AMERICAN IDOL 11 SPOTLIGHT: Hollywood Week #3

AMERICAN IDOL 11 SPOTLIGHT: Hollywood Week #3

After one of the worst episodes of reality television ever, there was only one way to go and I think that the show got itself back on track with the third episode of Hollywood Week for Season 11. There were 42 groups competing for the right to advance going into Episode 3 of Hollywood Week. So naturally the show started off with its classic oversleeping cutaway. This year's "winner" appeared to be returning contestant Caleb Johnson. Then the competition was back on.

1) The Bettys
Jennifer Malsch, Cherie Tucker, Cari Quoyeser, Gabrielle Cavassa, & Brianna Bell

The cornerstone of the late night drama was definitely the back and forth between Malsch and Bell. The two worked out their differences after the other three members had crashed and got back to work. In the end, the work was all for naught. The vocals were all over the place, prompting Randy Jackson to bluntly state, "That was really bleak" and their performance only garnered tepid applause. Only Malsch and Quoyeser advanced.

+ Malsch, Quoyeser
- Tucker, Cavassa, Bell

2) Group Sauce
Reed Grimm, Nick Boddington, Creighton Fraker, Aaron Marcellus, & Jen Hirsch

After the first group turned out to be a complete dud, there was only room for improvement but Group Sauce found a way to soar and really nailed their group performance. They had great harmonies, wonderful control and cohesion, great chemistry, and they really just jelled extremely well. The judges gave them a standing ovation and the other groups gave loud applause and a standing ovation as well. Randy commented on their "nice harmonies" and how they all shined individually. "Great confidence," chimed in Steven Tyler. "They just set the bar," concluded Randy rather obviously.

+ Grimm, Boddingotn, Fraker, Marcellus, & Hirsch

3) 6,7,9
Kyle Crews, Brielle Von Hugel, Joshua Ledet, Shannon Magrane, & Amber Holcomb

"We have extra members in the form of parental units," lamented Kyle Crews. "They have their own ideas too and they like to share them." Poor Kyle. They haunted him from beginning to end of this round. Mrs. Von Hugel had been rather vocal in her own confessional cutaway criticism of Kyle (who says only the singers get to have confessionals?) and then tried to start a group prayer with the other stage moms before the group performed. I think she might have also been cursing Kyle at the same time because everybody but Kyle advanced. "The song was in the wrong key," Kyle reflected. Brielle turned to Kyle and said, "You'll be back. Right, Kyle?" Her mom then added, "We love Kyle." You know what? I'll just leave that one last remark from Mrs. Von Hugel alone. I at least still love her daughter. She was one of my favorites last season and I standby that this year too.

+ Von Hugel, Ledet, Magrane, Holcomb
- Crews

4) Make You Believers
Dustin Cunditt, Amy Brumfield, Mathenee Treco, & Jacqueline Cera

So before they even began singing, Jacquie feinted, or at least fell. "I just stood up to clap for people and all of a sudden I started tingling everywhere." "What's up everybody, what's up?" asked Dustin Cunditt as he walked onto the stage. Generally speaking,  if you decide to take the stage with that kind of entrance, it's wise to not forget the lyrics. Of course, the seemingly terminally ill Amy Brumfield did too, in between sounding very awful, and truth be told I didn't think Mathenee Treco sounded good enough to advance even though he was the only to advance from the group. Jacquie Cera sounded very off and screechy too. "This whole group is a bit of a mess," Randy proclaimed. As they exited the group's segment, a bitterly disappointed Amy lamented, "I've been to Hell and back so many times most people can't even relate. I pushed myself and forced myself for nothing I'm just going to have to let that door shut and hope a million more open." I think that was pretty harsh but there was still a lot of raw emotion when she said it. I'm sure afterwards she realized that sometimes being sick just gets in the way. I hope to see her back next year.

+ Treco
- Cunditt, Brumfield, Cera

5-11 > Lyric Forgetting Montage

5)
Crystal Duffield, Jasmine Antoine

6)
Jermaine Jones, 4 Others

7)
4 People

8)
Madison Shanley, 3 Other People

9)
Devan Jones, 3 Others

10)
4 People

11)
Brittany Zika, Hollie Cavanagh (Unconfirmed), 2 Others

12) Those Girls And That Boy
Christian Lopez, Alisha Bernhardt, Samantha Novacek, 2 Others

A real mess. Accordingly, nobody made it through. Alisha pitched her own personal security for any of the judges should they be in the Indianapolis area but they were really all over the place. Of course, FOX chose to do a mini-montage of people yawning and asleep.

- Lopez, Bernhardt, Novacek, 2 Others

13) Area 451
Bryce Garcia, Johnny Keyser, Kristi Krause, Imani Handry

Imani had feinted while the group was performing and everybody just kind of stopped to check her out as the Idol medical team checked her blood pressure. They actually panned to Hollywood Fire before panning back and Imani decided to give it a go despite feinting. The group was too derailed to be saved however and Imani feinted again onstage as they showed Ryan Seacrest, Imani's mother, and the medic team furiously scrambled to check her out. Aside from all the medical drama, lyrics were forgotten - particularly from Garcia at the beginning of the routine, and everyone but Keyser sounded remotely decent. And how often is it that Ryan Seacrest gets the Idol censor anyway? Keyser did try to keep singing after Imani had passed out and that is never a good sign although he was just trying to keep going. Handry tried to convince the judges she could keep going to no avail. I personally loved Bryce's explanation of, "I had a lot on my mind" when Randy asked him what had happened. That pretty much summed it up.

14) Hollywood Fire
Ariel Sprague, Eben Franckewitz, Gabi Carrubba, David Leathers, Jr., & Jeremy Rosado

Parents helped structure their performance which probably helped explain their great chemistry and dynamics. Great range and tone and it earned them loud applause. Everyone advanced and it was one of the best groups by far.

+ Sprague, Franckewitz, Carrubba, Leathers, Jr., & Rosado

Exit Montage

Reis Kloeckener
Symone Black
W.T.

15) M.I.T.
Heejun Han, Jairon Jackson, Richie Law, & Phillip Phillips

Richie Law talks about democracy. Jairon wondered about Richie in the confessional room. Heejun says he has a mouth but not an ear and that he talks but doesn't listen. This whole sequence was bizarrely amusing. The fact that Richie overtly decided, in front of the rest of his group, to hang back and add his own personal take on his group's dynamics was fun reality TV drama. Once they started singing, it was even more interesting. At one point Randy said, "Country guy's got falsetto" but outside of that humorous observation, the fact of the matter is that the group was incredibly fortunate to advance. "This definitely was not perfect," Randy bluntly stated. Randy added that they were judging them based on everything they had seen of them despite some pitch pitch problems and trouble with the words. Richie then said, "We all stepped up," afterwards and Heejun rather endearingly apologized to Richie for "talking craps about Richie" and he apologized to Richie's family as well after he told him that he was going to see him saying some awful things on TV as Jairon and Phillip just looked at each other and laughed.

Advancing Montage (What was that Spaghetti Western remix music? Somebody really needs to fill me in because it sounded familiar.)

Erika Van Pelt
Adam Brock
Hallie Day
Elise Testone

When they returned from the break they showed Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson jamming out with a bunch of the contestants. They were jamming on a riff which included parts of "Walk This Way" and included Steven trading of some scatting with Adam Brock, River St. James, Jen Hirsch, Hallie Day, Shannon Magrane, Devan Jones, Shelby Tweten, Rachelle Lamb, and even included an on the cheek kiss between Day and Tyler.

Joshua Ledet

They then panned to Joshua Ledet, referencing his un-aired Galveston, Texas audition where he talked about his fear of flying and anxiety issues. He was much more controlled than what I've seen of him so far and he earned a standing ovation.

Colton Dixon

Colton played the piano and gave a very strong and impassioned performance, reminiscent of his performance last year in the "Sing For Your Life" Top 40 round.

Phillip Phillips

Continuing his Dave Matthews shtick, he broke out his guitar and then had an exchanged with Randy at the end about GA7.

Jen Hirsch

Jen was very controlled and was a reigned in but wonderful exploration of notes in the right places at the right time. She belted it out nicely at the end and showed some really great range. She earned a standing ovation. Steven Tyler even yelled, "Bingo!"

Creighton Fraker

It felt like his voice was shaky and a on vibrate like a cell phone. Everyone naturally liked it of course.

Afterwards, they showed Ryan Seacrest by the doorway of the theater as it unexpectedly rained in Southern California. (Cue up the music.) The they proceeded to show Jairon Jackson (singing, "My head is up in the clouds") and two girls being interrupted by the thunder.

Reed Grimm (Part 1)

Reed found out he couldn't just sing apacolla (spelling sucks ass) so he had thirty minutes to work something out. Peisha McPhee, the singing coach and mother of Katharine McPhee, was constantly trying to center Reed's attention. However, before we could see the obviously carefully crafted TV drama, we had...

Shannon Magrane

Shannon delivered a dynamic performance which included a nice amount of highs and gruff. It was a physically powerful performance. Jennifer Lopez exclaimed, "What the hell was that?!" There was laughing and applauding and Shannon earned a standing ovation.

Reed Grimm (Part 2)

Michael Orland asked him, "Do you feel good?" So naturally, Reed talks to his mother on the phone. He appears to be upset in his room and holding back tears. So he gets a spontaneous burst of inspiration and decides to hop on drums. Michael Orland instructs the band to go into the key of G while also telling them, "He's making me nervous," and then adding, "May the gods be with us on this one." He rather cockily and awkwardly gave a bizarre brag and as he started to perform, Randy was hardly subtle when he said to Jennifer, "That's another Casey [Abrams] there."

Skylar Laine

Skylar woke up at four in the morning and every ten minutes she started getting sick. She needed three liters of fluid from the hospital and gave a really fun performance. Jennifer told Steven that she "reminds me of Reba McIntyre" which Steven nods in approval with a huge smiles. He then tells Skylar, "One of the best performances I've seen all day. You had it top to bottom."

Rachelle Lamb

Rachelle messed up the words. "I think I just messed up," she confesses at the mic. Was it nerves? I knew it when she walked off the stage that she knew she was in trouble. Rachelle even said she was dreading waiting "just to go to the rooms." She said being part of the earlier jam session helped her with her nerves but of course Ryan Seacrest asked if she pushed too hard too soon. Oh Seacrest, you are such a troublemaker.

Adam Brock

Adam declared that it was "about time America had some white chocolate." He was very powerful and soulful and the handkerchief he got from his grandfather and the jam session earlier to wipe Steven Tyler's brow with was also discussed. That was a little disgusting and unsanitary but pretty cool at the same time.

They then went into the judges' deliberation phase, which I always love for some strange reason, and then afterwards the tension between Rachelle Lamb and Madison Shanley. Madison noticed everyone laughing and talking cheerfully with each other and that pissed her off because it was important for her to stay focused and since she found it disrespectful, she asked Rachelle and the others to have some respect for those who were dreading the results. Rachelle didn't take too kindly to being told how to wait for the news and she showed a terrifying game face I wouldn't have expected from her. Madison was technically right because they would be the room that ended up going home but Madison gets a finger pointed at her by Randy in which he says, "Next year," prompting a wry smile from Madison through her tears.

As the advancing contestants provided us the proverbial running into the arms of the other advancing rooms while screaming cutaway, Randy Jackson ruined the fun by announcing that they were all going to Las Vegas. And just like that, they were off to Vegas.

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