Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Group Day in Hollywood


The fake, over-the-top drama associated with Group Day is ridiculous, yet absolutely mandatory. The Idol script requires that there be at least three (made-up) crises accompanied by boatloads of dramatics and theatrics. This year's labor and delivery subplot was the icing on the cake.

But, really, why must we see the Idols sing in a group? They don't want to share the stage with anybody, much less their competition. This isn't an audition for New Kids on the Block; this is about one winner, one singer, one American Idol. But, I suppose the clash of personalities makes for good TV.

So, at this point there are 96 contestants and I don't really know any of their names. And they are forming groups and those groups have names. And a lot of the contestants look alike. Many, if not all, have bad hair. At any given moment, two out of three contestants are crying, making it that much harder to tell them apart. I'm exhausted trying to keep up with the mayhem.

And for some reason they only have the grand ballroom to practice in...adding to, you guessed it, the confusion. I don't know, would it kill the producers to provide the groups with break-out rooms? No, it wouldn't, but it would take away from the drama. There, I answered my own question. That also explains the all-nighter. Seriously, we have dragged this audition crap out for months, but for some reason Group Day needs to happen within a 24 hour period - or else. Really?

At the end of the night we are down to 71 singers. Big Mike is now officially a father and is sticking around Hollywood for the next round. Mary, the bossy rocker babe, is on my last nerve and is in dire need of a new hair-do. The Colbie Caillet-ish girl made it through with her group. And anybody who chose to sing Sweet Escape is on a plane home. Rightly so.

I think I have some favorites, but I still haven't learned their names and I don't want to get too attached because before long those 71 singers will be reduced to 24...and even that is 14 too many for me.

The sun is setting in Hollywood and it's way past my bedtime. Until next week...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you AI Pooh Bah!