Idol-Talk: Season 9 Top 2 [& Top 3 Results]

American Idol Season 9: Top 3 Results Show
Airdate: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 [9-10pm]

• Over 47 million votes were cast
• Ryan chats with the Top 3
• Ford Music Video: "Wild One (Real Wild Child)"
• Video: Casey James' hometown visit
• Travis Garland (discovered by Perez Hilton) performs (what was up with the three-way split screen?)
• Go to americanidol.com for details on the season 10 auditions
• Crystal Bowersox's hometown visit
• Lee Dewyze's hometown visit
• Justin Bieber performs "You Smile/Baby"
• Lee Dewyze is in the Top 2
• Crystal Bowersox is also in the Top 2!
• Casey James - Eliminated [Prediction: 1/1] (I finally get a correct prediction after weeks of striking out)
• The show ends on time!

American Idol Season 9: Top 2

Airdate: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 [8-9pm]

Themes: Contestants' Choice (Reprise a previous performances) / Executive Producer's Choice / Winners' Song

After last week's results show, the coin toss took place, and Crystal Bowersox won; she chose to perform second.

1. Lee Dewyze [The Boxer]: There is no surprise here that he chose "The Boxer," what with all the praise he received. I actually was just a tad underwhelmed that first time, but I thought he definitely improved upon it this time around. I may not remember this by the end of the show, but I'm glad to hear his improved voice.
2. Crystal Bowersox [Me and Bobby McGee]: They both have picked the right songs to reprise tonight. "Me and Bobby McGee" was one of her best of the season, and by reprising it, she showed why she deserves to win. The last half when the song picks up is the best part, and she infused it with the energy and passion that was missing from Lee's performance just now. Round 1 goes to Crystal Bowersox.
3. Lee Dewyze [Everybody Hurts]: The producers made a great pick here for Lee, and it was an improvement over Round 1. But I agree with Ellen that just when he was starting to get into it, he pulled back. When he pulled back, it wasn't exciting and I didn't feel a connection. So overall, better than "The Boxer" in some aspects, but not his best, and don't count on the winning song to recover him.
4. Crystal Bowersox [Black Velvet]: She needed a song like this, because she nails it when she has a song where she can put all of her energy into it, rather than the slower ones. I heard her voice off a couple times, but it was so brief, and it didn't matter because this was all about the performance. Round 2 goes to Crystal, once again. She is in it to win it!
5. Lee Dewyze [Beautiful Day]: Wait, his potential winning song is a cover? How original, huh? (sarcasm fully intended). This is a fantastic song, and it fits him, but vocally it was a mess; it was sort of all over the place. The last part was quite a bit better, but I was really disappointed. Basing it just on tonight, Lee struck out.
6. Crystal Bowersox [Up To The Mountain]: I loved this when Kelly Clarkson sang this during the first Idol Gives Back, and Crystal has matched her here. This is the perfect song because it allows her to let her guard down, be vulnerable, and put everything she has into it. And the song actually is a fitting winning song. Plus, I loved seeing her get emotional at the end. Crystal Bowersox just won American Idol!

Favorite Performances: Crystal Bowersox: "Up To The Mountain" / "Black Velvet" / "Me and Bobby McGee"

My Votes: Crystal Bowersox [200 votes]

Winner Prediction: Crystal Bowersox

Runner-Up Prediction: Lee Dewyze

My Season 9 Vote Tracker:

Crystal Bowersox: 735 votes

Lee Dewyze: 65 votes

Siobhan Magnus: 30 votes

Michael Lynche: 15 votes

Total: 845 votes cast during season 9

After the Top 2 sang for the last time for votes, Will Young closed out the show with this year's goodbye song, "Leave Right Now." If you don't know who he is, he won the very first season of the very first Idol competition ever in the entire world (Pop Idol). I wonder what Simon was thinking during that performance?

I have compiled some stats from the course of the entire season. I haven't ever shown them on Idol-Talk, but I gave each performance a score out of 25 (with subsections like vocal ability, song choice, personality, and stage presence). And I have added up the scores for both Crystal and Lee to find out who came out on top based on my scoring, and Crystal received a 97.2%, while Lee has a 94.1%. While that is close, Crystal still has the edge based on overall performances for the entire season. And I have tallied up my favorite performances, and Crystal has 15, with Lee at 10; again, Crystal has the edge. Based on my stats I've compiled, Crystal Bowersox is the clear winner. If that happens in actually remains to be seen, but she deserves it more if you look at the entire season as a whole, and not just Lee's upward momentum these past few weeks. Plus, Crystal slaughtered Lee last night, which definitely says something. I won't be surprised either way on who wins, but Crystal is the true American Idol at this point.

I was shocked to find out that the winners songs are not originals written for the show, but rather covers. I read on mjsbigblog.com that Crystal and Lee were able to choose the songs themselves. And I do have to say that they both picked great songs to complement their styles and talent, but Crystal nailed it completely with her song, while Lee was all over the place. "Up to the Mountain" is such a great song, and it fits in with the tone of what the Idol winning songs usually have.

End Time: 9:00pm - on time

If you want to buy any of the audio or video performances, head on over to TV Watch Online's American Idol on iTunes page. If you don't see this week's links up when viewing that page, they may not be released on iTunes yet. If that is the case, keep checking back.

Tonight, we will finally find out who our American Idol is! At least the two in the running have talent, unlike the current Idol, Kris Allen. Before we get to that, the 2+ hour show will be packed full of guest performances (let's hope the rumor is true that Melissa Etheridge will duet with Crystal), a reunion of the Top 12, a final goodbye to Simon Cowell (Paula Abdul will reportedly be in attendance as part of the farewell ceremony), and some filler (since General Larry Platts had one of the highlights of the season with his audition of "Pants on the Ground," there's no doubt that he will probably reprise that performance). Also, I really hope Idol does a sendoff for music director Ricky Minor as well, since he is leaving Idol to replace Kevin Eubanks on the Tonight Show. It would be really disrespectful if they don't, because he has been so influential on the show; he is the reason the show has a live band instead of the contestants performing to a backtrack recording of the music. And, the final is scheduled to end at 10:07pm; they obviously expanded it by a little bit since their finales haven't been ending on time these past few years, but don't believe this end time. They are obviously going to go over even that expanded time. There's so much to pack into a finale show running over two hours; will we even have time to announce the winner? See ya then...

Idol-Talk: Season 9 Top 3 [& Top 4 Results]

American Idol Season 9: Top 4 Results Show
Airdate: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 [9-10pm]

• 37 million votes were cast [wow! they actually went up quite a bit]
• Fantasia performs "Bittersweet"
• Ford Music Video: "Put the Message in the Box"
• Video: Top 3 homecoming - A look back over the years
• Casey James - Top 3
• Daughtry performs "September"
• Lee Dewyze - Top 3
• Bon Jovi performs "Superman Tonight"
• Crystal Bowersox - Top 3
• Michael Lynche - Eliminated [Prediction: 0/1]
• The show ends about 30 seconds before scheduled end time. Wow!

American Idol Season 9: Top 3

Airdate: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 [8-9pm]

Themes: Contestants' Choice / Judges' Choice

1. Casey James [It's Alright With Me]: We're looking tonight to see who is good enough for the finale, and this was just "alright." There wasn't anything necessarily wrong with his voice, but it sounded so generic and not unique. And he is once again completely stiff while he is playing his guitar, which is so off-putting.
2. Crystal Bowersox [Come To My Window]: I am so happy that she sang a Melissa Etheridge song, because they are both so unique and still similar in a way. It wasn't as bad as what the judges said (in terms of arrangement). Once the song picked up, her voice was as great as always. I'm sure this will be a great studio recording.
3. Lee Dewyze [Lynyrd Skynyrd's Simple Man]: This is a great Lynyrd Skynyrd song, and Lee pulled off the best performance of this first round. The style meshed perfectly with Lee's voice. He was completely with the song at all times, and you could tell he enjoyed that one. I loved the gravel in his voice. Let's see if he can keep it up later in the night.
4. Casey James [John Mayer's Daughters]: Once again, he didn't deliver. The first song was forgettable, and this was extremely boring; it almost put me to sleep. I hope the judges' positive comments here cause his fans to think he's safe, resulting in his long-awaited eliminated, because he didn't perform to win tonight.
5. Crystal Bowersox [Maybe I'm Amazed]: Ellen chose the perfect song for Crystal to push herself even further with what she can do with her voice. She didn't hold back at all (which caused some off notes), but she did what she needed to do to make it to next week.
6. Lee Dewyze [Hallelujah]: It was so obvious that Simon chose this song to purposefully create a moment for Lee. And the producers pumped that up even more with that dramatic entrance of the background singers to the stage. Now, while overall it was amazing, you can't overlook his vocals, which were off quite a bit. They tried to force him to create a moment, but it wasn't quite there yet.

Favorite Performances: Crystal Bowersox's "Maybe I'm Amazed;" Lee Dewyze's "Simple Man"

My Votes: Crystal Bowersox [100 votes]

Eliminated Prediction: Casey James

Top 2 Prediction: Crystal Bowersox / Lee Dewyze

My Season 9 Vote Tracker:

Crystal Bowersox: 534 votes

Lee Dewyze: 65 votes

Siobhan Magnus: 30 votes

Michael Lynche: 15 votes

Total: 645 votes cast so far this season

I don't really feel like I have to comment on what's going to happen tonight, because it seems pretty obvious that it will be a Crystal/Lee Finale next week. But, this is American Idol after all, so anything could happen, even at the Top 3 (remember Melinda Doolittle?). But if Casey were to somehow squeeze his way into the Top 2, then it's only going to make it oh-so-easy to crown the other contestant as the winner. As I've said in my performance comments above, it was pretty obvious both the producers and the judges are pimping Lee to win at this point, mainly evident by Simon's choice of "Hallelujah" for him. But just because they are pushing their favorite down our throats doesn't mean that person will win; that push could cause a backlash like it did with David Archuleta in season 7. At this point, if both Crystal and Lee make it to the finale, in a way I won't mind either one winning, but I'm still going to do whatever I can to make sure Crystal wins.

Okay, I guess I had more to say than I thought...

End Time: 9:00 - on time

If you want to buy any of the audio or video performances, head on over to TV Watch Online's American Idol on iTunes page. If you don't see this week's links up when viewing that page, they may not have been released on iTunes yet. If that is the case, keep checking back.

Tonight, Justin Bieber will perform. I might leave the room for that (but to his credit, he can actually sing unlike all the Disney stars today). Plus, after about four long months, we will finally find out which two contestants (or artists, to flash back to Jamie Foxx last week) will sing for the title of American Idol at the Nokia L.A. Live next Tuesday. See ya then...

PS-Adam Lambert recently tweeted that he has not been invited to perform at the Idol finale. I think we need to try to change that; I'm sure they've booked some guest performers that aren't as good as Adam. Come on, Glambert fans, let's force the Idol producers to book him next Wednesday night.

Remembering Heroes...

On May 14, NBC announced that Heroes has been cancelled and will not return for a fifth season, meaning that the season 4 finale on February 8 was the Series Finale. Now that we finally know the fate of the show, I want to hear your thoughts. Send me an e-mail with your favorite moments/scenes, favorite season, favorite character(s), favorite superpower, favorite storyline, etc. from the four-season run, and your thoughts on the end of the show (you don't need to choose all of these categories, just the ones you want). If you e-mail me with your favorites, I will post them on a new 'Remembering Heroes...' page. If you choose to remain anonymous, please say so in the e-mail, otherwise your name will be posted as well.

Idol-Talk: Season 9 Top 4 [& Top 5 Results]

American Idol Season 9: Top 5 Results Show
Airdate: Wednesday, May 5, 2010 [9-10pm]

• Over 32 million votes were cast [they really shouldn't be announcing this every week anymore, because you may notice that the amount keeps going down every week]
• The Top 5 perform a Sinatra Medley (was it live for once?)
• The following week's theme will be Songs of the Cinema, with mentor Jamie Foxx.
• Ford Music Video: "1, 2, 3, 4"
• Video: what Tuesday's were like for the contestants before the show and now.
• Lee Dewyze - Safe
• Lady Gaga performs "Alejandro" with a "Bad Romance" intro.
• Video: The Top 5 with Harry Connick Jr.
• Harry Connick Jr. performs "And I Love Her"
• Harry and the Top 5 perform a medley of his songs.
• Group 1 consists of Crystal Bowersox and Casey James; Group 2 has Michael Lynche and Aaron Kelly. Ryan Seacrest asks if Lee wants to choose the group with the highest group to join; Lee refuses.
• Bottom 2: Michael Lynche / Aaron Kelly
• Aaron Kelly - Eliminated [Prediction: 0/1]
• The show ends on time.

American Idol Season 9: Top 4

Airdate: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 [8-9pm]

Theme: Songs of the Cinema

Jamie Foxx is now in our Hall of Fame as one of the best mentors the show has had this season (along with Adam Lambert, and even Harry Connick Jr.). He didn't hold anything back, giving the final 4 completely honest, straightforward comments and criticisms. He even had t-shirts with the words 'contestant' and 'artist' on them, saying to the finalists that after their time with him, he would give them a shirt with one of those words on them depending on what he thought they were. They all received the 'artist' shirt except Michael Lynche. After hearing the performances, I would say that Casey and Mike should switch shirts.

On one final note before my performance comments, I have to say that Ellen DeGeneres was on a role last night with her one-liners; I especially love her take-off on Casey and Mike's duet song title: "As a matter of fact, I have loved a woman." You gotta love Ellen!

1. Lee Dewyze [Kiss From A Rose]: Looking over the song list earlier in the week, I thought he could do well with this song. Now that he has performed it, I have to say I was a little let down. There were some pitch problems, especially in the first half. The second half was better. This is unfortunate, since he's been on an upward climb lately. But I have a feeling that the studio recording of this will turn out to be a lot better.
2. Michael Lynche [Will You Be There, from Free Willy]: I just love this song, and I think Mike did well with it for the most part. I don't think there was anything wrong with his voice. My problem was the arrangement; it seemed like he only was able to skin the surface and didn't dig deeper into the meat of the song.
3. Lee Dewyze & Crystal Bowersox [Falling Slowly]: With this being a slower song, I was worried about them singing this song. But that was all for naught, because both Lee and Crystal nailed it, and provided possibly the best performance of the season. They are a perfect musical duo. I wanna hear it again!
4. Casey James [Mrs. Robinson]: I wouldn't want to follow Lee and Crystal, so Casey isn't in a good position. Casey's more of a country rocker, so I was confused by this choice at such a crucial time in the competition. It was almost too laid back to make any impact on voters' minds.
5. Crystal Bowersox [I'm Alright]: Like Falling Slowly, this is another great song. And I loved that she did change the arrangement enough to make it her own. Those who helped her with the arrangement should be applauded. After a couple of weak performances these past two weeks, she is back on top and in it to win it once again.
6. Casey James & Michael Lynche [Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman]: I think Lee and Crystal's duet should have gotten the pimp spot. But having said that, Casey and Michael pulled off a great end to the night. It was obvious that Mike chose this song, since he picks these types of songs. And it was Mike who carried the song, because Casey drug it down, especially at the start, such as when his voice broke.

Favorite Performances: Lee Dewyze & Crystal Bowersox (duet) / Crystal Bowersox

My Vote(s): Crystal Bowersox [80 votes]

Bottom 2 Prediction: Michael Lynche / Casey James

Elimination Prediction: Casey James

My Season 9 Vote Tracker:

Crystal Bowersox: 435 votes

Lee Dewyze: 65 votes

Siobhan Magnus: 30 votes

Michael Lynche: 15 votes

Total: 545 votes cast so far this season

While I would like to say with ease that it is definitely Casey James going home tonight, I can't say that definitively. If he goes, it will be a combination of his weak performance, the splitting of the votes with Lee Dewyze, and the fact that Mike isn't splitting votes with anyone. On the other hand, if Mike goes, it will be because he performed near the beginning (making him forgettable), and Casey got a lot of attention with all the judge's jokes surrounding his song choice and Kara DioGuardi. While it seems obvious that those two will be the Bottom 2, I could see Lee Dewyze ending up in the bottom group as well. He performed first and gave a so-so performance, but I believe his duet with Crystal Bowersox saved him. Speaking of Crystal: she will be safe and will not even make the Bottom 2. After two back-to-back underwhelming performances, she finally came back on top this week and she will be rewarded for doing so.

End Time: 8:59pm - around 30 seconds BEFORE the show was scheduled to end.

If you want to buy any of the audio or video performances,, head on over to TV Watch Online's American Idol on iTunes page. If you don't see this week's links up when viewing that page, they may not be released on iTunes yet. If that is the case, keep checking back.

Tonight, we will have guest performances by Daughtry, Bon Jovi, and Fantasia. I can't wait to see Daughtry, and it'll be great to see Fantasia back on the Idol stage (remember Simon's reaction after her previous guest performances a few years ago?), and one more contestant (or artist) will be eliminated, leaving us with the Top 3 who will be going on their hometown visits. See ya then...

Idol-Talk: Season 9 Top 5 [& Top 6 Results]

American Idol Season 9: Top 6 Results Show
Airdate: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 [9-10pm]

• 33 million votes were cast
• Rascal Flatts performs "Unstoppable"
• Behind the scenes of the Ford music video
• Ford music video: "Believe"
• Shrek Forever After: The top 6 step into the recording booth and see what it's like to record voices for an animated movie, then see a screening of the final Shrek installment.
• The following week's theme will be Songs of Sinatra with Harry Connick Jr. as mentor.
• Group 1 consists of Siobhan Magnus and Lee Dewyze; Group 2 includes Aaron Kelly and Crystal Bowersox; and Group 3 has Michael Lynche and Casey James. Ryan Seacrest moves Siobhan over to group 3 to make up the bottom 3.
• Bottom 3: Michael Lynche / Casey James / Siobhan Magnus.
• Carrie Underwood introduces Sons of Sylvia, who perform "Love Left to Lose"
• Lady Antebellum performs "Need You Now"
• Shakira and Rascal Flatts perform "Gypsy"
• Michael Lynche is safe.
• And so is Casey James.
• Siobhan Magnus - Eliminated [Prediction: 0/1]

American Idol Season 9: Top 5

Airdate: Tuesday, May 4, 2010 [8-9pm]

Theme: Songs of Sinatra

Besides being the mentor and arranging the songs for the contestants this week, Harry Connick Jr. also played this piano on stage during each of the Sinatra performances. And speaking of Sinatra, his daughters were in the audience and gave Simon, a huge Sinatra fan, a gift: one of Sinatra's monogrammed hankies.

1. Aaron Kelly [Fly Me To The Moon]: Kara and Simon are right on the mark: he wasn't that believable with doing Sinatra justice. I found most of the song to be boring, quite frankly. The vocals may have been good, but there was nothing exciting. It was like a high schooler was trying to play Sinatra in a school play.
2. Casey James [Blue Skies]: We may be in for a very boring night. Casey, like Aaron, was boring as well; I just wanted it to be over with. Before Kara talked about his vibrato, I was thinking the same exact thing; his vibrato was annoying (That's why I found season 5er Elliott Yamin to be annoying). Overall - not good at all.
3. Crystal Bowersox [Summer Wind]: This is the third performance in a row that was underwhelming. After her weaker song last week, I expected her to improve this week, but unfortunately she didn't. The first half was really slow; fortunately, the ending picked up and her voice got stronger. Because of this, she is vulnerable this week; I really hope she's safe.
4. Michael Lynche [The Way You Look Tonight]: Finally, we have a worthy performance. His voice was excellent from start to finish, letting loose at the end with that powerful note held out. He needed this this week, because he and Casey were in danger of leaving (he most likely saved himself from being in the bottom 2). Overall, his voice meshed really well with this song and theme.
5. Lee Dewyze [That's Life]: For the final spot of the night, he definitely deserved the pimp spot. He was second best only to Mike. Even though this was a Sinatra theme, I still heard the rock in him come out. His voice, for the most part, sounded extremely strong.

Favorite Performances: Michael Lynche / Lee Dewyze

My Vote(s): Crystal Bowersox [70 votes]

Bottom 2 Predictions: Aaron Kelly / Casey James (add in Crystal Bowersox if it's still a bottom 3)

Elimination Prediction: Casey James

My Season 9 Vote Tracker:

Crystal Bowesox: 355 votes

Lee Dewyze: 65 votes

Siobhan Magnus: 30 votes

Michael Lynche: 15 votes

Total: 465 votes cast so far this season

My initial gut instinct right after the show ended was to predict that Casey James would leave. And after thinking about it some more the next day, I still stand by that prediction. Even though Aaron Kelly could leave as well, Casey is most likely splitting votes with Lee Dewyze, which would cause Casey to leave before Lee.

Now, I'm not sure if there will still be a bottom 3 this week or if it will only be a bottom 2 (with five left, it usually is just two, I believe), but the other spot (besides Casey) could go to either Aaron or Crystal Bowersox. Even though I will put Aaron in that other spot, I wouldn't be surprised at all if Crystal is in the bottom group (I have a feeling that could very well happen). With two back-to-back performances by Crystal that have been weak, she could be in trouble tonight (that is why I voted only for her and voted so much). Even if she is in the bottom, I don't think she will leave.

End Time: 9:01pm - One minute past scheduled end time.

If you want to buy any of the audio or video performances, head on over to TV Watch Online's American Idol on iTunes page. If you don't see this week's links up when viewing that page, they may not be released on iTunes yet. If that is the case, keep checking back.

Tonight, the one and only Lady Gaga will perform (pre-taped). I read that it took about an hour to put together the set; I can't wait to see her perform. The only guest performer I've been this excited to see this season was Adam Lambert. Also, one contestant will be eliminated and we will be left with our final four. See ya then...