‘American Idol’: Future stars and current weirdos

January 16th, 2008, 10:32 am · Post a Comment · posted by The Watcher

‘American Idol’ season 7 schedule The Watcher rates the new shows

I’m getting impatient.

I’ve always loved the audition episodes of “American Idol” and the parade of future stars and current weirdos, but this season I’m more eager to move on to the competition rounds.

Maybe it’s because there’s less novelty to the auditions. Maybe it’s because we’re looking at four weeks’ worth of this stuff.

Whatever the reason, I’m not alone. Despite weaker competition because of the writers strike, ratings for the premiere episode were off about 11 percent from last year, to 33.2 million viewers from 37.4 million. Of course, that will make it the top-rated show of the week by a large margin, so don’t weep for the “AI” contingent.

The Watcher’s random thoughts from episode one:

My pick to click: Kristy Lee Cook (who sold her really good barrel horse to get there). She’s got top 24 written all over her. As is often the case with “AI” auditioners, all is not as clean-cut and simple as the show would have us believe. According to her MySpace page, Kristy Lee left Oregon a few years ago to pursue her country music career in Dallas. She was signed to Arista records at 17, but later dropped by the label.

The trend that needs to end: Planted “auditioners” like Paul Marturano, Paula’s stalker guy, who is 32 according to the credits. Marturano appears all over the web as a singer/songwriter/pianist and has a credit in IMDb from the 2001 TV special “World’s Weirdest Performers.” There are more than enough natural weirdos.

Worst auditioner ever?: I still favor Keith of “Like a Virgin” fame from season one, but basso James Lewis makes a strong claim. My favorite part was when he compared his voice to “Paul Robeson, or maybe Eddie Vedder.”

Most likely to be the subject of a court order: Alexis Cohen, the “sparkly” nutcase from Allentown. Look for her to to be back at the finale - provided it’s legal for her to do so.

I hope it was worth it: Ben Haar suffered through a full body waxing in order to be immortalized as a complete loser.

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