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American Idol Top 9 Results Show – Season 7, April 2, 2008
By PopSavant | April 2, 2008 | 
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Hello again everyone, and welcome to the liveblog of the American Idol top 9 results show from April 2, 2008. Last night I picked Ramiele, Jason Castro, and Kristy Lee Cook to be in the bottom three, with Ramiele being voted off. Lets see how I did.
The results show is an hour tonight, the same length as the actual performance show last night. How will they fill the airtime…
Hell’s Kitchen was good last night, BTW. Gordon Ramsey actually vomited in a trashcan. Now that’s the kind of TV I expect from Fox! Once again, though, there’s not a damn person in the contestant pool I care about. A little casting would put that show over the top.
It’s 8:57. Bastards started the show early, but at least Ryan tells us how they’ll stretch the show: throwing in a young country band. Wake the kids, phone the neighbors – as Dave used to say.
The group number is Dolly’s 9 to 5. It’s beyond awful. The individual parts are okay – barely, Syesha in particular seems to struggle – but the choruses are downright anemic. They try to liven it up by crawling all over the judges table, but the performance is just not good. The group song is often weak, but this may be the worst I remember.
All right, after a way-too-extended recap of the previous night, Ryan starts to bring the contestants out. Michael Johns is out first, to a pretty good crowd reaction – he’s definitely picking up steam as the weeks go by, and Ryan quickly pronounces him safe. David Archuleta comes out next, and Ryan tells him “you moved America, you’re in the top eight.” Carly Smithson is now up, and everyone’s thinking she’ll be the odd one out since she’s the last of the top third, but that’s much too obvious. Ryan tries to build a bit of drama by reminding everyone Carly has been in the bottom three before, and asks her where she would rather be. She answers with the obvious “over there” – indicating the sofa – and Ryan sends her right over. The three Stools of Doom are still empty as we go to the commercial break.
Six people backstage just got considerably more nervous. Their chances of being voted off just jumped from 33% to 50%. (Okay, stats geeks, don’t give me any crap about the math. I know it’s not a clean random chance.)
After the commercial they do the call-in segment, which is once again not even remotely entertaining. Why they want to reduce the premier reality show in America to a crappy local radio show is beyond me.
Next up are The Clark Brothers, who apparently won Fox’s Next Great American Band, which I never saw. They have a vaguely Nickel Creek feel to them. The instruments aren’t bad, but I don’t think much of the overall performance, although the energy level is very high, which I give them credit for. They sing This Little Light Of Mine/Jesus On The Main Line, and the whole time I’m thinking what a great job what David Cook could have done with it.
Next we have the Ford commercial, this week set to Run-D.M.C’s It’s Tricky. It’s hammy as always, but the song succeeds in giving it the carefree, fun feel that they always aim for. It makes me miss Penn & Teller from the original video, though.
Ryan comes back with the next group of contestants. David Cook is up first, assuring the audience that he’s fine after a trip to the hospital last night with a bout of high blood pressure. Ryan wastes no time: “Sofa!” Ramiele Malubay is next up, explaining how excited she was last night because she got to walk around on stage a bit, but despite her excitement Ryan sends her over to the stools where she belongs. Kristy Lee Cook is out third, and sucks all the energy out of the room by bringing a little sign with her that she intends to use to mark her stool. Ryan starts to do his usual recap of the judge’s comments, and Kristy – clearly feeling like she has nothing to lose – says she doesn’t want to hear what Simon had to say. Ryan quickly proves her pessimism correct and also sends her over to the stools. Paula tries to elicit an “Awwwww” moment by pointing out a pout on Ramiele’s face, but gets very little sympathy from the audience (and Randy, who dismisses it with a shrug.)
Yikes. We’re back from a commercial and there’s Bucky Covington on the screen, of all people, telling us how well he’s doing. I didn’t like him, but good for him. We also get a dose of Phil Stacey and Bo Bice.
Back to the results. Ryan brings out Syesha Mercado. Ryan asks her if it was daunting to take on a song Whitney Houston made famous. Syesha answers “That’s a tough question….” No, Syesha, it’s not, the answer is yes. Regardless, she’s safe, and makes her way to the sofa. That leaves Brooke White and Jason Castro. Brooke is in the bottom three.
So your bottom three are Brooke, Kristy, and Ramiele. Simon thinks America got the bottom three right, and thinks Carly is “very cute.” He’s certainly right about that last point (though I might have gone with striking rather than cute.)
The commercial break is up, and among them is a Wal-Mart/GE ad for compact fluorescent light bulbs, telling us how good they are for the planet. That may be true – mercury concerns aside – but the key point they leave out is how much the things suck. Are they better than they were a few years ago? Yes. Do they give off as pleasing a light as incandescent bulbs? No. But by 2012 we’ll all have to switch, so get used to seeing your loved ones in all their glorious pasty-green.
Next up is a plug for American Idol Gives Back. I don’t know how effective the $76 million they took in last year was, but I do believe it’s a rare instance of Big Media at least attempting to do something worthwhile. If you enjoy this blog, you can say thanks by tuning in a week from tonight and at least think about giving what you can.
Dolly Parton is next up, singing Jesus and Gravity, which I don’t know, but immediately want to like because of the title. There’s some annoying, scripted arm-waving going on up front, but it quickly settles down. I say I wanted to like it, but end up not really caring for it. It’s a bit predictable – also predictable is the fact that it will get a certain amount of play – but in the end it’s just predictable. The performance is all right because it’s Dolly.
All right, we’re back with the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Randy predicts Ramiele will be out. Simon says “It won’t be Brooke.” They’re all understandably nervous. Kristy gives off sort of an “I don’t give a F” vibe, while Brooke just seems sincerely touched to be there. Ryan ends the anticipation by announcing that Kristy is safe. Ramilie is the one leaving us tonight.
Ramiele openly cries as much as any Idol I can remember who was voted off. It’s a tough spot to be sure and I can feel for anyone experiencing that level of disappointment, but I’m glad she’s gone.
Summary/Results:
I predicted two out of the bottom three – I had Jason instead of Brooke (who didn’t belong near the bottom three) but perhaps I underestimated his fan base. I also correctly picked Ramilie as going home, and quite honestly, it’s several weeks late in coming. She was clearly the weakest one remaining. Plus her cute act (and make no mistake, that’s what it was… an act) wore thin long ago.
It gets tougher from here… none of the remaining contestants is glaringly awful. Every song will count going forward… who will come out on top? My picks right now are David Cook and Carly, but there’s a long way to go.
See you next week.
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