I know that American Idol is on the up and up about as much as the CO$' financial records and Kirstie Alley's claim to have lost 75 pounds, however . . . it seems that even Idol has outdone itself with the plants and the brutality of how they are treating their chosen cannon fodder for this season.
I'm sure everyone by now has heard about the Carly Smithson conspiracy theories - - a top 24 contestant who auditioned in San Diego and blew the judges
away, her cleverly crafted backstory at the time of auditions was that she previously auditioned several years ago but was unable to continue to Hollywood Week
due to a problem with her visa. So she returned this year with her visa in check and made it to Hollywood Week and to the top 24. Great story, right? What
the Idol producers so slyly neglected to inform us was that Carly Smithson is also the same Carly Hennessy who signed with MCA back in 1999 - - back
when Randy Jackson was employed by MCA. MCA not only put out a CD for Ms. Hennessy/Smithson, but dropped a cool quarter mil producing a video for her.
Obviously they had big plans for her. Big plans that did not materialize or that she could not live up to. Regardless, last season a contestant was
disqualified "because it was publicized that he had been signed to BMG while Cowell was at the label, which is against Idol rules." (per Wikipedia).
If true, shouldn't Carly Hennessy/Smithson be held to the same rules and standards? She has a prior connection with Randy Jackson/MCA - - one that
Idol admitted last week. It's obvious that Idol is fully behind Hennessy/Smithson - - she got the pimp spot last week during the
performances and despite a rocky, uneven and snore-inducing performance, the judges gave her a tongue bath worthy of Katie Holmes' constant praise of Tommy
Boy.
Remember Syesha Mercado? She lost her voice during Hollywood Week, saved it up enough to belt out a powerful performance, saving her butt and inducing Paula,
in her Vicodin meets vodka logic, to request Syesha to spell her name and point out that "YES" is in the middle of her name . . . blah, blah, blah,
whatever, Paula. Go pop another pill and dream about all the different colors of the universe. Anyhow, Vote for the Worst has pointed out that S-YES-ha has
appeared in a Ford Sync commercial. Not a big deal unless you consider that Ford is Idol's sponsor.
Let's move on to David Archuleta and Alexandrea Lushington. You wouldn't think so, but these two actually have a past together. We know that David
Archuleta appeared on Star Search at the age of 12 and won, but who do you think he beat? That's right. Alexandrea Lushington.
Last but not least . . . poor Garrett Haley was thrown under the Idol bus last week in a cruel fashion. Simon criticized his appearance and like many
contestants, was berated for his song choice ("Breaking Up is Hard to Do"). Yes, it seemed an odd choice for a teen, but I think almost every song
choice from last week was inspired by Paula's Kool Aid and her many colors of the universe. Unsurprisingly, given that Garrett had about 15 seconds of
airtime before, during and after Hollywood Week, he was the first one given his pink slip. To his credit, he considered Simon's callous comments
"constructive criticism" and stated he was who he was and wasn't going to change. Good for him. EOnline interviewed him, along with the other 3
bootees, and Garrett stated that all the contestants were given a list of 50 approved songs and asked to select 3, told that they would be given one of their 3
songs. According to Garrett, "I didn't get any of my songs, because they had given them out to all the contestants before that, so I just ended up
with having to choose from the list again. I didn't get to choose. They threw the song at me and said, 'Sing this one.' I took what I got and I did
what I could with it. It is hard to make a ballad song pop out at the beginning. I did the best I could and I am happy with what I did."
Again, good on Garrett but shame on Idol. We all know this kid's number would be up, and fairly quickly - - not because of any lack of talent on
his part, although we didn't get to see a lot of him but because he wasn't being pimped out a la Carly Hennessy/Smithson, Amanda Overmeyer and the like
- - so was it really necessary for Idol to put a Bullseye on this kid's back too?
How can the judges in good conscience criticize anyone for their song choice when when apparently, unless you are one of The Chosen Ones, The Powers That Be
can make a song choice for you? And a piss poor one, at that! At least give these kids a chance to shine or suck on their own. After all, isn't the point
of Idol for America to choose?
