Wave goodbye to Sligh

I found it pretty hard to get at all enthusiastic about this weeks Idol. When the standout performances are delivered by Gina and Phil, then you KNOW something’s just not right! The theme was “No Doubt songs, and artists that inspire Gwen Stefani”. Talk about contrived! :P I’m guessing that the No Doubt back catalogue alone wasn’t enough to sustain an entire show. But with themes as vague and malleable as this, it makes you wonder why they even bother having them at all at this stage.

The original reason behind the themes (before they started trawling in musical guests each week) was that it gave the show a bit of diversity and we got to see how the contestants could hold up when challenged with different musical genres. But lately they have found a way to make sure that most of the Idols never have to leave their comfort zone. As a result, you get similar performances from them, week after week. I’m all for artists putting their own spin on classic tracks, but when they doggedly refuse to try something different, then it smacks of laziness and they come across as a one trick pony. I’m betting the producers of the show are mostly to blame for this, but whatever the case, you end up with a show without any real surprises.

Besides the aforementioned Phil and Gina, the rest of the contestants were bland and uninteresting this week. Chris S’s performance was a disaster, and I was thrilled he was finally shunted off to hell, where he belongs. But Sanjaya (whos performance was one of the most uncomfortable couple of I’ve ever been witness to) appeared to sail through once again. Hes yet to even grace the bottom three! Its just so darn perplexing, what DO the American public see in him? >:(

Next week we will be subject to the annual “Big Band / Tony Bennet” theme. I’m convinced that Bennet has some SERIOUS dirt on Cowel :P Theres just no other way to explain his frequency of appearances on the show. I like “Big Band” alright, but hows about we get the likes of Michael Buble (who even has an upcoming album to promote!), instead of someone they have to defrost and defibrillate before each performance ;)