AI 9 2-10-10 Hollywood Round 2 Group Nightmares

What is the absolutely worst part of Hollywood week? Can I get a G, R, O, U, and P? What does this spell? GROUP is right, tonight is the most hated of all Idol audition episodes Group Day. This episode has been a train wreck from the very beginning.

Ryan Seacreast refers to tonight’s episode, as “dreaded group night” during the introduction and all I can say is this is AMERICAN IDOL!

I found this evening’s episode to be tedious and the drama of this group day pales in comparison to others.

We are looking for an “Idol” not a “group Idol” which makes this a waste of time. The goal is to determine how the contestants can stand up to the pressure but I believe there are better ways to determine this then torturing me with group day each season.

I will forgo my usual blow-by-blow description of the show and include some general comments while discussing each group shown because in the end we did not get to see everyone.

“Faith” including members Charity Vance, Ashley Rodriguez and Michelle Delamor are the first to take the stage. They chose “Irreplaceable” and it was at best mediocre. Charity and Ashley were on pitch while I could not even hear Michelle over the piano playing. All members of the group get to return for another chance.

“Team Awesome” is next. How stupid to include the word “awesome” in the title, this is just asking for trouble. While I personally like Michael Lynche, (Big Mike) is it necessary to spend so much time about the birth of his child. Does the term T.M.I (too much information) come to mind as we hear about how many centimeters his wife has dilated? I certainly hope they paid them big bucks because otherwise why would anyone let a camera in the delivery room. Giving birth is no easy walk in the park and I certainly would not want America to see me looking like that, good gracious. Mike sounds good and shows excellent confidence. Seth Rollins (father of autistic son) sounded very rough while Tim Urban was at least on pitch. We did not even get to hear Michael Castro. Big Mike and Tim Urban are safe while the other two head home.

“Neapolitan” includes members Paige Miles, Thaddeus Johnson, Jessica Cunningham and Liz Rooney. The group attempts “Bad Romance” and I thought they were all seriously off-key. Liz Rooney was the worst of the bunch. The judges however loved this performance, everyone made it through to the next round, and Ronald just shakes his head and screams WTF!

“Destiny’s Wild” is very upset because according to them “Neapolitan” stole their idea to do the number a capella. The group includes Todrick Hall, Siobhan Magnus, Jared Liewer, and Theri. I enjoyed this group’s performance of “Bad Romance” much better than the prior group including the acrobatics. Todrick and Siobhan were definitely the members carrying the biggest load and their voices were excellent. The judges found this performance weird yet they sent them all through to the next round.

“The Mighty Rangers” is our next group. This is a stupid group name. The group includes Tori Kell, Maddie Penrose, Danny Jones, Mark Labriola and Kimberly Kerbow. The group chooses “Closer”. Tori and Maddie are the only two of the group who I felt were able to sing and sing well. It appears their extra practicing paid off. Mark was as flat as a pancake let alone forgetting the lyrics and poor Kimberly was mumbling so much the judges stopped the number during her solo. Tori and Maddie are going on while the rest will be packing to go home. Poor Danny was begging the judges for another chance given his age would disqualify him from trying out again. This was just pitiful. The begging did not win over the judges.

Our next group “Phoenix” including members Ben Honeycutt, Moorea Masa, Jermaine Sellers, Jeff Goldford and Kat Nestel are having lots of problems. When vocal coach Debra Byrd is yelling at you for not knowing what you are doing, you had better listen to her advice. It appears Kat does since she chooses to quit because she knows she will mess up and she does not want to humiliate herself. Personally, it is a stupid thing to do but perhaps she saves us from some vocal torture. The departure of Kat did not save us from vocal torture, Ben butchered his part of “Carry on Wayward Son”, Jeff continued the trend and Moorea forgets the lyrics as she murders the melody. Jermaine on the other hand at least could hold the key. Ben and Moorea head home while Jermaine and Jeff return for another round.

We then see a couple of groups butcher “Sweet Escape” mostly because they forget the lyrics.

Group “Middle C” which includes Janell Wheeler, Jeramine Purifoy and Casey James where a bright spot with their version of “Closer”. They impressed me, which is hard to do on group day. The entire group is moving on to the next round.

“Three Men and a Baby” including Andrew Garcia, Katie Stevens, J.B. Ahfua and another nameless guy were also quite good with their version of “No One”. Andrew Garcia and Katie Stevens were the standouts from this group.

The final group of the evening was “The Dreamers”. The members were Mary Powers, Alex Lambert, Margo May, Hope Johnson and Erynne Hundley. This group had lots of airtime with the original three constantly second guessing their decision to add Hope and Erynne. In addition, we had the big fight about who was in charge. I hope dear readers you will forgive not one but two bad puns coming next. We learn how much of a power hungry bitch Mary Powers can be. She set up a “power” struggle by being over “powering”. I now have it out of my system. By the time, the group hit the stage I was bored by all the drama but it appears my nightmare was just beginning. I thought the entire group was sharp and they seemed to be screaming versus singing. I would have sent the entire group packing for home but the judges save Mary, Hope and Alex while Margo and Erynne are going home.

The day began with 96 people vying for a chance to move on and after the freaking torture of group day; only 25 were cut which means 71 remain to fight it out for a chance to be in the top 24.

Next week each of the remaining contestants, get one more chance to prove why they should be the next American Idol.