Top 24 Announced / The Chair Episode (2/13/08)

There is a weird opening with Ryan & Hayden Christensen (promoting his new movie Jumper). Otherwise the drill is the same: judges deliberate. Room full of nervous contestants. All day they go one by one up the elevator ride and take the long walk to sit in front of the judges and find out their fate. Turns out the Spoiler list was right on the ball, but it's fun to see everyone's reactions. And I'm really, really hoping we finally get to hear some singing from the 4 semifinal guys yet to be shown!!

First are several no's: Ronald Hodge, Nina Shaw, Mycale G., and Lisa Aukerman. (I remember Nina but not the others.)

Carly Smithson - she's shown singing "I'm Every Woman" from her initial audition and "I Need You" from Hollywood week (a new clip, one of the few we get tonight and it's of someone already being pushed down our throats...). She is, of course, through unanimously.

David Cook also advances. Outside, leaving, he says to friends or family "Now I don't have to go get a job!" Hee.

Amanda advances.

There are a couple of short singing clips and then some more no's: Brandon Green, Amanda Hawkins, and Buck Smith.

David Archuleta is shown singing "Heaven" again and advances, of course.

Kristy Lee Cook - she got a no on Day 1 of Hollywood, & then repeated her initial audition song "Amazing Grace." She advances.

Brooke says she messed up during her song ("Beautiful") while playing keyboard on Day 1 and is very nervous, but she advances.

Danny is preening a bit in the elevator (LOVE him!). We get a longer clip of his Hollywood performance of "When I Need You," which is still awesome. Of course he advances.

Jason Castro advances.
Luke Menard advances.
Alexandrea advances.

And I am so MAD at this show!! That's it for Jason and Luke - we see them in the chair, we're told they're in the Top 24. That's it!!! No singing whatsoever. Jason was even featured in a promo, playing guitar... but nothing, nada, zip. These guys are talented, y'all!! Sigh. Ok, sometime between now & Monday (when these guys will be up for votes) I'll post video links, assuming they're still available....

Ok, moving on....

Ramiele has part of her Hollywood clip shown again and she advances. She's so adorable!

More no's: Shaun Barrowes, Lorena Pinot (looking gorgeous), farmer Drew P ("well, one good thing about this, I won't miss turkey season!" bwah!), and Natashia.

Michael Johns is shown singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" yet again. How many times have we seen this, now? Yes, it's good. As are, I'm sure, Jason's and Luke's & all the other performances we haven't seen from people who make the Top 24. He's needlessly very nervous as he obviously advances.

Syesha gets a bit of her HW clip repeated and advances.

Robbie gets a longer clip of his "Everything I Do" in HW. He gets a word wrong but the vocal is great. Simon at first said they weren't unanimous about the decision but then I think he rescinded it at said they really were. Of all the fake-outs that was the only one that confused *me*! ;-)

Garrett Haley (1st time we've seen him) just gets a quick yes.
Kady is through.
Chikezie
Amy Davis
Alaina W.
and Jason Yeager (also hasn't been seen before) - are all through.

Asia'h is up; Paula mentions her 1st audition & immediately we're shown part of her HW clip again (um, ok, not great editing there). She advances.

David Hernandez gets some of his HW clip again as well. He's told the decision is not unanimous, but Randy says they "fought hard" for him and he is through. Simon says he was the dissenter and that David will have to work a lot hard to have "even a remote chance of winning." He is very emotional & respectfully says he will.

It's down to 3 guys and Josiah heads up the elevator. So they kept the suspense almost the whole day, but not quite; I figured he'd be one of the last 2 "fighting" for the last spot. Since he's not, it's obvious he won't advance. He admits his last performance wasn't good & that he'd been overconfident; still, he thinks he'll be in the Top 24. When told he isn't he's unsurprisingly emotional but holds it together better than I expected. The worst was when Ryan kept talking to him afterward asking stupid questions like "how will you go on?", & of course he didn't have any family there to console him or anything. Several other contestants were shown later consoling & encouraging him, which was nice & all, but he really just wanted to get away (understandably). I'm still frustrated the stupid show has wasted so much of my time on him. I do like his music (it's available for purchase from his MySpace page), but given what I've seen of his personality I don't have any interest in following his career or anything, at least not at this point. I know some people will, so good for him. But... sooooooo much time on all the Josiah drama, and there are 4 GUYS IN THE TOP 24 WE HAVEN'T EVEN HEARD SING YET!!!!!!!!!!!!! Grr.

Ok, the last 2 guys are Kyle Ensley (aspiring politician) and Colton Berry (unseen until last night), both teens. We get a new clip of Colton singing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" in HW and Ryan says that his voice is "professional and polished." I'm not sure I'd go that far, but it is nice. We get more of Kyle's "You Raise Me Up," which was his best that we've seen, and the description says his "style is uplifting." Apparently neither decision was unanimous, but Colton advances, while Kyle does not. Kyle takes it very well, saying he really didn't expect to get as far as he did. Now the big surprise: *Simon* is the one who wanted him in the Top 24!! We see an earlier clip of Simon saying "There are a lot of people who will like you; I wish I had what you have." (!!) He really is the new & improved Simon this year! So he tells Kyle that he really thinks there's something special about him, he's likable and talented, etc. Paula tells him to come back & try again (wait, I thought if they made Top 50 they were forever ineligible to come back? She also tells Cardin the same thing later!). Colton is nice also & says he really wanted Kyle there "with" him.

Lastly we have Cardin and JoAnn. I'm not sure what Cardin was singing in the HW clip we see, but it wasn't nearly as good as the other 2 times we've seen her (though she's still gorgeous!). We get a new clip of JoAnn from HW, singing "When I Need You," and it is excellent. She said she "re-fell in love with singing" this week after having some discouraging experiences (due to her size) in the industry previously. Anyway, JoAnn advances, and Cardin is sent home. They are very sweet to each other, especially Cardin (I so love her!!), who says "I'm so proud of you" and holds JoAnn's hand as they walk away to go back downstairs. Paula comments about how hard this part is and Simon agrees (again, strange but nice), even going so far as to say (after they've walked away) "This is the part where I change my mind."

Lastly we get little blurbs of a few more being cut, though Colton Swon is the only one I recognize that we hadn't seen yet tonight. There were 9 not shown at all of the 26 who got cut.

So that's our Top 24. They do the usual goofy dancing intros at the end and we're all psyched for next week. Because then, we might actually get to hear some of these people SING!! ;-)