentice is starting to get interesting, can’t believ Adam was fired last night, thought for sure it would be Lou.
Deirdre
March 12th, 2012
3:12 pm
Mercedes, that’s exactly what G said at 1:26. LOL!
shirl, no problem.
Harriett
March 12th, 2012
3:14 pm
Better just say bye for today. Nothing to contribute anyway, since I do not watch either WE or CA. Talk to y’all tomorrow, hopefully.
Deirdre
March 12th, 2012
3:16 pm
We may have to send Sam home for the day if we keep talking about WD!