Idol Chatter & Voice Views

We had an ice storm in southcentral Pennsylvania Wednesday morning that apparently knocked the satellite feed from the local FOX affiliate to my TV provider kaflooey.

So I missed every single minute of the first American Idol Season 13 episode from Hollywood.

Tonight, the groups perform in what’s sure to be a drama-filled episode of American Idol. (FOX Photo)

Probably just as well.

Let’s see now, for three weeks, the Season 13 mantra has been a kinder, gentler American Idol, the show where everyone gets along. The judges might as well be walking around holding hands and singing “Kumbaya.” We even have a Voice-inspired and very contrived bro-mance brewing between Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr.

So what does Idol do next?

It took the 200-plus singers it filmed and videotaped celebrating their golden tickets to Hollywood and paraded them into an airplane hangar; then sent an unfortunate few back home before they ever got to unpack, or step foot in a hotel, or step foot on the Idol Hollywood stage.

All to drum up a little drama.

That JUST SEEMS RUDE.

Whew, not that I got that out ….

I did watch lots of video of last night’s show, enough to form an opinion on who was most impressive in my mind.

Among the guys, that would include Spencer Lloyd, Savion Wright, Maurice Townsend and Casey Thrasher, who I thought was much more impressive on last night’s version of “He Stopped Loving Her Today” than he was at his audition.

Among the ladies, I was most taken with Austin Wolfe, Jena Asciutto, Kristen O’Connor and Kenzie Hall, whose take on “Can’t Hold Us” is exactly the type of performance Idol needs to make the show seem fresh again.

Andrina Brogden and Emily Piriz are two of the advancing singers on American Idol. (FOX Photo)

And here we go:

Three More Days (David Oliver Willis, Sarina Joi Crowe, Tony Foster Jr.): They sing “Too Close.” Sarina sounds great. David Oliver sounds solid. The a cappella harmony at the end made the performance unique Jennifer said, and she’s right. David and Sarina advance; Tony does not. Grade: B

Backstreet Cowboys (Dexter Roberts, Casey Thrasher, Ben Briley): Three guys who like country music join up to sing “I Want It That Way.” Yep, it’s a country-fied version of a Backstreet Boys song. Keith proclaims it “very entertaining” and compliments them on “making it work.” I thought Casey and Ben were best. Keith sends all three singers to the next round. Grade: B–

We see snippets of Paula Hunt, Andrina Brogden, M.K. Nobilette and Briana Oakley, all of whom advance. Wow, Briana sounded fabulous.

Megan Miller, Spencer Lloyd, Alyssa Siebken: The gals are complaining because Spencer knows the song; they do not and wanted to rehearse more. They’ll sing “Best I Ever Had.” Megan muffs the lyrics; Alyssa stumbles as well. As it turns out, only Spencer seemed to know what he was singing. The trio know the performance wasn’t very good. Alyssa gets cut. Megan sticks around somehow, and admits “I don’t deserve that.” Spencer survives too. Grade: D+

Also going home: Madisen Walker, Austin Pecario, Stephanie Petronelli, Adam Roth, Keith London. Dang, we lost the cheerleader among the group. And Tequila Wilson decides to withdraw from the competition, because she wants to sing gospel music and doesn’t feel like the competition is a good fit.

Matthew Hamel, C.J. Harris, Caleb Johnson, Tyler Ahlgren: Matthew quit his group, disgruntled, and joined up with this trio of guys. Caleb, who is reminding me of Meatloaf right now, sounds fantastic. C.J. sounded pretty good, too. Caleb and C.J. advance; Tyler and Matthew do not. Matthew walks away thinking he killed it. Grade: B+

Tyler Ahlgren, Caleb Johnson, C.J. Harris and Matthew Hamel perform during the Hollywood Week group round on American Idol. (FOX Photo)

Clarity (Jena Asciutto, Sikenya Thompson, Allie Odom, Munfarid Zaidi) Sikenya is sick, leaving the other group members wondering how they’ll go on without someone they’ve practiced with for 24 hours. Sikenya apparently makes it back just in time for the performance. Sikenya slips on her line, but muscles through. Jena sounds fantastic. We don’t really hear Munfarid sing. Oh, yeah, they’re singing “Too Close,” too. And it’s verdict time: Only Allie doesn’t advance. Hmm, I thought she sounded better than Sikenya. Grade: C+

We see a snippet of Savion singing “Royals” and he sounds great. Again.

Jess Meuse, Nica Nashae, Stephanie Hanvey, Cara Watson: Jess joined the group after hers imploded. And admits she might not be quite familiar with the lyrics to “Single Ladies,” which is about as far from the music she’d normally sing as you can get. And, as she fears, she needs to be rescued by the other group members when it’s her turn to sing. Meanwhile, Nica sounded great. The other gals, not so much. The judges wind up keeping everyone but Stephanie. Then her mom throws a big-time attitude, especially in Jess’ direction. Wow, talk about an overprotective stage mom. Good luck dealing with that, Stephanie. Grade: C–

Love’s Angle (Terrica Cutty, Carmen Delgina, Emmanuel Zidor): They perform “Say My Name.” Terrica and Carmen did not sound good at all. Emmanuel sounded the best of the three. And Emmanuel is the only contestant to advance after what Harry termed a terrible performance. Grade: C–

Loud and Fierce (Malaya Watson, Queen Bulls, Christina Collins, Olivia Diamond): They perform a Michael Jackson number, “I Want You Back.” Malaya easily delivers the best vocal of the quartet. But all four of them advance. Hmm, not sure it was that good. Grade: B–

And, apparently, the 200-plus contestants have been cut down to 77.

Best Group Performance: I don’t think we were given their name, but my pick would be the group that included C.J. Harris and Caleb Johnson, even though they were the only members of the quartet to advance. A very fun performance, too.

Worst Group Performance: The group that included Megan Miller, Spencer Lloyd and Alyssa Siebken. Alyssa looked ticked off during the whole performance; Megan looked petrified after blowing the lyrics; Spencer did nothing to help the situation.

Worst sport award: Stephanie Hanvey’s mom. That tirade against Jess Meuse was totally uncalled for. I’ll give Matthew Hamel a pass. He sounded better than several singers who advanced.

Most baffling saves: Once upon a time, forgetting lyrics meant sure elimination in Hollywood. Not this year for Jess or Megan Miller, who walked off stage admitting “I didn’t deserve that.” They must have been very, very impressive in earlier rounds.

Best singers from groups we didn’t see: Savion Wright and Briana Oakley turned in absolutely killer performances.

Best sport award: Savion gets that too, for being more distraught over the elimination of a good friend than joyful over his own success.

If you’d like to hear more from top contestants, head here. I’ve done profiles on 90 of the singers featured in Hollywood.