"Tuesday (January 12) night's "American Idol" season nine kick-off had everything we've come to expect from the series' early audition episodes: Sob stories, delusional wannabes and Alicia Keys covers. Everything, of course, except Paula Abdul.
Producers shrewdly addressed the Paula Issue with the very first audition of the season: A walking Boston stereotype named Janet McNamara whose sole purpose — aside from saying "wicked" and conveniently promoting the "American Idol" video game — was confusing "new" judge Kara DioGuardi with Paula. "See?" the TV show said to its devoted fanbase. "This random girl who can't sing didn't notice Paula was gone. Neither should you."
Well, okay then!
Guest judge PoshBot-2000 (also known as Victoria Beckham) was on hand to play the role of Pop Culture Relic Who Wears Funny Clothes, and she did a fine job of sitting in a chair and blinking. Based on that criteria alone, she's already proven to be a more efficient judge than Paula circa season six. Four points to you, PoshBot-2000!
Overall, as an "Idol" junkie who generally dislikes the heavily-produced audition shows, the "Idol" premiere was a pleasant experience. We met a few contestants who will be fun to root for (I'm looking at you Leah Laurenti, the girl who grew up fifteen minutes away from my childhood home yet somehow lived in "Footloose" because she wasn't allowed to listen to secular music). We saw a lot more of the behind-the-scenes setup in the audition room, and we discovered that Posh Spice had a hard time remembering the lyrics, "I really really really wanna zigazigah." (Seriously. She legit consoled a nervous singer who spaced on the words by saying, "That happened to me all the time." Amazing.)
But since the show is supposed to be all about the contestants, let's take a look at some of the stand-outs — both good and bad — from the Boston auditions."
Read more:
http://newsroom.mtv.com/2010/01/13/american-idol-recap-boston/
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