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Inside 'Idol Gives Back'
I've been inside the Idol tapings so many times before but had never seen the Walt Disney Concert Hall. So, even though I had a ticket for both, I chose to head downtown and spend my evening with Ellen DeGeneres. Ellen was great as usual, if not under used.. sitting inside watching Kelly Clarkson, IL Divo, Rascall Flatts, Josh Groban and Earth, Wind and Fire perform was definitely the better seat! It's nights like these when I remember why I love this business.
There was not a dry eye in the house when Josh Groban sang with the African Children's Choir. They were brought out during the commercial break and received a standing ovation even before they sang one note. Watching it back on TV later, I can tell you what you saw was nothing compared to the power of seeing it in person. Josh's voice is absolutely beautiful and hearing the harmony of the choir together inside a venue with such strong acoustics was magical. When it was all over the audience erupted in what seemed like never ending applause. Women were bawling. Grown men were crying.
Clearly, the crowd was not the country music kind. I was feeling the love for Rascall Flatts. I love me some country music and sang along to every word of "My Wish." Two women in front of me stood up and danced along while the rest of the crowd seemed slightly uninterested. I think by the end of the song most were converted to Flatts fans though!
The crowd, who had paid up to a $1,000 for the best seats, had to watch the action at the Idol stage on huge theater type screens. To me the most memorable moment came courtesy of Paula. When she appeared on stage with Ryan after her taped piece, the entire 2,000 plus audience let out a huge gasp upon seeing her in that push up dress. Men began whistling and cat calling her like she was passing a construction site. I guess it was the size of the screen that made the size of her um, girls seem so big because according to my spy at the Idol taping, no one noticed there. Someone in the control booth must have noticed. When I watched the west coast feed back, they had placed a Dial Idol banner with the phone number over most of her talking.
There was mass confusion when Ryan kicked off the show at both venues. People were looking around asking "did that just happen live?" and "Is this really the start of the show?" It was. It was fixed for later feeds just showing Ryan's second introduction of the Idols.
By far the most popular person of the evening was Kelly Clarkson. Any time the audience coordinator, Cory, mentioned her name the crowd hooted and hollered. Fans were on their feet when she walked out on stage with many screaming "I Love You's."
The first time they showed Sanjaya during a quick cutaway of him in the Idol audience, the entire concert hall erupted in laughter. My spy inside told me that he was like the Belle of the Ball last night, chatting up the judges, the contestants and tons of folks in the audience. He seemed to be enjoying every single minute of it. One fan apparently asked him what his future plans were. He played coy but I can tell you it's looking like his guest starring gig on Disney Channels' "Hannah Montana", which I told you about last week, is a done deal. Billy Ray Cyrus told us on Tuesday night, "I'm going to look forward to the little fellow coming on and doing his role on 'Hannah Montana.' It is not chiseled in stone but yeah, we've had the conversation. Everybody's cool on it. Everybody's cool on it and everybody wants to do it."
During the celebrity prompts to call the phone number and donate, Hugh Laurie from Fox's "House" got the most applause and excitement from the crowd.
While all eyes were glued on the many heartfelt taped segments, especially Carrie Underwood's incredible music video style version of "I'll Stand By You", Celine Dion's duet with "Elvis" didn't seem to be all that popular with the concert hall crowd. Many people talked amongst themselves during it and others seemed bothered by it.
The crowd also did not take kindly to the news that no one would be voted out. As soon as the decision was read, 80 percent of the crowd got out of the seats and headed towards the exit missing the taped piece with Bono and the Idol's final performance. On Tuesday, I asked Randy about if he felt it was strange to have to kick someone off a show that is supposed to be all about charity. He didn't' seem phased, "It's American Idol, it's American Idol. It's the true Zen balance of the world if you will. Some good, some bad. Somebody's got to go home."
Apparently not. So, the whole evening brought up so many questions for me. I actually went home and watched it again from my house (although a doggie emergency sent me to the Animal Hospital after my Beagle/ Spaniel mix had a seizure) via DVR to check on a few things. I have no answers yet to these questions. So, I'm just throwing them out there hoping one day I will get them:
* What happened to the heavily promoted Borat skit with Sasha Baron Cohen? It was even mentioned in my DVR's description of the show.
* Why did they have a humongous star like Tom Cruise on the show for 5 seconds? He said one word, "Eleven." If you have Tom Cruise, you use him. I wasn't even positive it was him it went by so fast. Also, a waste of Julia Roberts but at least she got to speak more.
* Why did they start off the show with Earth, Wind and Fire? No offense to their fans around the world. I love their music but they are not relatable to the kids who watch Idol. Plus, frankly they are not big enough to have any impact at the beginning of a show. A duet with Kelly, Ruben, Fantasia, Carrie and Taylor would have been better. It is Idol after all.
* Why did the celebrities lip synch to "Stayin' Alive"? Wouldn't it have been funnier if they actually tried to sing. Did anyone get that this was the "movie" the Idol's were watching at the Drive-In? I didn't realize it until after the fact.
* Who's idea was it to have Simon 'audition' for the "The Simpsons". Genius. Pure Genius.
* Is Elvis rolling over in his grave about his duet with Celine? Admittedly, this is a question that will never be answered.
* Why did they feel it necessary to show Sanjaya in the audience so much. I think I counted six. That's as many times as we saw Ellen.
* How much did the people who work on Idol donate to the cause considering how much money this has made for them? Props to Ellen for donating $100,000 of her own money.
As of yet no numbers have been released on the numbers of dollars raised. I hope its not reflective of the viewing audience. While my guess is that they expected more than just Idol viewers to tune it that didn't happen. Last night's show was watched by over 26 million which is pretty much the average for the past month. I was expecting way more, like 30 or 40 million.. closer to the viewing audience for the finales. As long as money was raised though then it can be considered a success.
Yes, that was Sanjaya on stage performing with the Top 6 Idols as backup singers during the Celine and Elvis duet. Look very closely and you'll notice seven people in white, not six behind them. The segment was pre-taped before he was voted out last week. The producers did the best to cut him out but every now and again smart observers could catch a glimpse of him on the end.
I have a question, how did they handle the last few bits of the results? There was someone on an American Idol message board who was at the same taping who said that over the live feed from LA Ryan said that Jordin was eliminated. And that they didn't tell her she was really safe for a couple of minutes....Is this really what happened? Shoot me an e-mail or whatever, thanks.
hi there u guys are doing great keep up the hardwork and remeber good things come to those who wait!!!see ya at the top...
Fazed. Randy wasn't fazed. Not phased. Journalism does require a grasp of English. Jebus.
What is the name of the opera quartet that performed "Somewhere"?