Roger Catlin | TV Eye

'Idol' Shock: Aussie Out

Michael Johns, the Australian-born blues rocker who favored Queen, got the boot on "American Idol" Thursday.

Though Ryan Seacrest toyed with him, reminding him that they didn't eliminate anybody last year during "Idol Gives Back" week, they did say farewell to him in the highest vote total of the season so far, 31 million.

Johns, the oldest singer in the Top 12 at 29, may have had his rock stylings overshadowed (or canceled out) by those of David Cook.

Like the other two in Thursday's bottom three, Syesha Mercado and Carly Smithson, Johns had been the recipient of the harshest Simon Cowell criticism Tuesday night.

Is America starting to listen to him? Seacrest asked him.

"I think we now have a connection," Cowell smiled, satisfied.

"I'm definitely surprised," Johns said.

He should have been. There were certainly some weaker voices in the pack, including Jason Castro and Kristy Lee Cook, who now has been immune of the bottom three for two weeks.

And to prove how wrong the choice had been, he belted out a version of "Dream On" that was better than most of the live performances on the bloated "Idol Gives Back" the night before.

'Idol Gives Back:' The MIA

It was a huge event, understandably. But it also lasted about 2 hours and 40 minutes total. So I'm wondering what happened to a number of people who were listed earlier in the day as among those taking part in the huge "Idol Gives Back" special but weren't seen in the eventual telecast.

Unless I fell asleep during the show (a real possibility) I missed the following people, promised in a press release issued Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. but not on the show 12 hours later:

• Jim Carrey
• Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson
• Dr. Phil
• Felicity Huffman
• Eddie Izzard
• Minnie Driver
• Michael Kors
• Ricki Lake
• Toby Keith
• Roselyn Sanchez
• Selma Blair
• Amy Adams
• Chris Jericho
• Elliott Yamin
• Fantasia
• Maroon 5

This in addition to Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Barack Obama, whom I mentioned earlier did not have their prepared clips broadcast.

Can they fill all the leftovers into tonight's hour-long results show?

One way they could have all fit in the original broadcast could have been in forgoing for one night the constant commercial breaks. Most telethons that are serious for their causes don't break for ads about Carnival cruises.

'Idol' Gives Back Again

Did the second "Idol Gives Back" charity event Wednesday work better than the first? Did they learn from last year's earnest event to maximize the impact of the effort and boost its fund-raising capability?

Well, it wasn't any more streamlined. Starting at an unheard of 7:30 p.m., the two and a half hour event comprised mostly of the charity show thrown Sunday at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre sill ran several minutes past 10 p.m. for the longest "Idol" show in history and the biggest stretch of primetime spillage on Fox outside a major sporting event.

At least it was separated from the mechanics of the weekly show itself. Unlike last year's uncomfortable event, in which people were asked to call in and pledge amid what was supposed to be an elimination night, Fox decided to give "Idol Gives Back" its own night and put the usual business of the regular show around it -- singing on Tuesday for a results show Sunday.

Because there was more time to spend planning this time around, there were twice as many corporate sponsors, giving a cool $5 million right off the bat, and many more field trips, largely to Africa, where Bono, Annie Lennox, Forrest Whitaker, Daughtry and Alicia Keys all filed reports and met people, but also in New Orleans, which the quarterbacking Peyton Manning brothers and Reese Witherspoon revisited (separately); and Appalachia, where Miley Cyrus and her dad Billy Ray went to visit. A poor gang-infested town in California was visited by Randy and Paula.

Simon, for his part, went to New York to ride along with a mobile health care van and visit with a family that cried for its need for donations. That he is turned into a big hearted guy at least one night a year is a thing to look forward to the way we like to look for such transformations in Scrooge or the Grinch.

Either because of the state of the economy, or trends in TV programming, such sights unfortunately are not all that rare on TV any more -- families crying because life is hard and they can't quite make it; they're in pain but pained too to have to ask for help. It's seen everywhere from "Extreme Makeover -- Home Edition" to "Oprah's Big Give." Still, there were undeniably some moving moments in the telethon, but also many that weren't so different from the usual guilt-inducing Sally Struthers infomercials.

It was surprising that more stirring moments didn't come during the music.

Aside from Lennox's heartfelt "Many Rivers to Cross" played live immediately after her own Africa report, there were precious few rousing anthems.

The Top 8 were well used, I suppose, since these are the personalities that the millions who follow this show tune in to see. Their three ensemble numbers through the evening were Rihanna's "Please Don't Stop the Music" to start (with last year's "So You Think You Can Dance" finalists tumbling all around them), "Seasons of Love" from "Rent" performed live to the people in at the "Idol" studio who otherwise only got to watch them answer phones, and the straight Christian song "Shout to the Lord" (which you can think of an alternate Ruben Studdard number to end on, rather than "Celebrate Me Home").

Having them appear to answer calls back in the studio (live) gave more immediacy to the evening rather than the straight charity show from Sunday. It also allowed Ryan Seacrest to give some real time updates on the totals as well (the last one he announced was "almost $22 million").

There was a confusing part where British Prime Minister Gordon Brown came on to pledge to buy 20 million mosquito nets to protect from malaria, which Seacrest later said was worth $200 million. If a $200 million donation comes in, isn't that about the end of the telethon? Or is the exchange rate so out of whack that isn't as much as we think it is?

And while we're at it, why have the British Prime Minister come on but not the U.S. President? And where were those three taped messages from the leading Presidential candidates, which were reportedly shown to the Hollywood audience Sunday but didn't make it to air at all Monday? (They were having problems with the technical quality of the McCain clip; maybe they got rid of all three as a way to play fair).

At any rate, there were probably too many filmed clips already. No matter who the star was on them, they had the immediacy and impact of any run-of-the-mill canned network PSA. It's the live appearances that count and the star power in the whole long event was provided almost single-handedly by Brad Pitt, who came on with a microphone that had fallen (stage manager Debbie Williams got off about the best line of the night when she came on stage to pin it on him and adlibbed, "I just needed a reason to touch him").

Robin Williams was also pretty funny as a supposed "Russian Idol" named Ivan Yakinov (which he said he changed to Ivan Popinov for TV, which was not much of a change). But the bit went on a little too long, probably.

For the second year in a row, Ben Stiller's contribution was almost stubbornly unfunny. And nobody was waiting up to hear Rob Schneider's clip.

Back to the music, where were the big acts? Fergie doing "Barracuda" with Heart didn't quite make the cut, even if she did do a one handed walkover during it. Teri Hatcher doing a Carrie Underwood song sounded like a leftover clip from the "Secret Talents of the Stars" premiere the night before.

Underwood, for her part, did "Praying for Time," a George Michael song that never got as inspiring as it should have.

Randy Jackson playing bass for Mariah Carey wasn't exactly Celine Dion doing a duet with an electronically exhumed Elvis Presley, which was a climactic number last year. Miley Cyrus sang one song too many and went on a little long in an exchange with Billy Crystal (who came off as out of touch as the crotchety old host of a Bob Hope special -- though he used the body language of a Jack Benny). And yet, Snoop Dogg's contribution didn't come close to fitting in either.

One of these years, Bono is going to have to come back from Africa and just play the stage with U2 just so rock isn't represented solely by Daughtry.

But don't let it dissuade your giving. Donations go to six organizations this year: The Children's Defense Fund, Children's Health Fund, The Global Fund, Make It Right, Malaria No More and the Westport-based Save the Children. They're still taking donations at www.americanidol.com.

Judging Inspiration

The theme was inspiration, but the result was perspiration among the "American Idol" top eight competing Tuesday.

Judges weren’t being too generous to the remaining singers, who had the task of not only advancing their chances in the competition, but in advancing Wednesday night’s big "Idol Gives Back" charity event.

Classic rock was a choice of some – Michael Johns opened with Aerosmith's "Dream On," Carly Smithson took on Queen’s "The Show Must Go On" in a performance Simon found too angry for the evening (on the plus side: after insulting her wardrobe last week, he thought she looked nice).

A couple of the shakier performers had more surefooted performances. Jason Castro took up the ukulele to echo the innocence of the late Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo Ole's oft-heard version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

Kristy Lee Cook fit the theme and her own country stylings by choosing Martina McBride’s “Anyway” which the judges and especially Simon liked.

David Cook, who previously could do no wrong, stumbled a bit with a version of “Innocent” by Our Lady Peace (whom he identified as his favorite band). Yet he closed with a bit stolen from another band, when he showed a handwritten message on his palm "give back" in the style of Coldplay's Chris Martin. It led to a comment about being "a teensy pretentious."

David Archuleta, who already sang a few inspirational tunes this season, had to go to his obscurity bag to pull out "Angels" by the British pop star Robbie Williams, a virtually unknown track this side of the Atlantic.

The ploy worked for the British judge who called it one of the best pop song ever written and wondered why it was never a hit here.

To close the show, Brooke White stayed true to her early 70s folk rock inspiration by doing Carole King’s "You’ve Got a Friend."

The one soulful gospelly number was offered by the only singer of color left, Bridgeport native Kyesha Mercado. And though she showed off her voice and her inspiration admirably, in her version of Fantasia’s "I Believe," she committed the "Idol" cardinal sin (among judges anyway) of singing a previous winner’s signature tune.

They’ll have to stew two days to see who’s out next.

Pitfalls of 'Give Back' Week

"Idol Gives Back" can be a tricky week for "American Idol" contenders.

The mammoth fundraiser subsumes TV’s biggest singing competition such that raising money for charity and awareness about world problems momentarily become, for a week anyway, more important than the next song choice of Kristy Lee Cook.

Still, it can be difficult to navigate the line between inspirational and sickly sweet. Which song can both inspire and show off the voice a bit?

And what of the judges? Will circumstances of the week encourage them to be nicer than usual?

Already this season, young favorite David Archuleta seems to have already bottomed the well of inspirational songs, having sung “Imagine” and “Another Day in Paradise” earlier this season.
But the singing contest and the charity event are more separate this year than last.

Instead of a two night event, when every vote counted as a contribution, the votes Tuesday will be separate from the pledges Wednesday.

And when it comes to the results show, bumped to Thursday, there will definitely be somebody going home (Last year, they made it seem like it would be uncharitable to kick anybody out – though they teased that Jordin Sparks may be the one eliminated).

The “Idol Gives Back” special itself is in the can, taped Sunday at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, featuring Fergie performing with Heart, Snoop Dogg, Miley Cyrus, Annie Lennox, Mariah Carey and Carrie Underwood.

And the “Idol” top eight — almost hidden among on-stage star power that included Brad Pitt, Robin Williams, Reese Witherspoon and Billy Crystal — opened the show with an ensemble number that wouldn’t normally be considered in the inspirational category at all: Rihanna’s "Don’t Stop the Music."

Ramiele's Out

Ramiele Malubay won't be the first Asian American Idol. She was voted off "American Idol" Thursday after a week in which she admitted she had a tough time handling country.

Ramiele may have been the size of Dolly Parton but she couldn't quite navigate her way through her songbook. It was "a little bit" difficult to connect with country music, she told Ryan Seacrest Wednesday. "But I was excited because I walked for the first time" in a performance.

Her selection "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?" worked well as a final song, with its references to "the sweet used to be." But she was crying so much there was a question whether she'd ever get through it.

Malubay was in the bottom three composed entirely of women -- Kristy Lee Cook, who Randy for one thought would have a pass on the week because of her penchant for country and a vocal tone is so similar to Parton's. Also in the bottom three was Brooke White, crying more for Parton's own performance of "Jesus and Gravity."

The results show had two minutes tacked onto the front of the already padded hour so it could vengefully step on anything people wanted to record on their TiVos at 8 p.m. other than the finale of "Moment of Truth" (the elimination of Claire on "America's Next Top Model" just barely made it before channels changed at the ridiculous 8:58 p.m.).

So the show, with a lot of time to fill, included updates on Nasville-centric past sunners-up including BO Bice, Bucky Covington and Phil Stacey. And it included the Clark Brothers, a footnote on a footnote -- winners of "The Next Great American Band," the rare failed spin-off from "Idol" producers that ran last summer, put on the show solely because they play country, in a furious, scrunch-up-the-face way.

Parton Me

To think some of the finalists on "American Idol" didn’t know Beatles songs. They must have been way out of their league approaching the songbook of choosing Dolly Parton.

So what most of them did was either strip down one of her tunes or turn them into gospel stompers.

Some of the arrangements seemed so similar, judges began to take note. Simon Cowell complained that Jason Collins' version of "Traveling Through" sounded just like Ramiele Malubay's version of "Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?" that immediately preceded it.

"This is the point where I lose my lifetime pass to Dollywood," he muttered.

David Archuletta got universal praise for his heartfelt treatment of "Smokey Mountain Memories."

Kristy Lee Cook, who was compared to "Dolly Parton on helium" in an earlier performance, was well suited to the songbook and acquitted herself well on "Coat of Many Colors."

Syeshia Mercado sat on a piano and as predicted sang what Randy Jackson called “the tiger of the night," "I Will Always Love You." (Judges disagreed about its impact).

Carly Smithson did a slowed-down version of “Here You Come Again” that built well to suit her voice (and yet there was carping from the judges' table as well).

Michael Johns slowed down “It’s All Wrong But It’s All Right” to emote as a soul song; Brooke White began the show with in many ways the best song, "Jolene."

David Cook was afforded the chance to come clean about past arrangements he’s nicked, some of them previously cited on the show, some not. He announced them all: Doxology’s version of "Eleanor Rigby," Whitesnake’s "Day Tripper" and Chris Cornell’s "Billie Jean."

He claimed his version of "Little Sparrow" his own, but like his others it was a muscular version of a song that had previously been delicate using acoustic guitar rather than electric. (Again, Simon showed his aversion to songs about orthinology).

Picking Dolly

Dolly Parton isn’t the first country mentor on “American Idol” (that would be Martina McBride). But her presence on "American Idol" this week as the first mentor of the season will be a boon to one person in particular: Kristy Lee Cook, who has such a similar tone to the country icon that Simon actually said she sounded "like Dolly Parton on helium" after her version of "Eight Days a Week."

Her song list is far more shortened, though, than say, the Beatles, especially on the pop side –- she’s only had a half dozen titles in the pop Top 50 in her career. With more scruitiny than ever on song selection, there will be much more fighting among contestants to do just the right one.

If I were to guess, I’d say it would fall out like this:

• "Islands in the Stream" – Michael Johns will want to tackle one of the Kenny Rogers duets; especially the one with Aussie roots. This hit was written by the Bee Gees.
• "The Greatest Love of All" – Though it came out as a Christmas song, it has the kind of sentiment David Archuleta has been picking up on.
• "Two Doors Down" - Ramiele Mulauby would have fun with this upbeat number.
• “9 to 5” – Kristy Lee Cook could do any Parton, she might as well try this No. 1 that Chekezie said he would have done had he stayed.
• "It’s All Wrong, But It’s Alright" – Time for Carly Smithson to do a ballad, this 1977 country charttopper builds to a belting chorus; lucky that Irish music and country aren’t that far apart.
• "Here You Come Again" – I can hear Brooke White doing a stripped down acoustic version of this.
• "Coat of Many Colors" – The kind of acoustic tale Jason Collins could handle, though I wouldn’t be surprised if Brooke took this one too.
• "I Will Always Love You" - It’s the plum song of the night, not because of Parton’s original, but because of the 14 million selling hit Whitney Houston made out of it. For that reason it’s crucial Syeshia Mercado sing it.
• "Jolene" – David Cook specializes in other rockers’ arrangements of pop songs, so just as he borrowed Chris Cornell’s reading of “Billie Jean,” he’ll follow the White Stripes’ version of this.

The Press Honors Chikezie

Fox goes to a lot of trouble to arrange a conference call between the latest person eliminated from "American Idol" and the press, though very little news comes out of it.

Mostly you can count on those ousted to say what a great experience, how everything happens for a reason, that they'll keep on singing, that they learned a lot and made a lot of cool friends among the contestants.

But really where is the news?

In the teleconference with Chikezie Eze this week, we learned why he dropped his last name (too many people were mispronouncing it, tempted to rhyme it incorrectly with his first name) and what he would have sang for Dolly Parton week ("9 to 5").

What was more fascinating was how many members of the press felt they had to prevace their questions by giving their personal reactions to his ouster. For example:

• "I thought you were great."
• "I'm very sorry to see you go. I thought you were wonderful."
• "Chikezie, we love you. Our family was behind you 100 percent. I just wanted to tell you that. I have a heartbroken 8-year-old that cried so much last night."
• "I'm really sad to see you go. You were so entertaining."
• "I'm so sad that you're gone."

To that, Chikezie consoled: "It's OK. I'm not gone."

The New Last Chore for 'Idol' Cast-Offs

The latest humiliation for those voted off "American Idol," after the final song, after the annoying teleconference, comes the following night when they appear on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

The apparent deal with "Idol," which will apparently deliver every cast-off through the end of the season on the late night show, began Thursday with Chikezie Eze, the first of the Top 10 to be eliminated Wednesday.

He didn't get to do an interview, which is at least what the "Survivor" cast-offs used to do on "Late Show with Dave Letterman."

Nor did he get to sing. He didn't even get to sit down.

Instead, he had to do a little "skit" with Leno, structured in the format of those Geico ads where the "normal person" has his story enhanced by celebrities. In this case it was the Pips, who sang, danced in formation and wore ugly suits to echo his standard answers.

It was a little painful. But I guess it gives singers extra motivation not to be voted off.