Uninspiring American Idol Top 8 Review

Uninspiring American Idol top 8 Review

By Erika Blake

Pictures courtesy of WireImage

Talk about a weird night on AI. Last night’s Top 8 theme was Inspirational songs and I think what best can be shown about last night’s overall competition is what the show would be like if our forerunners were not on it…the show would just fall flat. All of the top leaders bombed or didn’t quite hit that perfect mark leaving the weight on the shoulders of the less qualified to really pick up the slack.

I honestly can’t rank the performances last night, in the words of Gordon Ramsey – we’ll examine the worst and work our way up to “the best of the worst.”

My choices for the bottom 3 are – Syesha, Carley, and Brook.

Syesha Mercado -

Syesha made a HUGE song choice blunder in picking Fantasia’s “I Believe” to sing. Why she chose one of AI’s winning songs is beyond me, but it bordered on desperate. She started off shaky and although her voice was pleasant, like Randy said it was impossible not to miss Fantasia’s unique gravel in the song.

That aside, I personally hate the diva comparisons that Randy and Simon are constantly harping on, especially considering in the weeks ahead Mariah Carey – the ULTIMATE Diva – will be on as a mentor and everyone will have to sing one of her songs.

Syesha’s take on the song was solid, but she just didn’t do the song justice and unlike last week where her performance dripped w/ emotion, this week she fell flat.

Carley Smithson –

I really hate putting Carley in the bottom 3 this week, but her performance put her here. I’ve never been a huge Carley fan but last night as she belted out Queen’s “The Show Must Go On” (an ODD choice for the theme btw) I started seeing glimmers of the artist that expect to see whenever she takes the stage. Simon commented that she sounded angry in the song – frankly, it was that raw anger that appealed to me the most in her performance. After weeks and weeks of her doing one sappy torch song after another, I realized what I’ve been wanting from her – I want her to be the next Alanis. Carley looked fantastic last night, she got up there and for once could’ve had all of the makings of a killer performance – I was actually awake and grooving with her rendition of the song, then ½ way through she fell completely flat and didn’t even end the song on a long high note.

Carley’s been really inconsistent, she’s got a great voice, but she’s done nothing to define herself throughout this competition. She should’ve come out as the hard rocker chick like Alanis from the outset, if she’d done that she’d be unstoppable. Unfortunately, I think it’s possible that the show WILL not go on for her after this week.

Brook White –

Brook probably had one of the overall best vocals of the night with James Taylor’s You’ve got

a Friend, her voice was magically pure and 100% Brook White, however, the performance was rather blah. Rather like the crooning songs that Chikezie insisted on singing that eventually got him booted off, this performance came off as very old fashioned and could’ve been on the radio in the 70’s but certainly wouldn’t be on pop charts today. Brook seems to have lost her confidence some and if she stays in another round needs to get back to just enjoying herself by being true to her voice and style, her fans love her, but she’s slowly losing her sparkle and needs to get it back quickly to make it to the top 5.

Disney unveils animation slate

Schedule includes ‘Toy Story 3,’ ‘Cars 2′

By BEN FRITZ, DADE HAYES

After years of relative reticence, the Mouse House is strutting over its animation slate once again.

With Disney chief exec Robert Iger and the investment community looking on in Gotham Tuesday, John Lasseter presented an uncharacteristically detailed road map of the next four years of Pixar and Disney animation.

Two years after the pair’s $7.4 billion merger, the Mouse House is eager to tout the lineup and keep Pixar’s momentum going after “Ratatouille” and “Cars.” Studio is also looking to pump up the fortunes of Disney’s own animation unit, now under the control of Lasseter and former Pixar prexy Ed Catmull after suffering a string of disappointments, including last year’s “Meet the Robinsons.”

Lineup includes a Pixar film every summer and a Disney Animation Studios toon every holiday season, save for 2011, when Pixar is releasing two films and Disney Animation Studios will take a breather. All of the films starting with this November’s “Bolt” will be released in digital 3-D, except for 2009 Disney toon “The Princess and the Frog,” the only pic being made in traditional 2-D.

Disney studio chief Dick Cook said it was the first pure animation presentation for the Mouse House in more than a decade.

Official Description for Smallville 7×17 SLEEPER

SMALLVILLE: “SLEEPER”

The CW has released a description of “Sleeper,” the Thursday, April 24 episode of Smallville.

Here’s how the network describes the episode:

“Clark (Tom Welling) desperately searches for Kara (Laura Vandervoort) and Brainiac (guest star James Marsters, as Brainiac is the only one who can reverse Lana’s (Kristin Kreuk) condition. Clark asks Chloe (Allison Mack) to check any large power surges in the area, so she breaks into several government computers, setting off alarms.

“Jimmy (Aaron Ashmore) is caught between the Department of Security - who threatens him with jail time unless he helps them arrest Chloe - and Lex (Michael Rosenbaum), who offers to help clear Chloe if Jimmy agrees to be in his debt.”

The episode is written by Caroline Dries and directed by Whitney Ransick.