American Idol - Elimination Night 4/23/08

Carly Smithson Goes Home On American Idol - Andrew Lloyd Webber Week
Fox Wednesday 9/8c 4/23/08

The night started off with a Q&A with Andrew Lloyd Webber and an ensemble number from the American Idol Top 6 contestants. Lloyd Webber admitted that he did not care for Jason Castro's song choice (Memory), nor his performance. He said that Brooke White did the right thing, starting over again when she forgot the lyrics (I wholly disagree).

"After the break," as Ryan Seacrest says.

Introducing American Idol Postage stamps, all proceeds go to Idol Gives Back.

Then a message from President George W. and Laura Bush. They are both making the prime time rounds.

Starting with David Archuleta and David Cook, and a million screaming tweens!
Both were eventually pronounced safe, of course.

Neil Diamond will be the mentor next week. Finally somebody that they may have heard of, maybe. At least I will finally know the songs!

After another break and a trailer for a cool looking new Will Smith movie, Hancock.

An update from Tamyra Gray(got robbed in AI Season 1), currently in Rent on Broadway. And Clay Aiken(got robbed in AI Season 2), currently in Spamalot on Broadway.

Next was a performance from a Simon Cowell discovery, Leona Lewis with Bleeding Love.

Finally back to the AI eliminations, Ryan called out Syesha Mercado and Brooke White. Brooke White was pronounced safe and Syesha Mercado is in the bottom 2. It's all about the fan base, Syesha. Brooke is also being backed by a 'vote for the worst' campaign. That is why the American Idol contest will rarely crown a true 'best'. These contestants are all talented at this point, and I have no doubt that Syesha will have a singing career no matter where she places.

Carly Smithson and Jason Castro were next to find out their fate. Jason was pronounced safe, after saying that he really did not want to sing his song tonight. Carly was kind of robbed, but her fan base has failed her before. Jason Castro has a huge fan base, that are extremely loyal.

Carly then sang Jesus Christ Super Star, I don't know why Syesha didn't get to sing yet (uh-oh, Syesha!)
Oh OK, now Syesha sings One Rock & Roll To Many.

I am glad they have both contestants sing their songs prior to finding out who goes home, rather than the tearful renditions of such songs as Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.

After the break... the actual show is only about 18 minutes long!

Wow! Carly Smithson goes home tonight, and the audience boos! Carly's fan-base has consistently let her down, putting her in the bottom 2 or 3 week after week.

Brooke White should have been eliminated, but Carly Smithson leaves the American Idol competition.

Simon said that his compliment last night was the kiss of death!


For more American Idol

American Idol - Top 6 Perform The Music Of Andrew Lloyd Webber 4/22/08

Top 6 American Idol Finalists Sing The Songs Of Andrew Lloyd Webber
FOX Tuesday 8/7c 4/22/08

Tonight American Idol contestants had to sing songs from the library of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Show tunes, yuck!

Let's get to it!

Starting things off:

Syesha Mercado - "One Rock And Roll To Many"
Syesha secured herself a career on Broadway tonight with her performance. Very nice.

Randy Jackson - "I feel tonight, not only is this your genre, but your best performance so far!"

Paula Abdul - "... you brought the house down"

Simon Cowell - " ... that was very sexy... one of your best performances... this is your area"

Next up is:

Jason Castro - "Memory"
Jason had no idea that this song was from Cats, or that it was popular. Andrew Lloyd Webber was worried for him. Jason did a wonderful job, I was quite pleasantly surprised! It was the perfect song for his voice, I'm so happy for him!

Randy Jackson - "Vocally it was a train wreck"

Paula Abdul - "... wise choice for you to do this song"

Simon Cowell - "it felt to me, and probably to you, like the longest 2 minutes of your life... it was a struggle"

Following Jason Castro was:

Brooke White - "You Must Love Me"
Andrew Lloyd Webber called Brooke a natural born actress. She had to restart her song completely. That might be the end for Brooke, its the second time that she has had to restart a song this season (once playing her piano). She got through it, but it wasn't great. I would have had to run off stage, crying!

Randy Jackson - "For me, this wasn't great..."

Paula Abdul - "... you must never start then stop... you didn't overact"

Simon Cowell - "This is why I love live TV, it was so dramatic in the beginning... I think it stressed you... sounded forced"

Finally:
David Archuleta - "Think Of Me"
Andrew Lloyd Webber gave David A. 2 pieces of advice, "Open your eyes and open your eyes." Thank you, I have been yelling this at David A. for weeks! He tried tonight. David sounded great as usual, I didn't like the song, but whatever.

Randy Jackson -"If you can sing, you can sing anything... this boy is the one to beat!"

Paula Abdul - "perfect"

Simon Cowell - " I thought it was pleasant... one of your weakest performances of the live shows... forgettable"

Next up was:
Carly Smithson- "Jesus Christ Superstar"
Carly S. chose "All I Ask Of You" and Mr. Webber stopped her to change songs. "A girl with all that on her arm (pointing to Carly's tatoo's), can't do a girlie song."
He was right, Carly did a great job with the new song, I think she screwed up the lyrics in the first chorus, but she didn't hesitate.

Randy Jackson - "... not your best... it was good"

Paula Abdul - "... I love what you did in the chorus"

Simon Cowell - "Other than the fact that it got a little bit shout-y in the middle... one of my favorite performances of the night"

Finishing the night was:
David Cook - "The Music Of The Night"
Yuck! This started awful! Simon was wrong, this was the longest 2 minutes of my life. What a boring song. Don't get me wrong, I have David Cook winning, but I do hope for David Archuleta.

Randy Jackson - "...dude that was an amazing vocal performance"

Paula Abdul - "... fantastic"

Simon Cowell - "... you made the most of the song, this is not the side of you that I like"

Tonight it is pretty clear that Brooke White should be the next American Idol contestant to leave. The best vocal performance of the night goes to David Archuleta.

I think the bottom 3 this week will be: Syesha Mercado, Brooke White, Carly Smithson.

Watch Wednesday night for the live elimination on American Idol.

Here are the performances again, for your viewing pleasure!













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