Idol Thoughts: AMERICAN IDOL POLL: Which of the Top 7 Gave the Best Performance? Who's Going Home?

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

AMERICAN IDOL POLL: Which of the Top 7 Gave the Best Performance? Who's Going Home?

Opinion Polls & Market Research

3 comments:

Lisa said...: Hey... you're back!

Just have to say that David Cook continues to blow everyone out of the water. He so perfectly knows how to walk that line between keeping the melody intact but changing a song to make it sound like it was always his.

And his emotion was so sincere and touching that I found myself a bit choked up too.; April 16, 2008 at 4:37 AM
Anonymous said...: Yeah... David Cook made it his own, but I don't think the vocals were very good at all! The beginning was very low & mumbly (if that's a word). I do think he's good at changing things up though. Just not a big fan of his voice.; April 16, 2008 at 5:43 PM
Anonymous said...: This is a bit lengthy, my apologies.

If anyone thought something was a bit screwed up last week when Michael Johns was eliminated then this one surely tops that.

I'll admit I'm a Kristy Lee fan and bit p.o.'d about the results although I'm just pleased that she had a very good run the past few weeks so this isn't a case of sour grapes. This is more about how much 'do we think we can trust American Idol'.

First off, something was not right before the elimination, Brooke seems to have caught on to it too. While Simon and Kristy Lee were speaking their differences, Brooke said to Kristy Lee something like "You don't know what's going on". That would be 'something fishy'.

And yes, something is almost definitely going on.

Not once did Ryan refer to Kristy and Brooke as the 'Bottom Two', instead they were referred to as the "Final Two". Also Ryan never used the term 'lowest number of votes', he only said "The one who'll be back next week" and announced that Brooke would be back.

So why the change in the usual quotes and terminology?

With DialIdol I usually don't put an enormous amount of faith into it due to a rather large 'margin of error' which means they frequently have something backwards. Someone who has a score that's a point or two higher than the lowest ranking does tend to get eliminated - Michael Johns score was 1.44 ahead of Carly last week, but within the margin of error of 2.859 - therefore it's far from foolproof when within the M.O.E..

However, in the case of this weeks results, I find it very hard to believe that DialIdol could as far off as they appear. Kristy Lee is ranked #4 out of 7 contestants with a score of 9.51, compared to the low score of 6.13 for Syesha. Carly and Brooke scored 7.78 and 6.17 respectively. What it amounts to is a scoring differential of 3.34 between Kristy and Syesha, also a difference of 3.30 betwen Kristy and Brooke with Carly ranked between them as well. The M.O.E. is just a tad over 2.8. In addition, they place Kristy Lee being ranked 3rd thru 5th when the M.O.E. is figured in. To put it in perspective, the scoring difference between Kristy Lee and Syesha of 3.34 this week is more than double that of last week between Michael and Carly at 1.44.

At this stage of the season with only seven scores to track, DialIdol really should be more accurate now than at any time previously for this season. Frankly, I believe they were accurate to the point that I don't find it really possible that these scores could be that far off, especially when someone goes from 4th to 7th as Kristy 'appears' to have done. Going from 'safe' and no lower than 5th, to being in the 'bottom 3' (supposedly) to also being eliminated just doesn't seem too believable.

With one exception.

Hours before last weeks elimination of Michael Johns was announced, old Nigel Lythgoe said the results "might surprise a few people". Obviously the AI personel have access to all the results hours before the elimination show begins and do not use any agencies to certify that the results are accurate or 'untainted'.

Taking all this into account, can we really trust the AI personnel to be forthright in the results they deliver to us?

In this particular case, I just simply believe that AI didn't want Kristy Lee to continue so they altered the results, plain and simple. Instead they are intent on having Carly, Syesha and Brooke in the Top 6 - more so with Carly and Syesha. As weeks have gone by Kristy Lee has been gaining momentum with solid performances, while the other girls have slipped significantly. So much to the point that if the trend continued another week, the female 'belters' might all be gone or be well on their way out. This just wouldn't fit into the plans of the AI personnel in charge. If Kristy Lee were to pull off another big week with Andrew Lloyd Webber, while Syesha and/or Carly (if their still there) did a 'big flop', there would be no turning back.

AI may have just stooped to another low. There are always people saying they will never watch the show again because of 'screwy things' going on, and the ratings drops show it. They may have thought they could pull off this shady move, but they may very well find out that's not the case. These awkward results show stunts like with switching people around after they have their groups set may be set up just to distract us.

I'm very happy for Kristy Lee and quite proud of her for doing as well as she did the past few weeks and I'm confident she will get that Country recording deal Nashville that she deserves. If Bucky or Phil can, surely Kristy Lee can (no offense to them).

Ok, I'm dragging on (a lot), but what I'd like to say in closing here is to watch closely when watching AI. Specifically on elimination nights. I don't think this was the first time, nor do I believe it will be the last time they have messed with the results. If this show continues for more than a couple more years, let it continue in a way that we can trust them and know what's going on is for real.

Alright, feel free to attack. I'm out.; April 17, 2008 at 10:18 AM