Back in 1959, the still-skinny King of Rock and Roll posed in a gold lamé suit on the cover of a greatest hits compilation entitled "50 Million Elvis Fans Can't Be Wrong." But last night, on a dramatic (according to Riot Ryan) elimination show following Tuesday's Elvis Presley Night, the nation proved that 34 million American Idol fans can be wrong. Or was that just some vengeful abstinence club president named Madison and her fast-thumbed mean girl posse in Plano, Texas stuffing the electronic ballot box to stop Katie Stevens?
So, gone are Katie and Andrew Garcia. To be fair, Madison and her BFFs got it right with Andrew. His "Straight Up" was the Idol equivalent of hitting a home run in your first major league at-bat, then never going yard again. Andrew rode the promise that he showed on that song all the way to the concert tour. He has a nice tone and groove—when it's working—but he wasn't able to dial up the cool and the wow when he needed it. He also didn't seem to have that many new ideas, and will benefit from some quality artistic guidance. Let's hope his wife, who is apparently part Navi, can keep him from wearing matching shirts and bow ties from the Jermaine Sellers Couture Collection at Target.
As for Katie, she got booted about two or three weeks early. Because unlike Andrew, she steadily improved throughout the competition. When she performed Aretha Franklin's "Think," the big, grown-up arrangement and especially the background singers made her look every bit as young and small as she actually is. But she proved that she can learn, and was getting better every week. On Tuesday night, during "Baby, What You Want Me To Do," she went sass on brass with the horn players and commanded the stage with a confidence that was unthinkable even a couple weeks ago.
I find perky and chirpy more appealing in sparrows than singers, so I give Katie tons of credit for challenging herself and trying to raise her game. She's definitely one of the season's winners, and when I saw her on a morning show today, she understood how far she's come. Said Katie: "If I wasn't doing this, I'd be at home, I'd be in school, and just sitting on the couch watching TV." (I'm guessing her show of choice would be Glee.)
Meanwhile, Aaron Kelly and Tim Urban live to sing another day. Aaron appears increasingly overmatched and nervous, as if he never expected to get this far and now doesn't know what to do. Tinny Tim has gotten better only by doing less, and his performances are almost irrelevant in light of his ability to pull votes. Which means one thing: Madison and the girls must be stopped.
Other observations from last night:
... Shame on American Idol for last night's Elvis medley. The show blatantly stole Mrs. Giltrap's arrangement and choreography, originally used in the performance of "Elvis: A Hometown Hero" by her fourth grade class during the annual Presley Pageant at Hound Dog Elementary School in Tupelo, Mississippi.
... This week's Ford commercial was... unusal. The subliminal message that "our cars can instantly crumble to dust" may not have been adequately tested with focus groups.
... On a more personal note, I am thinking too much about American Idol. Just before I woke up, I had a dream in which I served as an Idol judge and was giving advice to Katie Stevens and Ramiele Malubay. Ramiele was voted off on April 2 in Season 7, therefore, I have not given her any thought since April 2 in Season 7. I am deeply disturbed to realize that American Idol has apparently hacked into the bandwidth of my sub-conscious.
Follow TV.com writer Matthew Jaffe on Twitter: @MattAtTVDotCom
I am confused with millions and millions of great songs out there why do they keep picking such rubbish songs. When they sing together as a group the song is always good. Who picks them and why give them Rolling Stones and The Beatle songs. Granted they are great but very difficult to sing. No one is going to win at this rate if the songs continue to be rubbish. What about artists like Pixie Lot, Usher, Backstreet Boys or even Madonna going back a bit they have such good songs, but no we get all the oldies who make the artists look daggy and old. Sort it out.
Despite my like for Andrew he deserved to go, but it should have been him and Aaron (I can't stand even looking at that man-boy, with his stupid face, and his stupid eyes, and his stupid haircut!).
I think that America got it mostly right actually. Katie's performance last night was bad. Aaron should go yes, and maybe would have been a better pick to go home than Katie, but she has not improved every week. She's more like Anoop. Every so often she just bounces back.
Tim is the VoteForTheWorst pick, thus why he has gone as far as he is now.
Yaspaa, you obviously didn't listen to Ryan last night. When it was down to Katie and Mike, he said, I can tell you that the person not going home wasn't even in the bottom three tonight. So no, Mike wasn't in the bottom three again.
It should have been Andrew and Aaron..Katie was good
Seriously, if Tim sticks around much longer, I'm giving up on this show. He should have been gone long ago. This is what happens when parents keep buying there 10 year old daughters cell phones.
Seriously, if Tim sticks around much longer, I'm giving up on this show. He should have been gone long ago. This is what happens when parents keep buying there 10 year old daughters cell phones.
Katie's a bairn, and improving. This saving a contestant rule has its grey areas, Mike got the least votes once and was in the bottom 3 again, he's still here. I still prefer Mike though lol.