Hollywood Week

I thought Hollywood week was a bit lacking in drama. In the past few seasons they have paired up teams or groups of contestants and forced them to rehearse and perform together, leading to a lot of squabbling and a few hangovers. This year there were no group performances and no contestants that seemed determined to make trouble, as in seasons past.

The audition format was a bit different this time around. The contestants gave an initial audition after which the judges said "yes" or "no". If "yes" then the contestant would have to sing again in a second round of auditions.Some people, like Amanda Overmyer and David Archuleta, sailed right through. Others, like Syesha Mercado who was battling laryngitis, and Kristy Lee Cook managed to redeem themselves with that second chance a cappella audition.

During the second round of auditions the judges cut several large groups of contestants right off of the stage. Then whoever was left gave a final audition with the band and backup singers. Finally, with the final performance of the week came some of the drama that we AI fanatics are used to during Hollywood week.

Josiah Leming seemed like a front runner in the competition because the producers had told the story of how this young guy lived in his car, driving from gig to gig trying to break into the music biz. He's a cute young guy and he had an unusual sound that the judges seemed to like. He actually sounds British when he sings and has probably listened to a little too much Coldplay for his own good. I thought he was crap but even Simon liked him and they sent him through. So they recapped his whole situation again during Hollywood week, basically shoving him down our throats. So it was a little shocking when he blew it on the final day.

The contestants had to pick a song out of about 200 options, rehearse it with the band and then sing with backup singers the following day. Apparently Josiah had trouble picking the song and at 3:30 in the morning he still hadn't rehearsed. Then we see the voice coach scolding Josiah a bit because the rehearsal had gone bad, due to the fact that he wasn't working well with the band.Cut to the next day, Josiah is the final contestant, he goes on stage and asks the band to leave. He sings "Stand by Me" with no accompaniment. And he tanked it. It was awful and the judges were no happy. Simon ripped him a new one, and deservedly so. It seemed like maybe he thought his charm would get him through, but it came off as rude. The whole point of the audition was to see how the contestants worked with the band and singers and in his arrogance he took over the audition and did it his own way. And in the end he paid for it.

On the final day the judges whittle the contestants down fro 50 to the top 24. One by one the contestants ride up that elevator to face Simon, Randy and Paula and learn their fate. Josiah, even as he was riding up that elevator, said that he felt he had made it through. He was shocked when the judges told him he was done. Then he cried and hugged everyone and made quite a little scene in the waiting area. Oh well, boo hoo hoo. I was glad to see him go, I didn't know why he even made it to Hollywood.

So, after some torturous yea's and nay's (can Paula ever just say YES or NO? It's like a disorder with her), the final 24 were notified and we were left to compare notes ponder next week's show.