Mr. Idol Heads To Washington!

The fourth season of American Idol started off with some annoying old tricks and a few new treats. The first bit of annoyance was the omission of Justin Guarini from the opening montage of “Idol successes.” Granted, Guarini hasn’t seen the mainstream success of Kelly Clarkson or Clay Aiken, but he did outsell fourth place finisher Tamyra Gray, who managed to get two of her cd covers displayed in the clip. The politics involved in this stunt left a bad taste in my mouth. Luckily, a bit of freshness came along soon.

That freshness was embodied in one Mr. Mark McGrath, the guest judge for the Washington, DC auditions. Mark’s presence at the table provided so much more than eye candy. He took control of the increasingly stale panel of judges, and he became the ultimate voice of reason. Can he stay forever, please?

Unfortunately, the freshness of McGrath was soon counterbalanced by the overabundance of stunned and silent responses by the panel to off-key contestants. Being awestruck at someone’s awfulness only works once, not the majority of the time, as was the case in this episode. While the judges certainly could come up with some more interesting reactions, this overdone trick is mostly the fault of the producers for letting too many bad people through to see Simon and company. These contestants had to go through at least two very competitive rounds of auditions in front of the producers before they are passed on to see Simon, Paula, and Randy, and then many of those hit the cutting room floor. With over 100,000 auditioning through this strict system and plenty of editing time, there is no need for this repetitive baseness to happen in the final audition room, much less air on television. The producers also fail to recognize when someone’s situation is funny and when someone is sad. They aired too many people who were the latter tonight, and it came across in very poor taste.

Fortunately, the show bounced back with one standout “reject”: Mary Roach. She could have been the next Mary Guilbeaux. Heck, she is the next Georgina with comments like, “I’m going to walk in like I’m confident. You know, head up high, strutting my stuff. Not too much strut, though, because that looks tacky.” Hilarious! Sadly, her poor outfit choice and dance moves caused her vocals to be underrated. If someone cooler looking produced the sound she made in the audition room, she’d be headed to Hollywood as the folksy free spirited singer of the season. As is, Mary simply provided some lighthearted comedic moments worthy of a Saturday Night Live character. Too bad she lost all credibility by both going off on a vulgar rant against the judges and singing an over-the-top song during a heavily producer-influenced and edited post-audition interview.

In addition to the excess of orchestrated bad talent, the judges also passed too many average contestants onto Hollywood. Rising from the mediocrity, however, were two contestants of note. Fitting for the female/male balance prescribed for this season’s finals, one is a girl, and one is a guy. Marlea Stroman displayed physical and vocal beauty worthy of a trip to the semifinals. It will be interesting to see what she brings at the next level. Her male counterpart, Constantine Maroulis, is just what the doctor ordered. American Idol needs some flavor like this rock band frontman. Here’s hoping that he makes it all the way to the finals. He brings some substance and versatility to the show the likes of which we’ve seen on the superiorly produced Canadian Idol. This season of AI has also borrowed the Canadian Idol practice of showing home video montages of preliminary round contestants. Let’s hope that borrowing production values from CI continues throughout the season, eh?

Luckily, the show ended on a high note. As Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway” played in the background, we were reminded of just what magic this show can create. Here’s hoping that someone this season will bring the talent, style, and fun that the original American Idol herself brought to the show. Bring it on!

All photos copyrighted 2005 Fox Broadcasting, Fremantle Media, 19 Entertainment, www.idolonfox.com

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