Idol Chatter & Voice Views

After audition episodes, boot camp episodes, judges’ mansion episodes and last night’s first live show … whew … voting finally begins on The X Factor next Wednesday.

Fox announced today that voting will be allowed by five methods.  In addition to the old-fashioned way (by toll-free calls),  viewers can vote via Facebook (Facebook.com/TheXFactorUSA), via Twitter (twitter.thexfactorusa.com), via the X Factor app on Verizon Android devices, and via text messaging for Verizon Wireless customers.

Now, some day-after impressions from the first live episode of The X Factor USA.

For the grades from last night’s performances, go here.

The eliminations: Overall, the judges got it right.  Had the five eliminated contestants advanced, I don’t believe any of them would have been around for long.

If I were Simon, I might have been tempted to keep Tiah Tolliver and jettison Rachel Crow after Tuesday’s performances.  I mean, Drew Ryniewicz is just one year older than Rachel and so much more vocally mature.  And while Rachel is cute as could be, that won’t help her one iota when it comes time to record a CD.

The live show selections: I’m pretty sure those overblown judges’ intros on The X Factor say something about Simon Cowell being the best judge of talent in the world or the universe or something along those lines.   I’d probably know for sure, but I started tuning out those intros weeks ago.

Anyway, based on what we saw Tuesday night, Simon’s the worst judge of singing ability among the four sitting on The X Factor panel.   He almost didn’t pick Melanie Amaro, who turned in one of the night’s stellar performances.  And did the vocals from Rachel Crow, Simone Battle and Tiah Tolliver leave anyone else yearning for Caitlin Koch or Tora Woloshin?

Best line of the night: It was delivered — SURPRISE! — by Nicole Scherzinger after watching Tiah Tolliver’s Halloween-inspired (I think) version of “Sweet Dreams,” complete with black-clad dancers waving blood red cloaks to  an eerie background of dark trees, fire and smoke.

Said Nicole, in part as a jab at Simon:  “Well, if that was a sweet dream, I’d hate to see what one of the scary ones are like.  I think you guys (Tiah and Simon) are a good match for one another.”

Special gold star: Goes to host Steve Jones for keeping that two- and one-half-hour marathon on schedule.  At one point, I would have bet the show would run over.

I mean, 17 performances, each followed by commentary from four judges.  That’s ambitious far beyond American Idol’s capabilities.  But it wrapped up promptly at 10:30 EST.

Judges’ performance: Simon sniped at L.A.   L.A. sniped at Simon.  Simon slammed Nicole.  The former Pussycat Doll clawed back.  Paula and Simon played nice.  Until, predictably,  Tiah took the stage.

In other words, the X Factor judges expressed lots of opinions, but they were typically opinions about one another’s job as mentors, which should not be confused with judging.  When it came to critiquing the performances … well, we were way sort on critiques of substance.  Paula complimenting Simone Battle’s appearance (code for that performance wasn’t very good) doesn’t cut it.

This must change.   Immediately.   Voting starts Wednesday.  And viewers will not be voting for Simon, Nicole, Paula or L.A.  So tell us what you think about the performances, judges, not what you think about one another.

Speaking of which …

The disappointments: If Chris Rene is going to live up to his billing as a front-runner, he’s going to have to do better than that sleepy rendition of “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore.”  If Rachel Crow delivers another performance like Tuesday’s, she should be the first finalist to exit.

The most impressive: Love the vocal skills among the Over 30s — Josh Krajcik, LeRoy Bell and Stacy Francis.  Stacy didn’t even cry.  Melanie Amaro was predictably perfect (but I fear a Pia fate for her).  I predict bigger things for the young and fun InTENsity.

Then there’s Drew Ryniewicz, just 14, with that tender version of  “What a Feeling.”  One word: Wow!

Up next: With the World Series ending this week, the show will settle into its regular schedule of Wednesday night performance shows (8 to 10 p.m. for now) followed by Thursday night results shows (8 to 9 p.m. for now).

I’ll be blogging live during both and ranking the remaining 12 contestants between now and then.  So stay tuned.