Just call it the night the judges started judging on American Idol.
I know, it’s been so long, it took me a while to catch on to what I was hearing, too.
All I can fathom is that someone in Idol-land starting reading the judges’ reviews.
And those reviews were scathing — deliciously and deservingly scathing — after the boys sang Tuesday night.
Just check it out.
Craig Berman, MSNBC: “The judges liked everybody, and made it clear that everyone was awesome but that the voters had better make the right choice anyway. Good luck with that, America!”
Rodney Ho, Atlanta Journal Constitution: “The judges, if you’d even call them that, were way too easy on many of the singers but tougher on some who I felt did better. Again, when Randy Jackson is considered the ‘tough’ judge, you know how soft this trio is.”
Michael Slezak, TVline.com: “The message from the judges was loud and clear: Go ahead and do your worst. Sing as carelessly as Ashlee Simpson with her mic switched off and a backing track blaring through the speakers. Bite the head off a small woodland creature, if that’s how the spirit moves you! We’ll respond to it all in the same bland, encouraging playgroundspeak reserved for a toddler who puts his toys back in the cabinet. “Very good boy-oyyyy!”
I tucked all those quotes away earlier today, prepared to grade the judges after tonight’s show.
And the judges were headed for a big fat F.
Then a funny thing happened on the way to that F.
Chelsea Sorrell, the first gal to perform Wednesday night, stopped singing.
And all three judges let her know they weren’t thrilled with her performance.
Now I’d already typed as much myself, saying I didn’t think it was wise for Chelsea to sing a Carrie Underwood tune on Idol because there was no way she was going to come off well in comparison.
But to hear the same thing from the judges?
A night after Eben Franckewitz tried something much more foolish — an Adele song with his tiny voice — and was told it was “very good”?
Two singers later, long before Hallie Day unleashed her version of “Feeling Good,” we learned it was indeed a new dawn and a a new day on American Idol.
There was Randy Jackson, admitting the judges were probably too soft on the Idol guys the night before.
They certainly weren’t too soft on Baylie Brown later in the evening, when she failed to deliver a solid vocal on “Amaze.”
And when Haley Johnsen finished her rendition of “Sweet Dreams,” Randy proclaimed it “a nightmare” for him.
Ouch.
But it was so wonderful to hear.
Because even if I didn’t entirely agree, a judge was finally judging on American Idol, something that hadn’t happened since early on in Season 10.
The best was yet to come.
At the end of the show, Ryan Seacrest asked the judges who the best singers of the night were.
And, instead of dodging the question, as they probably would have done a year ago, the judges started naming names.
I report this, just in case it never happens again.
Randy named Elise Testone, Jessica Sanchez, Shannon Magrane, Jen Hirsh, Erika Van Pelt and Skylar Laine.
Jennifer named Jessica, Jen and Hollie Cavanagh.
Steven named Elise, Jessica, Erika, Hollie and Hallie Day.
Boy, I hope that happens again.
In fact, I think that should be the way every Idol show ends, with the judges, earning their millions, forced to judge, forced to name their favorites for the night, forced to give viewers some help in separating the special from the not-so-special.
And, thank you, Nigel Lythgoe.
Judging from the equally opinionated tweets coming from your fingers Wednesday night, I suspect you had a hand in the fact that the American Idol judges finally acted like judges.
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