Author Archive for LauraBelle

American Idol - Bad Day Becomes Hollywood’s Not America

For the past six years, Fox has been making stars with the incredibly popular American Idol, awarding the winner each year a million dollar recording contract. For the past two years, they’ve also been making stars of songwriters, giving one promising songwriter a shot, by having their song played as the exit song on the show. The first year it was Daniel Powter’s Bad Day, creating a star, as we were all singing that song by the end of the season. Last year it was Idol’s own fourth place finisher, Daughtry with his hit Home. Not that he needed help hitting the charts at that point, but he got it anyway.

Fox has already picked the song it will use this season, and it will make its debut on Tuesday’s episode where the contestants are narrowed down from that massive bunch that was sent to Hollywood. The song is appropriately called Hollywood’s Not America, and is by singer/songwriter Ferras, who himself has realized making it big isn’t everything. Somewhat ironic, I guess, as this song is about to make him a star, if we look at past history.

Already in the making is a music video for Ferras’ Hollywood’s Not America, with the following video a behind the scenes look.

For more information on American Idol, see SirLinksalot: American Idol.

Popularity: 32% [?]

Survivor - Johnny FairPlay or NoPlay

Most of us Survivor fans were a little confused when the cast announcement was finally made for the new Survivor season, that it was to be “Fans vs. Favorites.” Certainly some of them were obvious, Yau Man, James, Ozzy, but some of the others, especially the more devious women such as Eliza, were a little confusing. She wasn’t my favorite by any stretch of the imagination. Yet the one name that was the biggest puzzlement was Johnny Fairplay. Favorite what? Although, you have to admit he pulled off a great scam, although we still can’t decide whether that was fair to drop the morals that badly.

Last night, we all tuned in to watch, thinking if we had to watch Johnny Fairplay, then at least we could enjoy watching him manipulate, knowing what type of guy he really was. It was the most interesting thing, as the other Favorites knew exactly who he was as well, yet, as the group divided into two separate alliances, Johnny was without a place to call home, and everyone was clamoring for him to join their group, saying they’d rather have him with them than against them. Even Johnny asked, have they never seen the show? Why were they thinking that just because they allowed him on the inside of their alliance, he wouldn’t stab them in the back? Talk to Rupert about that.

The two different alliances were all ready to get rid of either Eliza or Parvati, if they should lose the immunity challenge, but they didn’t expect to, as they were the Favorites, the team that had been through all this before, right? Wrong. They did horribly. Well, maybe not horribly, but seemingly so compared to the Fans. The Favorites have to realize the Fans may not have ever done this before, but most of them have watched every single episode and have studied the show intensely. They know how to play, and aren’t tied down with ideas of how they played the last time.

Losing Immunity, Johnny Fairplay was supposed to be going over the choices, deciding which early alliance to follow in who to vote off. He was the swing vote, depending on how you looked at it. Instead, we saw the guy in tears, talking about his pregnant girlfriend, and the prospect of becoming a father seemed to have enlightened him to what is more important in the world.

The problem was, this was Johnny Fairplay, the guy that set it up beforehand to have his best friend come on the show and say Johnny’s grandma died, just to gain a sympathetic edge. No one believed him last night, and everyone thought it was a trick, yet they couldn’t figure out how he was going to pull this one to work in his favor, since he wasn’t in danger of leaving anyway. It didn’t make sense.

Even Jeff Probst questioned it at Tribal Council. He questioned whether Johnny was just finding it a little different and more difficult than he had remembered. Johnny clung to the story, claiming to be a changed person with his impending fatherhood, and saying he was now realizing there were more important things. He missed his girlfriend and just wanted to be with her. The only question was whether the rest of the Favorites were going to support him and let him out, or whether they were going to cling to their original plans. It was an easy choice as Favorites; they knew who Johnny could be, not who he was now, and knew they had to get rid of the conniver while they could, and it appeared Johnny was voted out unanimously.

It was after, in his words to the camera, that another possibility came to light. Johnny told the camera that he went out on his own terms this time, and that was important to him. I think maybe that’s what this was all about. He was still crafty, but he created something totally different than any of us were expecting. He didn’t want to come on the show to win, but to change what we thought of him and to not be disliked anymore. He created a scenario to have both alliances wanting him, making him well sought-after, then raised the sympathy by wanting to leave to be the good dad.

Besides, Johnny probably wasn’t going home to his girlfriend anyway. He’s most likely stayed in seclusion on the island somewhere at “Losers Lodge” until the show was done filming.

Johnny Fairplay came on Survivor this time to not Outlast and Outplay, but I think he was still Outwitting. He got exactly what he came for. No one this morning is talking about what a jerk he is. They’re either questioning why he left or calling him honorable. It has to be better than what he’s been living with the past few years. Even though that was something he created, not matter how shallow you are, it can’t e easy to live with people hating you like that. He managed to change that over a three day period on the show.

For more information on Survivor, see SirLinksalot: Survivor.

Popularity: 26% [?]

American Idol – Who’s Who In Hollywood

Now that the American Idol auditions are finally over, it’s a little hard to remember who we’ve seen so far that moved on to Hollywood. They sent twenty or thirty from each audition city, but we didn’t get to see but a handful that were sent from each one. Here’s a little reminder of who we’ve seen up to this point to refresh your memory and get your ready for the Hollywood round next week.

Joey Catalano, 19, of Mays Landing, New Jersey. He came in singing some Maroon 5 after recently losing 200 pounds. Simon wasn’t sure he could be an American Idol, but all three judges voted him through to Hollywood, nonetheless.

Melanie Nyema, 26, Los Angeles, California. She used to sing backup for Taylor Hicks, and she got through to Hollywood after the judges agreed they were a little nonplussed and would like her to go the extra mile.

Junot Joyner 25, of Bowie, Maryland. He sang some Elton John, and Simon told him he had a good voice, as all three judges sent him through.

Jose Candelaria 23, of Bayonne, New Jersey. He sang with an obvious Hispanic accent that might just be too limiting for him to make it out of Hollywood.

Jonathan Baines, 17, of Smyrna, Delaware. Very good for a younger guy, with a great look.

Angela Martin, 26, from Chicago, Illinois. She got pregnant as a teenager, and her daughter now has Reyes Syndrome. Simon wanted her to “de-weddingize,” and her whole family was there to enjoy this with her.

Popularity: 60% [?]

Big Brother 9 - Possible Twist

A day before Julie Chen officially announces the names of the houseguests for Big Brother 9, we receive information on another possibility for this season’s twist. At this point, I’m thinking I liked all the things we were conjuring up based off the “Dirty Little Secrets” commercial than what it looks like it might end up being.

A few new commercials have appeared on CBS, one featuring Julie Chen. These spots are indicating that the twist for Big Brother 9 will be that each of the houseguests enters the house with a “soul mate,” and it seems as if the soul mates are strangers, not people previously known to them. The announcer tells us if the houseguests aren’t careful, they could be evicted along with their soulmate.

I’m just looking for a little clarification here, as I’d like to know where the “Dirty Little Secrets” fits in. Is the whole big secret just that people didn’t know going in about the soul mates? That’s pretty lame, if it is. Is everyone going in with a soul mate and a secret? Will everyone think they’re the only ones to have a soulmate, but the dirty little secret is that everyone has a soulmate?

Popularity: 36% [?]

American Idol - Turning 20 Seconds Into 15 Minutes

It seems the original concept of American Idol was built around this great prize, a 1 million dollar record contract. Yet, with each passing season, it seems that prize has less and less importance, with the bigger prize just being the great worldwide exposure. While the Idols were clamoring before to make the top 10 to get exposure by going on tour, more and more people are getting their fifteen minutes of fame based on being seen in the auditions for just a few seconds.

Only the contestants themselves and the people directly surrounding the production of the show know at this point who the final 24 will be. Yet, not everyone, it seems, was sitting around waiting to make it. Some were already taking their exposure from the auditions and turning it into something else.

The American Idol judges seemed to give many chances to Jason Rich during his audition in Omaha, Nebraska. He was the young farmer who couldn’t remember the lyrics for the life of him. Simon gave him one last chance, and he failed again, yet seized the day anyway, and started again, this time remembering the words. For whatever reason, they sent Jason to Hollywood, despite it being the one place they seem to be the most stickiest for lyrics.

Popularity: 30% [?]