Frankie Valli Still Going Strong At 79

Frankie Valli earlier in his career.

Frankie Valli was born Francesco Stephen Castelluccio on May 3, 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. The 79 year-old singer appeared on American Idol singing his classic hits Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You and Grease in the Season 12 American Idol finale.

Frankie Valli shown with Curtis Finch, Burnell Taylor and Lazaro Arbos on the stage during the Season 12 finale for American Idol.

Valli was enticed to sing after seeing Frank Sinatra in concert at the Paramount Theater in New York City. He appeared with various groups, but his main claim to fame came during his time singing with the Four Seasons. The group had monster hits like Sherry, Walk Like A Man, Big Girls Don’t Cry, which all went to No.1 on the Billboard charts in 1962 and 1963. Another 1963 hit Candy Girl peaked at No.3. Dawn (Go Away) would also climb to No.3.

His first hit as a soloist was Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You, which reached the No.1 spot on the Billboard charts. My Eyes Adored You went to No.1 in 1974, then he had his last No.1 solo song with Grease.

An interesting note of trivia is that the Four Seasons were named after a New Jersey bowling alley.

When Valli recorded solo albums he sang in his regular voice, not the falsetto he used with the Four Seasons. Valli sounded good whether singing in falsetto or regular voice.

The Four Seasons and Valli weren’t affected by the British invasion, as they didn’t alter their sound to fit in with the Beatles craze.

The late 70′s would see Valli battle otosclerosis, which causes loss of hearing. He would have to sing from memory during this time and but would regain his hearing in 1980.

He would record his first solo album in 27 years in 2007 and is still active today 62 years after he first became an active singer.

A crowning achievement for Valli and Four Seasons was their induction, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.

These are some 30 second clips of the Four Seasons and Frankie Valli hits:

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/frankie-valli-mn0000794449/songs

Four Seasons singing Working My Way Back To You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pI1BgbYIPk

Four Seasons singing a medley of Dawn, Rag Doll and Bye Bye Baby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmFFsBCHLB0

Ryan Seacrest who is usually shorter than most of the singers on American Idol had to be happy, to stand next to the diminutive Frankie Valli who is five foot five, so Seacrest towered over him at five foot eight.

It is great to know that 79 year-old Valli is still active, with no signs of retiring anytime soon.

American Idol: America Got It Right With Choice of Candice Glover

Candice Glover is the new American Idol of Season 12.

It has been evident since the Final 10 were chosen by judges, that Candice Glover was the best singer among those singers in the Final 10.

American Idol fans confirmed that she was the best, by choosing her as the new American Idol for Season 12. The only surprise would have been if Candice had not won. Kree Harrison finished second and Angie Miller was third in Season 12. I look for Kree and Angie to have successful careers, but Candice should have her first album released long before either of them, since her album should be in stores for months, before Kree and Angie release their albums.

The producers are smart to release the first album of Candice much sooner than usual. Most albums by the current American Idol are not released till November, so the summer release will let fans of Candice have her music, in their MP3 players and phones sooner rather than later, plus many albums should be sold on the American Idol tour this summer.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=frankie+valli+on+american+idol+finale&view=detail&mid=DE2CA8D5E78046F9CAD9DE2CA8D5E78046F9CAD9&first=0&FORM=NVPFVR.

There were many guest artists on the finale, but none of them came close to matching Frankie Valli and him singing with the five guys on I Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You and Grease. Valli commanded the stage like giants of entertainment do when they enter the spotlight. Valli turned 79 earlier this month and was born a year before Elvis Presley. Valli has been singing since 17, which was 62 years ago.

Aretha Franklin also sang but her singing didn’t have the impact of Valli, since she was singing from New York, but she sang some of her biggest hits, which were received well by the audience.

It was great to see Candice become the first girl  to win American Idol since Jordin Sparks won in Season 6.

Randy Jackson said his goodbyes to fans of American Idol last night. He is the only one of ten judges to remain with the show the first twelve seasons. Latest rumors say that the other three Idol judges could be leaving too, but it could be several months, before any changes to the judging panel will be announced. There are even some reports that the show could return to a three judge format.

It is too early for ratings results for the finale, but it is almost a foregone conclusion that the ratings will be the lowest for any finale in the 12 year history of the show.

The Voice Season 4 will be ending soon, then Season 5 of The Voice will return in the fall along with Season 3 of X-Factor, so three music competitions will end before American Idol returns in January.

 

 

 

 

American Idol: Candice Glover Should Be Next American Idol

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/candice-glover-performs-i-who-have-nothing/17womoku7

It will be complete shock if Candice Glover isn’t crowned as the next American Idol. The above video escalated Candice to a whole new level of excellence. Kree Harrison is a great singer, that should have a long and successful career, but she is not the singer that Candice is.

Her rendition of I Who Have Nothing the Ben E. King classic showed that she is the best singer on American Idol this season. However, her chances of winning depend on how her voting base voted last night.

American Idol needs a win by Candice, since she is a powerhouse singer, that should sell millions of records and draw thousands to her concerts. Kree may sell a lot of albums, but she will never reach the star power of Candice, who delivers the big moments in her songs, that the Idol judges are looking for.

There are rumors that Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey will not return as judges, while Randy Jackson has already announced he won’t be returning for Season 13.

Simon Fuller: Creator of American Idol

Simon Fuller the creator of American Idol was criticized last night, for the songs he chose for Candace and Kree to sing last night. Randy Jackson disliked his song choices and Ryan Seacrest interjected, that he only said that since he would be leaving the show after tonight’s finale.

Randy was wrong to even mention song choices, since Candice and Kree only sang the songs and had no part in selecting them. Why criticize the man who created the American Idol juggernaut and paid Jackson millions of dollars since the first show?

We can expect many changes in American Idol in Season 13. Another year of lower ratings demands that changes be made.

There is way too much emphasis on the celebrity of the judges, when the focus should be entirely on the contestants. Paying Mariah Carey $18 million, Nicki Minaj $12 million and Keith Urban $5 million was not able to attract viewers in larger numbers and in fact this season had the lowest ratings in the history of the show.

There are already rumors that Jennifer Lopez may return as a judge in January, but can’t see the producers signing another high salary celebrity.

I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the previous winners join the judge panel, who wouldn’t have the clout to demand huge salaries, plus they would understand better, what the contestants are experiencing during the life of the show.

Former American Idol contestants currently have albums in the Billboard 200. The Voice may be attracting more viewers, but their winners are not selling albums and downloads like winners or also-rans from American Idol. That makes American Idol the king of the singing competitions, till the other shows start producing singers that sell albums in the millions.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/idolchatter/2013/05/15/american-idol-sales-finale-week/2164287/

American Idol: Angie Miller Goes Home, All Four Judges Reportedly To Be Fired For Season 13

Angie Miller went home on American Idol leaving Candice Glover and Kree Harrison to compete on the last performance show next Wednesday for the coveted title of American Idol.

 

It was an almost foregone conclusion for me at least, that Candice Glover and Angie Miller would be the last two standing on American Idol but the voters chose Kree Harrison to face Candice in the last performance show next Wednesday night.

There was no doubt that Kree is a good singer, but to me she was not a singer of the caliber of Angie Miller. I don’t think Kree can connect with an audience nearly as well, as Candice who clearly has to be the favorite next week, but even she is not a sure winner, unless her supporters take time to vote her the next American Idol next Thursday night.

All Four Judges Could Be Fired

The latest reports circulating in the media are saying that all four judges will be fired, before the start of Season 13 next January.

In fact, Randy Jackson announced he is leaving the show in a Thursday statement. It would have been no surprise if Nicki Minaj or Mariah Carey had been fired or both, since their feud was a distraction during Season 12. Nicki Minaj telling Mariah to “simmer down sir” was a prime example of their dislike for each other.

Mariah has fired Randy as her manager, so that may have been a cause of a reported dustup between the two.

However, doubt many observers thought that all four judges would be fired. I thought Keith Urban did a good enough job to be retained for another season.

Even executive producer Nigel Lythgoe is reportedly in line to be fired. Ryan Seacrest could be the only familiar face to return next season.

The days of the high priced divas may be over for American Idol, after paying Mariah $18 million and Nicki $12 million, for this season.

Worst of all the May sweeps ratings determine the prices that sponsors are  charged and with only 11.11 million tuning in last Wednesday night the show won’t have the money to pay the high salaries in Season 13. The 11.11 million viewers were the fewest viewers watching American Idol this season.

Season 6 ratings averaged around 30 million, so that is an indication of how far the ratings have tumbled since Jordin Sparks was the last woman, that was voted the winner of American Idol six years ago.

We should hear from American Idol management in the coming months, if these latest rumors are true. The show really has no choice, but to make changes in light of the extremely low ratings. There is almost no chance of the show being cancelled, since it is one of the top money-making shows on television.

So if you watch American Idol next week soak in the atmosphere, because it is almost a sure bet, that there will be major changes in Season 13.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/american-idol-producers-set-fire-judges-report-article-1.1339251

 

 

Duck Dynasty: Is This The Way To Run A Business?

Kay, Phillip, Willie, Si, Jase and Korie Robertson stars of Duck Dynasty.

 

The Season 3 finale of Duck Dynasty, which featured their trip to Hawaii attracted an amazing 9.6 million viewers. It was the most watched program in the history of the A&E cable network. An even bigger shock was that it had a higher rating than American Idol in the key 18-49 demographic.

When a program about a family making duck calls has a higher rating, than the ratings blockbuster American Idol there has to be some real concern right now by American Idol producers.

Phil Robertson who started the Duck Commander business of making duck calls, that captured the same sound as actual ducks was starting quarterback at Louisiana Tech in Ruston, Louisiana. The second string quarterback was a guy named Terry Bradshaw, who went on to fame as the quarterback, of the Pittsburgh Steelers and would win Super Bowls for the Steelers. Robertson said Terry went after the bucks, while he went after the ducks, but Phil went after the bucks too and is worth $5 million today.

His wife Kay is also worth $5 million according to Celebrity Net Worth website, but since all the wives are shown with the same worth as their husbands among the Robertson sons it could mean they are both worth the same $5 million and not $10 million total.

The website lists the wives with the same worth, so will just quote the worth of the sons.

Alan Robertson is the oldest of the Robertson sons and can be easily identified since he is the unbearded Robertson and doesn’t seem to belong with the others.

 

Oldest son Alan Robertson has never been seen on the show to my knowledge and is a senior pastor of a West Monroe, Louisiana church. His net worth is $3 million, so he still shares in the wealth with the rest of the family.

Willie is the CEO of the company and is worth $10 million, while his brother Jase is worth $4 million and younger brother Jeptha is worth $8 million.

Their Uncle Si is worth $2 million and although he is married don’t think his wife has ever been shown.

The duck call company Duck Commander is based in West Monroe, Louisiana where we lived in 1974 and 1975 before moving across the Ouachita River to Monroe, while working for the local Monroe Morning World newspaper.

 

Phil Chose Right Son For CEO

Phil was smart to designate Willie as CEO, since he is the only son that seems to have a modicum of ability to run the company. His brother Jase  and uncle Si are apt to leave work without notice, to go duck hunting or do whatever they want, with no regard for how it affects the business.

One of the programs this morning showed Willie trying to get the brothers and other workers to wear uniforms. They all decided to wear the uniforms, except Jase who refused to wear the new uniforms and rallied the others to go on strike. So they left the room where they make duck calls, to go outside and made signs to picket Duck Commander.

Meanwhile Kay Robertson, who is selling boudin from a truck passes by and puts a stop to the nonsense, by serving the brothers and co-workers boudin and managed to convince the strikers to leave the picket line and return to work.

 

Si Wakes Up In The Woods

On another program this morning Si and other workers had a hankering for donuts and descended on the donut shop and proceeded to have a contest to see who could eat the most donuts. Si won the contest and used his winnings to buy some tickets for a drawing for a camper.

By the time they returned to work Si later found out he had won the drawing, when the camper was delivered to Duck Commander headquarters. Si decided to cook something in his new camper and later fell asleep in the camper. The other workers were not happy campers, when Si was sleeping and they needed him to make reeds for the duck calls.

So Jase hooked up the camper to a truck and hauled the camper with Si sleeping on the bed to the woods. They left Si sleeping in the camper and drove off. It was a funny sight to see Si open the camper door and find out he was in the middle of nowhere in the woods.

 

Willie Gets No Respect

Willie gets absolutely no respect from his brothers and their co-workers. Willie is so serious about getting the work done, while the brothers would rather goof off, than actually make any duck calls. Work comes to a standstill often, when the guys are not in the mood to work.

It is a miracle any work is ever done in the duck call shop, with this group of characters. They are sometimes more intent on exacting revenge on Willie for his latest show of force, to increase their productivity.

Willie has a camera installed in the duck call room, so he can witness for himself how little work is being done. Jase, who is not happy with this development has one of the other workers steal the monitor for the camera out of Willie’s office, then give Willie a taste of his own medicine. The guys are watching Willie line up his shot in his office, with golf putter and then Jase says something over the speaker about Willie needed to adjust his grip. Willie puts away his putting green and golf club and goes to duck call room to demand the monitor is returned.

Jase and Willie argue about the camera being in the duck call room, then work out a compromise and Willie is given his monitor back.

Willie has a quandary in that he can’t fire family members, so he has to tolerate their antics in the duck call room. If any of these guys were working for another company they would have been fired years ago, but they have the job security of working for the family business.

This is no way to run a business, but their business is picking up since the show has become so popular. These guys especially Jase and Si may be a train wreck, but they are keeping millions of us entertained.

Latest news is that family is asking for more money to film Season 4, but they are dealing from a position of strength as A&E is not going to battle with them over salary, since they will probably raise advertising rates to recoup the money and make even more money in the long run. Latest word is that Season 4 filming will start soon and that we will see those episodes later this year.

 

 

 

American Idol: Nobody Going Home

Angie Miller and Kree Harrison were Top 2 in American Idol results show in which nobody went home to get the show on schedule after judges didn’t use their save.

 

Kree Harrison had to be shocked to be in the Top 2 with Angie Miller, on the Thursday night results show on American Idol. The judges had roundly criticized her performances on Wednesday night, but evidently the judges couldn’t sway the voters into not voting for her.

It was a shock to see Candace Glover in the Bottom 2, since she had some of the best feedback from the judges on Wednesday night. Amber Holcomb also was in the Bottom 2, but that wasn’t too surprising since there was some criticism of her decision to sing MacArthur Park on Wednesday’s show.

Ryan Seacrest teased the audience by saying “And going home is no one” and then explaining the show was expecting the judges to use their save, but when they didn’t the show needed an extra week to finish on the original schedule.

According to my calculations there should be three more weeks, with the final three revealed next week, then the final two the following week and finale the third week. None of this is official so is only conjecture at this point.

Lee DeWyze, the Season 10 winner, who is probably the least recognizable winner among the 11 winners so far sang a song from his new album.

Angie Miller seems to be favorite to win American Idol.

The favorite to win Season 12 of American Idol seems to be Angie Miller, unless she falters in the remaining shows. She needs to follow the advice of the judges and Jimmy Iovine and sing while playing the piano, which seems to be the niche she needs to be in to become the next American Idol.

However, with the votes from yesterday and those cast next week anything can happen, so it is crucial for each of the remaining four contestants, to make good song choices and to perform them as flawlessly as possible.

American Idol has lost almost 5.5 million viewers since the premiere show in January. I think many fans have gone over to The Voice and don’t care to watch American Idol the next two nights. A Big Bang Theory rerun topped American Idol last week, which shows how far the ratings have tumbled this season.

Only 12.46 million viewers tuned in to the Wednesday performance show, but no results are available yet for last night’s show.

American Idol: Judges Praise Angie, Trash Kree

Candace Glover, Angie Miller, Kree Harrison and Amber Holcomb will find out who is going home next on American Idol on the results show tonight.

 

The judges may not have that much influence on American Idol voters, but if they do make a difference in the voting, then Angie Miller and Candace Glover should be in Top 2 and Kree Harrison and Amber Holcomb should be in the Bottom 2. However, we can only guess what the actual results will show, when Ryan Seacrest reveals the results tonight.

Kree Harrison got trashed, hammered and battered by the judges after she sang the Susan Tedeschi song Hurt So Bad. I was thinking how good of a job, that she had done with the song, but the judges hated her rendition of the song. It was plain to see that Kree was shocked at being attacked so mercilessly by the judges. I thought she did a creditable job on A Whiter Shade of Pale, but the judges were not impressed by that either.

Keith Urban seemed to think the one hit wonder songs should have been recorded in the last 10 years. The contestants are not mind readers and shouldn’t be expected to know what timeline the judges were wanting the songs from.

I can understand A Whiter Shade of Pale being a one hit wonder, since it was the only hit of Procol Harum, but Cry Me A River recorded by Julie London 58 years ago in 1955 would not be considered a one hit wonder, since London recorded many more albums after its release. It has been covered many times over the years, including my favorite version by Diana Krall in her Look of Love album released in 2001.

Candace received mixed reviews from the judges, while Angie received more praise, than any of the other three contestants. It would be a tremendous shock if Angie is in the bottom two and it would show that the opinions of the judges were not affecting the voting results.

Jimmy Iovine did not like Amber singing MacArthur Park, which was written by Jimmy Webb. Iovine called the song corny, probably because of the lyrics saying “Someone left a cake out in the rain and I’ll never find that recipe again” which was corny. Interesting side note about the song: Webb wrote the song after breaking up with Linda Rondstadt, since they had met many times in MacArthur Park.

Kree and Amber clearly got the worst feedback from the judges, so it looks like Angie and Candace should be the top vote-getters.

Vote For the Worst website has Kree as the one to vote for this week, which might help her stay another week. There is speculation that Ryan Seacrest’s surprise tonight may be that nobody goes home, since the judges haven’t used their save.

So the surprise may be either that the judges use their save or that Ryan will announce nobody will go home. The bad thing about that scenario is that fans cast millions of votes for nothing, so it would make sense if the judges are allowed to use the save, rather than just announce nobody will go home.

I don’t think the judges should even have judged the two group songs. The group songs are only filler anyway and it gave the judges a third chance to trash Kree. I don’t know if Kree can recover from hearing how much the judges hated her singing to become the American Idol.

There is no sense in American Idol having a two-hour show for four contestants and next week it will again be two hours for three contestants, unless the judges use their save to keep all four contestants for another week.

Next week’s show could be the next to last show of Season 12, unless everybody stays another week tonight.

Rumors have been flying around the internet that Mariah Carey might be fired, before the completion of Season 12, to boost the ratings, but those rumors seem to have been unfounded.

For a more complete recap of last night’s show:

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/04/25/american-idol-amber-holcomb-judges-argue/

 

 

Lizard Lick Towing’s Ron and Amy Shirley Worth Combined $5 Million

Ron and Amy Shirley who star in Lizard Lick Towing reality show on TruTV.

Ron and Amy Shirley know that each renewal of Lizard Lick Towing means they can deposit huge amounts of money in their bank account.

They are both worth a total of $5 million, with Celebrity Net Worth showing they both have net worths of $2.5 million each.

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/business-executives/ron-shirley-net-worth/

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/business-executives/amy-shirley-net-worth/

One of the articles says that the Shirleys recreate some of the their encounters, when repossessing cars, so that tells me they are using actors in the wild scenes seen on the show. I don’t mind that the show is fake, as long as the producers don’t try to fool the fans, into thinking that the action scenes are real.

Bobby Brantley in his cool shades.

Bobby Brantley once stated that some of the scenes were staged. The last I knew Bobby Brantley was married to his fourth wife Anita, so it surprised me that the show had a storyline, that showed Bobby dating a local girl on the show, which infuriated Amy, since Amy had a long and bad history with the girl. Anyone that knows if Bobby is still married is welcome to comment.

It doesn’t really matter to me that it is fake, since it is an entertaining show. I have seen scenes where Ron and Bobby have been shot at during a repossession. A person being shot at in real life would have called the police, but even with all the fights at repossession sites and in the office police are seldom called.

They are inviting trouble in the office leaving stuff that can be thrown around. That office lobby should not have anything that is not nailed down, since if it is not then it will be destroyed.

Ron and Amy Shirley may not be earning Kardashian type money, for their reality show but most of us wouldn’t mind having $5 million in our bank accounts

It is another reason that Ron and Amy are probably on pins and needles, till they get their renewal notices for the next season.

Wikipedia says that Ron and Amy were going to be in Wife Swap. Just thinking about them being on the show makes me laugh. However it didn’t pan out, but it may have turned out for the best as Lizard Lick Towing was first seen on All Worked Up, before TruTV offered a deal to Ron and Amy, to have their own show and they hopped on the money train that would make them both millionaires.

I assume there will be new shows, if it is renewed next summer or fall.

The main thing is that Lizard Lick Towing is a fun show to watch, whether it is fake or not.

 

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American Idol: Janelle Goes Home: And Then There Were Four

Janelle Arthur received the fewest number of votes and was sent home on American Idol.

Janelle Arthur who expected to be sent home last night became the first girl to be eliminated on American Idol on Thursday night.

The judges could have saved her, but seem to be saving their save for one of the remaining four contestants. Had heard that they had to use their save by Top 5 week, but apparently they will have it at their disposal for one more week. I will be surprised if these judges will ever save anyone, as they can’t seem to agree on who is worth saving. The following article says the judges will not be allowed to use their save now:

http://www.rickey.org/american-idol-12-to-end-one-week-early-after-non-save-in-the-top-5/

Top 4 week will see Amber Holcomb, Candace Glover, Angie Miller and Kree Harrison try to extend their time on American Idol. It was surprising to see Kree in the Bottom 2, but in another way it was not surprising, since any of the four remaining contestants would make excellent American Idols.

From now on the competition should be even tougher for the contestants, since we are nearing the end of Season 12. If the save is not used Season 12 will end the second week in May. The judges will have their hands full, as they and the voters hold the fate, of the remaining contestants as the season nears its end.

Nicki Minaj and Jimmy Iovine did not see eye to eye on the merits of Amber Holcomb’s singing on Wednesday’s show.

Clay Aiken and Fantasia sang on the show last night and Paula Abdul made a surprise appearance. Paula may have not been the best judge ever, but would be an upgrade over either Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey.

American Idol continues to trail The Voice in the television ratings. The Voice has seen a spike in their ratings during the Battle Rounds. The Voice may be an excellent show, but until one of their winners makes a real mark in the music world I can’t take it too seriously. I lose interest after the blind auditions on The Voice, then watch when they get down to the live shows after the Battle Rounds are over. Worst thing is that there is such a long gap from seeing The Voice contestants in the Battle Rounds, till all the finalists from the Battle Rounds appear individually in the remaining shows.

All four of the remaining contestants on American Idol should have recording careers, plus Janelle Arthur should make it big in the world of country music.

Lazaro Arbos has some less than flattering words about one of the remaining contestants, after he went home from the show:

“I’m not gonna say names and I don’t wanna sound rude,” Lazaro told ABC News Radio backstage at Live with Kelly & Michael earlier in the week. “But I think that one woman in particular is cra-a-a-a-z-y and she wants to win!”  Lazaro would not say if the contestant was Kree, Candice, Amber, Angie or Janelle, but he thinks that she — whoever she is — needs to chill out. Big time.  “She thinks that we’re in The Hunger Games and she’s fighting for her life,” dished Lazaro about the mystery contestant. “She needs to realize that it’s not about winning: it’s about what you do after the show.” – Vote for the Worst website

Janelle was chosen by Vote For The Worst website as their choice to vote for this week. It will be interesting to see how they choose as the worst remaining contestant, now that Janelle has been eliminated.

Facts on remaining contestants:

Candace Glover – Candace is 24 and from Beaufort, South Carolina. This was her third try at American Idol having competed in Season 9 and Season 11. She made it to Las Vegas week in Season 11 and performed in a group with Season 11 finalists DeAndre Brackensick and Jessica Sanchez.

Angie Miller – Angie is 19 and from Beverly, Massachusetts. She is partially deaf and has a You Tube page with 2.8 million views.

Amber Holcomb – Amber is 19 and from Houston, Texas. She was seen in Season 11 and was in a group with Season 11 finalists Shannon Magrane and Joshua Ledet.

Kree Harrison – Kree is 23 and came from Winfield, Texas, but currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Kree’s father died in an airplane crash when she was 12 and her mother died in a car accident, when Kree was 16.

The following poll asks which of the remaining four contestants will be the Season 12 American Idol:

 

 

 

 

American Idol: Candace Glover Current Favorite To Win American Idol

Angie Miller, Candace Glover, Janelle Arthur, Kree Harrison and Amber Holdomb comprise the Final 5 on American Idol Season 12.

The American Idol judges Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj, Randy Jackson and Mariah Carey have their work cut out for them since only the most talented singers are left in the competition.

It is looking like Candace Glover is the current favorite to win the title of the American Idol for Season 12. It will be interesting tonight to see how Candace fares in the voting results, that will be revealed tonight. The best singer on American Idol is not always the winner on the finale in May.

Janelle Arthur on the other hand is almost certain to be in the bottom two tonight, after receiving lukewarm critiques from the judges. I agree with Nicki Minaj that Janelle will make a mark in country music, even if she doesn’t win the competition.

It will be sad to see Janelle go home tonight, if she does receive the fewest votes. She is very likeable and seems to be able to handle any criticism from the judges well.

However, there are no guarantees in American Idol voting, as Pia Toscano can testify to when she was eliminated early in Season 12.

Pia Toscano eliminated early in Season 10 of American Idol.

So Ryan Seacrest might reveal some surprising results tonight, but in all likelihood Janelle will be bidding adieu to her fellow contestants tonight.

Kree Harrison probably will be among the top vote-getters tonight, with Angie Miller or Amber Holcomb joining Janelle in the bottom two.

The shocking event of the night was that Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey actually talked to each other, for the first time that I know of during Season 12 live shows.

Unreality TV delves further into their altercation last night:

http://www.unrealitytv.co.uk/american-idol/american-idol-2013-nicki-minaj-tells-mariah-carey-to-simmer-down-over-kree-harrison/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Unreality+%28Unreality+TV%29

Personally, I thought all the contestants performed well, but the judges know music much better than me who missed notes or sang offkey, so my opinion and a dollar will get me on the city bus, but doesn’t really mean that much.

New York Daily News has posted a recap of last night’s show:

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/channel-surfer/2013/04/american-idol-season-12-episode-28-recap-candice-glover-shines-on-night-when-

 

Latest Idol News

Pia Toscano mentioned earlier in this article will be seen in her first movie Grace Unplugged in October and should also release her debut album. New York Daily News has more info on the Season 10 American Idol contestant:

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/channel-surfer/2013/04/american-idol-season-12-episode-28-recap-candice-glover-shines-on-night-when-

Fantasia will be seen on American Idol tonight singing Lose To Win and Clay Aiken is also slated to appear in the telecast.

Taylor Hicks is still appearing in concerts, but his albums are not selling well. His 2011 album Taylor Hicks has received great reviews with 248 Amazon reviews rating the album 5 stars, while only 5 gave the album 1 star. His problem is that it has not sold well and is currently 87,267th in sales and new and used copies of the album can be bought for one cent.

 

 

 

Duck Dynasty Stars Duck Autograph Signing

The Duck Dynasty stars apparently think they don’t have to fulfill their obligations. They failed to stay for an autograph signing after an archery event.

It is not surprising since they march to a different drummer, than most of us since they are used to doing what they want and when they want.

A&E network can’t be happy with their behavior, since disgruntled fans will be probably be non-fans in the future and won’t waste time tuning in to see the same people who didn’t think of their fans, but of themselves at the Las Vegas event.

Maybe it is time that we stop making celebrities of people who become too big for their britches, while thinking they are too good to spend time with the “little people” who made them so popular.

It is not asking too much to expect celebrities to spend time with their fans. Maybe the Duck Dynasty stars were anxious to try out the gambling casinos in Las Vegas and didn’t want to delay their fun, by stopping to sign autographs for the “little people”.

If they continue to behave this way, their record ratings will begin to tumble, as they seem to have forgotten who made them reality stars in the first place.

http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2013/04/duck-dynasty-star-refuse-sign-autographs-angry-fans/

American Idol: Candace Glover In Bad Situation

Candace Glover received the most positive feedback on American Idol.

Candace Glover received enthusiastic praise for her singing on American Idol last night. Her rendition of Love Song was so good, that Randy Jackson said that it was the best performance of any singing competition ever. It is looking now like Candace is the one to beat. However, she didn’t even finish in the Top 3 last week. Instead Kree Harrison, Angie Miller and Lazaro Arbos finished in the Top 3.

The question now is whether her voting base will cast enough votes for her to be in the Top 3, when the voting results are announced by Ryan Seacrest tonight. American Idol is not always about who is best, but who has the strongest voting base.

A case in point is Lazaro Arbos, who is still around despite being the worst of the boy singers and worst of the remaining contestants. Lazaro was hammered unmercifully by the judges last night, but that may actually work in his favor. It may have caused him to garner sympathy votes, which may keep him on the show. Or maybe the criticism may cause some of his supporters, to abandon him and start voting for real singers. I like Lazaro but know good and well, that he is not going to be the next American Idol.

For the tenth best singer among the ten contestants, to be competing for a spot in the Final 5 tells me the voters are not particularly voting for the best singer.

However, even if Lazaro stays the girl who receives the least votes would almost certainly be saved by the judges.

Nicki Minaj continues being nice to a contestant one minute, then the next minute rip their singing the next minute. She seems to enjoy sticking it to a contestant, after luring the contestant into thinking she is going to say something positive about their performance. Janelle Arthur was the victim last night of her criticism saying her song was boring. I am not saying Nicki doesn’t have the right to criticize the contestants, but she should start her criticism from the start, instead of acting like she really cares about a contestant, then jump on them with both feet.

If the voters vote strictly on performance, then Candace, Kree Harrison and Amber Holcomb should be in the Top 3 tonight, with Janelle, Angie Miller and Lazaro at the bottom of the vote-getters. If Lazaro stays I look for Janelle to finish last and then be saved by the judges.

My personal pick as of today to be the next American Idol is Candace, with Kree Harrison likely to be the finalist with her on finale night, but Amber Holcomb is still in the running, if either of them falters.

One criticism for the show is that I see no need for the show to be two hours long, with only six singers left in the competition. The songs last about two minutes or less, so the 12 songs last night lasted only about 24 minutes. That left one hour and 36 minutes for judges to make their critiques, run umpteen commercials and fill the rest of the time with filler.

We are forced to watch the show on regular antenna, since the satellite network doesn’t carry the closest Fox station. We used to record the shows when we were on cable, which saved us watching about 40 minutes of commercials and turning the show into an hour and 20 minute show. The show will be two hours again next week, even though they may be down to five singers, unless Lazaro stays and a girl singer is saved, which would still leave six singers.

For a complete rundown on last night show from Hollywood.com:

http://www.hollywood.com/recaps/55007430/american-idol-recap-top-6-candice-glover-lazaro-arbos?page=all

American Idol: Will Lazaro Arbos Go Home Thursday?

Lazaro Arbos is only remaining male contestant in Season 12 of American Idol.

 

Lazaro Arbos may be going home on Thursday night, since he is only male contestant left in Season 12. However, that is not a foregone conclusion, with him finishing in the Top 3 last Thursday night. Those in the Top 3 were not announced in a particular order, so it is conceivable that Lazaro may have even been the top vote-getter.

Lazaro may be a sentimental favorite of the voters this season, since the judges have not had many kind words about his singing during the season. Their critiques of his singing may even be helping to garner sympathy votes for Lazaro.

Janelle Arthur may even be going home next Thursday, if Lazaro isn’t sent home this week. She finished in Bottom 2 last week, so unless she steps it up next week she could be going home.

If a girl doesn’t win in Season 12, then something is very wrong with the voting procedure, since the girls are clearly much better singers than the boys this season.

If Lazaro is sent home, then it means a very talented singer will be going home the next week and every week after, till the new American Idol is announced.

Any of the remaining girls including Janelle, Amber Holcomb, Candace Glover, Angie Miller and Kree Harrison are worthy of being the next American Idol.

It will be interesting to see how American Idol fans vote in this poll, so we can see if Lazaro’s fan base can keep him on the show and send a better singer home.

 

American Idol – The Voice Ratings Battle

Season 4 of the Voice premiered with 13.64 million viewers and has increased to 13.93 million viewers on the last episode.

Meanwhile American Idol garnered more viewers, for their premiere of Season 12, with 17.93 million viewers, but last Thursday’s results show drew over 6 million less viewers, with 11.72 million watching the results show. The producers have to be concerned with the loss of that many viewers.

Evidently, viewers are tiring of the music competition genre. Television has a predilection to latch onto a hot trend and doesn’t let go of it till it fizzles out. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire was a prime example of overkill at its worst. The show did well till it was shown on more than one night a week, then withered away till where it wasn’t even shown during primetime.

Singing competitions are proliferating to the point, where summer is our only respite from the shows. However, with X-Factor and The Voice in the fall and then American Idol in January and The Voice in March we are having singing competition shows from September to May.

 

 

 

 

American Idol: Nicki Minaj Going Overboard……Again

Nicki Minaj tweeted that ousted contestant Devin Velez needed to be gracious after being voted off the show last week and that she wasn’t going to use the save on a boy contestant.

Nicki Minaj took to Tweeter lecturing Devin Velez that he should be gracious for being on the show. When Velez sang I Can’t Help Myself on Wednesday night, with Lazaro Arbos and Burnell Taylor Minaj compared their singing to that of Hollywood week. Even worse, she ordered the group off the stage, which to me was extremely mean. They had to feel bad enough, after being trashed by Minaj, without her ordering them off the stage.

Nicki Minaj tweeted to Devin Velez last week, after he tweeted that Minaj was not very professional in ordering the group of Velez, Lazaro Arbos and Burnell Taylor, off the stage after their rendition of I Can Help Myself. Velez did admit the performance was sub-par, but thought Minaj acted unprofessionally, when ordering them off the stage. Minaj tweeted back that Velez needed to be gracious for his shot on the show.

Nicki Minaj was angered by a tweet by Devin Velez, after he was voted off the show and tweeted back to him that he should have been gracious for even being on the show. She went on to say in her tweet, that she was not going to save a boy, since the girls are much better singers. Velez said he didn’t mind being criticized by Minaj after the group of Velez, Lazaro Arbos and Burnell Taylor performed I Can’t Help Myself, but thought she acted unprofessionally, by telling the group to get off the stage.

I don’t think that the group singing should have even be judged on Wednesday night. It was just more filler to justify having eight singers sing in a two-hour show. Fox could have easily cut the show to half and hour, since each song takes about a minute and a half and then the judges do their critiques for 3 or 4 minutes, so each song and judging of that song should last no longer than 6 minutes. That comes out to 48 minutes for 6 songs. That left an hour and 12 minutes for commercials and filler material. Can’t wait till they get down to 6 songs, so maybe they will cut the show down to an hour and a half.

The first poll question is if Nicki Minaj is helping or hurting American Idol ratings in Season 12:

The second poll question is which of the remaining 7 contestants will become the American Idol of Season 12?

I think Minaj has been a major factor in Season 12 of American Idol losing so many viewers. Last Thursday night’s results show was the lowest ratings of the season. I do agree that the save will not be used on a boy, when it could be used on a girl with real talent.

My personal picks for top three to win and not necessarily the one I want to win would be between Candace Glover, Angie Miller and Kree Harrison.

There are even rumors that Ryan Seacrest may not return for the next season, but if I remember right he is in second year of three-year contract paying him $15 million a year.

Duck Dynasty Stars Holding Out For $200,000 An Episode

The stars of Duck Dynasty are holding out for more money before starting filming on Season 4.

Duck Dynasty attracted over 8 million viewers in their Season 3 premiere, which makes it the most watched show on the A&E cable network. The ratings for last week showed only Walking Dead and The Bible with a higher rating than the show about the Robinson clan from Louisiana.

Phil Robertson who created the Duck Commander duck call played football at La. Tech and started ahead of Terry Bradshaw who went on to win several Super Bowls and was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Robertson turned down a chance to go to the pros, because it interfered with duck season.

This article from ABC News tells more about the Robertson family and how they created a duck call business, with sales in the millions.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/redneck-millionaires-built-duck-dynasty-duck-call-business/story?id=15961955#.UVTzqjYo6M9

The Robertson family is holding out for $200,000 an episode of the reality show. A&E is currently filming about 15 episodes a season, which would mean A&E would have to pay the Robertson family $3 million a season.

A&E is caught in a bad place. They surely don’t want to pay the family $3 million a season, but on the other hand they don’t want to lose their most watched television program. The Robertson family is in a win-win situation, since even if they get $100,000 an episode they will make $1.5 million. There were two complete seasons filmed last year, so the Robertson family would make $6 million if they get the $200,000 episode that they want and $3 million if they get $100,000 an episode.

The show is a show that the family can watch, in that they don’t have any profanity on the shows and the family was angered by A&E inserting bleeps in the earlier seasons, so it would look like the family was using bad language.

I had never seen a Duck Dynasty show before this week and can see why the show is so popular. Best of all it is filmed in West Monroe, Louisiana, where we lived from 1974-1976.

It is almost a given, that A&E and the Robertson family will work out an agreement, on their pay per episode in Season 4, since A&E doesn’t want to lose this gold mine of a show.

Will The Voice Find A Singer That Can Sell Albums?

Shakira, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Usher, judges and Carson Daly host of  Season 4 of The Voice on NBC.

The Voice has done well in the ratings, but still hasn’t come up with a winner that can sell records. Season 1 winner Javier Colon’s album Come Through For You peaked at No.134 on the Billboard 200 chart and has sold only 45,000 copies, as of late last December, more than a year after its initial release.

Season 2 winner Jermaine Paul has an album Finally that has no release date listed at Amazon.com, almost a year after he won The Voice in May of 2012.

Season 3 winner Cassidee Pope has released these singles which have sold a lot of downloads. She covered Cry a song recorded by Faith Hill and sold 81,000 copies in one week last December and debuted at No. 60 in its first week.

.Pope also recorded singles of Over You by Miranda Lambert which rose to No.25 on the Billboard Country chart and also recorded Keith Urban’s Stupid Boy which was at No.40, plus Michelle Branch’s Are You Happy Now, which was No.95. The real test for Pope will be when her first album is released later on down the road.

So the judges this season are intent on finding someone who will become a bona fide star, with name recognition something which has eluded the first three winners of The Voice.

Shakira and Usher the two one name judges seemed to have settled in well, in the first shows of Season 4.

Monday night’s show saw all four judges turn around their chairs for the Morgan Twins who sang Fallin’ and Judith Hill who sang What A Girl Wants.

Midas Whale a duo singing Folsom Prison Blues and Sarah Simmons singing One of Us sang well enough to have all four judges turn around for them on Tuesday night.

Cathia who sang “No Me Doy por Vencido” attracted the attention of Shakira, Usher and Blake Shelton and Cathia naturally chose Shakira as her mentor.

No judges turned around for six contestants on Monday night and for one of the six singers shown last night. It is heartbreaking to see a singer sing their heart out, only not to have one judge turn their chairs around. That is what gives the show credibility though, since everyone knows, that some of the singers are not ready for prime time yet.

I usually watch the Blind Auditions, then skip the Battle Rounds, since it seems to be a contest of who can sing the loudest and hit the highest notes. I then return for the individual competitions in the last weeks of the show.

The Voice may be very popular, but until they have a singer who breaks through and has national name recognition it will be known more as the show that features judges turning around in their chairs.

After all these singers are vying to win The Voice and hope to sell millions of albums, like some past winners of American Idol have done. Selling 45,000 albums in close to a year like Javier Colon is not going to help him or The Voice. That is far from the record sales of Carrie Underwood, who has sold 15 million albums, which included 7 million copies of her Some Hearts album.

For The Voice to be taken seriously as a star maker they have to come up with a star that can sell more than 45,000 albums, while an American Idol winner like Carrie Underwood has sold 15 million albums.

The Celebrity Net Worth website discloses that American Idol Season 4 winner Underwood has a  net worth of $45 million, while Season 1 American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson has a net worth of $14 million.

I will start taking The Voice more seriously, when they can produce stars of the magnitude of Underwood and Clarkson.

American Idol : Two Boys Down, Three To Go

This photo shows the Top 9 of American Idol, but Paul Jolley on the far right left the show on Thursday and became the second boy to go home.

 

It was no surprise that another boy was sent home on the results show of American Idol last Thursday. Paul Jolley became the second boy in a row, to be sent home in Season 12.

This is looking more and more like the years of the girls on American Idol. They are so much better than the boys, that if a boy wins I will be completely shocked.

I have honestly tried to like Nicki Minaj, but when she asked Paul Jolley if he was jolly, then said his song was terrible it just shows how insensitive she can be. Why say something nice about a contestant, then rip his singing in the next sentence? Nicki plays favorites and that has been clear this season. I don’t mind her criticizing the contestants, but she could do it with a little more respect.

There is no way that Amber Holcomb should have been in the bottom three, but my poll a couple of weeks ago sort of gave an indication she does not have a strong fan base.

The results of my poll from the March 13 blog shows the results, with 69 voters in the poll as of this minute:

Angie Miller – 34 votes, 49.28 percent

Candace Glover – 12 votes, 17.39 percent

Kree Harrison – 11 votes, 15.94 percent

Lazaro Arbos – 4 votes, 5.8 percent

Janelle Arthur – 4 votes, 5.8 percent

Amber Holcomb - 2 votes, 2.9 percent (Have no idea why Amber received only 2.9 percent for her 2 votes, while Curtis received 3 percent for his 2 votes.)

Curtis Finch – 2 votes, 3 percent ( Was eliminated last week)

Burnell Taylor, Devin Velez and Paul Jolley ( Was eliminated on Thursday) received no votes.)

The poll showed 5 girls in the first 6 positions.

Lazaro Arbos is being touted by Vote For the Worst website as their poster boy. They are seeking to make Lazaro into another Sanjaya Malakar, who lasted much longer than he should because of the support from the website.

Speaking of Lazaro, there was some confusion over when he learned the song, with him saying he learned it the night before the live show, while Jimmy Iovine claimed he had the song for many days.

Some of the contestants didn’t seem to be very knowledgeable about the Beatles, as some didn’t even know of the song they picked.

It was good to see Jessica Sanchez and Casey Adams again, as they sang for the audience. It looks like both of them could go far in music.

Casey Adams released an album last June, that is currently No.16 among albums on Amazon. Most of the songs are original, with the exception of a duet with Haley Reinhart of the Ray Charles classic Hit the Road Jack. Samples of the songs can be heard in these clips:

http://www.amazon.com/Casey-Abrams/dp/B007WCJQU4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1364058797&sr=8-3&keywords=casey+adams

It is looking like Candace Glover, Angie Miller and Kree Harrison are the top three contestants this season. I think Amber Holcomb belongs up there with them, but her voting base needs to strengthen to become a factor in the voting.

I don’t think anyone was surprised to see the judges decide not to use their save on Paul Jolley. I doubt if they will use on any of the boys, since they may need it to save one of the girls.

OTHER AMERICAN IDOL NEWS

Katy and Kris Allen are expecting a baby boy later this year.

 

Kris Allen and his wife Katy were involved in a car accident in January, which left Kris unable to play the guitar due to a broken wrist. However, they now have some good news, with the announcement that they are expecting a baby boy later this year….The ratings for American Idol continued to dip, as the performance show on Wednesday only drew 12.94 million. The performance show from the previous week had attracted 13.44 million viewers. The 11.65 million viewers watching the Thursday results show was the lowest number of viewers for any show in Season 12….Grey’s Anatomy topped American Idol last Thursday night for the first time ever.

The Voice starts on Monday, which could cause further erosion for American Idol. Viewers may be burned out after watching The Voice for a couple of nights, then face two more nights of singing competition on American Idol. This will be a real test, that tells us what direction American Idol is going.

John Mayer has announced that Phillip Phillips winner of Season 11 will be opening for his next tour. Phillip Phillips seems to be one of the more successful American Idols….There has not been a girl voted the American Idol, since Jordin Sparks won in 2007….Aubrey Cleland won out over Charlie Askew as the 11th member of the American Idol tour this summer.

Nicki Minaj has angered the other judges during the auditions, when showing up late for the shows. I have always heard that Mariah Carey was a diva, but it appears Nicki is even more of a diva.

http://popcrush.com/nicki-minaj-said-to-be-the-biggest-diva-on-the-american-idol-set/

 

 

 

 

 

19 Kids and Counting Returned Last Night With Asia Special

19 Kids and Counting plus two parents and a grandmother plus wife of Josh and two babies.

 

19 Kids and Counting returned last night on TLC as the family traveled to Asia in the first of three episodes of specials featuring their trip. The regular episodes of  the show will return on April 2.

Jim Bob and Michelle, the parents of the 19 children were married on July 21, 1984 and  took birth control the first four years of their marriage, then went off the pill and Michelle miscarried. They then they let God decide how many children they would have. Jim Bob only had a sister while growing up, while Michelle had five sisters and a brother.

Their first child Josh was born on March 3, 1988 and their last child Josie was born on December 10, 2009. Michelle lost the next baby, when its heart stopped beating during the pregnancy.

Michelle and her family appeared on the Today show on November 8, 2011 and a month exactly later the family announced the baby had died. This episode was one of the most dramatic shows in the series, as the series showed Jim Bob and Michelle being told the baby had no heartbeat.

It was particularly emotional, when the children were told that the baby had died. Then the funeral was extremely emotional seeing such a small casket for the baby.

The Duggar family lives in Tontitown, Arkansas a city of only 2,460 people but has grown 161 percent since 2000, when the population was only 942 people.

The cost and logistics of raising 19 kids has to be very expensive and they have to be very organized to make sure all the kids follow a routine, to make sure everything that needs to be done is accomplished. Jim Bob is a real estate agent and investor, so he must be doing very well to provide for such a large family. TLC is also probably paying the family something for them being on the show.

Their 25-year-old son Josh and his wife presently have two children of their own named a girl Mackynzie and a son Michael. The couple is expecting their third child in June.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

American Idol Poll: Who Will Win American Idol in Season 12?

Now that we finally know who the ten finalists are in Season 12 of American Idol this will be a good time to see who American Idol fans think will win Season 12.

Little Couple Adopts 3 Year-Old, Return to TLC on April 30

Dr. Jennifer Arnold and Bill Klein who star in the Little Couple series on TLC are adopting a three year-old child from China.

Dr. Jennifer Arnold had problems conceiving a baby on her own and then they tried having a surrogate mother for their child. That didn’t work either when the surrogate mother suffered a miscarriage. Now Dr. Arnold and her husband Bill Klein have adopted a three year-old boy from China named William.

The parents who star on TLC’s Little Couple series had wanted a child with dwarfism and this child is a dwarf like them.

The show was last seen on May 15, 2012 and will be returning for a sixth season, almost a year later when they return to TLC, for a new season on April 30.

Little Couple has been one of the most drama-free reality shows, since Jen and Bill get along so well. They have to be the most likeable reality stars on television today.

They both apparently make a very good living as Dr. Arnold is a doctor working as a neonatologist at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, Texas. Bill owns a sales, training  and telecommunication business.

When the new season starts on April 30 we should see some shows about the adoption process and how they are settling into their new home in Houston, plus they have a pet shop in Houston.

This couple has been through a lot in recent seasons, when they hoped Jen would be able to conceive a baby on her own. When that didn’t work they went the surrogacy route and that also failed, so it will be good to see them with their new adopted child in Season 6.

http://www.parents.com/blogs/parents-news-now/2013/03/13/celebrities/tvs-the-little-couple-adopts-baby-boy/

Chase Rogan of Joe Schmo Show Talks About Show

Chase Rogan of the Joe Schmo Show is shown with his “Spirit animal” llama from the show.

Chase Rogan of the Joe Schmo Show recently was interviewed about his experiences on the Joe Schmo Show. The interview was apparently filmed at his Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania home.

It is fun hearing Rogan relate his experiences from the show and telling of some situations, which made him wonder what was going on. The following article and interview tell in Rogan’s own words, what it was like to be the only real person in a reality show, with everyone else being actors.

The following article is about Rogan’s wedding to Taylor and includes a wedding photo:

http://www.goerie.com/article/20120325/LIFESTYLES16/303259941/Taylor-Baker-Chase-Rogan

This is Chase Rogan’s website for his business and includes some photos from the party, after he was told he had won $100,000 on the Joe Schmo Show. He is planning on assisting  gardening enthusiasts with their vegetable gardens..

http://www.pureturfconsulting.com/Home_Page.html

Watching Rogan watch himself on television makes this video worth seeing, as it gives us an idea, of how he was feeling in certain situations on the show.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/ae/tv-radio/reality-show-a-blast-for-local-joe-schmo-677651/

 

We didn’t miss an episode of the Joe Schmo Show and we were happy to see Chase Rogan win the $100,000, because he deserved every penny of it, for being such a good sport after he found out he was only non-actor on the show. The producers couldn’t have picked a more deserving person than Rogan to be on the show.

 

 

American Idol: Top 10 For Season 12 Announced

Ryan Seacrest is pictured with the American Idol Season 12 Top 10 which includes left to right, Paul Jolley, Curtis Finch Jr., Angela Miller, Candace Glover, Burnell Taylor, Devin Velez, Janelle Arthur, Lazaro Arbos, Amber Holcomb and Kree Harrison.

American Idol started back in January and last night finally revealed their Top 10 for Season 12 of the show.  I wish that the voting would be based on the best singers, which may have allowed Breanna Steer (my personal favorite since she was from Louisiana and was very talented) and Aubrey Cleland to be in the Top 10. However, only five girls and five boys were allowed to join the Top 10.

It was an especially emotional moment, when Janelle Arthur was voted into the Top 10, in her third try at becoming the American Idol. She and Kree Harrison were not the only ones voted in that were from the same state, with Arthur living in Oliver Springs, Tennessee, which is located close to Knoxville and Harrison who hails from Nashville, Tennessee. Paul Jolley  lives in Palmersville, Tennessee.. So three of the Top 10 reside in Tennessee.

Curtis Finch Jr., from St. Louis, Missouri, Devin Velez from Chicago, Illinois and Angela Miller from Beverly Massachusetts were the only Top 10 finalists, who were born outside the south.

The others from the south include Candace Glover, St. Helena Island, Georgia, Amber Holcomb, Houston, Texas, Burnell Taylor, New Orleans, Louisiana and Lazaro Arbos of Naples, Florida.

The Clicker Today website says this about the 11th singer going on tour with American Idol:

(And if you’re furious about someone getting eliminated, you may get a second chance to see your favorite again: The male and female who finished sixth in the semifinal voting in their groups will take the stage once more next week. The winner of that match will get a bonus 11^th spot on the tour.)

Not sure if this means the 11th singer will sing only on the summer tour, since it doesn’t mention anything about the winner actually being a contestant.

There were a few surprises among the Top 10, but overall it seems to be a good group, especially the girls in the Top 10. It may be time to not split the Top 10 evenly among girls and boys, when the girls overwhelmingly had the best singers this year.

It was no surprise that Charlie Askew and Zoanette Johnson didn’t make the Top 10. Askew for some reason completely changed his look for the boys competition, which detracted from his singing. Askew seems to have serious emotional problems, which need to be addressed immediately. Zoanette may have made the Top 10 female singers, but she was not the singer the other girls were. She may have had an intriguing back story, but this is a singing competition and when Randy Jackson said her song was a mess it gave no reason, for voters to vote for her, with so many girls who sang much better on the show.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/08/showbiz/tv/american-idol-top-10-ew/index.html

Joe Schmo Ends Season With Big Reveal

Chase Rogan was Joe Schmo on fake reality show and won $100,000.

Joe Schmo that ended last night  was a reality show, on Spike TV that admitted that it was fake. They recruited Chase Rogan of Pittsburgh, a certified agronomist who owns his own company. The producers chose Rogan to appear on a fake reality show named Full Bounty. What Rogan didn’t know was that the entire cast were all professional actors, who were all in on the joke.

The winner of Full Bounty will win $100,000 which is real and is promised a fake  job as a bounty hunter with the Jake Montrose bounty company.

The show was filled with ridiculous competitions like being shackled to inmates. Rogan’s inmate is unlocked to go to bathroom and disappears, which creates chaos for Rogan thinking he is responsible for the prisoner escaping. He then looks out a window and sees production assistants walking around like nothing was going on. He then asks “Is this a setup?”

In another competition the contestants are sent to be part of the capture of a skip. Rogan is in the van, when he is called to assist their instructor Jake Montrose, portrayed by Ralph Garman with the capture of the skip and is in the house in a matter of seconds. The actors are amused by how seriously Rogan is taking the competition, since they are just along for the ride.

One of the closest calls was when Rogan asks a deaf girl contestant who is doing handstands a question. He is surprised when she answers, since her deaf interpreter is not there with her at the time. The girl recoils in horror afraid that she has blown the whole show, since it makes Rogan question why she is talking when she is supposedly deaf and would not have heard the question.

The producers saw that Rogan was writing in his journal and that he was wondering, if there were actors among the contestants. Rogan finally gets back into the game, after not talking for an interminable time, which was causing the producers much concern, that he was onto the idea that the show was fake.

Chase Rogan cries after being told the other contestants on the fake reality show Full Bounty were actors and that there was no bounty hunting job for him.

The Big Reveal

The season culminated with the big reveal last night. This was the big moment everyone was waiting for to see his reaction, when told that all the other contestants were actors and that there was no bounty hunter job waiting for him. Before the big reveal the losing contestants voted for Lorenzo Lamas to win the $100,000 check, but then the Jake Montrose character tells Rogan, that he was the winner and that Rogan was the only non-actor among all the contestants on the show.

Rogan’s wife was let in on the secret shortly before the reveal and even wore a gold outfit, that had been worn by Lady Justice a lady that stood above the place, where the contestants cast their votes on eviction nights. However Lady Justice just watched as the losing contestants cast their votes from their seats. Then Jake mentions Lady Justice after the reveal and Rogan sees it is his wife and runs up to hug her.

He then is led into the room, where the production staff has been working all season and Rogan graciously thanks them. The production staff was worried that Rogan might react negatively, when told about the other contestants being actors, since one winner from the past had a lot of problems dealing with the fact that he had been duped.

However, Rogan handled the situation well, after the initial shock of knowing he had been duped. The object of the show was to see how much Rogan would put up with during the season and he met every challenge and if it had been a real reality show probably would have won.

Some of the contestants were not the bounty hunter type at all, like the deaf girl who wouldn’t even hear gunshots if someone was shooting at her. Another girl was a doctor and why would a doctor want to be a bounty hunter in the first place? Rogan questioned the doctor early in the shows, about how she graduated from college at 14 and was a doctor by the time she was 18. The actors did make some mistakes like this and Rogan usually picked up on anything, that didn’t seem to make sense.

Chase Rogan was one of the most likeable characters ever on any reality TV show. You couldn’t help but like him, since he was so serious about becoming a bounty hunter. Even then it makes me wonder why he would think of giving up his business to become a bounty hunter.

He deserved the $100,000 prize, because he went through $100,000 worth of anguish during the season, as he was puzzled several times at the way things didn’t always jive on the show.

The bad thing is that if Chase had figured out, that the show was fake early in its run, then he would not have won the $100,000 and the show could have even ended in its first week.

Congratulations to Chase Rogan for being such a good sport and for providing several hours of entertainment to us during the Joe Schmo show.

The following video shows the big reveal, when Rogan is told the rest of the cast are all actors and that he has won $100,000.

http://www.spike.com/video-clips/kyr9br/the-joe-schmo-show-the-big-reveal

Celebrity Apprentice All-Stars : A Trainwreck Waiting to Happen

Celebrity Apprentice All Stars minus Omarosa and La Toya Jackson shown with Donald Trump.

Celebrity Apprentice All-Stars should provide plenty of drama this season. Donald Trump has assembled a cast guaranteed to spark some fireworks. With Dennis Rodman, Omarosa and Gary Busey in the cast we can expect a lot of in-fighting among the contestants.

Trace Adkins and Bret Michaels were chosen by Trump to pick their teams. Michaels made a huge mistake, by selecting Omarosa first for his team. Trace Adkins’s team chose Plan B, as the name for their team and he was chosen as project manager. Michaels was prepared to be project manager for his team after naming the team Power, but reluctantly let Brande Roderick be the project manager, when she got down on her knees begging Michaels for the job.

The challenge was for each team to make meatballs and sell them to those on street and to celebrities. However, Trace Adkins decided to close his meatball store and sell only to high rollers. Adkins became very upset when Gary Busey went outside and hollered at the people on a tour bus to come in and buy some meatballs. So Adkins team really had little to do, since they more or less waited for the big money to come in. Amy Grant came in and donated $75,000, but the big contributor was T. Boone Pickens who sent his representative with a check for $100,000.

Meanwhile Stephen Baldwin apparently didn’t call anyone as he collected no money. His reasoning was why use up his contributors to help Trace Adkins, when he could use those contributors on a week, when he was project manager.

Power’s meatball store was a beehive of activity, as they scrambled to sell the meatballs to people off the street and to big contributors. Roderick made a huge mistake, by putting Omarosa in charge of keeping track of which contestants had raised how much money. Omarosa was talking about bringing down Bret Michaels.

Boardroom Chaos

Trump called all the contestants into the boardroom and found out, from Steven Baldwin that Baldwin had not collected a penny. Trump said that Baldwin was at a risk of being fired if Team Plan B raised the least money. He then asked Adkins if Baldwin should be fired and Adkins replied in the affirmative.

Piers Morgan who along with Ivanka Trump were the advisors in the boardroom seemed to enjoy trashing Omarosa, who deserved the criticism since she was anything but a team player, by working against her own team member Michaels.

It was then revealed that Team Power had raised $250,333, which included a $20,000 bonus for their meatballs being chosen the best on Live with Kelly and Michael. Then the total for Team Plan B was announced and they raised $419,539. When combined with the money Team Power raised it totaled over $670,000 raised for the American Red Cross, which was Adkin’s charity.

Team B was sent upstairs to watch Team Power while they battled each other in the boardroom. Trump and the two advisors wanted to know who raised how much money but Roderick or Omarosa couldn’t give them a total, in which the numbers didn’t add up. I feel Omarosa was low-balling Michael’s total by mentioning he gave $15,000, while Michaels said he collected over $25,000.

Roderick had raised $132,000, while rapper Lil’ John raised $60,000 according to his total, but $55,000 according to Omarosa. Roderick finally decided to bring Bret Michaels and La Toya Jackson in with her to the boardroom, while the rest of Team Power went upstairs. I have no idea why La Toya Jackson was brought back into the boardroom, since Omarosa didn’t have a clue as to how much each team member had given and her total didn’t match with the total raised by Team Power.

Once Roderick, Michaels and Jackson returned to the boardroom it looked like Michaels would be going home. Trump who repeatedly said that Michaels should not have returned to the show. If he was that concerned about Michaels he could have refused to let Michaels return.

Trump then asked Michaels how he (Trump) could fire Roderick when she raised $132,000, which was over $100, more than what Michaels had raised, then told Michaels he was fired.

The show may be an hour too long, as the boardroom sessions seem to last longer and longer. Don’t know if I will be in the mood to watch this two-hour program week after week.

Fans that love confrontation should see plenty of it as the season progresses. Omarosa by herself provides enough drama to keep the shows interesting and can see her and La Toya Jackson won’t be best friends on the show. There should be more confrontations between her and Piers Morgan, as long as he remains an advisor. I have a feeling Trump will avoid firing Omarosa as long as he can avoid it. He knows her value as a troublemaker on the show, to push buttons of the other contestants.

One question I have about the show is how many times will the celebrities ask their big money contributors to contribute. I can’t imagine T. Boone Pickens donating another $100,000 if Adkins needs to raise money again this season.

One down and 13 contestants to go.

Note: This is the 900th article posted on Nostalgia and Now since it was first published in April of 2009.

Undercover Boss of O’Neil Clothing Offered Weed, Checkers Boss Closes Store On the Spot

Jesus, an employee at O’Neill makes a bad impression on Undercover Boss Toby Bost of O’Neill Clothing by telling him he knows where to get some good weed and asks the boss if he ever thought about opening a pot dispensary.

Toby Bost the CEO of O’Neills Clothing was shocked when he encountered an employee named Jesus in one of his stores. Jesus didn’t win any points by saying the clothes were clothes a five-year old would wear. He won even fewer points by telling his boss, who was disguised as Frederick that he knew where to score some weed. Jesus even went so far as to ask Frederick if he ever thought about opening a pot dispensary. He also revealed he took drugs before going to work to make it through the workday. Bost said in a film snippet that he was worried that Jesus might offer other employees or customers some weed. Surprisingly he didn’t fire him on the spot, but I wouldn’t have blamed him if he had.

Toby Bost left, is shown by employee Jorge how to make a T-shirt at the print shop.

 

Bost then meets the polar opposite of Jesus at the print shop. Jorge loves his job and is patient with Frederick as he shows him to make T-shirts. However, Jorge has a sad back story as he talks to Frederick on a break. He asks Frederick if his children are healthy, then tells about his child having a rare disease and telling about how the child is being fed by a tube.

Won’t go into details about the other employees he encounters, since these were the two most interesting employees to me.

Jesus, Jorge and the other employees featured on the program are sent to meet with someone about how Frederick did on the job. They are really there to meet Toby Bost the CEO of O’Neill Clothing, who reveals his true identity to them. It was not a fun meeting for Jesus, as Bost tells him how disappointed he was in his behavior at the store and mentioned that about the weed and pot dispensary. Jesus asks if he is fired, but Bost says he is not fired but will have to undergo a training program to learn how to treat customers and fellow workers with respect. Jesus thanks Bost for the second chance and at the end of the show it is mentioned that he may even stop smoking.

The meeting with Jorge went much better as Bost thanked him for his company loyalty and then offered a large sum of money to help with the medical expenses of Jorge’s sick child. This is when the show really connects with the audience, when you see someone who did their job the right way be rewarded.

 

 

Rick Silva CEO of Checkers and Rallys fast food restaurants appeared as Alex Garcia, who had a pharmacy go out of business in Philadlelphia. trying to find work in the fast food business.

Rick Silva the CEO of Checkers and Rallys  fast food restaurants went undercover as Alex Garcia in an episode of Undercover Boss. He learned that almost none of the staff had been trained for their jobs. He took particular interest in a worker named Todd who worked hard, but was constantly being hounded by the general manager. Todd needed the job to help support his mom and was trying to go to culinary school to be a chef.

The behavior of the general manager upset Alex enough to talk to him in the parking lot, about how he treated his employees. The general manager named Stevens said he had to yell at them, for them to pay any attention to him. Alex finds out during the conversation that Stevens was thrust into the general manager’s position after completing only three weeks of the six weeks training course. He reveals to Stevens that he is the CEO of Checkers, so he lost his secret identity as Alex to correct the situation.

Alex then apologized to Stevens for not providing more training before he was promoted to the general manager position. Alex tells Stevens that he is closing down the store immediately. He then reassures the employees that they still have their jobs and apologizes to them for not making sure they had been trained properly. He then tells the employees that he is going to have several general managers in the store next day, to train the employees and to get the restaurant back on track.

When Todd goes to meet the boss after Alex has returned to being Rick Silva again he is not shocked since he already knew Alex was really Rick the CEO. Silva tells Todd how much he appreciated him as a worker then tells him he is giving him $15,000 to go to culinary school and to help his mother.

 

These two episodes of Undercover Boss made me realize how good this show is. It shows how CEO’s don’t have a clue, as to what is happening at their stores and how inept they are at doing the work of the employees. It also shows how CEO’s can be compassionate, when they learn about their employees struggling to pay their bills.

This show is reality television at its best. There is more real emotion in the last 15 or 20 minutes of this show, when the CEO’s reveal themselves and help their workers financially, than most reality shows have in an hour.

This article tells more about the Checkers episode and has photos of the show:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2104085/Rallys-Checkers-CEO-Rick-Silva-shuts-restaurant-Undercover-Boss-episode.html

 

 

American Idol: Judges Send Zoanette To Top 20 in Shocker

Bryant Tadeo was eliminated last week on American Idol after scathing critique by Nicki Minaj.

Nicki Minaj once again showed her mean side on American Idol last week, when she complimented Bryant Tadeo for his powerful closing of New York State of Mind, but then turned on him and said that was only good part of the song.  It is easy to see Ms. Minaj has no compassion for some contestants, when the night before she heaped lavish praise on Zoanette Johnson who was mediocre at best singing Circle of Life.

Ms. Minaj clearly plays favorites and has let the back stories of some singers sway her critiques of the contestants.  I thought Rachel Hale sang much better than Zoanette, but someone had to be sacrificed so Zoanette could advance. I can tell from the expression on the face of Minaj if she will praise or criticize a performance.

Just my opinion but I think Keith Urban is the best judge on the panel this season. He focuses on the singing and nothing else.

If Zoanette advances to the Final 10 there might be a backlash from American Idol fans. If the fans vote her into the Top 10 it will be a shock. However, she may show she can be a serious singer next week, so it isn’t fair to write her off yet, but just can’t see her selling millions of albums in the future.

The girls are much better than the boys this season, which makes me wonder if the judges should have been allowed to pick the best singers and not have to choose 10 boys and 10 girls.

These are the remaining 20 contestants according to the Wikipedia page for Season 12:

Contestant	Result
	Lazaro Arbos
	Janelle Arthur
	Charlie Askew
	Nick Boddington
	Aubrey Cleland
	Curtis Finch, Jr.
	Candice Glover
	Kree Harrison
	Amber Holcomb
	Zoanette Johnson
	Paul Jolley
	Adriana Latonio
	Elijah Liu
	Angela Miller
	Vincent Powell
	Cortez Shaw
	Breanna Steer
	Burnell Taylor
	Tenna Torres
	Devin Velez

American Idol Season 12 ratings continued to tumble on Thursday night, as the show attracted only 12.56 million viewers, which is the fewest for this season.  The Voice and Dancing With the Stars return later this month, but not sure if  they will going against each other head to head . It is similar to the situation of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire a few seasons back,when it was being shown so much that fans eventually tired of seeing it so often.  Season 11 had a season low 14.85 million viewers, which was surprisingly the night the Final 2 sang. You would think that would be one of the most-viewed shows of the season, but instead it was the least-viewed, probably because Phil Phillips and Jessica Sanchez were in final two, while Josh Ledet was clearly a better singer than either one of them, yet finished third so there may have been some viewer backlash in play that night.

Maybe once the Top 10 is chosen the ratings may move upward again, but with the proliferation of singing competition shows the bubble may have already burst.

The following poll may give us a better idea of how American Idol fans felt about Zoanette being advanced:

American Idol Popularity Waning: Almost 20 Million Less Viewers Than in 2007

American Idol judges Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban are shown with host Ryan Seacrest in the center. The show is staggering into Season 12 as viewers leave the show in droves.

The first American Idol show was telecast on June 11, 2002 with 9.85 viewers watching The 2003 premiere show attracted 26.50 million viewers almost tripling the viewers from 2002. The 2007 premiere show attracted a record 37.44 million viewers, but there has been a steady decline of viewers since then, bottoming out at 17.93 viewers to start Season 12 last January. The show has lost close to 20 million viewers in the last six seasons.

Surprisingly the season finale topped out in Season 2 in 2003 at 38.06 million viewers and last year’s finale only attracted 21.49 million viewers, which is the all-time low for a finale.

With The Voice being telecast twice a year and X-Factor being shown in the fall it appears singing competition shows have reached the saturation point.  With American Idol starting about a month after the last X-Factor show has been shown, fans are not getting much of a break.

The Voice and X-Factor winners don’t get near the publicity of the American Idol winners. Quick, name all three winners of The Voice and the two winners of X-Factor. Only the most devout fans of either show could give you those names, without stopping to think it over.

Melanie Amaro who won X-Factor in December of 2011 has yet to release her debut album, which will be released next month. Meanwhile Phil Phillips the Season 11 winner of American Idol has already sold 700,000 copies of his debut album Dark Side of the Moon which has received 361 five-star reviews, while receiving only 5 one star reviews. I have to admit that I didn’t think Phil Phillips would go far as an artist, but he could be on the cusp of a great career.

Phil Phillips has been opening shows for Matchbox 20.

Season 12

American Idol went from a three judge panel of Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson in Season 11 to a four person panel of Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj, Randy Jackson and Mariah Carey in Season 12. The show got off on the wrong foot, before the first show aired as Nicki Minaj threatened to knock out Mariah Carey at the Charlotte auditions. They tangled more along the way to the opening show, but in recent weeks they have both calmed down and don’t talk to each other. Minaj is said to have said that if she had a gun she would shoot Carey, but later denied ever saying that.

Placing two divas on the judging panel was a recipe for disaster and that was what it turned out to be. I am sure the producers have told them to cool it, because most viewers like me don’t like a lot of attention being placed on the judges. Nicki Minaj seemed to be harsher with contestants a few weeks ago but seems to have calmed down and show more compassion for the contestants.

Keith Urban has really surprised me with his knowledge of American music and has very well thought out critiques of the singers. Randy Jackson has apparently appointed himself as the villain among the panelists, as he seems to be more critical of the singers, than the other three judges. Mariah Carey is taking over the Paula Abdul role as the judge who seldom says anything critical of most singers.

Ellen DeGeneres was by far the worst judge in the history of American Idol. She seemed to be more intent on cracking jokes, than on making meaningful critiques of the singers. It was no surprise, that she was a one season and out judge. I think even she sensed she didn’t belong on American Idol as a judge. Know that has nothing to do with Season 12, but just felt compelled to mention her judging skills or lack of.

It is too early to have a favorite or even to mention any names of the Season 12 contestants, since there are many eliminations ahead before the Final 10 is announced.

Apparently the tradition of judges going to rooms with contestants and telling which rooms are going home and which ones are advancing has been dropped, but that could change before the Final 10 is chosen. I liked that the Hollywood group week contestants were sorted into groups by American Idol executives. It ridded the show of the drama of singers begging to join a group or being dismissed by a group. I will never forget the season when the young boy from Louisiana was dumped by one group and him having to find a new group.

I don’t know if the tradition of contestants taking the long walk to talk to judges and being told their fate by the judges will be repeated this season. I am hoping by the end of this week, that we will know who the Final 10 singers are. Right now I think that the girl singers are better and should have more singers in the Top 10, but the producers may want an even number of girls and boys in the Top 10.

TV By the Numbers shows that both Big Bang Theory and Person of Interest attracted more viewers than American Idol last Thursday. The show is no longer the juggernaut it used to be, but it still is one of the most-watched shows on television.

It will be interesting to find out who the Final 10 will be composed of and we should know by the end of Thursday night’s show.

Nicki Minaj: Harshest American Idol Judge Ever?

Nicki Minaj

I thought Simon Cowell was the harshest American Idol judge, but Nicki Minaj gave him a run for his money last night. She not only criticized the singing of the singers, but their attitude and demeanor as well. She seemed to enjoy trashing the singing of Matheus Fernandes and then added insult to injury by saying he was choosing songs about his height, so he could have a pity party. She could have handled this situation better, by telling him backstage not to dwell on his height.

Matheus Fernandez

Fernandes may be remembered by some viewers, when he competed in The Glee Project on the Oxygen channel in 2011. The 4′ 9″ Fernandes was the shortest of all the American Idol contestants in the 2012 season.

Mariah Carey, who I had considered as a diva of the first magnitude showed a lot more class than Minaj during the show last night. Keith Urban and Randy Jackson didn’t seem to get as much camera time, as Minaj since she obviously enjoyed having the spotlight on herself, rather than on the contestants, who should have been in the spotlight. It is almost like Minaj enjoys stabbing the contestants with a knife and then gives it a little twist for maximum shock effect.

I think it was important that American Idol brought back Randy Jackson for Season 12, to give the show some stability. Keith Urban has shown how well he knows American music, by knowing a song that one of the singers hadn’t heard of, with Urban being from Australia.

http://t.entertainment.msn.com/nicki-minaj-most-hateable-tv-personality-ever-1?toc=ent

American Idol Officials Choose Groups

With the judges picking which contestants were in each group it eliminated some of the drama. There was no drama of someone begging to join a group, or to be kicked out of a group and finding a new group. However, there was still the drama of not all the singers liking a song choice. One group in particular had a country singer, who was trying to learn a Maroon 5 song Moves Like Jagger. The song choice sealed his fate as he couldn’t remember the words and was clearly uncomfortable singing a song out of his comfort zone.

TV Ratings Down

American Idol premiered this year on January 16 and drew only 17.93 million viewers, which was the lowest since the show debuted in 2002 with 9.8 million viewers. This was the first season since 2002, that less than 20 million viewers watched a premiere show.

A season low 13.28 million viewers watched American Idol last night and this is during the Hollywood week.

The proliferation of singing competitions has dealt American Idol a blow, that they may never recover from. To make matters worse The Voice will be returning again, about three months after ending their fall version in December. That could put a further dent into American Idol ratings. X-Factor finished their season a month before the 2013 debut of American Idol.

It would not surprise me to see a viewer backlash against Nicki Minaj, if she continues to belittle the contestants in such a cruel way. The way she is behaving tells me she won’t be back for Season 13.

Joe Schmo: Full Bounty Hunter Fake Reality Show Is Really Fake

Only one person in this photo knows this is a fake reality show. That person is Chase Rogan, who is standing to the right of the man in jacket at forefront.

It is becoming more and more evident that all reality shows are fake, to create the maximum drama from any situation. The Joe Schmo Show has a cast of characters, who know the show is fake, but Chase Rogan, who is the  Joe Schmo this season doesn’t have a clue, that he is being duped by the entire cast.

There was a close call when a girl who was supposed to be deaf answered, when Chase asked her question, which could have brought the show crashing down to earth. Then another time another girl on the show said she graduated from college at 14 and graduated from med school at 18, which sent up red flags to Chase.

The premise of the show is that the winner at the end of the season will  become a bounty hunter and win $100,000. Chase is the perfect foil for the show, as he  seems to fall for the prank hook line and sinker.

Chase has to wonder why he keeps winning immunity challenges and wears the immunity jacket to the eviction ceremonies. Of course, he is in no danger of actually being voted off the show, since they have no show without him in it. The worst case scenario would be for Chase to overhear something that tells him he is being set up.

The show creates awkward situations for Chase, like when one of the characters reveals to him that he is gay. Then two girls come up to Chase telling him that they are both crazy about the gay guy. Chase then tries to hint that the gay guy is not really interested in girls, without telling them that he knows the secret, since he promised to keep it secret.

One challenge is when Chase is asked to drive the van to a house with bounty jumpers inside. Jake Montrose who is pretending to own the bounty hunter company gives Chase a walkie-talkie, then enters the house alone. Ralph then calls Chase and Chase jumps out of the truck and over the porch and runs into the house. Jake hands him a gun to hold on the lady inside the house, while Jake runs to capture the other bounty jumper.

We have watched the first four episodes with six episodes remaining. We can only assume that the show will last all ten weeks, since it was filmed in July, but anything can happen.

Hope Chase doesn’t do like one of the past winners of the show and be very angry at being duped.

The best thing about this show is that you know that this show is 100 percent fake and doesn’t try to hide it. I know I may be in the minority, but I actually like this show.

The show can be seen on Tuesdays at 10 PM Eastern Time, which is 9PM Central Time on the Spike Network.

To read more about the show and see the funny video clips:

http://www.spike.com/shows/the-joe-schmo-show

The Voice Tops X-Factor In Head to Head Encounter

The Voice not only defeated X-Factor in the ratings, but drew 3.2 million more viewers during the 8 ET – 9PM time slot last night. I seriously thought that Britney Spears making her debut as a judge would attract more viewers to X-Factor.

It was a huge win for The Voice, as it drew 10.7 million viewers, while X-Factor only brought in 7.5 million viewers. The worst thing is that X-Factor had 12 million viewers on their debut show last September.

The 7.5 million viewers is an all-time low for X-Factor, as it was worse, than the 8.51 million viewers who watched the live results show on November 23 of last season.

So the spinning chairs won this battle over Simon Cowell, Britney Spears and the X-Factor singers.

These results don’t bode well for X-Factor, as the other networks will be debuting their fall programs soon. However, with The Voice not in direct competition next week, it will be a true test, to see if X-Factor rebounds from a shocking ratings loss.

The Voice has won one round one, but we may see both shows losing viewers, in the coming weeks.

Simon Cowell is probably in deep depression, since he had criticized The Voice producers, for scheduling their program, against X-Factor. Now the ratings results make it worse for him, since he knows X-Factor is not in the same league as The Voice, when it comes to attracting television viewers. Cowell had predicted X-Factor would draw 20 million fans during the inaugural season, but never drew more than 12.59 million fans, which watched the live results final last December. So dropping to 7.5 million in the first show this season, compared to 12.49 million viewers watching the debut show in 2011 is a serious setback to Cowell.

Producers of both shows will be watching the ratings next week, to see if The Voice can top X-Factor for a second week. X-Factor will be on its own tonight, but with the Packers-Bears game going against it, there could be more disappointing ratings announced tomorrow.

American Idol producers can’t be too happy, after the ratings were released, as the singing competitions bubble may be on the verge of being burst.

The Voice Vs. X-Factor

The Voice may have made a critical mistake, by competing head-on with X-Factor from 8PM ET till 9PM ET. X-Factor went on to finish their show uncontested during the 9PM till 10 PM time slot. It will be interesting what the ratings, which should be released later today will show, which show won the time slot.

It seems to me that singing competition fans would rather see Britney Spears and Demi Lovato making their debut as judges on the X-Factor, than watching The Voice for the third time in the week.

The blind auditions on The Voice to me are the highlight of the season. The tension as the singer sings and as family members watch is sometimes unbearable, as they wait for one of the judges to turn the chair around. It is sad to see a singer complete their song with no chairs turning around. The judges have not turned their chair around 14 times during the 35 songs sang over the three nights.

Bryan Keith was the only singer on Monday to see all four judges turn their chairs around as he sang It Will Rain. Adriana Louise Figueroa impressed all four judges, enough for them to turn their chairs around on Tuesday night during her rendition of Domino.

Nicole Nelson saw four chairs turn around on Wednesday night while singing Hallelujah.

It is easy to notice that Christina Aguilera is not interested in country singers, as she has passed on them.

The highlight for me after the first week’s shows was Gracia Harrison singing I Want To Be A Cowboy’s Sweetheart. The song is 78 years old, which could make it the oldest song sung this season, since it was written in 1934. Harrison’s yodeling really made the song standout. Christina Aguilera was the only judge to not turn their chair around. It was a foregone conclusion that she would choose Blake Shelton as her mentor.

For pure entertainment Casey Muesiggman owned the stage while singing Sweet Home Alabama, but I find it hard to believe he is only 22 years old, as he looks much older.

Terry McDermott from Scotland and now New Orleans was the first singer of the season, while singing Baba O’Riley and he chose Blake as his mentor. Treven Hunte who sang Listen to close out the Monday night show is a singer to watch. He is only 18, but he sings like a veteran singer.

One criticism of The Voice is that the singers we are seeing may not be seen again for several weeks during the battle rounds. I am not a battle rounds fan, since it seems like it turns out into a duel, to see who can reach the highest note.

It is possible for a singer disappear for seven or eight weeks before being seen during the battle rounds, especially since there will be 16 singers for each judge to mentor.

After the first three shows the judges have only 21 of the required pool of 64 singers, with 33 more slots to fill.

For a complete rundown of the first week of The Voice:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Voice_(U.S._season_3)

X-FACTOR SHOWCASES BRITNEY SPEARS

The main reason Britney Spears was signed to a $15 million contract was to garner higher ratings this season. The saddest part of the show was when Jillian Jensen, a victim of being bullied during middle school and high school sang with so much emotion, that the judges could feel her pain and voted to advance her.

Spears was visibly moved when Don Phillip, who had sung with Britney Spears on her debut album in 1999 in a duet, after he failed to advance in the competition and had a meltdown, before leaving the stage. It was a classic case of a grown man losing it in front of millions of television viewers.

There was no mention of Melanie Amaro the first X-Factor winner, which makes me wonder, if they are holding out any hopes of her being a successful singer. The first season ended last December and her debut album won’t be released till this December. American Idol winners have their first album released about 6 months after the last show. I don’t know if there have even been any Melanie Amaro sightings.

The following article gives a more complete rundown of the shows, including best and worst singers and a list of zingers used by the judges:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/x-factor-recap-britney-spears-demi-lovato-369972

 

 

9/11 Not Mentioned on Front Page of New York Times, New York Post Today,While Today Show Interviews Kris Jenner, Rather Than Show the Moment of Silence Memorializing 9/11

It saddens me that two of the New York City metropolitan papers chose not to mention 9/11. You would think that the New York Times would have mentioned the 11th anniversary, of 9/11,  but they decided it wasn’t important as the other news of the day. However the Times had a scathing article, on their opinion page implying, that President George Bush had foreknowledge or at the least had an idea the country was in danger of a terrorist attack.

The New York Post front page from today seen above features an article about New Y0rk Jets quarterback and his romance with Eva Longoria. The only other article on the front page is about a sex scandal at a girl’s school. Where are the media’s priorities today? Do they actually think these two articles are more important, than remembering 9/11. It is a sad state of affairs that a major New York newspaper, which covered the 9/11 attacks is now acting like it didn’t happen. How soon they forget.

The New York Daily News is to be commended on devoting their front page and 11 inside pages to memorializing September 11. Sure there is other news today, but are any of those articles more important than remembering those who met a fiery death, at the hands of terrorists at the site of the World Trade Center and those that died in other planes? One plane hit the Pentagon killing both passengers and Pentagon workers, who were on the wrong side of the building making them easy targets.

Then to top it all off the NBC Today Show showed an interview with Kris Jenner at the same precise moment, that ABC and CBS and the cable news channels were observing a moment of silence. This Daily Mail article includes a lengthy article about the 9/11 snub by NBC.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2201711/Shame-Viewers-outrage-Today-fails-9-11-moment-silence–airs-Kris-Jenner-talking-breast-implants-instead.html?openGraphAuthor=%2Fhome%2Fsearch.html%3Fs%3D%26authornamef%3DJames%2B%2BNye

Today was the height of absurdity with Mark Sanchez, Eva Longoria  and Kris Jenner in the spotlight, while the 11th anniversary was being ignored by some media outlets. Have we no shame? Have we no decency? It is almost like the media thinks, after the tenth anniversary last year, that those who died tortuous deaths on 9/11 no longer matter and have been relegated to the backburner.

I can’t undo the damage caused by the media today, but I can say those that died on 9/11 should be remembered, as long as there is life on this planet.

God bless America!!

American Idol Nearing the End of Its Run?

Since Phillip Phillips became the current American Idol, the American Idol franchise is looking very shaky, as the music competition show can’t seem to get its act together.

The chemistry between judges Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, over the last two seasons was excellent, but now with Lopez and Tyler leaving the show and Randy Jackson’s status questionable the show seems to be in disarray.

Mariah Carey is the only judge confirmed for Season 12 and will reportedly be earning $18 million. I am not sure she is a good fit for the show and she is certainly not worth $18 million. It seems strange after the ratings decline of Season 11, that they would pay that kind of money to a judge.

Carey is not only making a lot of money, but is trying to influence who else is on the panel. She was furious to know Nicki Minaj could be on the judging panel. Carey apparently thought she was to be to the only female judge on the panel and at the age of 42, she would be 13 years older than the 29 year-old Minaj. In addition Carey seems to have had the impression that she would be the only female judge like Jennifer Lopez was in Seasons 10 and 11.

Meanwhile Carey is calling for Lenny Kravitz to be one of the judges in Season 12. There are all kinds of rumors, about whether Randy Jackson will return as a judge or as a mentor, plus there is a long list of names being mentioned as possible judges.

Kanye West, Alanis Morrisette, Keith Urban, Enrique Iglesias, Brad Paisley, Adam Lambert, Carrie Underwood and even Charlie Sheen have been mentioned as possible judges.

Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley are the only possible judges, that I would like to see get the judging gig, but that probably won’t happen since they are both country music stars.

The question is how much longer the American Idol producers will continue to let this media circus go on. I think they made a huge mistake in signing Mariah Carey, especially at $18 million and since she is trying to influence which other judges will join the panel.

There is no way Carey is worth the extra $6 million, over what Jennifer Lopez was earning as a judge, when she signed her $12 million contract. Carey may surprise me, but I don’t see her having the emotional connection with contestants, that Lopez exhibited in her two years as judge.

Fox and the American Idol producers need to make their decisions soon on the judges for Season 12. Rumors are floating around that there may even be a fourth judge in Season 12.

The days as a ratings juggernaut for American Idol may soon be over. There were some chinks in the armor in Season 11, when almost 8 million fewer viewers turned in to see the finale, than had tuned in for the Season 10 finale.

Season 10 had Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina in their finale, while Season 11 had Phillip Phillips and Jessica Sanchez, so that may explain the drop in the ratings.

I look for X-Factor to have a ratings spike in Season 2 with Britney Spears on the judging panel. Even though American Idol and X-Factor don’t compete directly against each other, there may be viewers who like X-Factor so much more, that they won’t bother watching American Idol next year.

It is time for American Idol to get their act together, assemble the rest of the judging panel and end the present chaos and show Mariah Carey, that she is not going to pick and choose who the judges will be on the panel.

Ryan Seacrest may not even be able to save American Idol, if something isn’t done soon to restore the luster of the American Idol franchise.

 

Big Brother 14: Latest News Inside The House

DON’T READ IF YOU WANT TO WAIT FOR SHOWS TO AIR ON CBS!! THIS ARTICLE MAY CONTAIN INFORMATION THAT WILL BE SEEN ON UPCOMING SHOWS!!

Kara Monaco

Kara Monaco a former Playboy playmate has found out that game strategy trumps fame in the Big Brother house, as she and Frank Eudy, son of wrestler Sid Vicious find themselves on the block. The one who put them on the block is HOH Willie Hantz, the brother of former Survivor contestant Russell Hantz.

It looked like on the Sunday show that Willie and Frank had formed an alliance and agreed to not put each other up, but when the nomination ceremony was held Willie went back on his word and nominated Frank.

Even the HOH is subject this season to second guessing from the other players and the coach of their team. Willie apparently wanting to keep on the good side of his coach and fellow alliance members chose to put Frank up for eviction, even though he was going against his own inclination to not nominate Frank.

This could mean problems for Willie down the road, especially if Frank wins an HOH competition. The problem this year is that the coaches are constantly suggesting to HOH’s, that they need to make certain moves.

Mike Boogie and Dan Gheesling were shown on Sunday’s show making an alliance and Janelle Pierzina and Britney Haynes were also seen teaming up against the Mike and Boogie. However since then Britney has made some disparaging remarks about Janelle, saying that Janelle has never cried in the Big Brother house and she has a kid. There will be some fireworks if Janelle learns of this development and will make it more difficult to work together as the game goes on. When one coach trashes the other, that is supposedly in an alliance with the other coach, then we can expect confrontations between the two of them.

http://dogdave.com/bb.html is the best source for Big Brother news between the CBS shows. There are several links to pages that give details, of what is going on between shows and on the shows. The top of the page for today at least shows photos, of all the team members of the four teams.

One of my favorites is http://www.mortystv.com/big_brother.shtml which gives detailed descriptions of what is done and said during the day at the Big Brother House.  Near the top of the page is a box giving basic information, like who has been nominated and who has won the Power of Veto and if the Power of Veto was used. For instance Shane Meaney, the house flipper won the veto and chose not to use it.

There are people who watch the live feeds and report what house guest are saying and doing. For instance Janelle said she didn’t want to be a house guest again, because of having to leave her baby, but agreed to be on the show, knowing she had a 25 percent chance of winning the $100,000 prize for coach of the winning house guest. Britney checked contract with Big Brother and they have the right to change the show at any time, which means the coaches could be forced back into game, willingly or not.

Mike Boogie is being his usual obnoxious self, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see him take the $100,000 prize.  It will be interesting to see how much influence the coaches will have over the house guests as the season goes on.

Ian Terry of New Orleans, Louisiana is making a bad name for engineering students, with his bizarre behavior in the house and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him be one of the first to leave the show. He seems to be from a different planet, than the other house guests. It surprised me that Mike would grant him safety, but will assume Mike knows what he is doing.

One of my favorites is http://www.mortystv.com/big_brother.shtml which gives detailed descriptions of what is done and said during the day at the Big Brother House.  Near the top of the page is a box giving basic information, like who has been nominated and who has won the Power of Veto and if the Power of Veto was used. For instance Shane Meaney, the house flipper won the veto and chose not to use it.

Janelle may not be smiling if she learns that her alliance teammate Britney is trashing her to other house guests.

Mike Boogie turned 42 in the Big Brother house yesterday and it reminded me of the number of older house guests this year. Nine of the 12 house guests, not counting coaches are 26 or older with Ian 21, Danielle 23 and Wil 24 being the only house guests under the age of 26.

Joe Arvin the cook is 41, the oldest of the non-coach house guests. He plans to use his cooking skills to stay in the house longer. He is not just any cook since he founded  SmashMouth Burgers and Pizza in Schererville, Indiana.

It will be interesting to see as the season unfolds, just how much influence the coaches will exert over the house guests. This game is hard enough to play, without a coach constantly giving the house guests advice.

There have been reports that the coaches will enter the game, but some of the coaches may not be happy with that development, since so far all they have had to do is dress up like a horse and nominate a have-not from their team and for Dan to choose who to send home on the premiere show. If the coaches enter the game everything changes and reduces chance of other house guests of winning the money. Assume if the coaches enter the game they will get the $100,000 promised them plus the $500,000 grand prize if they win the game.

I don’t think the coach that wins should not have had to nominate a have-not from their team. What is the point of winning, when you know one of your team members will be nominated as a have-not?

Janelle is saying she is not happy with Willie to Wil and Ashley saying “I am seeing a lot of red flags with Willie”.

If Kara is evicted on Thursday night, then Dan will only have Danielle left on his team.

Big Brother 14 Twist (Spoiler Alert), American Idol Judges Dropping Like Flies

Big Brother 14 debuted for the 2012 season on Thursday night with a couple of new twists. The first twist was that four former contestants, including two winners would be coaches this season. The house guests will be competing for a $500,000 prize, given to the winner in the finale show this September.

Big Brother 2 and Big Brothers All-Stars winner Mike Boogie and Dan Gheesling of Big Brother 10 were the two returning winners, while Janelle Pierzina of Big Brother 6 and Big Brother All-Stars and Britney Haynes of Big Brother 12 will be the other two mentors, who will be competing for the $100,000 prize for best coach.

The other twist was that no house guests were given keys, because the coach of the losing team, in the head of household competition, on the inaugural show would have to choose one of his team for immediate eviction on opening night.

Personally, I hope this never happens again, since each contestant deserves one full week on the show, before being evicted, instead of being unceremoniously sent home on the first night.

This website is a great source of information worth saving to your favorites if you want to keep up to date, with what is going on in the house between the shows. Don’t go to this site if you want to wait for the shows to air, since it tells who was nominated since Thursday’s show and who won the veto, plus will tell the outcome of the veto ceremony next week.

http://www.mortystv.com/big_brother.shtml

Latest American Idol News

It is now official that Steven Tyler is not the only American Idol judge leaving the show. Tyler had announced earlier this week, that he was leaving American Idol to return to Aerosmith full-time. There have been rumors that Jennifer Lopez was resigning her job as a judge. Those rumors are no longer rumors, as Lopez told host Ryan Seacrest, that she was leaving the show to have more time, to allow herself to have more time to pursue other options in her entertainment career.

As if this wasn’t enough news about judges for one week, there is now word out, that Randy Jackson may be leaving the show as a judge, but may remain as a mentor for the contestants.

This would create openings for three judges. Mariah Carey has been mentioned as a possible judge, but there is no official word, as to whether she was actually offered the job. Adam Lambert has also been mentioned as a possible judge. With the auditions for Season 12 going on now, it is probably imperative that a new set of judges be chosen soon, so they can be filmed at the auditions, determining the fate of the contestants.

After a huge drop in ratings last season, American Idol may be having too much change, too soon for these changes to improve the ratings for Season 12. The proliferation of singing contests has reached the saturation point and I can foresee the ratings drop for the entire genre. The Voice and X-Factor return in September and The Voice being on twice in one year, could be a huge mistake since it hasn’t produced a name star yet.

With Britney Spears reportedly being a train wreck on X-Factor as a judge, this is what can be expected from X-Factor this September.

http://www.billboard.com/column/reality-check/new-x-factor-video-shows-britney-spears-1007557952.story#/column/reality-check/new-x-factor-video-shows-britney-spears-1007557952.story

 Big Brother 5 Winner Tasered By Cops

Big Brother  winners have a history of having run-ins with the law and Drew Daniel winner of Big Brother 5 is the latest winner, to experience a brush with the law. He reportedly injured a man, while in a domestic dispute. Now for the rest of the story, including the part where he is tasered by the cops.

http://bigbrotheraccess.com/big-brother-5s-drew-daniel-arrested-353325/

Timothy Poe of America’s Got Talent Has Warrant For His Arrest

The trail of lies and deception continues to grow as Timothy Poe’s back story on America’s Got Talent is questioned., since his emotional appearance on America’s Got Talent last week.

Poe had stated on last week’s show, that he had been injured in Afghanistan by a grenade. After that story has been refuted by the Minnesota National Guard, with whom he was serving at the time, it appears the only time Poe isn’t lying is when his lips aren’t moving.

Now the latest news is that Poe has an outstanding warrant for his arrest, in a case in which he is charged with assault, against a family member in 2002.

http://www.thedaily.com/page/2012/06/09/060912-news-singer-fibs-1-2-zzfpvzz/

Almost everything that Poe stated in his back story for America’s Got Talent has turned out to be a lie. The most flagrant lie to me is that he fell on a grenade, to save the lives of his buddies. You would think some of his friends would remember this happening. If he had indeed fell on a grenade, then he would have visible injuries, resulting from the grenade exploding. If you take Poe’s word, the grenade only caused his stuttering, which his ex-wife questions if it is real.

The only thing real about his appearance on America’s Got Talent was when he sang If Tomorrow Never Comes, the Garth Brooks hit. Everything he said on the show has been refuted.

Last I knew the United States does not award medals for an ear infection, while being in Afghanistan for only one month. It is a slap in the face of every veteran, who was in a combat zone during a war, for him to declare himself a war hero, when he did nothing to merit him being a war hero of any sort. For him use the photo of another veteran, tells me that Poe has no shame, by representing another soldier as himself.

It is amazing that Poe could keep a straight face, while telling lie after lie. He said he had only started singing recently, which has been denied by those, who knew he has been singing  in bands for many years.

It is safe to say that the only time Poe wasn’t lying on America’s Got Talent was when his lips weren’t moving.

The panel of judges on the show fell for his story, which is logical for them to do, since if you can’t trust a serviceman, then who can you trust. Apparently Poe is one that never should have been trusted.

The following article reports that Poe may have already been eliminated from the show. The judges will look with more jaundiced eyes at the other contestants, who have back stories, since they were told so many apparent lies by Poe.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2012/06/08/agt-contestant-timothy-poe-getting-boot-source-says/

Surely Poe didn’t think he could get away with his myriad of lies. He has found out that the old Sir Walter Scott’s quote, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive” still rings true today, as he been caught in his web of lies.

 

 

Cajun Justice: Latest Cajun Reality Show

 Louisiana has recently been the subject of many television reality shows. The latest is Cajun Justice which can be seen at 9PM CDT and 10PM EDT on Thursdays on the A&E television network.

The Cajuns have their own brand of frontier justice, as can be seen on these shows. This clip is an example of how out of hand things get in Cajun country:

definition-of-cajun-justice-20275390?pfilter=ALL%20VIDEOS#20275390

Sheriff Vernon Bourgeois is the sheriff for Terrebonne Parish. The following page has a short biography of Sheriff Bourgeois and his ten deputies.

http://www.aetv.com/cajun-justice/meet-deputies/keith-bergeron/

Cajun Justice was originally going to be named Cajun Blue, but guess any name with the word Cajun in the title is more likely to attract viewers.

There are presently eight television reality shows, that have been filmed in Louisiana. Four of the shows are being filmed above Alexandria and one is filmed in Alexandria and the other three are being filmed south of Alexandria.

This page tells more about the shows and a map depicts, where the different shows are being filmed:

http://www.louisiana-destinations.com/louisiana-reality-tv-shows.htm

Josh Ledet Sounded Even Better Live (Now With Video of Concert)

Josh Ledet

It was just yesterday that I learned Josh Ledet would be appearing, in Heritage Square in Sulphur, Louisiana. We got there early about 1:20 PM, before the 2PM concert. We live only about a mile-and-a-half from Heritage Square, so it took about three minutes to arrive at the venue.

Jason Ledet, the brother of Josh was the host of the show and introduced all the acts and thanked the sponsors and workers, who did an amazing job, considering they only had two days to set up for the concert.

A lady sang Amazing Grace, then a couple of country singers sang a couple of songs each. The lady had a French sounding name so won’t attempt to guess at the spelling. She returned after the country singers sang and sang the Loretta Lynn classic You Ain’t Woman Enough To Take My Man.

Then a fourth singer sang six songs, while playing the acoustic guitar, with none of the songs being recognizable to me and the crowd seemed to be uneasy, since most of the crowd was in the extreme heat and wanted to see Josh. Then a surprise guest Chase Slaughter of X-Factor sang a song acapella.

After all acts left the stage, it was time for Josh to make his entrance and he rewarded his fans, with his stirring rendition, of When A Man Loves A Woman. Almost everyone was on their feet, from the first note of the first song, till he left the stage. Josh called out to some family and friends, that he recognized.  He also sang It’s A Man’s World, Ain’t Too Proud to Beg and I Wish a song that really rocked the house and sounded even better than this version on American Idol.

Josh also sang Ready For Love. If you have a chance to hear Josh Ledet take it, because you will never forget the experience. He commands the stage well and has as much stage presence, as anyone since Elvis Presley. You could feel the electricity in the air when the took the stage.

This video shows Josh singing at the concert at Heritage Square in Sulphur, Louisiana. The video starts off with still photos, but it switches to video, when Josh begins to sing. Somehow this writer was captured on this video shot, since if I had known I would have absconded from the scene. I am the prematurely gray man wearing a Calvary Baptist T-shirt, not having a clue I was being filmed. The best part of the video is when Josh sings I Wish, which was a hit for Stevie Wonder. The video doesn’t come close to the sound of actually being there:

He came out early because of the extreme heat. Free bottles of water were being handed out to the fans, to keep them hydrated. My wife drank three or four bottles of water by herself and was feeling sick, when the crowd closed in to see Josh.  We were just outside the covered part of the arena, so  there was no escaping the heat, unless leaving the seat, to stand under the trees.

We left after Josh finished the first half of the show and went to his motor home behind the stage. I was badly sunburned by then, so we decided to leave before my wife got sicker or I got more sunburned, than I already was.

The main thing is that we got to see and hear Josh Ledet in person. I will be shocked if he is not a bigger star, than the American Idol Phillip Phillips or runner-up Jessica Sanchez.

Best of all, the concert, food and water were free, with McDonalds furnishing free hamburgers.

Josh Ledet will be returning to Louisiana later this summer, when the American Idol tour stops in Lafayette, Louisiana and appears at the Cajundome. The seats won’t be cheap, but if you got the money you will definitely get your money’s worth.

Lizard Lick Towing Returns On June 11

Ron Shirley, Amy Shirley and Bobby Brantley of Lizard Lick Towing.

Lizard Lick Towing will return to TLC on June 11. The show will be broadcast at 10PM EDT on Mondays.

Some critics of the show say it not a reality show, but instead is a fake reality show. They may be right, but it still shows a humorous side of repossessing vehicles and the lengths owners will go to so they can keep their vehicles from being repossessed. Former pro basketball star Charles Barkley is a fan of the show.

Ron Shirley and his wife Amy are the owners of Lizard Lick Towing and Recovery with Bobby Brantley assisting Ron in the repossessions. Ron and Bobby rarely can hook a vehicle up, without the owners knowing what is going on. Instead there is almost always a confrontation, with the owners before the vehicle is towed away.

Even Bobby Brantley has admitted some scenes are staged. If that is correct, then the show stops being realistic and instead is being manipulated by the producers, to make the viewers believe, that whatever is being shown really happened.

It is amazing how many times the lobby of the Lizard Lick Towing has been damaged by irate owners, returning to the office to pick up their vehicle. You would think that they wouldn’t bother to redecorate after the lobby has been trashed several times.

The show is a mixture of laughter and serious situations, where gunshots have been directed at Ronny before.

First show of the new season will be airing in only 11 days. Tune in June 11 to see the first show of the new season.

Kris Allen: May Be Time To Pull Plug On American Idol

American Idol producers can’t be too happy with Kris Allen, after he said it may be time to pull the plug on American Idol. It is surprising that he would say that, considering that without American Idol he probably would be singing at grocery store grand openings. It wasn’t that long ago that Lee DeWyze sang at a bowling alley opening, which is not saying much for how the career of Allen and DeWyze is going.

To his credit Allen’s latest album Thank You Camellia has 12 reviewers giving it a 5 star rating out of 15 reviewers.

The following article and video from TMZ.com includes a poll at bottom, that is showing that 74 percent of the voters think American Idol should be canceled, which has to be troubling for American Idol producers and may signal more losses in viewership in Season 12. This is a fairly large sampling of over 51,000 voters, so this tells me there is still some backlash, after Phil Phillips became the fifth guy in a row to win American Idol.

kris-allen-american-idol-finale

After viewing the video, am not sure that Allen said what he reportedly said in the article, unless he made some remarks, not shown in the video. Anyway, the alarming poll results have to be a huge concern.

We can’ t help but wonder if X-Factor and The Voice are killing the American Idol reality star.