End of Decade Blowout pt 5: Top 20 TV Shows, 20-11

Here's the list of my 20 favorite TV shows of the decade. Some preliminary notes:

1) Shows are rated entirely based on how much pleasure they gave me to watch.
2) For the few shows on here that span the 90's and 00's, they are rated on the entirety of their body of work. I only included shows whose 2000s output alone was enough to get them on the list though (e.g. No Simpsons)
3) There are a lot of top critically acclaimed shows this decade I have never seen. A LOT. Like, all of them. So, for example why aren't Mad Men or The Sopranos or The Wire or Battlestar Galactica or pretty much any other show that would make any respectable critic's top 10 on my list? Maybe I would like them maybe I wouldn't. I often disagree with critical consensus. But it's a moot point, because I've never seen them.

Enough caveats, let's see the list.

20. Eli Stone
Network: ABC
Commentary: This is one of the few hour long dramas to make an appearance on the list, but it's an outstanding, very uplifting show that always makes me happy to watch. The characters and were generally well done, and I liked all of the actors, especially Johnny Lee Miller as Eli Stone himself. Overall a fun happy show, in a mold that's right up my alley. The plots, however, were not consistently good enough for me to be able to rate the show higher.

19. Scrubs
Network: NBC, then ABC
Commentary: For a few year stretch, this was the most consistently funny sitcom on TV. Now, it significantly fell off after that, and constant repeats have worn even those episodes a little thin, but it still made me laugh a lot and deserves a placement. This is a tough one because it has less rewatchability than most of the other shows, but it has memorable characters and good joke writing and overall executes well, even if it did all wear thin after a while.

18. Strange Days at Blake Holsey High
Network: Discovery Kids
Commentary: Interested readers are directed to an entire very long post I dedicated to this show all the way back in 2006: "Fave TV Shows of All Time, Vol 2.: Strange Days at Blake Holsey High"

17. American Idol
Network: Fox
Commentary: A lot of people seem to not like this show, but it's a classic. Its pop culture impact this decade is unrivaled by any other show, and it still remains consistently entertaining. Yes, the quality of the show fluctuates up and down depending on the quality of the contestants, but I've generally found the show does a great job of playing up the drama in an enjoyable way. Plus, the show produced Katharine McPhee and Brooke White, so there's something right there.

16. House
Network: USA
Commentary: This one is kind of hard to rank because it is very formulaic, and has had about as many bad and boring episodes as great episodes. Overall, the formula has gotten very stale, and I've mostly lost interest in watching the show, but it was/is a genuinely great formula and Hugh Laurie is, of course, brilliant and quite possibly the TV actor of the decade. This is a very boom and bust show; it's given me some of the most entertainment of any show this decade, but also probably more idle boredom than any other show on the list.

15. Unfabulous
Network: Nickelodeon
Commentary: I hate to keep doing this, but when I've already dedicated multiple posts to a show, it seems pointless to make any additional commentary.

14. Monk
Network: USA
Commentary: Tony Shalhoub does a great job with a very original and fun character. OK, the plots and mysteries are generally pretty lame, but overall the characters and the comedy still make this a great show. I was originally sad when Bitty Schram left, but Traylor Howard has been great, even though the show itself has significantly declined. But the show had about 3 legitimately great and funny seasons, and that's enough to get it here.

13. True Life
Network: MTV
Commentary: The episodes in this show have a pretty wide range in quality, but no show this decade has more effectively run the gamut between hilarious, interesting, dramatic, and informational like this one has. It generally finds the right tone for each story it tells and finds interesting characters to talk about. Some are a little boring, but rarely do they seem like a pointless waste of time.

12. Six Feet Under
Network: HBO
Commentary: Some of the most interesting characters and best acting of the decade, even if it does get a bit dreary at times (and by at times, I mean constantly). Sure, sometimes you wish they would just throw the Fishers a bone here and there, but the plots and characters manage to almost always be executed well so it's hard to complain too much.

11. The Mole
Network: ABC
Commentary: In my opinion, the best reality show of the decade. The concept of the show was killer, Anderson Cooper was a great host, and the challenges were well designed and fun to watch. Even the celebrity episodes were good, because of the inherent entertainment of the concept and the great execution. Of course, the guessing game of who is the mole is the most entertaining part, and they always managed to give just enough information for it to be fun.

But with all these great shows gone already, what makes the top 10? Wait and see!

Top 10 TV Shows of 2008

It is time for annual listing here at the TCR. As currently stands, I will do a top 10 TV shows and tracks list. The albums list and movies lists are not feasible because I have been so out of touch with those this year. My favorite album of the year is Bittersweet World and my favorite movie is American Teen, with Bigger, Faster, Stronger and Iron Man and Dark Knight close. Here's TV.

My annual caveat still applies. I do not watch any HBO or Showtime shows or most of the other critically acclaimed dramas. Would I like The Wire or Mad Men or Dexter or Damages if I gave them a chance? Probably. But I've never seen them and I probably never will and that's just not the kind of thing that keeps me up at night. Probably that invalidates my list, but I still do it anyways cause it's fun. Here's the list:

10. Wizards of Waverly Place - I like to leave one slot on my list for whatever is my favorite teen show du jour. In prior years this slot has been taken by Unfabulous and Phil of the Future. For now, this is the best show of its type, and while it isn't nearly up to the level of those shows it's still a very cute and entertaining show and some of its jokes do make you laugh. So the cuteness alone gets it this far.

9. Burn Notice - This is one of the most fun shows on TV, with its easy mix of action and drama and comedy. The plots are light and breezy but they are always paced well and they always set up good action. All in all it's a really fun entry to the landscape of TV.

8. American Idol - This show brought us Brooke White this season, definitely my favorite ever reality show contestant. It was a lackluster season otherwise, Chizekie's "She's a Woman" notwithstanding, but Brooke alone drives it this high.

7. House - I had a really hard time rating this show, just like last year, and for the exact same reason as last year. Season 4 was some kind of freaky creative renaissance for this show. The last half of season 4 was awesome, featuring great episodes like the one with Mira Sorvino, but the first half of season 5 has been extremely subpar. The process of getting the new team was a ton of fun, but the new team themselves is nothing too great, and it means less time for Dr. Cameron hotness. I've grown very bored of this show.

6. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - I think this show is still really funny. The last season was a little spotty, but there were definitely some classic episodes and moments. The episode where Mac and Charlie fake their deaths and the episode in the 18th century were particular highlights. The spark may be ever so slightly gone here compared to early seasons, but I still love the show.

5. Greek - In all honesty, probably the drama show of the year where I was most invested in the characters. All of the characters and storylines are a ton of fun. The show moves at a really brisk pace and it never gets bogged down in boring details but generally gives the storylines some space to breathe. I dunno, it could rank higher, but the show is so incredibly lightweight and I do love the 4 shows above it. I'm very eagerly awaiting the next season, regardless.

4. Eli Stone - Such an uplifting show! This is the heir apparent to Joan of Arcadia in my mind, and while it never reaches the heights of that show, the relentless enthusiasm and optimism makes this show really enjoyable. It just makes me really happy to watch the show, and the cancellation was really sad to me.

3. How I Met Your Mother - The basic feel and quality of this show has remained totally unchanged over the last few years. It's still consistently funny and it still nails the emotional character drama moments. The mixture of emotion and comedy make this a consistently interesting show, even during the poorer episodes.

2. True Life - I watched every new episode of this show in 2008, and pretty much all of the episodes were worth watching. The shows tend to range from really funny to genuinely interesting to really sad, and they always seem to hit the right tone for whatever topic they've picked. I think this show is by far the best reality show on TV, and the way it can consistently hit all the right notes is very impressive, landing it all the way this high.

1. Friday Night Lights - The third season on DirecTV was really good, and the second season improved towards the end. This is still the best show on TV, thanks to its realistic drama, great tension, and ability to hit emotional buttons.

New to the top 10: Wizards of Waverly Place, Burn Notice, American Idol, Eli Stone, True Life- Two brand new shows that didn't exist in 2007, one show that hit a new level in its second season, one show I had been unjustly ignoring over the last couple years (True Life), and Brooke White.

Falling Out: Pushing Daisies, The 4400, Unfabulous, 30 Rock, World Series of Pop Culture- 3 of these shows aired no episodes in 2008 due to cancellation. Of the other two, 30 Rock is a show that has never really grabbed me. I watched it enough in 2007 that it snuck its way to the bottom of my top 10, but I've never been too crazy about it. Pushing Daisies, I just lost interest in for no real reason. It was off the air for a long while due to the strike, and when it came back in I just realized I had no real desire to watch it any more. Sorry.

Best Songs of 2008?

Last year by this time I had already posted 2 lists of my favorite singles of the year. I just haven't been too up on music this year and seem to have little desire to catch up. Thus there are many good albums and songs I haven't heard. So before I post this list let me clarify that I have not heard any 2008 output from Danity Kane, Jordan Pruitt, Vanessa Hudgens, any rock music, and most other non-hit music. I am not worrying about single eligibility or year of release too much here, either. Nevertheless, these are my favorite songs this year of what I've heard:

1. Cassie - "Thirsty": OK let's assume this counts. My guess is that it will never be released. At least 3 or 4 of the leaked Cassie songs would be on this list if I counted them all, but I'll need to see the album released before I pull that trigger. Nevertheless this is my favorite of the songs and I will be shocked if it does not end up being my song of the year.

2. Jordin Sparks ft. Chris Brown - "No Air": A really, really pretty ballad filled with tons of drama and great singing. And it's also really catchy! This is a top 10 of the year worthy song, for sure.

3. Ashlee Simpson - "Little Miss Obsessive": I really love the lyrics to this song and it also has an excellent melody. Maybe should be rated higher due to awesomeness of lyrics? But, I dunno, I love the two songs above so much. The top three are really close and may well end up being my top 3 of the year.

4. Sara Bareilles - "Love Song": The latest in the line of very soft female fronted coffee shop style songs that I adopt and love ("White Flag", "Hunter", "Unwritten", "Breathe (2AM)", "I Wanna Have Your Babies"). For whatever reason I really love this style of song and this is a great example of it.

5. Brooke White - "Let It Be": Brooke White took one of my least favorite Beatles songs and made me really care about it. She has a beautiful voice and you can tell she's really earnest. This is truly remarkable and my favorite ever American Idol performance.

6. Miley Cyrus - "Goodbye": The latest Armato/James masterpiece is this closing ballad from Miley's new album, and by far the best song on it.

That's it, only 6 songs, but all 6 will seriously compete for top 10 of the year. If I had to round it out to 10, I'd throw in "Bleeding Love", and a few more Ashlee/Cassie songs. I couldn't help but notice that all 6 are female fronted ballads. That's just the way it's gone so far this year. Once I catch up on the other music of the year (if I in fact ever do), the list will probably round out with a little more variety. I mean I love female ballads, but normally only 1 or 2 will make my year end list. Then again, I really love all 6 songs, so it could just be a banner year, I dunno.

Any songs you think I should check out? Let me know in the comments.

American Idol Top 7 - Country Night

Well, readers, it's definitely been a while since I last chimed in on my thoughts about American Idol and with this being country week it seemed like the perfect opportunity. As always, I am making a concerted effort to get this all written down before I hear the judges comments, to avoid tainting. So awaaaay we go:

1. Phil Stacey - "Where the Blacktop Ends" (Keith Urban)
Comments: Phil still has a real nice tone to his voice, but this is pretty boring. He's got no life to this performance at all and seems incapable of injecting emotion to his performances. Martina was right, this sounds way too practiced and deliberate. He needs to let loose a little bit. He left out the soulful lick that Martina liked so much! It was a decent performance, but it sure wasn't anything great. Randy comes in with crazy over-praise. "You seem to be best in country" <-- They are quite clearly trying to shoehorn somebody into releasing a country album post-Idol, given the success Idol has had in that genre. Really surprised by the judge's reaction to this.
Phil's Performance in 7 Words: Nice Tone, Stiff, Bland, Decent, Ultimately Forgettable

2. Jordin Sparks - "Broken Wing" (Martina McBride)
Comments: This is not one of my favorite Martina McBride songs, but it sure is a singer's song, and Jordin seems kinda countryish, so let's see how she does with it. Jordan hilariously dwarfs Martina McBride. The low register on this isn't really doing it for me that much. I'm starting to realize that Jordin really doesn't have the chops that some of the better singers do, no matter how much emotion she sings with and how awesome her personality is. That being said, she's injecting a really nice heartbreaking twang into the chorus here, though her voice is going a bit out of control. Really nice glory note at the end there, but this was another relatively weak performance from Jordin. By which I mean not as good as her best, but I liked it. She's good at injection emotion into songs and interpreting them. Crazy overpraise from all three judges again, I have no idea what's going on this week.
Jordin's Performance in 7 Words: Emotional, Weak Verse, Good, She's Been Better

3. Sanjaya Malakar - "Something to Talk About" (Bonnie Raitt)
Comments: Rockin' the Willie Nelson bandana. Back to the old Sanjaya of nice tone to his voice but really, really boring performance! His voice is way, way too weak for this song, and there's really no singing required for it. This is really bad, it reminds me of what everybody hates about Sanjaya in the first place, after a few straight weeks of taking 100% of the media heat after being better than Phil and Haley. He seemed to go off tune there and didn't have half enough attitude to pull it off. Judges all hated the performance correctly. Simon: "Utterly horrendous", absolutely correct. This was an extremely bad performance, from a vocal performance maybe Sanjaya's worst (and not even in an entertaining way!).
Sanjaya's Performance in 7 Words: Boring, Boring, Boring, Boring, Boring, Utterly Horrendous

4. LaKisha Jones - "Jesus Take the Wheel" (Carrie Underwood)
Comments: A bit dangerous, of course, doing a Carrie Underwood song, but I really love this song. I know it takes a lot of heat from the intelligentsia, and I think most "intelligent" music critics hate it but I think it's great. She's playing this pretty much straight and with nothing but pure class here. She's applying the amount of drama you need to sell this song. The only problem is, I'm not sure how much I like the soul licks she's injecting into the chorus here, and then she's glory noting it to all get out at the end here. She is singing a soul ballad atop country instrumentation here. It was rather screechy in the chorus, but at least she sold the emotion. Way better than "Conga" at least. Judges pan it probably excessively, but I kind of agree, the glory noting clashed completely with the country instruments. We all know I'm a Simon hata, but I agreed with Simon 100% here. He is so on the money here that I am shocked.
LaKisha's Performance in 7 Words: Screechy, Shouty, Incongruous, High Emotion, Below Par

5. Chris Richardson - "Mayberry" (Rascal Flatts)
Comments: Lots of people hate Chris' nasally and thin voice, but I think he ("Smooth" aside) is OK. He's picked a really good song here where nasally and thin are actually kind of a good thing for the song here. He's piercing up in those high notes and it's putting a bit of emotion here. I even really like the runs and soul licks he's put in here. 'Twas a bit boring and forgettable, but I actually one of Chris's best performances yet. Randy says he lacked emotion, which is true, but since he never shows any emotion during his singing at all I don't see why they chose this week to nail him for it. Simon criticizes him for being nasally, tinny, and nondescript, which he also always is. This was a really unfair judge's reaction here.
Chris' Performance in 7 Words: Somewhat Bland, Nasally, Nice Tone, Above Average

6. Melinda Doolittle - "Trouble Is a Woman" (Julie Reeves)
Comments: I don't even know what to say about Melinda Doolittle at this point, but I'll give it the ol college try. She's doing a really upbeat, and actually fairly trad country song here. Give credit where credit is due: This song is from 1999, and sounds like a contemporary song. Like always, she's got extremely proficient technical chops here and she's doing really interesting things with the phrasing. And she's doing it with a style of music and singing that I actually CARE about! Further credit: Unlike LaKisha, she's actually adapted her singing to match the song here, rather than trying to shoehorn her singing on top of a song where it doesn't fit. This was incredible. By a huge margin the best of the night, and possibly my favorite Melinda Doolittle performance. Judge's are giving it super praise and she really deserves it this week. Simon tells Melinda to drop the humility after directly feeding it for 10 weeks in a row. Screw you Simon.
Melinda's Performance in 7 Words: Proficient, Fun, Interesting, Best Of The Night

7. Blake Lewis - "When the Stars Go Blue" (Tim McGraw/Ryan Adams)
Comments: I've been looking forward to this, because I think Blake is actually his best when he is being forced to reign himself in, as he will this week. He's playing this completely straight so far, and oh my he has a pretty falsetto. Wow, I never noticed that before. When he's not jumping around the stage like an idiot and trying to comtemporize and old song and Blakify the vocals, he's got a really pretty voice. He still has trouble capturing the emotions of the songs, but this is really pretty, and the song has enough natural emotion in the lyrics and melody that it carry through and wash over the performance with no effort from Blake at all. This was a really smart song choice. I thought this was a good performance. I like country night here, this was one of Blake's better performances.
Blake's Performance in 7 Words: Inessential, Pretty, Good Song Choice, Above Average

ONE THROUGH SEVEN:
1. Melinda
2. Blake
3. Chris
4. Jordin
5. Phil
6. LaKisha
7. Sanjaya

I predict that many will call this a weak episode, but this was my favorite non-Leslie Hunt (screw you America, I still haven't forgotten!) featuring episode of the season. Peace out folks!

American Idol Top 10 Women

These are my real time thoughts as I watch the show, so they are untainted by the judges opinions, and will be unedited and messy. But here are my notes in all their glory! They'll hopefully give some insight into my thought process as I'm watching the show

CONTESTANT: Gina Glocksen
SONG: Heart - "Alone"
COMMENTS: Dedicated to her boyfriend. Touching but bland video. "He's my little punk rocker wannabe", which is funny because it's not exactly like she's a punk rocker, doing this song. Really dangerous song choice, given that Carrie Underwood's version of this is one of the best/most famous AI performances. Don't like the red dress. The beginning of this song requires a bit more of a light touch than she can really give. And it's not good. But she's definitely got the vocal power to pull out the rockin parts! I love her lower register. Another good performance from Gina, despite the slow start. Judges love it, saying that it's a good choice of song. Simon says she isn't edgy enough. But what I love about her voice is that it naturally adds edge to the sappy pop songs she does. She's not dressed right? I thought this was a singing competition! Simon way off the mark here. But unless she can learn to do non-power songs, she might be in trouble.

CONTESTANT: Alaina Alexander
SONG: Dixie Chicks - "Not Ready to Make Nice"
COMMENTS: Alaina is obviously attractive, but something about her just looks off to me. Love her dress, like her hair too. Man, she looks good with her hair up in her video. I hope she becomes good because being a shallow man I always root for the hottest girls to go on. She's doing the most overrated Dixie Chicks song. The problem with this song is that it requires a great power and anger and attitude that Alaina is totally not bringing. Her phrasing is really nice (one of the best of all the contestants), and she's got a nice tone, but she's really off pitch. Dancing was awful. Really bad song choice. I like her voice and phrasing but she needs vocal training. She's not ready for this competition and she's probably toast, which is too bad because I like her. I'd vote for her, but let's put her out of her misery folks. Judges are basically right about the performance, though I would have stated it in nicer terms.

CONTESTANT: LaKisha Jones
SONG: Gladys Knight - "Midnight Train to Georgia"
COMMENTS: As I've said before, though I respect her talent, I'm not the biggest LaKisha fan. Living in Georgia I've heard this song about 100 times too many. She's got great power and she knows how to use the runs, but I still just don't care for the tone of her voice, and her interpretation skills are nothing special. But great power and great gymnastics; this was, like last week, a very good performance. But like last week it's just one I'm not like blown away by. Unlike the judges, I actually liked it as much as or better than last week. She put way too many runs in both weeks. I've disagreed with Simon on almost every contestant this year, which is making me so confused. Even when I do agree with him he goes into stupid crap about their "attitude" or something that I just find so off the mark. She's missing her "swagger" or something. Whatever. She's going on and she deserves it, but she's just not my favorite of the big divas this year.

CONTESTANT: Melinda Dolittle
SONG: "My Funny Valentine" by lots of people.
COMMENTS: She's the only person so far in the last two episodes who has dedicated her performance to friends, as opposed to parents or grandparents or significant others. I like this girl, she's meek and mousey. Very good singing, as usual from her, but she seems to be overpowering this a tad bit. It's a very simple song though, so you've gotta do something. She's got such a rich tone to her voice though. Good phrasing and interpretation. I think she laid it on too thick, and she needs to improve her performance skills, but this is the best performance thus far. Maybe a little overpraised, but I don't necessarily disagree that this is the best performance of season 6 so far. Just that I'd give it like an 8/10 whereas they seem to be giving it 10/10 praise. She's the most talented performer in the competition. I fear, though, that I'm gonna get so tired of this style of singing by the time the season is over. Melinda looks really uncomfortable with this banter.

CONTESTANT: Antonella Barba
SONG: Celine Dion - "Because You Loved Me"
COMMENTS: Just based on this singer and the artist she's doing I'm dreading this. But let's see which Celine song she chooses, at least. Dedicated to her brother! I think this is the first sibling dedication so far. Her video was real cute. Like Alaina, I actually like the tone to her voice, she's just not singing the song well. She really badly wants to be a type of singer she's not. Stick to what you can do. Very bland, this is a really, really bad performance. She's just got no musical smarts at all and cannot stay on pitch. Eek. Second week in a row that all they've said good at her is that she's attractive which is just so condescending and prickish. If somebody said that to me I'd deck him ("Well you suck and you have no talent and we hate you, but you are hot!"). Simon and Randy on the mark here. First time I've completely agreed with Simon so far. The talkback to Simon came off as really bitchy. I think she's here to stay and I've made my peace with that. Or at least I will have made my peace with that until somebody I love gets eliminated.

CONTESTANT: Jordin Sparks
SONG: Christina Aguilera - "Reflection"
COMMENTS: I love Jordin and I love many Xtina songs so this will hopefully go well. Another sibling dedication. Jordin is so adorable. Not one of my favorite Xtina songs, but ah well. She owns the cheesiness here. This is a musically perfect performance, as far as I can tell, but she's not really doing anything to make a boring song any more listenable. This season, just having a bunch of vocal power ain't gonna cut it. Nothing crazy here with the interpretation or performance. She's going to need to show something else. Randy says it's pitchy, which it may well be (I often can't hear when singers go off pitch since I'm kinda tone deaf). I didn't think it was bad, I just thought it was kind of bland. Not as good as "Give Me One Reason", but she's just so naturally likeable. Judges overpraising this a little. Haha making herself short next to Simon. Made me smile. I like this girl a lot. Lots of divas this season splitting votes, so I hope she's not a "surprising" pre-finals elimination.

CONTESTANT: Stephanie Edwards
SONG: Beyonce - "Dangerously In Love"
COMMENTS: Initial reaction - Whoa, filled with way too much melisma and vibrato. There's some nice phrasing in here, but I'm not 100% sure if it's in the original or if it's her interpretation. I have yet to hear a good performance of a Beyonce song on Idol. Oooh, that glory note was very good. The performance picked up at the end. A bit "so what" but I liked it. I predict it will get really overpraised again. Think the judges are pushing these divas or what? Randy says it was "way better than last week" which I just completely disagree with. Simon says that somebody is putting their mark down, coming out to win, has the right attitude, which he keeps saying and I still have no idea what it means. Bad song choice.

CONTESTANT: Leslie Hunt
SONG: Nina Simone - "Feeling Good" (?)
COMMENTS: I love Leslie Hunt a lot, because she's got cute indie girl looks! But also because she's the one remaining female singer (other than the toast Alaina Alexander) who isn't a big power singer. I have nothing against that type of singing but it consistently sickens me how much American Idol promotes that only. Some variety please. I really, really hope she gets through because a finals filled with 6 sing-your-head off, overpowering, loud female singers is gonna get real old. Anyways, all of this was written before she even started singing, so lets see how she does. Leslie's dressed really casual. Her speaking voice bugs. OK, here we go. First song so far I don't recognize at all. Same song AJ did!!! I love the tone to her voice so much, and she's got a great touch and phrasing. The scatting is not great. But she's still got a nice touch to her voice. Got worse as the song went on. She's getting savaged here (I still think that non-powerful singers are underrated on this show). I hope she doesn't get eliminated. Better than AJ's. I liked it a lot.

CONTESTANT: Haley Scarnato
SONG: Whitney Houston - "The Queen of the Night"
COMMENTS: This is really, really weird. A little off pitch. Man, she is absolutely crazy, and she's trying to have some kind of edge that she doesn't have. Not much to say here, this is pretty forgettable stuff. The song itself sucks ass, so maybe that's coloring it. She's trying really hard to be different, but this is one of the oddest AI performances I've ever heard. This wasn't any better than last week, I disagree with the judges. At least she was having some fun with it. Simon - "Manic, verging on insane", completely on the mark. Simon was great this time.

CONTESTANT: Sabrina Sloan
SONG: Whitney Houston - "All The Man I Need"
COMMENTS: A lot of power, but not much there. I feel like a broken record here, but there's just so many singers this time who are BIG power singers that don't have much musical smarts or a great tone to their voice to back it up. The only one who went beyond the sheer power this week was Melinda Dolittle (also LaKisha somewhat). She's trying to overpower me with her voice. Coming this late in the show I'm just a little tired of this type of singing. The runs were way too much. I don't like her, she seems to have no control over her voice at all. Predicably overpraised.

This was a bad episode. Way, worse than last week. I am not feeling this season at all.

Top to bottom:
1. Melinda Dolittle - "My Funny Valentine"
2. Leslie Hunt - "Feeling Good"
3. Gina Glocksen - "Alone"
4. LaKisha Jones - "Midnight Train to Georgia"
5. Alaina Alexander - "Not Ready to Make Nice"
----Good/Bad Line----
6. Jordin Sparks - "Reflection"
7. Haley Scarnato - "The Queen of the Night"
8. Stephanie Edwards - "Dangerously In Love" (the more I think about this the more I think the great fireworks at the end don't overcome the bad actual vocals)
9. Sabrina Sloan - "All The Man I Need"
10. Antonella Barba - "Because You Loved Me"

20 American Idol Contestants ranked top to bottom (based on both performances, their personality, etc.)

1. Leslie Hunt (I'm still rooting hard for her for the sake of variety, and because I like her goofy personality and she's entertaining, and I just wanna see her on TV. And I think she's attractive.)
2. Melinda Dolittle (She gave my favorite performance 2 weeks in a row)
3. Blake Lewis
4. Jordin Sparks
5. Gina Glocksen
6. AJ Tabaldo
7. Phil Stacey (slight boringness and has trouble starting songs but nice AM radio voice)
8. Chris Sligh
9. Stephanie Edwards
10. LaKisha Jones
11. Brandon Rogers
12. Alaina Alexander (shallowness! Plus I do like her singing and phrasing)
13. Nick Pedro
14. Haley Scarnato
15. Sabrina Sloan
16. Sanjaya Malakar
17. Sundance Head
18. Jared Cotter
19. Antonella Barba
20. Chris Richardson

Greg's dream world final 12: Leslie, Melinda, Jordin, Gina, Stephanie, LaKisha; Blake, AJ, Phil, Chris S, Brandon, Nick (You'll notice that despite the dominance of girls at the top this is almost entirely my top 12, the only difference being Alaina swapping out for Nick, which I don't really care about.)
Would Send Home Tomorrow: Chris R., Jared; Antonella, Sabrina

Top 12 predictions: For the guys, Chris S., Chris R., Phil, and Blake seem to be pretty much locks. Sundance seems to be a near lock. Leaving one final slot that I think Brandon will take.
For the girls, Melinda and LaKisha are the only two I'm certain about. Stephanie and Jordin seem like good bets. I'm gonna guess Gina and Antonella for the last two slots. I hope that Leslie sneaks in.
Going Home Tomorrow Predix: Haley and Alaina seem like fairly easy calls for the girls. Jared seems very likely for the guys. Last guy slot very hard to predict, I'd guess Nick Pedro but I don't feel great about it.

Song Analysis: Hilary Duff - "So Yesterday"

I urge everybody to check out "Take a Walk" by Sara Paxton, currently linked in my sidebar, if you don't know it already.

In some ways, "So Yesterday" is a pretty important song in my musical autobiography, and I liked it at the time for very specific reasons I'll get into below. Before I get into it, really briefly on American Idol (I'll post a full update on my thoughts in another week or 2 once the chaff [Paul Kim] is gone and we've seen a few more performances).

The guys: Liked Blake, Chris Sligh and Brandon Rogers were OK but kinda boring, didn't really care for any of the others. One of the weakest AI shows I've ever seen. Sanjaya has the least stage performance I've ever seen in an American Idol contestant, it truly is stunning. Let's see if his cuteness carries him through. Favorites: Blake; Voted For: Nobody; Would Like to See Go Home: Sundance and Paul Kim

The girls: Wow, way better than the guys. But extremely retro. I generally have liked the more current voices among American Idol contestants, but the group is just so talented. Agreed with the judges for the most part: Lakisha, Melinda, Jordin, and Steph all very good. I thought the judges went a bit overboard in their Lakisha praise. My problem with Lakisha is that I don't like that song and I still have a lot of trouble emotionally connecting with that type of singing. Only counterexamples I can think of are Mariah and "I Will Always Love You" (not even Aretha, really). In any event, I liked Melinda better. I liked Gina a lot, though she was a little off pitch. Antonella was awful, I've done a complete 180 on her. I really, really like Leslie Hunt, even though her performance wasn't the best; I love her for real crazy personality. She's not the best performer, but it's good to see some vocal restraint UITP, I like her smoky voice a lot, and she's the most entertaining remaining contestant, to me at least. Favorites: Melinda, Jordin, Leslie, Gina; Voted For: Leslie (I felt like she needed my help); Want to See Go Home: Antonella, Nicole

That went on a little longer than intended, here's the main content:

Lyrics:
You can change your life (if you wanna)
You can change your clothes (if you wanna)
If you change your mind
Well that's the way it goes
But I am gonna keep your jeans
and your old black hat (cause I wanna)
They look good on me
You're never gonna get them back

At least not today, not today, not today

Chorus:
If it's over let it go and
Come tomorrow it will seem
So yesterday, so yesterday
I'm just a bird that's already flown away
Laugh it off and let it go and
when you wake up it will seem
So yesterday, so yesterday
Haven't you heard that I'm gonna be OK

You can say you're bored (if you wanna)
You can act real tough (if you wanna)
You can say you're torn
But I've heard enough
Thank you, you made my mind up for me
When you started to ignore me
Will you see a single tear?
It isn't gonna happen here.

At least not today, not today, not today

CHORUS

If you're over me I'm already over you
If it's all been done what is left to do
How can you hang up if the line is dead
If you wanna walk I will step ahead
If you're moving on I'm already gone
If the light is off then it isn't on

At least not today, not today, not today

CHORUS

Song Analysis/Comments: Seemingly very simple and straightforward lyrics, that are rather easy to interpret. Which they are. Clearly, her boyfriend isn't paying very much attention to her, so she's decided to pre-emptively break up with him. She's made up her mind and is telling him to go ahead and get over it now. Very Kelly Clarkson-ish, and I actually like the lyrics to this one. Simple, but very effective. Now for story time, and we can see why I chose this song for a song analysis.

This was Hilary Duff's third "Disney single", by my recollection, following "I Can't Wait" and "Why Not". At the time this song came out (2003) I was in college, and I would pretty regularly watch repeats of Even Stevens and Lizzie Mcguire, having largely missed the boat on these shows earlier. And they would show the videos for those songs a whole lot. Remember, Hilary Duff was their first big breakout star, and they were pushing her music career hard. Anyways, I really disliked both songs, as I was very indie at the time. (Still don't like "Why Not", "I Can't Wait" is pretty good). My initial reaction to "So Yesterday" was the same: stupid pop crap. But then, I slowly started to like it. Finally, I had to admit to myself that it was a good song, which horrified me. It was a small but significant step to my curret poptimism/teenpoptimism.

What I loved about the song then, and still love now, and what I want to talk about, is the "At least not today, not today, not today" part. The first verse builds up with very definitive lyrics. We start by noting that he can change whatever he wants and it's not gonna help him get her back. Nosiree, she's made up her mind. Not only that, but she's stealing your stuff too, and you are gonna like it. Very self-assured, harsh lyrics, and Hilary delivers them with the best self-assured sneer she can muster up. Which is kinda cute. The musical tone of the acoustic guitar then lightens up significantly as we get to "At least not today, not today, not today". Ha, this is somebody trying to convince herself she's made up her mind. She knows he's bad for her but can't let go. Interesting to note there's significant overdubbed harmony on this line too, which also softens it up a lot. Makes it sound very vulnerable.

The second verse is even more so. "Will you see a single tear? It isn't gonna happen here." Not even sad! Well, at least not today! What I like about the line at all is that it inserts a nice bit of vulerability in a song into an otherwise straight ahead breakup number. Which, in my opinion at least, makes it more real and allows me to connect with it more. I can really empathize with Hilary here, wanting to do the right thing, and forcing yourself to pretend that you have enough strength to do it. Welling all your strength up into doing the action itself, and leaving none behind for the aftermath.

Many songs seem to just pick one mood and go with it. Like "I'm over you" or "I still love you" or "I wish you loved me" or whatever. But I think it's more real when there's several emotions swimming together in your mind together. Which is why I love "Moodswings" so much, incidentally. Rather than integrate the several moods into the course of the song though, like "Moodswings" or "Hear Me", the song just provides a bit of self doubt as a counterbalance to the anger in the rest of the song. So rather than having wishy-washy "I wanna break up with you because you don't like me much, but I'm not too sure and I still like you and...", they convey each emotion separately, in turn. And that's the kind of crap I love, injecting a whole new layer of meaning on top of a song with just one simple line! Of course, if it's not executed perfectly, that's also the kind of thing that can come back to bite you. But I'd say they convey the vulnerability and woundedness of her rather perfectly with the line.

These days I like a lot more about the song than just that one line, and I'm relatively unashamed to admit my Duff love, but it's still what propels the song into greatness for me.

FINAL RATING: The song has an extremely catchy melody and deceptively deep, complex lyrics. It's not as good as "Come Clean" or "Fly", but it's up there. 9.5/10.

Very Early Thoughts on the American Idol Top 24

Since I only intermittently watch the auditions, and Hollywood Week was cut so short this time, this is extremely preliminary, but here are first thoughts on all the American Idol contestants. I don't really care about any of the ones who were eliminated, except that I loved poor Sarah Burgess and was really hoping she would make it through. Alas, there's always next year. Here's the finalists:

Who?:
Jared Cotter
Paul Kim
Nick Pedro
Chris Richardson
A.J. Tabaldo
Stephanie Edwards
Leslie Hunt
Amy Krebs
Sabrina Sloan
Nicole Tranquillo

They gave way more face time to the guys this year, so presumably they are angling for a guy to win. Anyways, these are the finalists who I don't care about at all one way or another at this point. They didn't get enough face time so I'm gonna have to wait and see.

Quick thoughts on the rest of the candidates, the ones I do remember:

GUYS

Rudy Cardenas: Like to see more non-African American minorities on this show. I like this guy, I think he may go far.

Sundance Head: Extremely powerful voice, but really belts it out during the songs. Kinda shouty. The kind of voice and singing style that can be amazing if done right, but just mess up one or two small things and it can sound completely awful too (e.g. Katharine McPhee, but without the hotness, of course). This guy might not go far, because on an off night he could give a truly awful performance, like he was doing in Hollywood.

Blake Lewis: A beatboxer with a mohawk, and a cocky little bastard. We've hardly heard him sing so far, though he sounded OK when he did. His "group sing" with Chris Sligh and 2 others was a lot of fun, and this guy is amazing at beatboxing. Love this guy right now, will have to see how well he can do as a pure singer. The incongruity of it all is making me really want to root for him though. He seems like a good guy, apart from the cockiness.

Sanjaya Malakar: Seems like a nice guy, but no way is he gonna make the finals. Likeable cannon fodder. He'll probably be one of the first 2 guys out, unless he can improve a lot.

Brandon Rogers: Apparently an internet favorite already. A former backup singer to many star acts, including Anastasia, who I don't really like at all. He's a good singer, but has bored me so far. I may start to hate him as the competition goes on.

Chris Sligh: One of my favorites so far, and it has little to do with his personality. Even if he doesn't have the technically best singing voice, he seems to be the best song interpreter of the top 24. Really feels the lyrics and seems to convey them well. There's a lot more to singing than being able to hit the glory notes (ahem: Sundance Head). Possibility for greatness. Funny guy too, of course.

Phil Stacy: Great singer. Missed the birth of his child to try out. Early favorite in the competition. Boy band. Creepy stare though.

Favorites: Blake, Chris Sligh

GIRLS

Alaina Alexander: Her performance of "Without You" in Hollywood, based on the brief clip they played, was horrible. Please do not attempt to sing Mariah Carey songs on American Idol, very few people can pull off the vocal gymnastics with emotion like she can. (Song originally by Nilsson of course, but she was doing the Mariah version). Not good.

Antonella Barba: You know, I really love her and can't explain why. Seems like most people hate her and think she's bitchy (like Katharine McPhee!!!). All I can say, I guess, is that I don't get that impression at all and think she's a great singer. Seems a bit abrasive, but it's hard to tell her personality from what they showed. I think they want you to hate her. She handled the whole acceptance very well, I think she's got a grounded head. Great tone to her voice, but a tendency to give into the vocal gymnastics a bit too much. Possible greatness. My favorite so far.

Melinda Doolittle: Another background singer, like Brandon Rogers, and like him they are pounding that story hard. Former background singer becomes star in her own right! She's just OK to me, but I think she's gonna go real far.

Gina Glocksen: Lots of early buzz on her and deservedly so, as she's fantastic. Has a great pop/rock voice. Has to be considered a favorite to win at this point, based on face time and looks and singing voice. The best singer of the top 24 based on what I've seen, but haven't seen enough of her personality really want to root for her yet. Possibly another Kelly Clarkson.

Lakisha Jones: This season's Mandia/Jennifer Hudson. Like them she has a very powerful, soulful voice. Technically good singer, but may have troubles, as they did, connecting emotionally to the songs. Jennifer seems to have gotten over that, and good for her. They were both shockingly eliminated in 8th place in their seasons, and I doubt Lakisha can make it farther than that. I don't like her. Not my thing.

Haley Scarnato: I remember her name, and I remember when she was on the show that I liked her, but now I can't remember a damned thing about her. Apparently likeable but forgettable.

Jordin Sparks: Heh, a former America's Most Talented Kid winner, and that show has officially had about 20x the impact I ever thought it would. Cheyenne had her own MTV reality show, Jojo is a great and really popular singer (and going into acting too!), Diana DeGarmo was a runner up on American Idol (and sang the National Anthem at every Atlanta sporting event for a year straight), now Jordin Sparks is on American Idol too. Very young, which never portends well, but she sings great. Likeable. Possible greatness.

Favorites: Antonella Barba, Gina Glocksen

I'll update my thoughts on these guys in another couple weeks, once we've gotten some real substantial performances out of them. Right now, as I said, I'm liking Blake, Chris S., Antonella, and Gina. It always changes once the actual shows start though.