Results tagged “American idol” from Access Hollywood

The consensus seems to be split over whether adding new fourth judge Kara DioGuardi was beneficial or unnecessary for Season 8 of "American Idol." A few critics have been praising her while others have been dissing her. On our Web site poll, 35 percent say you love her, 34 percent are not sure and 30 percent say no thanks. I'm reserving my judgment until we get to the live shows next month.

I spoke with Kara this week about her big wedding news  -- she recently got engaged to her school teacher-turned-general contractor boyfriend, Mike McCuddy  -- and how she feels about 30 million people knowing her name after this week's season premiere episodes:

 

Yesterday I weighed in on the Brad and Angelina red carpet snub for Seacrest.

In short, if you're any good, "it happens." Ryan is and thus it can happen. Most red carpet mic holders are so safe and buttery that they make the whole "arrivals" thing fodder for haters.

But apparently it's Seacrest's turn in the barrel right now.

Tuesday night he high-fived a blind guy... Hey, it happens. Realizing it quickly, Ryan made up for it by telling the guy and taking his hand to complete the universal sign of approval. Scott McIntyre, the contestant, didn't care... Why should anyone else?

Four of "American Idol's" favorite finalists have teamed up and are coming to a city near you. Season 3 runner-up Diana DeGarmo, Season 2 third place finisher Kimberley Locke and last season's David Hernandez (Top 12) and Chikezie Eze (Top 10) are embarking on a 15 city tour under the title "American Stars In Concert For The Holidays."  

Audiences will get a chance to get up close and personal as these former Idols perform an array of holiday songs and a few original tunes. Unlike Season 7's mostly solo-heavy "American Idol" tour, this show will be a mix of solos, group numbers and duets. Joining in on the fun as the tour,s musical director is one of my favorite Idol guys, Michael Orland, who serves as the "American Idol" pianist, arranger and Associate Music Director each season.  

I had a chance to visit with the fabulous foursome as they rehearsed for the tour, which kicks off Saturday, November 29th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (my hometown!).

 

This is actually not the first time the show has attempted using a fourth judge though. Back in season two rapper Angie Martinez was given as spot as the fourth judge but quit after only five days on the job. At the time she issued a statement to the media explaining that it was "too uncomfortable for me to tell someone else to give up on their dream."

 

Like Julia Roberts famously said in "Pretty Woman" - "Big Mistake. Huge." Unless Angie didn't want to become a household name.

 

Whether the audience will accept Kara or not remains to be seen but don't expect Kara to go away as quickly as Angie. This is a smart cookie that is used to telling people like it is behind the scenes. Though she started out wanted to be an artist herself, Kara quickly morphed into a songwriter. She has worked with a long list of A-list artists including Celine Dion, Pink, Marc Anthony and Faith Hill among many, many others. She has also had her hands in the songs of past Idols - Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Katherine McPhee, Taylor Hicks and right now David Cook. 

 

With auditions for season eight of "American Idol" already underway you can expect a major overhaul for the new season, according to everyone's favorite snarky judge, Simon Cowell. In a conference call from London with reporters this afternoon, Cowell said he and "Idol" producers have already begun meetings in the UK with the production team and Fox executives to discuss what he would like to see happen.

 

With the exit of executive producer, Nigel Lythgoe recently announced, Simon thinks the show will get a much-needed face-lift, 

 

"You must never depend on one person. I don't think we would have had the success initially without Nigel but we are onto our eighth season. It feels like it’s going to be a different show this year because of it and we will see whether that’s an advantage or a negative."

 

Simon, who helped create the show, is prepared to step into a larger role behind the scenes,

 

"With Nigel there it became too much of a crowd and he is a very good producer but I think now he has stepped down I probably will get more involved. I already have to be honest with you."

Do you ever just get a bad feeling about something and know it's going to go all wrong?

 

Yesterday morning I had that feeling and I should have gone with my gut instinct. I had agreed to cover an event in Hollywood that was a party to help celebrate the release of “American Christmas” -- a CD which features recordings from past top 12 “Idol” alums Nikki McKibbin, RJ Helton, Trenyce, Jasmine Trias and Mikalah Gordon - as well as a few Top 24 contestants and even the rejected Maynard Triplets, who in Season Four Simon Cowell famously called “fat Jessica Simpson’s."

 

It sounded like a grand old cheesy time. They were all going to perform some Christmas tunes together. We would interview them and see what they have all been up to and capture some video of the performance to put online. The whole shoot hinged on one thing though -- I agreed to it because I wanted to do an intimate sit down interview with Nikki McKibbin who was just wrapping filming on the second season of "Celebrity Rehab With Dr Drew" for VH1.

 

Nikki has had a rough year emotionally. Her mother passed away just as Nikki was readying a Las Vegas wedding. Then in March, she was taken to a hospital and placed on a 72-hour psychiatric hold after it was feared she was contemplating suicide, still distraught over her mother’s death. When that story broke her manager issued a denial to me and said Nikki did not attempt suicide, rather she had a bad reaction to medication. My plan was to get to the bottom of all this and find out what she learned during her rehab experience. 

 

E-mails were exchanged with her manager and a time was set up for the interview with the explanation that Nikki was the only reason we were coming. We would arrive at 9:00 PM and interview Nikki at 9:30 PM. Around midnight the prior evening, I received an e-mail telling me that Nikki would be needed for VH1 until 10 PM and the interview would occur then instead. This is when I should have known this was going to turn out to be a disaster. On good faith though and because I had committed, we arrived at 9:00 PM (because I was told this was when the red carpet would open for the other “Idols” in attendance.) 

Oh, but it is so my friends. Just when we all think around here that "American Idol" has finished and we can put away our "Cook Cooks" and "I Love Archie, Not Jughead" signs and t-shirts (OK, we really don't have those - I just made that up) the auditions return. Barely two months have passed since the finale wrapped up, and my six month long tension headache went away, and the first round of auditions are already under way. The first stop took place in San Francisco, Calif. You would think by season eight I would be bored of all this, but alas, I hauled my butt up on a plane to San Francisco to check out the auditions last week at the Cow Palace. 

 

After a $111 dollar cab ride from my hotel at 5:30 AM (sorry, accounting) I arrived to find, first, that it was freezing cold on a July morning. Yes, yes I have heard the Mark Twain quote, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." Thank you to everyone who told me this after I wore the wrong clothes and froze my tail off. Second, I found around seven thousand plus people lined up for their chance at stardom. 

 

The crowd seemed a little smaller than I found during season six in Los Angeles but still a huge number for a show now going into its eighth season. Two years later, there seemed to be one major difference - this crowd was a whole lot more tame. I remember arriving at the Rose Bowl and spotting a guy in a chicken costume, girls in their prom dresses and tiaras, a clown and just about every other type of costume.

In all the years I have been covering "American Idol" for Access Hollywood I have actually never gone to the "American Idols Live" tour. I'm not sure why. I guess I have never been invited and it's something I would never shell out my own hard earned money to watch. This year, however, I did receive tickets along with my producer pal Celeste. I was actually pretty darn excited to go. I wanted to check out what it was all about and see just who actually came to see the show. 

 

We pull up to the Staples Center and I'm expecting the place to be crawling with eight, nine and ten-year-old little girls and that was about it. Instead, what I found was the most interesting mix of age ranges and races. There were young girls with their parents, couples on dates, grandmas and grandpas, teenagers, college students, groups of girlfriends in a variety of ages, entire families with their daughters and sons. This was not at all the crowd I expected! 

 

We get to our seats and I'm delighted to find that they are pretty close to the stage. Although you would never know it by the photos I took. My camera makes it seem like I’m up in the nosebleeds. I notice just as I sit down that Syesha Mercado's father is sitting right next to me. Later I learn that Brooke White's aunt, uncle and cousin are sitting right in front of me. I figure this out after I hear her yelling "Brookie" and going absolutely nuts when she is on stage performing. 

 

I have to say that overall I was extremely disappointed with the show. It was not at all what I expected. I thought it was going to open with a bang and be full of energy. I figured all ten Idols would come out and perform a fun yet cheesy group number. Then I figured each Idol would get to sing a solo or two. Then it would be back to group numbers and so on. Instead they racked them all up like a countdown and each Idol performed a few songs for the crowd. Since I've never been to a show before I'm wondering if this is the way it has always been or did they at one time mix up the group numbers with the solos? I'd love to hear comments from anyone who has been to past shows.

If you are going through "American Idol" withdrawal symptoms already (like me) then be sure and snap up some tickets to the "American Idols Live" tour this summer. I had a chance to go inside the Top 10's private rehearsals and it looks like its shaping up to be a great show.

 

Unfortunately, you won't hear any glimpses of what Idol winner David Cook is cooking up for his first album at the show, but you will get plenty of originality from the rocker he says,

 

"Some calypso, a little bit of free-formed jazz. I actually got a seven minute interpretive dance routine in the middle of my set."

 

He's kidding (if you haven't figured that out yet). Although, I’m sure he would look good in tights! I mean he is one of People Magazine's Sexiest Bachelors, right? Except he’s not technically a bachelor as he is still dating TV Guide Channel host and former Idol alumna, Kimberly Caldwell. David says their relationship is "good" but he's now trying to stay out of the radar with it,

 

"I think for me, it sounds cliché to say, but I got into music to make music and it's so funny now because people ask me about my personal life and there is such an absurdity associated with everybody just from all corners asking about it. I am stoked about this tour because I feel like to some degree it is a bit of an escape. I can get onto the road and concentrate on music."

Only one man could have gotten me up this morning at 3 AM and that was the "American Idol" winner -- David Cook! We met up back down at the Nokia Theater this morning at 4:30 AM. When I arrived David was already there just hanging out, coffee in hand, no entourage to speak of. His car had dropped him off before anyone from Fox was even there to greet him. Not exactly the scene you would expect for the most talked about person in America today. Five minutes later the Fox people arrived, swooped up David, threw him in a chair for makeup and then he was off and running, doing back-to-back three-minute interviews with Fox affiliates around the country.
 
My favorite moment was when the Philadelphia affiliate had a special reporter to interview David, 11-year Rocco Fiorentino who has been legally blind since birth. He's a singer, pianist, & composer whose dream is to be on "American Idol" when he turns 16. He considers himself to be a prodigy, just like David Archuleta, and the boy sure can sing. If the show is still on the air in five years, I predict Rocco will be in the Top 12! You heard it here first.
 
David Archuleta showed up just after 5 AM and was off and running with the Fox affiliates as well. Both David's continued the interview circuit for over three hours with barely a break in between. I, however, grabbed my crew and went for some breakfast. When we returned, I got a chance to talk to Archie who seems every week to be breaking out of his shyness shell. Back to back interviews will do that to you. Archie confirmed what I reported yesterday, that Grammy winning songwriter Diane Warren had approached him about penning songs for him. He was flattered and believes this is a collaboration that will definitely happen. 
 
Next, David Cook and I were off in a limo back to the Access Hollywood stage. The poor guy was exhausted. By this point he had been up for over 24 hours straight with no sleep last night. He went straight from the show to tons of press interviews, photos and then to the 19 Entertainment party to meet up with friends, family and fellow contestants. After I gave him a quick Idol quiz David took the remaining 15 minutes of the drive to catch a few zzzs. I personally could never fall asleep like that, but David was out like a light for about ten minutes. He looked so cute with his head leaning over on the seat, like a little boy. I felt so bad when we arrived that he had to wake up. Next, it was into our studios where I left David in our green room to catch a few more minutes of shuteye on the coach before performing in our stage and talking to Nancy O'Dell.  

After Simon called David Archuleta's performance a "knockout," it would seem like Archie's a shoo in to win "American Idol." Not so fast though. Several spoiler sites are already predicting rocker David Cook will be the winner including Zaba Search and Dial Idol. Both sites accurately predicted Syesha Mercado's exit from the show (although that was kind of a given). Dial Idol has accurately predicted that Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks and Jordin Sparks were going to win, so I’m inclined to believe them.   
 
If Cook does win it's not because he is a better singer -- it's because he is a better performer. He's the guy you want to buy a ticket to a show to see. He is the guy you would go out and buy or download their album. Archuleta is still very, very young.  I think he is adorable and that voice is a gift. I still have to wonder if he can have commercial success as a recording artist. Although I know that Grammy winner and songwriting guru Diane Warren is itching to write a song for him and is convinced they could have a number one record together. I have a better plan! They are filming "High School Musical 3" right down the road from where he lives. Now that's a place I could see Archuleta - the next generation of East High! 
 
Either way, when the votes come down tonight both Davids are going to be just fine career wise.
 
Last night on my way into the Nokia Theater I caught a glimpse of Archuleta's dad, Jeff, with the rest of his kids. This meant that his wife, Lupe, was watching over David, as at 17 years old, he needs a guardian at all times. I also spotted Chris Sligh from last season heading in to the audience and David Cook's brother, Adam.

I spent the weekend up in Salt Lake City on the set of a certain sequel to a TV movie phenomenon, which I’m not allowed to tell you about until Wednesday. This also gave me the opportunity to go hang out in David Archuleta’s hometown of Murray, Utah, which I heard was a, “small town just outside of Salt Lake City.” 

 

After seeing David’s hometown visit on last week’s “American Idol” results show... with the mayor sporting a handle bar mustache in what looked like a classic Main Street America town, I was expecting a small, quaint little village. Much to my shock, this was not the case at all when I arrived in Murray. This is a suburb. Not a small town. It’s got a population of about 46,000 people. It’s filled with classic suburban commercialism – Best Buy, Office Depot, Costco, Staples, Barnes and Nobles and car dealerships galore. Not that there is anything wrong with suburbia, it just was not at all what I was expecting. 

 

The people that I met in town could not have been nicer though, which did make it feel like small town America.  I started out meeting that handle bar mustached mayor, Daniel Snarr. He cruised up on his yellow Indian motorcycle and told me about how proud Murray is of their local “Idol” star,

 

“The thing we are most proud of is not only is he an unbelievable talent with an incredible voice. The most important thing he is a humble young man."

 

Apparently, David is not the only famous face in Murray. Ken Jennings of "Jeopardy" fame also hails from this area, according to Mayor Snarr,

 

"David was willing to stand up and say I come from a great city, Murray City, Utah. We had Ken Jennings and he always said he was from Salt Lake City but he lived in Murray right by the high school. So we are proud of David for saying, 'You know what? I’m proud of my city.'"

We are still hours away from learning who will be eliminated tonight from "American Idol" but several Internet sites already have predicted that Syesha Mercado's a goner.

 

Zaba Search, which accurately predicted the elimination of Jason Castro last week, says Syesha is the next to go. The site, which tracks how often contestants names are entered into search engines, has even gone so far as to throw a banner over a photo of Syesha that says "Voted off May 14th," despite the fact that the results show has yet to air. They are also calling it a David vs. David finale. Syesha has also been predicted to be voted off by Dial Idol, a popular site that measures the busy signals of each contestant. 

 

Syesha being eliminated tonight is not the shocker; the shocker is how this 21-year-old has made it to the Top 3 after having been in the bottom two or three almost every week. Somehow she continued to slide through while other seemingly more popular contestants were sent packing. I think this has to do with two things.

 

Number one she was a student at Florida International University where the students and alumni have rallied together to vote for her. Number two is that she has an entire region of Florida voting for her in droves.  yesha grew up in Bradenton, Florida and that town has banded together to vote for her as well as the entire town of Sarasota, FL, where Syesha attended Booker High School. Each and every week, residents of Sarasota have been gathering at Mattison's City Grille restaurant. Chef Paul Mattison has even created three signature dishes in honor of the singer - the Pizza Mercado, the Syesha Salad and the Fan-Esha appetizer platter.

 

 

Never before on "American Idol" have I seen a contestant look more like they were ready to leave than Jason Castro. Obviously, everybody else noticed it too.

 

So, it was no surprise when on a conference call with reporters this morning the first question out of the gate was, "did you forget your lyrics on purpose?" It's something Simon Cowell pondered after the show on Tuesday night. This would have been my question too but I didn’t dial in quick enough. So, someone else got to ask it. What was Jason going to say though; especially with a slew of "American Idol" people sitting they’re with him? Would he admit it? I was pretty convinced he did forget them on purpose. However, Jason surprised me when he told reporters that up until last night he was still in it to win it, saying,

 

“I definitely did not do that on purpose. I couldn’t believe I forgot such a popular line, you know, something that is like written on your soul. Somehow it slipped my mind.”

 

On the opposite coin though, Jason said he was ready to leave last night because, unfortunately, with his lack of performing experience, he couldn't handle the pressure,

 

"I think what it came to down to was just my inexperience. Once we doubled up on songs I wasn't really able to focus. My mind was just split and I couldn’t deliver either / or." 

This week the final four "American Idol" contestants Syesha Mercado, Jason Castro, David Cook and David Archuleta will select and sing a song from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s list of “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll”; a permanent exhibit showcased at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland, Ohio.  

 

What better place to get in the rock and roll mindset than Las Vegas. No they were not out partying like rock stars til the wee hours of the morning like most folks do in Vegas. The four contestants traveled this weekend to Sin City looking for a little love and found it at the Beatles Love show at the Mirage Hotel. Access Hollywood had a camera at the Mirage and before the Cirque Du Soleil show spoke to the contestants. 

 

When asked what he thought his chances of becoming the winner of Season Seven, David Cook gave a typical politically correct "Idol" friendly answer.

 

"The only answer that I can come up with is that I have a 25 percent chance of winning 'American Idol.' There is three performances left and I think we are all in it to win it. So, it is anybody’s game," he said.

Well, things went down at "American Idol" last night exactly as I thought they would. The lovely, and once very talented (but lost her confidence), Brooke White was sent home. I knew it would happen not because her guitar playing, kitschy performance of "I'm A Believer" was so awful, but because Access Hollywood was at a viewing party for her Tuesday night. 

 

If you are paying attention, this is now the third time this season we have covered a viewing party and the person was eliminated the next night. This is also if you are counting the eighth time this has happened during an ‘Idol’ season. This time, the viewing party was held at a furniture store in Van Nuys where Brooke lives. The newly opened "Living Spaces" hosted the party so her friends and family could watch her on multiple big screen TVs. It would have made a great story on our show, but unfortunately, Paula's lunatic behavior hugely diminished the air time for the party. If you blinked, you missed it in our show last night. There were about 100 to 150 in attendance and clearly our presence must have thrown off their texting and dialing capabilities. Or maybe they just all got caught up in re-decorating their houses once they were inside a furniture store?

 

This morning on a conference call, Brooke told reporters she got a phone this morning from her Idol, Carly Simon.

 

"She was incredibly supportive, very generous in her comments. It actually really boosted my spirits. It kind of gave me a motivation and a hope to keep going in the direction that I am." 

 

I was at the Idol taping last night and from far away, Natasha Bedingfield and Brooke looked like twins. They even forget their lyrics the same. Yes, even the professionals do it sometimes!

 

 

I'm not going to sit here and defend Paula Abdul because we all know she is strange, to say the least. However, in all the years I have been covering "American Idol" and attending the tapings, none was more frenetic than last night. 

 

There were several factors contributing to the chaos that was last night. First, it was a Top 5 show, where for the first time this season the contestants would be singing two songs. The show was in a huge time crunch because besides the two songs they also had to show the Neil Diamond mentor packages.

 

Second, they have never allowed contestants to use instruments on this show before this season. So, during commercial breaks and the taped segments stagehands were frantically moving equipment in and out. There were several times when Ryan was standing with the contestant giving out the phone numbers while other contestants were being ushered on stage beside them.  

 

Third - and most important in the Paula situation - was that they have never in the history of the show asked the judges to hold their critiques. The judges also clearly did not know this "twist" was happening. As soon as Ryan made this announcement, the judges leaned into each other to discuss this new wrench in the plan. According to Paula on KIIS-FM this morning, they had decided at that moment they need a notepad and a pen. 

Yes. It happened again.  The week that Access Hollywood covers a viewing party for one of the "American Idol" contestants, that person has been voted off!  Sorry, Carly Smithson.

 

OK, maybe it’s a coincidence more than a "curse," but this is the second time this season it's happened. In Top 10 week we held a huge party for rocker nurse Amanda Overmyer in her hometown - and bam she was voted off that week!  I've talked about this "curse" before during past "Idol" seasons as this also happened to Ace Young, LaKisha Jones and Matt Rogers.  

 

Although, truthfully, no offense to Carly, but this viewing party for her was really lame. Our producer Celeste and I had met one of Carly's friends at the Top 12 party. She gave Celeste a call and told her she was gathering together people for a party at the Key Club in Los Angeles on Tuesday night. The Key Club is this huge dance club on Sunset Blvd that gets packed. So, we sent a crew over thinking it would be a great event and our poor producer Rebecca was horrified when she arrived to find only 19 people - and only two of them knew Carly personally! At Amanda's she had over 100!  

So, it turns out our little country gal has been hiding a secret for the past month.  This morning in a conference call with reporters Kristy revealed that she and her boyfriend Andy got engaged on March 15th and in the strangest of places - a sauna.  

 

Andy came over to visit his lady at the top-secret apartment complex where the Idol contestants live.  Kristy said since it's tough to get any alone time, without the prying eyes of bodyguards, they headed into the apartment's workout room.  Since people were in the gym she and Andy headed into the sauna for some privacy.  Fortunately, the sauna was turned off so the only heat coming from it was their own.  Kristy said yes to Andy's proposal even though he didn’t get down on one knee.

 

Last night on Fox Reality Channel's "American Idol Extra" though Andy got his chance and did go on bended knee for his future bride asking,

 

"Kristy Lee Cook will you marry me." 

 

She of course said, "yes."