American idol Season 13 lands in Hollywood

Season 13

February 6, 2014 By Mark Franklin 0

American Idol lands in Hollywood tonight, where I’m sure much drama awaits.

In fact, the show is already promising “a shocking twist.”

An anxious contestant awaits her turn to sing on American Idol in Hollywood. (FOX Photo)

Apparently, no sooner than they land in Hollywood, the 200-plus aspiring singers will be ushered into an airplane hangar where some will unexpectedly be forced to perform in order to advance to the real Hollywood stage.

Get ready for the tears. Meanwhile, some random observations on what we’ve seen so far.

The odds: Once again, the ladies face tougher odds of making the finals than the guys, though it’s not as lopsided as in many past seasons. With 212 contestants in Hollywood, I count 115 gals to 97 guys, though I can’t swear that number isn’t off by one or two.

The guitars: If guitars equal higher ratings, Idol’s viewership should be through the roof (it’s not, of course). In addition to plenty of cute guys carrying guitars, the audition round featured a surprising number of very talented female singer-songwriters. Unfortunately, more than the show can possibly accommodate.

The bromance: When I saw the survey on Idol’s website asking fans about their favorite part of the bromance between Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr., I just groaned. Idol, leave the bromance to Adam Levine and Blake Shelton. They’re much better at it. And this just comes off as oh-so copycat.

Noteworthy singers we didn’t meet: Christina Isabelle Pasqualone is back after coming a whisker away from the semifinals last year. The Berklee College of Music grad auditioned in Boston. And remember Shubha Vedula, who also made the Vegas round last year? Her sister, Priya, made Hollywood after auditioning in New York.

The talent: While I wanted to throw something at my TV both times Harry Connick was shown saying there’s lots of talented singers out there and they all come to American Idol, the show has pulled together an incredible amount of talent for Season 13. I found that out by researching the featured contestants. If you’d like to hear more from them, head here.

Well, the intention was to live blog Idol tonight, but I turn on the TV and there’s no reception on FOX 43. Just a black screen promising to get the channel back as soon as possible.

Ugh! Hate this winter weather.