'American Idol': Ellen DeGeneres makes her debut
It's Hollywood Week on American Idol, and a few things are happening. First, the 181 finalists will be trimmed down to 12 guys and 12 girls. Second, new judge Ellen DeGeneres is finally making her debut.
In the Kodak Theater, the contestants cheer Ellen when she hits the stage to talk to them. She tells them that she knows what it's like to get on stage try to please an audience full of people.
Round 1, the contestants come out in groups of eight and sing individually, either a capella or with instruments. It's sudden death, so they're either in or out after a few bars.
Katie Stevens (with the grandma with Alzheimer's) sings "For Once in My Life," and Randy Jackson calls her a natural talent.
Antonio "Skiiboski" Wheeler sings, and walks, and Ellen says he was stalking around the stage like a leopard in a cage. "Don't scare your audience," she reminds him.
Katie (and some others) makes it, and Skiiboski (and some others) get cut. He wants more information, and Simon Cowell just tells him he's not a great singer.
Andrew Garcia takes a risk by singing a stripped-down, acoustic-guitar version of Paula Abdul's "Straight Up." It's a good move -- he's excellent. Kara DioGuardi says that was genius and that Paula would be screaming and clapping for him. She says he owned it. (Interestingly, I believe Andrew has a decent YouTube following, but it looks like he had to take down his own videos because his channel currently only has his Idol audition.)
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With all the snow that got dumped on us this weekend -- plus the however much that could be happening on Tuesday into Wednesday -- we wondered: Would Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino be able to get to town for his appearance on Thursday?
Happy Snomageddon, Project Runway peeps! As always, I'm Kevin Van Valkenburg, sports writer by day, Project Runway recapper in sunshine and in snow. Apologies for missing last week's show, where our beloved Ping was auf-ed. I was knocked out by some bad muscles and spent several days ralphing, which I contend was still a more productive use of my time than watching Models of the Runway. 