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American Idol Top 4 Results Show – Season 7, May 7 2008
By PopSavant | May 7, 2008 | 
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Hi everyone, and welcome to the American Idol Top 4 results show from May 7, 2008. The singing is over, the votes are in, and we’ll be dropping from four to three remaining contestants tonight. In the wake of last night’s show, my pick (and, seemingly, the pick of every other commentator on the net) to leave is Jason Castro, whose bad night last night was only the latest in a string of performances that make you wonder how he stuck around so long.
The usual disclaimers: liveblogging as it happens, forgive any grammatical/spelling/editorial errors, etc. Please join in and comment along.
8:47: Almost time…. While we’re waiting, Clay Aiken was back in the news this week, telling the AP “”I’m not trying to be Justin Timberlake…. I’m not gonna bring anybody’s sexy back.” Good for you, Clay, seriously. You know who you are, which among other things, just happens to include having a great voice. That’s enough.
9pm: here we go. Ryan tells is it was the most dramatic show yet… I don’t know about that, but it was one of the better ones last night. It shows in the votes, which Ryan tells us stands at nearly 51 million, and the top three had about a million votes separating each of them. Does that mean the forth person was trailing by an embarrassing margin? We’ll never know.
With only four contestants left, they’re going to half to work to stretch this show to an hour. Ryan shows us the patten, giving each judge an extended chance up front to talk about last night, starting off by asking Randy if he was being too mean to Syesha.
The Idols are up with the group number, Reeling In The Years… really. The entire damn Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and they wheel out freaking Steely Dan for these youngsters to sing? Fascinating. As with all the group songs this year, it falls pretty flat… David Archuleta’s voice is weak throughout, Syesha is unremarkable, Jason Castro looks like he’s sleepwalking, and while they give David Cook some extra stage time to try and salvage it, he fails as well. The step left, step right choreography does little to help. They need to seriously rethink these before next season… there’s no reason they have to consistently suck this badly. They weren’t quite this bad in previous seasons, what changed?
We get a glimpse of Carly in the audience, just to heat things up a bit.
Commercial break, and then we’re back with Ryan plugging the top ten tour, followed by the recap video from last night. In retrospect, it sounds about like I thought last night: Jason completely tanking, Syesha being good but not really connecting with me, David Cook having one brilliant song and one barely competent one, and David Archuleta having the surprise performance of the night with Love Me Tender. The two Davids were easily the best last night.
Ryan kindly reminds us “someone’s dream will be crushed!” Thanks, Ryan. Now that’s good TV!
First up into the crusher is David Archuleta, who’s “feeling nervous,” but thinks he “really connected” with his songs last night. He grudgingly allows that yes, he really wouldn’t mind winning the show after all. It turns out he may just do that, as Ryan sends him to the Couch of Safety. Ryan reminds us the top three will get the traditional trip home next week, and we go into the commercial.
Coming back, we get to see the Idols heading to Las Vegas to see the Cirque du Soleil show featuring the Beatles… they try hard to liken this four to the original Fab Four, but that’s stretching it a bit far. I’ve never seen a Cirque show; from the clips I’ve seen I can’t decide whether I’d love it or hate it. I suppose I should bite the bullet and find out in person.
Back to business. David Cook is next out, to a screaming welcome from the audience. He comes over to Ryan with a casual stroll… good idea; if you’re voted off, you’ve just extended your time and if not, you just look cool. Randy says that to make it to the final, David just needs to “stay original, and rock it out baby!” David says that his “head was just in the wrong place” last night, but it doesn’t matter… he’s safe. Good results so far, the best two from last night are comfy on the sofa.
Ryan brings out Syesha and Jason Castro together, and despite trying to fool us into thinking he’s about to read the results we all know he’s not – Fox has some commercials to sell – and we cut to a break.
Commercial for Adam Sandler’s Zohan move… it looks amusing. Maybe Sandler’s got his game back. I dug the Wedding Singer.
Also the Verizon commercial with the mosquitoes. I hate it every time I see it. The one with the mob dude asking about service down by the docks was better.
Back with the Ford commercial, to Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. It features the idols in Matador suits bullfighting a Mustang (a horse.) It’s completely ridiculous, but it goes far enough past reason that it actually becomes charming. One of the better efforts this season.
Now the phone in segment, which needs to be incinerated and have its ashes scattered to the four winds. The first caller asks David Cook for a date, resulting in a very uncomfortable David dismissing her with a “we’ll see.” The second caller asks what the hardest thing the Idols have had to overcome on the show is… Syesha: stage fright. David Archuleta: “I don’t know.” Jason Castro: “Brain dead” … it’s the ganja, Jason. The next caller asks Simon why he hasn’t been knighted on by the queen, a question he admits asking himself on a regular basis. Next: Syesha, how does it feel to be the only girl left? Proud. Next up: what’s the coolest thing you’ve heard from someone whose song you did? David Cook says he heard from Our Lady Peace after his performance, so he has that going for him. The last caller suggests that Simon could be the next James Bond, to which Simon says “I like the questions this week… I’m available.”
Next up, a performance by Maroon 5, with a very funky If I Never See Your Face Again. I dig it. It’ll be a good summer tour, they’re going out with Counting Crows. Why can’t the Idol performances sound this good?
Indiana Jones commercial. I’ll be there at midnight, of course, but I’m skeptical. They lost it when they turned him from an unlikely hero into a cartoon sometime in the second movie… maybe they’ve righted the ship, but they’ll have to prove it to me.
Commercial for Don’t Forget The Lyrics, which is an entertaining show, but what the world needs is more Hit Me Baby One More Time.
Our old friend Bo Bice comes out, with Witness. Yikes! He just whipped out the talkbox… I don’t know that that was completely necessary, but it’s okay in the context of the song. Bo is all 1970s southern/hard rock, with Hammond organs and endings that go on forever, giving you the feeling that you ought to be watching the show through a smoky haze. In other words, terrific when it works, and this did. He’s clearly shaken off the Idol production influences and is back to being himself.
All right, it’s 9:53, let’s get some results out. Ryan recaps their performances. Jason says that he did, in fact, take Simon’s advice and packed his bags, also offering that somebody told him he “shot the Tambourine man.” Funny. If you’re going to go out, go out smiling. Jason blames his “inexperience…. I screwed it up. Man!” Syesha says she’s “living her dream” and says a change will come in that the United States might have either our first female or our first black President.
Ryan stops it there: Syesha is safe. Jason Castro will darken America’s TVs no longer. Jason exits by giving us I Shot The Sheriff again. Weenie, he should have gone for Tambourine Man again just to prove to everyone he could remember the lyrics.
Summary/Thoughts:
Jason Castro leaving was the only real choice here, and America got it right. If the top three plays out strictly according to talent, David Archuleta should leave us next week, Syesha should come in second and David Cook should take the prize.
That doesn’t always happen, though, and David Archuleta clearly has a dedicated fan base. Will it be enough to carry him into the final two? That sort of question is why every week is fun.
Thanks for reading! See you next time.
Topics: American Idol, TV | 4 Comments »
May 7th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
I feel sorry for Jason but I really think it’s time to vote him off. His performance was not impressive or unique at all…
I looooooove David & DaivdA.
Hopefully they could make top 2 !
May 7th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Thank you for posting
May 7th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
And thank you for reading and taking the time to comment.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:11 am
It’s about time Jason goes. He’s cute and seems like a nice guy, but not nearly as talented as Carly and I’d even say that Brooke and Kristy Lee were better.
In any case, glad to see Syesha still there, she has amazing vocals. It’s nice to have at least one very good vocalist in the top 3. David Archuleta is a cutie, but I think his voice get really whiny when he hits the high notes. Not by best choice, but did see him in the top 4.