Kellie Pickler, American Idol
After finding herself "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" by her previous song choice, Kellie Pickler sealed her fate on Fox's American Idol (Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 9 pm/ET) last week by delivering what Simon called a "never-ending" take on "Unchained Melody." But while the North Carolinian admits that voters made the Righteous choice in sending her home — "Obviously, the past two weeks have not been my best, by far" — what's been wrong in all of this, she maintains, is any suggestion that her Southern-fried
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Bucky Covington, American Idol
Despite some rockin' country (or is it countrified rock?) performances, North Carolinian Bucky Covington bottomed out last week on Fox's American Idol (Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 9 pm/ET) despite serving up a solid spin on Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls." "I'd rather leave on a high note than a low note," Bucky shared the day after his swan song. "If I'm not going to win it, eighth is just as good as fourth to me, do you know what I mean?"
One of the many ladies surely sad to see Bucky say goodbye is none other than Paula Abdul, who was often spied boogying and b
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Question: That German guy in the Volkswagen "Unpimp My Ride" commercials looks very familiar — I think I've seen him in movies, but I can't place him. Can you help?
Answer: The actor in Volkswagen's "Unpimp My Ride" commercials is Swedish-born actor/director Peter Stormare, whom most people first noticed in Fargo (1996). He was one of the two hired kidnappers; the other was Steve Buscemi. He's also in TV's Prison Break, playing a hard-ass Italian prisoner. Stormare's forte is playing freaky, which the Volkswagen ads exploit to the hilt: I think my two favorite among his many bizarro roles are pornographer Dino Velvet in 8mm (1999) and the Devil himself in Constantine (2005). But I'll watch him in just about anything, because you can always count on his not-of-this-Earth spin.
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Will wonders never cease? This week, two of the least deserving contestants in recent reality-TV history got the boot: the obnoxious, repellent, incompetent Brent on The Apprentice and the chirpy, twerpy Kevin on American Idol. They should never have made it on these shows in the first place. But since we usually can't depend on common sense to reign on shows like these, it's worth cheering when it happens. (It would have been a swell hat trick if the woefully insecure, gratingly unworthy Gina had been eliminated from America's Next Top Model this week as well, after her runway freak-out over the glittery cockroach accessories. But there's always next week.)
And now w
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Michael Chiklis, The Shield
American IdolFifties night was far kinder to the wannabes than Stevie Wonder night was last week. And the evening clearly belonged to Mandisa. Wow... just wow. A note to Paula Abdul: No woman wants to be compared to a horse. Paris thrived vocally on "Fever," but she's so young that the "vamp" thing didn't work so well for her. To quote the cinema classic and '50s-themed flick Grease, "she's too pure to be pink."
For a minute I was so excited to see Live on stage doing "I Alone." But then I realized it was Chris, stopping once again in the '90s for inspiration instead of heading to the '50s like everyone else. He's always great, but I'm waiting for Simon to coax Chris out
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This week, two of my favorite reality shows signed off with satisfying (if, in one case, anticlimactic) season finales. On Bravo's thoroughly addictive Project Runway, Chloe Dao won on the strength of her glamorous, vivid collection, which to my eyes did outshine both Daniel Vosovic's and Santino Rice's. But in the bigger picture, I still feel Daniel won the season, so I was a bit deflated when it was all over.
Daniel dominated many of the challenges, and even his relatively tame collection was lovely to behold. And unlike businesslike Chloe, Daniel's passion for his craft was evident throughout the season. (The less said the better about Santino, who did manage to create a couple of stunners in his collection. But he's had his time hogging the spotlight, and I'm more than happy to move on.)
And then there's WB's adorable
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Taylor Hicks, American Idol
American Idol Song choice presented major problems for the first two guys, Patrick Hall and David Radford. Patrick's nerves were too obvious; he could've used some of Melissa Etheridge's bravado and grit to get through "Come to My Window." Meanwhile David picked "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" to get away from the crooner label and then proceeded to "Sinatra" his way through a Vegas-style version. Not the best start for either guy.
Bucky Covington used his growling vocals to full advantage on "Simple Man." Ryan Seacrest contrasted his own potential song title with Bucky's by calling himself a "Shallow Hollywood Talking Head," which may be the most accurate judgment anyone has ever made on American Idol. Young Will Makar
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