What happens at this stage of the game on American Idol is this: 10 of the 26 contestants get the nod from the American public’s vote — 5 girls, 5 guys. In addition, 3 more hopefuls get a wild card nod from the judges.
The ones in? Jermaine Jones, Colton Dixon, Elise Testone, Shannon Magrane, Skylar Laine, Joshua Ledet, Heejun Han, Jessica Sanchez, Holly Cavanaugh and Phillip Phillips.
Do some of those names look like they should be there? Yeah … that’s what I thought. It looks a bit fishy to me too. After all, the voting is a bit goofy at this early point in the running. Some who should have made it through were left in someone else’s wake.
There were exactly three contestants, specifically, who should have made it: Jen Hirsh, Adam Brock and Reed Grimm.
All three were favorites of mine. Should I be pissed they’re nowhere in sight? Maybe. I can completely understand why Reed didn’t make it through. He’s too much the versatile showman. He can do it all. And well. Remember: Casey was like that from last year. He made it, but he got nixed.
The other two however — Jen and Adam — should have skated into the Top Ten. No such luck.
Why? Why didn’t they get in? A big part of it was because of the convoluted voting this early in the game. There’s too, too much to consider. And there’s only so much you can do to vote and save your favorites through. There’s also that placation factor, where you think someone will safely make it, but lack of voting surprisedly knocks them for a loop. Result? They’re gone.
No Jen. No Adam. No Reed.
There was hope for a few moments. The judges called 6 contestants back to “sing for their lives.” Jen and Reed were two of those called. But in the end it was Deandre Brackensick, Erika Van Pelt and (a crying) Jeremy Rosado who made it through by the judges final decision.
As time plugs away, the voting will line up more evenly. Oh … there will still be surprises, but it won’t be quite so funky as it was with this episode.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed … disappointed my favorites didn’t make it. Heejun Han and Phillip Phillips are still there, but neither of them are Reed or Adam. Jeremy shouldn’t be there. Deandre shouldn’t be there. Jermaine Jones shouldn’t be there.
I’m probably going to be a little sore going forward for a while. Don’t mind me much if I am.
Notes:
Quotes:
“Heejun: What do you think about what Jimmy had to say about ‘America’s comedian’?” — Ryan Seacrest on Jimmy Iovine’s critique of Heejun being a comedian, not an Idol hopeful
“Who’s that?” — Heejun
Clacked by Michael Noble 
on Mar 02, 2012 @ 08:18 EST5EDT
Adam Brock not even getting a “callback” was a major disappointment. I would have liked to hear him one more time. Erika instead of Jenn is something I think even Randy will rethink in future weeks. Reed Grimm not getting in was predictable. Hopefully name recognition will open doors for him.
Jeremy may be an awesomely nice kid with a good voice, but I think he needs more backstage coaching before facing AI’s voting public. DeAndre’s falsetto is wearing on me, but I did like his “sing for your life” performance. He has amazing control and seems to be able to switch in and out of falsetto mid-syllable. Careful song selection is going to be essential if he expects to move on.
Colton, Skylar, Heejun, Jessica and Phillip were all on my Top Ten list. Shannon and Holly were my alternates. All in all, about what I would expect at this point in the season. Should be interesting to see what some of these ladies are going to do with Whitney Houston next week.
I’m so pissed that Adam didn’t get a second chance, he was my favorite of all the top 25. Idol needs to go back to eliminating the top 24 four at a time until they reach 12 because cutting it in half in one week is a terrible way to narrow it down. America should decide all of the top 12 because it should be about what voters want and not the judge’s favorites.
Why oh why Whitney Houston? No disrespect here at all to Whitney but Jessica Sanchez may be the only girl who can get through next week. How many times have they said don’t do Whitney and now they are making them. I realize it is out of respect for Whitney or to honor Whitney but if you have 12 kids get up and slaughter her songs what kind of respect is that?
Ericka should have made the top 10. I am glad she got one of the wild cards as she is not only one of the top girls but one of the top singers overall. I think the guys are weak and think that Reed and Adam should have made it.
*POST AUTHOR*
. . . . .
She’s still doomed, show0706 … because of my rule: “Chicks with tattoos don’t win American Idol” (at least not visible tattoos) … something I’ve stood by since season 5 and which has held true.