I miss my TV

Badly.

Very badly.

Want to know why? K, I'll tell you. It's because American Idol is NOT COOL! There is no place online, not even on THEIR website, that you can watch what you missed on TV. Not one. You can watch each individual singer perform but I'm sorry, that sucks. I want to see the actual show. 

Why won't they show us the full episode like my other favorites do? I can watch Amazing Race online. I can watch Survivor online. Not A.I. though. Nope. They're not cool.

So I guess I'm done with them before Simon is done. I wasn't planning on watching after Simon left anyway but not before then. Now that they've deprived me of watching the show online however, I've decided to quit them early.

Now onto the cool shows.

I am really starting to like the cowboys on The Amazing Race. 

They're growing on me. They've come in first on the last two legs and they're really pretty cool. I love how they say "Oh my gravy". I'm thinking about starting to say that myself!

Don't worry, I haven't thrown over my Big Brother team Jeff and Jordon for them. 

They are playing well but not as well as I thought they would. They even messed up so bad on one of the tests that Jeff told Jordan they should never reproduce. That made me sad and Jordan looked sad but he was smiling later while he was talking about how dumb they were. I imagine it is a stressful game and I'm sure I'd say lots of not so nice things if I messed up.


Onto Survivor. I've decided I'm a villain. I wasn't sure there for a while and even though I absolutely love several of the heroes (Rupert, JT and James), I can't stand the rest of them. I want them all to go home!

The villains however have all got my heart with the exception of Coach. 

He could leave and it wouldn't bother me a bit. He spouts Confucius quotes all day and cries all night. He says you must be weak to be strong. Pffft. Boston Rob said it best to me when he told Coach to suck it up and act like a man. No doubt. Rob is definitely a man.

Except now he's targeted my fav villain, Russell. Booooo! Of course, it is Russell's fault. 

They got a clue that there was a hidden immunity idol at their camp somewhere (both tribes had one hidden at their camps) and of course Russell HAD to go look for it even though Boston Rob made it clear that anyone looking for it would be next on the chopping block.


I have to defend Russell though. It's his nature to want to save his own hide. I knew he would look for it. I just wish he had been smarter and not gotten busted looking for it. The goober.

Tom DID find the hidden idol at his camp and used it. I'm not a big fan of Tom BUT he did make a smart move using the idol the way he used it and he got rid of a big schemer, Cirie. 

That made me happy.

All photos courtesy of CBS

Say it ain't so A.I.

Last night American Idol premiered and I missed it. I am so disappointed! I have a good excuse though, my granddaughters were here and they had me distracted. Around 10:30 I saw an ad on E! saying it was coming on tonight (last night) at 8 p.m. Grrr. It's ok though. I caught up with it online this morning and get a second shot at watching it tonight. I'm not so sure I want to watch it though...

Why not? Because it's ruined for me.

First Paula left. Now Simon is leaving too.

Yep, my third-in-my-own-mind-secret-fantasy-husband (I have 5 in-my-own-mind-secret-fantasy-husbands: #1 is Willie Nelson; #2 is Stephen King; #3 is Simon Cowell; #4 is Jeff Probst and #5 is Gordon Ramsey. I know. It's a sickness.) is leaving American Idol. Boo!!

He told reporters at the TV Critics Assocation winter press tour:

"There's been a lot of speculation [about my future], partly because we didn't have an agreement. We reached an agreement formally about half past 11 this morning. Where we have come to is that The X Factor will launch in America in 2011, with me judging the show and executive producing the show, and because of that, this will be my last season on American Idol this year."

Ugh. Well, then it's official, this is MY last year for American Idol too. Maybe I can start watching The X Factor. I sure don't want to watch A.I. if all I get it the awful Kara and the goofy Ellen. Thank you very much.

Speaking of Kara, I saw she was just as rude (if not ruder) last night as she was last year. Apparently she told 25-year-old Andrew Fenlon that he "needed a spanking". Um, yeah. That sounds about right for her. Here's a little bit of her "professional" ways:

Impressive isn't she. (That's sarcasm at it's thickest by the way.) Simon made me cheer in the end by saying "I'd have said yes. He's starting to grow on me." which totally irked Kara. Way to go Simon! That's the stuff I'm going to miss.

Adam is MY American Idol

Ok, I know I'm a little late in posting about the outcome of this year's American Idol and I'm sorry about that...it's not my fault LOL

Anyway...

Even though I'm late, I have quite a bit to say. I know, I know; when DON'T I have quite a bit to say...

So about a week before the finale, my sister and I were driving down the road and we heard a "spot" on the radio station that was set to the tune of The Clash song Should I Stay or Should I Go (I'm actually NOT sure that's the name of the song but I'm pretty sure you know which song I'm talking about). The part of the song that went "So come on and let me know; should I come in or should I go?" was changed to "Adam Lambert let us know; which way do you go?". We were both appalled.

I mean, I know that people are obsessed with other people's personal lives. All you have to do is turn on the radio or TV or pick up a People magazine and that sad fact is proven. Regardless of that knowledge it still shocked us. Here was a major radio station (K-Hits out of Houston) and they were encouraging the gossip that spread throughout the final shows of American Idol concerning Adam's sexuality. They were continuing it. I think that's crap.

Since when is American Idol a MORAL competition? I was under the impression that it was a SINGING competition. I'm really disappointed that so many people used the singers personal lives as a deciding factor. I was born in the 60's. I grew up on great (in my opinion) music performed by people that I had no idea what their personal lives were about. I didn't care if Freddie Mercury was gay. I didn't care what David Bowie did when he was off stage. All I cared about was their music. The music was the point not any of that other stuff.

I am so proud of the way Adam has handled all of this. He is a true winner in my eyes. In a People magazine interview he said "It's a really, really cool thing, to be able to show people that you can be yourself, and you should be proud of yourself, and you should own who you are and what you're about, and never make apologies for it." So to those who speculate about his sexuality, he has a message. "Calm down," he says, and "keep speculating." I think that's cool.

I am NOT trying to say bad things about Kris Allen. Not one bit. I think he did alright. I wasn't blown away by him but he didn't make me cringe either. There is some controversy now over AT&T giving out free phones with text packages at Kris Allen A.I. parties. If that really happened then I'm upset about that too. I think it should be a FAIR competition no matter who the winner is.

But like I said, he didn't make me cringe. I think he'll do fairly well in the country music business (which means I'll probably never hear him. I like old country but this new stuff isn't my cup of tea) or in the style of Jack Johnson (which means I may hear him because Jack Johnson is one of the flavors of tea I enjoy...sorry about the tea analogy lol I'm not sure where that came from...) But I don't believe Kris will be even close to the star that Adam will become. I just think he's easily forgettable and quite honestly I can't even remember what his voice sounds like at this moment. That's not a good way to become famous.

So, I believe Kris needed to win to be able to just get his foot in the music business door. I did hear a rumor that he already had an album (from 2007) but I can't find anything about it online so I'm treating that as it is...a rumor. I don't put much effort into believing rumors.

Back to my point (yes, I have one)... I believe Adam will be around for a long time. I saw him on The Early Show this morning and he was as amazing as ever. I'm just really proud of him. As soon as his album comes out I'm buying it!!

So congratulations to Kris Allen for winning American Idol and congratulations to Adam Lambert for winning my heart. I think they both did well but as I've said many, many times before today: Adam Lambert is already a superstar in my world!! Keep on rockin!

I'm so turning emo

I've been a pretty big American Idol fan since it began. Ok, honestly, I hated it the first year it was on but I've been a loyal and loving fan since the second season. This year hasn't been that great for me. For one, as most of you know, I really don't like Kara (the new judge) AT ALL. And the singers just didn't seem as into it this year as they have in the past, with one exception...

Adam Lambert. I swear I'm thinking about "turning emo" for this guy just to show what a big fan of his I am. (As a side note, can you see me with black and purple hair and big holes in my ears? Um, I may need to rethink this whole emo thing...)

Adam is already a superstar in my eyes. I know he'll be a rich and famous lead singer for some lucky band. I personally compare his voice to Freddy Mercury (the late lead singer of Queen). Adam is that good.

I wanted to show you a video of his Motown performance on last night's American Idol but copyright laws make that impossible. I did however find a video that someone made of him singing last night with a slideshow of pictures of him. That'll have to work I guess.

Just listen to his voice. You'll know I'm right. He's a star.

Kara DioGuardi is ruining American Idol!

I told you several weeks ago when American Idol first began its eighth season that I was disappointed in it. I believe I may have even said I wasn’t going to watch it. I lied. But only about watching it.

I am still disappointed in it but not for the reasons you may think (unless of course you either 1. Know me or 2. Pay attention to me). So what’s my problem? I’ll be happy to tell you.

I can’t stand Kara DioGuardi. I don’t like her at all. It’s gotten to the point that I can’t even hear her voice without cringing. She brings NOTHING to the table in my opinion. She doesn’t even have original thoughts as far as I can see.

In general she is not the first judge to speak when it comes time for their thoughts on the performances. I think she must do that on purpose because when she does take her turn she basically repeats what the judge before her said. I hate that. If you have an opinion say it. Don’t just ‘go with the flow’. It doesn’t make you look good. At least not to me.

Plus she’s so concerned with telling people how good they look on stage. Huh? I thought this was a singing contest not a fashion show. Maybe I’m wrong. I understand that sadly your appearance does have a lot to do with your success in the music industry but I think at this point your voice should be more important. Several times Kara hasn’t said one thing about the contestant’s voice instead commenting on their outfit or their hair. I can think of several musicians that weren’t beauty queens or kings (Janis Joplin, Tom Petty, and Rick Ocasek just to name a few off the top of my head) but had incredible voices and were very successful because of those voices. That’s what music is about. The sound.

I was extremely pleased when on last nights show Paula Abdul pretty much shot Kara down in her tracks. Kara actually did comment first in that case and when she finished Paula said “I completely disagree” and then told WHY she disagreed. The crowd cheered; I laughed out loud. It was truly great! What makes that better for me personally is the fact that I normally don’t like Paula either. She earned a few points with me for that one.

I’ll leave you with a couple of videos I found on YouTube. I could talk all day about how much I hate Kara DioGuardi and how little talent I think she has (at least as a judge on American Idol. Honestly I don’t know about her other “talents” and I don’t want to know. She’s really on my nerves) and I think that would be boring so I’ll quit here.

Ear plugs may be necessary

My TV is fixing to be in for a workout. It’s that time a year that all my favorite shows start back up. It won’t be long before I’m screaming at Hell’s Kitchen, Big Brother 11 and Survivor again.

Last night was the beginning. American Idol premiered and I watched every second of it. I used to be a huge American Idol fan but over the last couple of years I’ve strayed a little.

I admit that in years past I was one of the people sending in the maximum number of texts allowed to vote. I was one of the people that spent hours on the phone hitting redial.

Last year all that changed. The show just didn’t hold my attention as much. The people weren’t as interesting or as talented as they had been in past shows. At least in my opinion.

Then a couple of days ago I saw an ad for this years American Idol. They have a new judge. A lady. Hmm, this might be interesting. She might be good…

She wasn’t. First of all they act like she’s someone famous but I’ve never heard of her. Her name is Kara DioGuardi and from what I could figure out, she’s a songwriter. I repeat: I’ve never heard of her. She actually felt the need to prove that she could sing better than one of the contestants and STOOD UP AND SANG. Well, I’m sorry. She sounded as bad as some of the wannabe stars.

The ‘improvements’ they’ve made aren’t that great to me either. They said they are going to show less of the Gong Show auditions for one thing. Well, again, I’m sorry, but the people making fools of themselves is one of the things I liked. It was an easy laugh. Remember William Hong? No? Well you can see him for yourself in the video I've included.

They also said they were going to show less Ryan Seacrest. I’m a little torn on that one. I like Ryan but I agree there is too much banter in the hallway taking away from why I’m watching. (In case you’ve forgotten that’s the people who think they can sing but just make me laugh.)

One girl (I can’t remember her name and have no desire to remember it) showed up in a bikini. Simon and Randy loved her of course. Paula and Kara acted like jealous teenagers. It was really quite boring. I could have done without it.

There was talent but they didn’t let us see much of it. There was Michael Sarver, the oilfield worker with a beautiful voice. And at the end they showed Scott McIntyre. I like him. He’s been almost completely blind since birth and he can sing.

All in all I was happy with the start of this years show and I’ll be tuning in tonight for another look. Maybe they’ll cooperate and show me what I want to see: fools and never-before-discovered superstars. We could get lucky.