Howard Cohen has been writing about pop music for The Miami Herald since 1991, and has written the Idol Watch column since 2005. His weekly critique of American Idol and its contestants runs throughout the popular series.
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Posted by Howard Cohen at 06:04 PM on September 30, 2009 in The Contestants | Permalink | Comments (1)
Castro's mall tour brings him to Sawgrass Mills Mall on Oct. 29 reports Billboard.Com
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Posted by Howard Cohen at 06:37 PM on September 29, 2009 in The Contestants | Permalink | Comments (4)
is already No. 2 on the Amazon sales chart -- for an album that doesn't even exist yet and won't for another two months.
Plenty of albums make the Amazon and iTunes list based on pre-order sales, but never this high, this early.
Not bad, Mr. Runner-Up. No. 2's the place to be. Kris, who?
Here's the EW article. Click here.
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Posted by Howard Cohen at 04:07 PM on September 29, 2009 in The Contestants | Permalink | Comments (1)
Paula Abdul took some (good-natured?) swipes at her replacement in the Idol's judging booth as she hosted VH1's Divas show. Here's a clip. See what you think.
Follow Howard Cohen on Twitter @HowardCohenPosted by Howard Cohen at 03:39 PM on September 22, 2009 in Paula , The Show | Permalink | Comments (0)
American Idol won four Emmy Awards for its 8th season, with three in the technical fields (Art Direction, Technical Direction/Camerawork and Lighting Direction) and one on-air presentation to director Bruce Gower for his work on the Top 3 episode that saw Kris Allen, Adam Lambert and Danny Gokey duking it out for the finals. (Gokey was eliminated that Wednesday; methinks Gower would have really deserved the win had he edited hokey Gokey out of the program entirely).
The program, however, once again lost the Best Reality Program race to Amazing Race which seems to own this award. I thought the Adam factor might finally carry Idol, the most popular reality show and most popular program, period, to a deserved award in this field. Ryan Seacrest, who did a good job this season, also lost in his bid to upset Survivor's host, Jeff Probst.
(Adam photo from Idols Tour in Sunrise; Howard Cohen/Miami Herald Staff)
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Posted by Howard Cohen at 01:26 PM on September 21, 2009 in The Show | Permalink | Comments (0)
Posted by Howard Cohen at 12:34 AM on September 13, 2009 in The Show | Permalink | Comments (0)
The rumor's true: Comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres will be American Idol's permanent fourth judge, replacing Paula Abdul on the podium. She starts after auditions week when the show returns to Fox in January.
The news is now posted on Fox's American Idol site. Photo: Fox/AmericanIdol.com
I'm of two minds on this. On one hand I think Ellen is a vast improvement over Paula. She's lucid, charismatic and has a high TV quotient. She's not a musician, but then again, neither was Paula. She's a music fan and will be most welcome.
On the other hand, I'm against the four judges format. It was a notorious bomb last season, causing the show to run long many times and it makes no sense when there's a tie in opinion. Simon Cowell merely gets double the vote in such an instance, so what's the point of having four judges rather than original 3? The BEST decision would have been to not renew Kara DioGuardi who was roundly disliked last year and had nothing of value to offer the show beyond a rotten disposition and her lousy songwriting skills (don't believe me? Just take another listen to the song No Boundaries she wrote for ultimate winner Kris Allen, who breathed a sigh of relief when producers of the Idols Tour cut it from his setlist.)
That said, I'm once again looking forward to the start of a new season.
Posted by Howard Cohen at 09:42 PM on September 9, 2009 in The Show | Permalink | Comments (12)
Danny Gokey signed a record deal with 19/RCA Nashville and plans to release a country album in 2010. Gokey finished third this season behind Adam Lambert and Kris Allen who both have record deals. Fourth placer Allison Iraheta signed earlier. Those three will see debut albums arrive this fall.
Country, which really doesn't sound like country anymore, is where Danny feels he belongs.
"I didn't realize the Idol experience would give me a musical direction, but it did," Danny said in a statement. "There were country songs that I performed on the show, and it was the message and the feeling in those kinds of songs that helped me realize that country is where I belong. I grew up in a family where I was exposed to music from artists like Alan Jackson and Wynonna and Brooks & Dunn, and when Randy Travis was on the show and asked me if Id ever considered country music, it was one more sign of where I knew I needed to be."
Not surprisingly, Danny's brand of country on Idol was the watered-down pop of Rascal Flatts. I hardly expect something with the honesty and integrity of an Alan Jackson to come forth from this guy.
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Posted by Howard Cohen at 06:34 PM on September 2, 2009 in The Contestants | Permalink | Comments (0)
