Wild Card Winners and Losers

American Idol: Season 3 Forum

Thread open to discuss the winners of the wild cards and those who lost. Please folks keep the talk here until the West Coast has viewed the the show. No spoliers.

Ok to talk here and in the W/C poll thread too, correct ?

Well....

Leah we knew was Paula's pick as she had "suggested" it last night.

Jennifer was a good pick. I think she deserved to move on.

George was okay last night, and I love "lean on Me" but I dont know...im mixed on him, though I think he can go much further than John...vocally speaking.

What Im most happy about is that Jon made it, and America voted for him....how can you not love that guy? He has a great voice and he's fun....isnt that what its all about. He doesnt cry all the time, he's just a cool guy and he seems to take criticism without getting mad, like some people have.

Overall....I think Im pleased with the results tonight...though personally, I would rather have seen Susan than George, but I think that decision came down to the girl/guy ratio....and Simon, who already stated that Susan was forgetable.

Katie didnt deserve to move on...she didnt perform at her best last night...I wasnt impressed.

Matt was okay, and I thought he would move on instead of Jon...but Im still glad Jon made it instead, as I liked Jon better.

Susan....I still think she deserved a shot to move on....she was really good.

Elizabeth....nothing impressed me at all....Im not surprised she didnt move on.

This is an edited version of what I posted earlier in the W/C Poll Thread. What's in red is what I have to say now.

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quote:

oldbutafan said this in post #88 : What I hoped would happen: Jennifer & Suzy (in alpha order) take 2 of the slots. The others are a now a crap shoot in my mind; double entendre not necessarily intended. What I think will happen: George: Will advance. Jon, Matt Will vie for advancement. Suzy, Jenn, Leah: Will vie for last two spots. And that is how it worked out. Leah had better be VERY good or someone else be VERY bad next week or she's history. PICKED * Jennifer Hudson Knockout voice, but I liked Jenn from the first. She is really outstanding, lots of character to her voice, and very pleasant to hear and could give some of the girls a rough time. The dress made her look like a waterlogged hotdog and at the end of the song her facial expression looked like she was suddenly bitten on the arse -- and the cateyed makeup only served to emphasize. The fashion trainwreck thing may very well be a gimmick, but I think she needs to lose it if fans are to believe in her. Jennifer has a respectable fan base and will tally some but not get the most votes. She is deserving of being an RPS pick for a spot in the Final 12. RANDY'S Pick -- I'm not sure why Randy said "against all odds" ? Her performance last night was certainly deserving of inclusion. Tonight her little re-cap was pretty good but kind of all over the place ... too many of those little run things but she was crying again ! Outfit tonight looked odd to me, but maybe that look is in -- but just not for her ? The stylists will help her like they did Kim Locke. * Leah Labelle Sadly, she disappointed me this evening. She sounded very shaky and almost cautious. I wonder if she was taking it extra easy because of the rumored nodules on her vocal chords ? Unlike in her group performance, this time she just didn't get it all together. I doubt she'll get the fan vote unless the flashback of that beautiful face weeping gets sympathy votes. Based on past performances, and unless her lack of stamina/endurance was noted by the judges, she could be an "upset" pick by RPS. PAULA'S Pick --- Last night Paula shooshed Simon for his harshness towards Leah, with this odd comment "Simon we are talking about the life of this girl in this competition" -- I wonder if they already knew last night but were just taking one last look to re-confirm their picks. I hope Leah does have the stamina and endurance for this competition and doesn't destroy her voice. We liked her before -- so maybe she just had a off night last night -- but tonight she sounded absolutely ghastly. Oh yeah ... maybe because she was crying. * George Huff When he started the song so low and a tad forced I thought uh-oh -- but he quickly pulled it together and gave a performance better than I expected. He had a few of those gritty voiced moments, but perhaps that is not a defect as it seemed to work. George does bring joy to the mix doesn't he ? He shouldn't lean too heavily on that nor think there will always be second chances. George has some chance of being fan choice as the lovable underdog, but I think people will have voted less for him, thinking he's a "safe" pick for RPS. He should advance either way. SIMON'S Pick --- I expected George to advance , but that Simon picked him was a deft little twist. George really can't rest now; he will have to work. George brings some joy -- even Ryan said so -- but he must remember to bring a great performance every time. He sang not quite as well tonight as last night -- but well, he was crying. * Jon "Lucky" Lewis He's no Elvis for sure, and if he wanted to do Elvis, I could think of a dozen better song choices, but his voice did seem much better this time around. "A little less gyration" would be in order -- but the quirky and decisively risky performance earns silly "rascal" points from me. Jon has a very strong chance of being the fan choice (especially with Lisa not in the running) with some possibility of being an RPS pick. I had a feeling it would be him. He now needs to tone down the slapstick. It's way too much. At the end he looked like one of those wackos who jumps up behind an on the street reporter to try to get his face in a shot. I will say however, that tonight Jon sounded the best that I've heard him, so that's good -- but maybe that's because he wasn't crying. =================== NOT PICKED Suzy ValacaWhat a breath of fresh air ! Clear strong vocals, energetically and joyfully delivered with pleasing stage presence, and an understated exotic kind of beauty. Simon hates this song and she survived nonetheless, and getting across the board thumbs up from RPS to boot. Suzy should get high fan votes and she is deserving and is almost certain to be an RPS pick unless upset by a love of Leah movement. Well -- this is exactly what happened she was "upset" by Leah. Suzy we hardly knew ye. We only saw good from Suzy -- but perhaps "they" saw something else, or maybe just think her style is just too ordinary ? BTW, She looked like hell tonight, so maybe she's one who doesn't hold up well. Matthew Metzger Tooth whitening product manufacturers are already calling. Once again, Matt delivered a rather weak performance and to me sounded flat in a few places. He is a cutie, but his strength in this mix is only that people will tune in not to hear him sing, but to see him smile. Matthew might have helped himself with his humble "confidence" comment. He may take a bite of the young girl vote and if chosen by RPS it will be largely for his hunk factor. Matthew grabbed softy me by the heart last night and again tonight. It's too bad he didn't grab me by the ear, huh ? I'll miss his smile and I do feel sad for him. He seems like a nice guy, and I wish him luck. Which brings me to: Katie Webber Pretty girl who did/does have the "it" factor and if only she could be consistent. She was a hairsbreadth better than Lizzie but her pitch sounded off, had trouble with the higher notes, and went bankrupt on the money note. In her group performance of of "Orange Colored Sky" she had some sparkle. Last night the only thing that sparkled was her skirt. A song called "So Emotional" dictates it be delivered accordingly, and I saw little if any passion or emotion. Katie has little chance of grabbing the fan vote and if she is an RPS choice, it will be as eye candy with a loss of better talent. AND Elizabeth Letendre Lizzie does have heart, and deserves props for not trying to mimic Roberta and attempting to give it her own "face" -- yet she sounded nasal and seemed (justifiably) nervous. Could this be why in her performance, she lost contact with the band, was quite choppy, and seemed to have no real vocal power or ability to sell the song ? Elizabeth has little chance of advancing via votes or RPS pick. I can say it now. I think Katie and Lizzie are just too similar, almost interchangeable with each other and hundreds more out there. They just don't stand out or apart. Sorry to all the Katie and Liz fans, but I think that's why they put them there. That is to cancel each other out. Maybe they could try a career singing together -- and I'm fairly serious. I wish them both luck too as they seem like nice girls.

Lisa was the best of the lot. Why didn't they let her sing?

Tiara and Marques (?) were better than several of the eight that got to sing.

Suzie and Jennifer were far and away the best this night.

John Peter and George next. The others all below par. Lia absolutely, stunningly weak.

I wanted Katie Webber to get a slot in the Final 12. No secret there. I believe she gave a performance on Tuesday evening that entitled her to that advancement. There were 4 slots available.

While I could visualize situations that might prevent her from getting one of those slots, nothing as bizarre as what happened last night ever entered my mind. When the Judges and the voting Audience picked Jon Peter Lewis over Suzy Vulaca, I was totally dumbfounded.

I still am. And I know I’m not alone, either.

I expected the Judges’ picks to include George and Jennifer. That left two slots. I figured that Suzy HAD to get one of them, either by America’s voting or by Judge’s pick. That left one slot and five contenders. If anything bizarre happened to deny that slot to Katie, I thought, then it would probably involve Matt Metzger. I was prepared to accept that possibility.

But never, not even in my blackest moments, did I visualize BOTH Leah LaBelle and Jon Peter Smith in the Final 12. Never did I envision a situation where the Judges AND the voting Audience would pick those two and leave Katie out of it. And there is certainly no legitimate explanation for picking them over Suzy.

I feel very sad for Katie. And even worse for Suzy, who really deserved to be in the Final 12. Isso fede!

Will the treachery never end?

THIS MESSAGE COPIED FROM POST #90 ON THE "WILD CARD POLL" THREAD:

I had a tooth bothering me and took some strong drugs, fell asleep at 7PM and didn't wke up until 11PM.

So All I now is that . from reading the other posts is:

George ( hometown guy) got thru

Jennifer made it

Jon the Elvis wanna be was third.

Am I correct?

I can't believe I missed the show.!!! Never missed an American Idol since inception. If I would have known I was going to slee[ tthru it. I would not have taken anything.

Delta bangs head on desk! Darn. Dang and phooeyQ

D

Thaniks Old Scout, for your very interesting review of the Wild Card Picks.

I am so glad I didn't see the dang show after reading the flagrant display of Reuben, and his over the top wieght issue combined with his lack of voice. Simon must have wished he could go back and change his position as to whom he would pick and Clay or even Kimberly Locke would have been the final two.

I find Rueben disgusting to watch , its like waiting for a heart atack to happen.

That Jon Elvis wannabe will only be around as long as the Ameririca does'nt get bored.

As far as George is concerned, you all have to remember he is from the deep south and his actions were prompted by living in this area. Also his Gospel background, has a lot to do with his behavior, oh and lets not forget he is so happy to be anywhere he would genuflect to Jimmy Swaggert.

Jenifer Hudson was no surprise, In fact after her first song the judges were all over themselves with compliments.

Don't understand how Susan got the boot.

Oh well I did get two out of three right , and for all thats worth I could buy Nada.

Now onward to the real finals and lets pray somone will entertain us instead of inflame us.

Thanx Old Scout.
D

fuscia said that somewhere here and she's absolutely correct !

Scout -- your reprise ( is that the right term I picked from the can of worms ? ) ... anyway, your reprise was a riot !

I swear we should collect comments and recaps and ask Marc if we can start and publish an online "INReview of Reality" page at INReview. I know there's a couple of them out there but I think we're much, much better.

D ... Ruben is no longer clean shaven, and the smile we remember is lost in the facial chubbiness. He was wearing a huge shirt billowing outside his jeans.

I'm not trying to be unkind, but even with the big shirt, when he moved you could see that he has grown what we would call bouncy "love handles" the size of a small truck tire around his middle.

Besides this, he sang one not so good song, and he sang it not so well and had difficulty catching his breath afterwards to talk to Ryan and then take questions. He's now going on a "massive" national tour. It's scary. He's only 25 years old. He needs help.

He mentioned he won an NAACP image award ? Some image !

OMG obaf you have me totally racked out.
What a pitiful situation, alll I can feature is him stuffing his face.

Well this will catch up on him,. He is not gietting the crowds that Clay is nd his interviews are mere grunts.

He makes me sick really!

D

No offense to the Katie lovers out there...but she didnt cut it on Tuesday at all.

She sang nothing like her first jazz song....

IMO

She just did not impress me at all Tuesday.

Are you sure Leah is caucasion?

I saw her family...didnt she have a black sister?

An article from this morning's Seattle Times newspaper:

Phoey, This is already s tarting to smell like three day old fish>

I wonder if I will even try to vote, this last week I was able to get through 20 times with no problems, the lines were not as busy as last year at same time.

It depends on my mood, I will be darn if I am a part of a smackdown of the fans at home. Take this show and s tuff it. I will change my mind of course.
D

MSNBC ran a long article about the American Idol show and conducted an online poll this morning. 12,714 people voted. The results are in.

They asked, "Who is your favorite American Idol contestant?" The answers:

LaToya London 15%
George Huff 14%
Jon Peter Lewis 12%
Fantasia Barrino 11%
John Stevens 9%
Diana DeGarmo 7%
Jasmine Trias 7%
Matt Rogers 7%
Camile Velasco 6%
Amy Adams 5%
Jennifer Hudson 5%
Leah LaBelle 5%

You can read the whole article and look at the poll by clicking on this link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4499401/

So guys here are your 12 finalists.

Vocal wise, I would have picked Suzy over Jon. I liked her quality and her showmanship. Jon seemed like a novelty act to me. I didn't hear a real voice come out of him. Sure his song choice was out of the norm and he danced around like "Steven Tyler", but he didn't impress me at all. Unless he does something outstanding and lets his voice truly sing in the finals, I don't see him lasting past the first episode.

I love Jennifer's voice... strong & whoo what a range, she just needs a better dress! Didn't like Leah's voice... too raspy for me, but there are some that care for that. George, well, his voice sounds older than he is, but his joy was contagious! I think that Jennifer has the most possiblity of the four wild card singers.

Ryan's ON AIR show is on right now. He opened the show with a recap of last night's American Idol show and then got Simon Cowell on the phone for an interview. I taped the whole thing.

I'm not going to transcribe the entire interview because it is a few minutes long, but the last few exchanges before they ended it were VERY interesting. I transcribe them here, verbatim:

Simon: I think that everyone's gone insane in this country at the moment.

Ryan: Why do you say that?

Simon: Because William Hung's got a recording contract. Why? Jon Peter Lewis, after one of the most ghastly auditions I've ever seen in my life, sails through with the public vote. Paula chooses somebody who didn't sing a note in tune. Everything's going wrong!

Ryan: I think you're just jealous because Hung is getting more attention than you are.

Simon: Only for the moment, Darling.

Then they signed off and Ryan went on with the show. Interestingly enough, today Ryan does not have the American Idol Wild Card winners on the show. Normally, after one of the Group of Eight Results shows, he has the Winners on his show the next day. He's made no mention of them so far today.

is right! I demand a recount!

The MSNBC Poll that I mentioned yesterday in Post #24 is still running. There have now been 15,166 votes collected. There are no changes in the positions or percentages for any of the frontrunners but there has been a bit of shifting around in the bottom half of the list.

LaToya London is still on top with 15% of the vote. George Huff follows with 14%. In the cellar, as before, are Leah LaBelle with 3% and Jennifer Hudson with 5%.

I don't know how predictive this Poll will turn out to be. There are too many uncontrollable variables. We'll just have to wait and see.

If you want to check on the Poll results or read the accompanying article, here is the link once more:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4499401/

OMG Roflmao....

D

From the Television Without Pity website:

The MSNBC Poll that I mentioned last week in Post #24 is still running. There have now been 16,624 votes collected. There are no changes in the positions of the frontrunners but there has been a bit of slippage in the percentages for George and Jon Peter.

LaToya London is still on top with 15% of the vote. George Huff follows with 13% and Jon Peter with 11%.

In the cellar, as before, are Leah LaBelle with 3%, Jennifer Hudson with 4% and Amy Adams with 5%.

If you want to check on the complete Poll results or read the long accompanying article, here is the link once again:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4499401/

NOTE: I'm going to copy this Post over onto the "American Idol MEDIA STORIES" thread and continue all future discussions and updates on that thread.

Latoya is the winner and will be the final Idol, unless the Suits have another Idol in mind.

Thanks SCout for all your research, its bery interesting and I will follow it.

D

Ecept for Leah Labelle as the pick I thought most of the choices in the Wildcard rounds were ok.... I mean...I completely understand how JPL got through...he did look so bizzare dancing like he didn't have care in the world hehehe...
But I'll add this.. I thought e whole concept of bring contestants in...getting them to rehearse and all hyped...yet telling them ON THE NIGHT they weren't getting trough was cruel and un-necassary.

Jon Peter Lewis

JPL was the best that night!!!! JPL ALL THE WAY as the WILDCARD