Friday , March 29 2024
Lip-synced group numbers, the return of two former Idol winners and delayed results took place at Idol Gives Back.

American Idol: Give Me My Results Already!

Was it just me, or did Idol Gives Back just drag on and on last night? I know that's awful to say, since the show supports many great causes, but about the hour and a half mark, I just wanted the results already.

What I think Idol should have done was make Idol Gives Back a separate telecast from the results show, which is what they did in season seven. If we're being honest here, a lot of the performances for Idol Gives Back were not up to snuff at all. Other than wanting to see the footage of David Cook's recent trip to Ethiopia, I just wanted the results for the week. I just think that two telecasts would have been more appropriate, especially since the show went over by almost a full 30 minutes.

Idol reunited the Top 12 to lip- sync to "Keeping The Dream Alive." The song title is somewhat of an oxymoron for the contestants that have already been eliminated this season, but hey, get your lip- sync on! Towards the mid-part of the performance, it actually sounded like Crystal Bowersox was singing live. This made me laugh, because it makes the other contestants like Crystal's backup singers. Maybe this is only amusing to me (More than likely).

My favorite moment of Idol Gives Back was the comedy portion coming from George Lopez and Wanda Sykes. George did a bit where he had "won" a chance to host Idol, and he decided to judge the judges. It was pretty funny.

Wanda did a bit from one of her past stand-up shows, where she talks about Idol and how she watches it only because it's mean that they make the eliminated contestant sing. One of my favorite lines was, "Come out here and remind America why they didn't vote for you." It was pretty spot-on and very funny. She even managed to throw in Ryan's old send off, "Seacrest, out!"

Idol mentor for the week, Alicia Keys performed "Unthinkable" and "Empire State of Mind (pt 2)" and, in the words of Randy Jackson, "was a little pitchy, dawg." Not too bad, though. I think she struggled more during her second song, but overall I liked her performance. Her outfit, however, was a totally different story. Two words for you: hot mess.

There was the "all-star" performance of "Stairway To Heaven," which was sung by Mary J. Blige. On guitar was Oriathi, who had performed her latest single earlier this season. I had mentioned last night during the show that I thought Orianthi was a much better guitar player than a singer, to which one of my friends responded, "What are things she has in common with Casey James, Alex?" (See? It's not just me that thinks he should embrace being a guitar player.)

I also really enjoyed Carrie Underwood's performance of "Change." I love that, as one of the most successful Idol winners to come off the show, she still comes back to lend her support.

Speaking of Idol winners returning to show their support, season seven winner, David Cook also made an appearance to talk about his time in Ethiopia.

And if you're curious as to what song David was singing in the above clip, it was "Heroes" off his self-titled album.

Now, onto the results! Early on in the broadcast, Ryan had Crystal and Casey James out to center stage and let Casey know that he was in the bottom three. Then Aaron Kelly and Lee Dewyze were brought out to center stage. Aaron was told that he also was in the bottom three.

And hour or so went by and Ryan finally had Siobhan Magnus, Mike Lynche, and Tim Urban come out to center stage. It would be Tim joining the bottom three.

Now, for those who maybe had checked the Dial Idol predictions, you (and of course, me) would have seen that Casey was expected to be eliminated last night. So, I not so patiently waited throughout the broadcast to watch this happen. I was ready for the gasps and booing from the audience. I was wanting to see the look on Kara's face and see if she'd try to get Casey to take off his shirt one more time. However, that is not what went down.

Finally, at almost 10:30, Ryan rolled out the bottom three to center stage. He first sent Aaron back to safety leaving Casey and Tim. We then found out that it would be Tim giving us one last smile that night.

And I can't even believe that I am about to admit this, but I was kind of not thrilled to see him go. His performance this week wasn't as good as the ones in the past couple weeks, but you really could see that he was trying. Yes, he had huge pitch and phrasing issues throughout the season, but just for entertainment value and the fact that I want Mike Lynche eliminated sooner than later, I would have liked to have seen Tim stick around. (I'm not saying that I wanted him to win, just FYI.)

Also, I can't believe he didn't get to sing one last time. Idol was already running over, what's another minute and a half? To me, that was kind of a snub. I mean, even Sanjaya got to sing on his way out.

It was a long night of Idol, celebrities, and social awareness. I hope everyone donated what they could to support children and families in need.

What did everyone think of Idol Gives Back? Should it be a separate broadcast next time? And what do you think of Tim Urban getting the boot?

About Kirsten Coachman

Kirsten Coachman is a writer and editor from the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit her long-running music blog, Wait...WHAT, at waitwhatmusic.net. Follow Kirsten Coachman on Twitter: @KirsCoachman

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