Everyone was in the house for the grand finale of American Idol, as Jordin and Blake opened the show with a long-awaited Beatles tune. "I Saw Her Standing There" was a premonition of things to come. We drifted quickly into a performance by the touring Gwen Stefani singing her song “4 in the Morning.” She looked and sounded fantastic. Red-carpet tidbits — there were lots of Idols both past and present. However, the real stars were ushered past me on the red-carpet press line at the speed of light, as though I had a form of jumping leprosy. I spoke to:The crying girl.Blake’s dad, Dallas.Writers of the song “This Is My Now” (as opposed to my later on).Sabrina Sloan — simply lovely.Constantine Maroulis — all business, currently starring in The Bold and the Beautiful. Kelly Clarkson rocked the heck out of “Never Again” will I put up with Clive Davis yelling at me; I’m a star, damn it! I can’t imagine why Clive doesn’t like ...
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Hal Sparks, Wayne Brady, Lucy Lawless and Carly Patterson, Celebrity Duets
You've seen them dance. You've seen them lose weight. You've even seen them ice-skate. Now it's time for celebrities to grab a mike and start singing. The contestants on Fox's Celebrity Duets will have a little help from well-known recording artists such as Clint Black, Macy Gray and Chaka Khan, so we're hoping the audience will be spared the torture of another William Hung. But with Simon Cowell wearing the executive-producer hat, anything is possible.
The show (premiering Aug. 29) is hosted by Wayne Brady and features eight celebrity "nonsingers" — wrestling champion Chris Jericho, actress Lea Thompson, Queer Eye lifestyle expert Jai Rodriguez, Xena's Lucy Lawless, actor Cheech Marin, Olympian gymnast Carly Patterson, Fresh Prince's Alfonso Ribeiro and comedian Hal Sparks. The warbling wannabes will be competing for $100,000, to be donated to the
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Little Richard is a big get for Simon's Celebrity Duets.
As reported earlier this week, Lucy Lawless, Cheech Marin, WWE champ Chris Jericho, Olympian Carly Patterson, Fresh Prince's Alfonso Ribeiro, Queer Eye's Jai Rodriguez, Hal Sparks and Back to the Future's
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Brenna Gethers, American Idol
American Idol Mandisa got the crowd on their feet with an incredible version of Heart's "Never." It could have been risky, but she pulled it off with strong and confident vocals. I noticed the same Burger King-inspired flame graphic on the screen behind her that Kimberly Locke had during 2003's "Heat Wave." Idol rakes in so much cash; can't they get some new backdrops?
Though the judges had mixed things to say about Kellie Pickler's performance, they loved her sincerity and "aw-shucks" demeanor. That kind of humility can make up for a few bad notes, so you might want to take note, Brenna. Paula Abdul got a few boos for correctly critiquing Becky — or maybe the crowd was rebelling against Paula's
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