» AI4 Retrospective Options

[Hisurfer]

The trigger for this topic came from reading so many comments about how the whole show was pre-determined from the beginning. For my part, my opinions and favorites have changed radically over the course of the season - and I was wondering how others felt. My take:

Pre-Season
So many pretty men. It is, for sure, the year of the men. Anwar stands out, and I lay my early money on him to sweep the whole thing.

Eliminations
Early hate for Elizabeth Pha and Scotty Savol. A few women finally catch my eye, notably Aloha and Mykalah. I'm surprised that Aloha gets cut so soon. Mykalah never lives up to my hopes for her.

Early Rounds
Uh oh. My favorites are not sounding so good. At all. And what did they do with all the pretty boys? I don't see the appeal of the much-hyped Constantine, and I like the trashy white chick [Celena - or was it Jessica?] better than the pretty farm girl [Carrie] the show keeps pushing on me. Nadia blows me away, and that guy Bo doesn't sound so bad. I move my money to a Nadia/Bo rock finale.

Middle Rounds
I learn to like Constantine just in time to say goodbye. Nadia also leaves too early for me. No shockers in the elimination order, though, beyond the fact that Scotty should have left a long time ago. I silently peck the beaded mirror every time he sings [gracias for the image, Geoffrey]. Vonzell comes out of the blue to win my heart, and I am sure that she will win it all.

Final Rounds
Scott's gone, and there's only nice kids left. Vonzell loses steam, and the elimination order makes perfect sense. Bo seems the clear front runner ... but I am wrong all the frikkin' time about this, so who the hell knows what will happen next week.

Anyone else had shifting favorites? Or have you really all been in love with Bo from Day One?

This post has been edited by Hisurfer: May 19, 2005 @ 7:32 pm.

[ravyn]

Bo had me at hello - oops, I mean Whipping Post.

[LeilaBloom82]

There's a thread similar to this here, in Idol Entertainment.
It encompasses all 4 seasons.

[Coolgranny56]

My post was lost into the ether... Let's try this again.
I've loved Bo since the semi-finals (Whipping Post), but I never dreamed that he would make it this far.
I enjoyed Constantine's antics, but I was never a "fangirl."
I really liked Jessica Sierra early on, but I knew that her days were numbered.
My early money was on Anwar until about week 3, when I realized that he was technically a great singer, but not a great performer.
This was when I switched my allegiance to Nadia, who my 3 year old granddaughter thought was the greatest thing since PB&J. Disappointed again!
(Scott Savol just astounded me. Who was voting for this guy? His vibrato, if you can even call it that, drove me up a wall.)
I started liking Vonzell after Anyone Who Had A Heart and voting for Vonzell after Nadia left and never stopped. (I've resigned myself to her departure, but I don't have to be happy about it.)
I think it was after Constantine's surprising early booting that I began to think that Bo would really make it into the final two.
Constantine's early departure was the last surprise that this season delivered. Every elimination since has been utterly predictable. At least I haven't been "SHOCKED," despite all of the pretend hype that FOX tries to generate. Yet I still watch the show every week.
"My name is Coolgranny and I'm an AIaholic"

[Jacob]

There's a thread similar to this

Agreed, but I'll allow it -- think of it as a season-wide episode thread (specifically the first five pages where everybody gives their personal impressions without reading anybody else's posts). I'm moving it, though, to the Entertainments board.

[drew156]

I didn't like Bo for a long time. And then he did Time In A Bottle, and since then, he's been alright with me.

It seems like I didn't realize how good people were until #1s week. Like, with Vonzell, she was just a girl with a pleasant voice until she did Best Of My Love. And then I thought..."wow..." and then she just kept bringing winners. So...I love the Vonz.

I liked Mikalah's original audition and I though maybe she'd be awesome. And then I found out I was wrong.

I think this is my cycle of rootage--Lindsey to Jessica to Nadia to Vonzell to Carrie. Every time I lost somebody I changed over. Heh.

[Braindead]

I picked Anthony early on, as I really believed 19 wanted to make up for their huge mistake in not letting Clay win. But, luckily for AFed, he proved he has his own style and voice. I still think he is more marketable to the teen market than Bo or Carrie, but time will tell. And he will do well, anyway. Just wait till the tour when all the pre-teens scream for him.

[vallegirl]

My impression of the season has gone:

Auditions/Glen...Hollywood
Clearly the producers are trying to establish their final three: Mario, Carrie and Connie because those three got the most coverage of any wannabe. They were also the most willing to play whatever role the producers wanted (Mario: Happy Latino crooner; Carrie: Happy, naive farmgirl; Connie: "Rebel" rock star) so that's what I figured I'd be watching. I knew even before the Glen...Hollywood round was over that all three would not only make it to the final 24, but would be in the final 12. I also knew that I despised Connie with every fiber in my being.

Semis
Ah....the magical time where the chosen ones make it through, but someone (or two) can come along and knock us on our ears, and Bo and Nadia did just that. They were both dazzling in the first week of the semis, which was needed to advance since neither was a "chosen one" at the time, and their maturity and stage experience really separated them from the others. Interestingly, despite sucking so much ass he should have been sporting a Dirty Sanchez, Connie advanced beyond two performers (Judd and Joe) who gave better performances but were all but absent from the audition/Glen...Hollywood rounds. At this point I was boarding the Bo train, but not entirely giving up on Nadia.

Early rounds
Nadia lost it for me. Her disdain for the audience was palpable and I'm sorry, Nadia. You chose to be the performing parakeet, so don't be angry with us when we expect things from you. Referring to your choices as "arty farty" just begs us to say "Screw you," and we did. She showed herself to be something of a performerbot with two settings "Funky Diva" and "Defiant Chanteuse." Unfortunately, she always chose to sing songs about beaten and weak women. At this point, I was firmly on the Bo train but looking for a backup plan when he got booted. I decided it would be Vonzell.

Middle rounds
Connie realized he would do better as a drama queen instead of a "rocker" and he and Bo seemed to be establishing separate identities. But Bo faltered while Connie soared and I feared the worst. That Connie would eat up the Bo fans and I'd have to listen to his nasal caterwaul all the way to the finals. But luck shined upon Bo and allowed him to give his worst performance the same week Nadia said "F'You...I'm singing Crystal Gayle" and the producers begged, begged, begged Bo to put down the honeybear bong and just sing a song with conviction. He did on the results show, giving us a great rendition of "Remedy" and the tide began turning toward Bo.

The tide finally, and irreversibly, turned in Bo's favor when Connie allowed his ego to get the better of him and he jumped out of his drama queen box and tried to climb into Bo's rock star box, but Bo was having none of that. Connie came off looking like a pale, karaoke version of Bo and got the boot. I completely gave up having a second favorite, and stayed happily on the Bo train.

Late rounds
No surprises with regard to boots, except that Scott was still around, but one big surprise when I realized that at some point during the show I began to really, really like A-Fed as an individual if not as a singer. Also, where once I found her charming, just the mere sight of Vonzell and her purple-glitter-pen personality and dimples made me want to gouge out my own eyes with a purple glitter pen. Cute as a button, sharp as a knife, songs sung in the key of V...I couldn't wait for her to leave. But it didn't matter, because I was only watching the show for Bo, and the rest were filler.

Finale
Not as the producers wanted it, but a final two that became inevitable when the other two "chosen ones" spontaneously combusted. I love Bo, will buy his single and CD but hope Carrie wins because I want Bo to have a little more creative control and time to record his CD.

[ShunnedforLife]

Pre-Season
Clearly they want a man to win but I'm sure Rashida Johnson will give them a run for their money...

Eliminations
Crap, there goes Rashida and Shunta and Faith and Angel. I guess Janay, Nadia, Vonzell, and Aloha will have to fill the void. Damn, there goes Janay and Aloha.

Early Rounds
Nadia can win this! She will get to the F2 with a boy since they do want a male winner.

Middle Rounds
Well there's goes that F2. Wait, where has Vonzell been? Come on! You can do it!

Final Rounds
As always, my favorite never gets to F2.

[Ariel]

At the auditions, I thought Constantine's arrogance would prevent him from getting into the semis. I also thought Michael Luizza was a good shot to make the semis. And I knew A-Fed would sail into the semis, and from there to the finals.

In Glendale, I started rooting for Bo from the moment he sang "The Letter". Saw a promo shot of A-Fed stressing and thought, "You have absolutely nothing to worry about." And Michael Luizza had already choked, poor kid.

I could have predicted the final 12 before the semis started and still been right without watching a single semifinal performance show.

In the early finals, I told my mom, "The longer Nikko stays, the better his chances for winning." So much for that.

In the middle finals, I was pulling for a Bo/Con final 2. So much for that as well.

In the late finals, I figured A-Fed and Vonzell were pretty much interchangeable in boot order. Other than that, I knew this would be the final 2.

Edited to spell Michael Luizza's name right.

This post has been edited by Ariel: May 21, 2005 @ 12:21 am.

[bettymojo]

The auditions: Mark McGrath, are you serious? You like this Constantine kid? But he sucks! He really really sucks, and he's gross and oh god now we're going to see his stupid band so I'm stuck with him until the finals. Holy crap. Mikalah? Are you kidding me? I must not hear what everyone else hears.

Hollywood, or whatever the cool kids are calling it these days: I need to find out who sang "Mustang Sally." Judd Harris, is it? Ok then, he is my favorite and I'm all ready to make CD's of his songs that he sings every week.

The eliminations: Ok, so I love this Bo kid. He was all ready to leave but he got put through. He's different looking, from all of the other prospectives, so I like him. Hope he sounds ok. Mikalah got through? Ew. Oh, thank you so much for taking Travis, but can't we put Scott back and keep the guy who was sitting next to Travis? Oh well, Scott will never make it to the finals.

Semis: Judd's out first? No way. But he's hot! And he sounded different. And he surely is better than Constantine. David Brown, what happened? Travis, doll, didn't anyone ever tell you that Simon hates dancing? Well, it's down to Nikko, Travis and Scott. It has to be Nikko, right? Right? Holy shit that ugly asshat bulldog made it and Nikko goes home. Oh, there were girls too. Nadia, you rock. I bet you'll sing like that every week and get to the final 2.

Finals: Scott's going first. I know it. What? Ok, it's down to Nikko and Scott, justice at last. WHAT? Good lord, what's it going to take to get him out of there? Scott outlasted Constantine? Even though they both suck, I figured Constantine had way more fans.

Final 2: Whatever. It was only a matter of which male was standing next to Carrie. I hope she's not another Kelly who wins without ever hitting the Seal (which is completely undeserved, because she should have been in the bottom when Anthony went, not Vonzell).

[Phan]

City Auditions: The only folks I was impressed with were Jennifer Todd, David Brown, Carrie, and Nikko over all 6 of these episodes. I had a bad feeling this season was going to suck. And somehow I knew Constantine (who I loathe to this day) would make the finals. Hated Mikalah. And Scott. And Anwar.

Hollywood: Oh Hollywood, how it gave me hope. Rasheda Johnson was kicking ass and taking names, the rocker clips where we first got to see Bo, and Jaclyn Crum was doing a hell of a lot better than what her initial audition showed. Janay showed off a great voice with her group's "Mr. Postman" and Hobo Clown Jessica Sierra perked my interest. As did Judd with Mustang Sally.

Semi-Finals: Bo emerged as the LaToya "Where'd that Come From" favorite, and Aloha was also a surprise in the mix, but got bounced in favor of Janay the fawn in headlights. Judd gets booted for no known reason other than being entertaining, which IS a no-no on this show. Constantine sucked for three straight weeks and made the Top 12. As did Lindsay. Jessica Sierra started to do well and earned her spot. Anwar was technically boring. Nadia ruled for 2 of 3 of those weeks. Mikalah made me hate her, then enjoy her, then feel bad for her.

Finals: Nadia made me hate her. Then love her. Then hate again. Jessica got robbed because Anwar was supposed to be the boring one viewers inexplicibly vote for and Jessica was pretty boring the night she was booted. Bo nearly got the boot at Top 8. Anwar, Constantine, and Scott made what could have been an awesome Top 7 (imagine if you will, a Bo, Nadia, Nikko, Jessica, Vonzell, Anthony and Carrie Top 7 duking it out. Yeah.) and made the remaing three weeks half horrible/boring. Anthony redeemed himself quite gracefully, and even turned some posters into fan(insert gender) goo. Vonzell suddenly becomes awesome and loveable and nabs a well-deserved 3rd, leaving us to the predictable finale of Bo and Carrie, though it looks to be a good one.

So the viewers (as usual) ruined what could've been an awesome season.

For the hell of it, in Retrospect, my Top 9 would've been (in no particular order):

Judd, Aloha, Nikko, Vonzell, Nadia, Jessica, Bo, Carrie, Anthony. Man that would've been just amazing television.

So the presence of 3 performers ruined the season for this viewer: Anwar, Constantine, and Scott, and the lacking of performers (such as Judd, Aloha, and then later Nadia and even Mikalah a little bit) made the season in the middle weeks a snooze fest.

Well, we can hope Season 5 doesn't get as horribly fucked up. Right? Right???

This post has been edited by Phan: May 22, 2005 @ 1:56 am.

[bluejaylove]

I think from the beginning I considered Constantine and Bo my favorites. I thought Anthony and Anwar were cool, too. I really thought Nikko should've made the original Top 12, was disappointed that he wasn't, but didn't really care much when he made it after Mario quit. I was EXTREMELY shocked when Constantine exited. He was my favorite to win it all, although I never expected them both to make the Top 2 because of the split votes between their fan bases. And he didn't even make the Top 5! I thought that Scott and even Anthony overstayed their welcome, even though I kinda felt Anthony was a wildcard. I liked Scott at first, but geez, I couldn't wait 'til he left. After Connie left, Bo was my favorite to win it all, of course, and I wouldn't really care much about the show if he left.