They’re Going to Hollywood!

OK. We made it. Glad that’s over.

I feel like every year I’m commenting on the necessity of the evil that is the length of the audition rounds. It’s the proverbial rock/hard place. If you are a truly come-one-come-all reality show, then you can’t show only a few auditions or else the process looks fraudulent. But you also have to find what’s the right number before it feels like there’s too many, which it always does, anyway. Overall, I thought the new evil genius producers got in enough clever segments to keep things moving and entertaining in striving to break up the unavoidable monotony of five audition shows.

Idolist-wise, tonight was packed with a rather large number of good contestants and by good, I mean in a 2-star out of 4 way: Gabby, Caitlin, Drake, Melanie, Lee, Michael, Brielle, Carly, Ada. I felt like the objective was to have us connect with them enough that we’ll be familiar with the ones that come out of Hollywood’s coaching, competing and cut-downs.

There was one audition that stood out for me and that was Jurnee. Her last name is Siani but that first name and gorgeous voice made Jurnee memorable not to mention her remarkable rendition of Andra Day’s Rise Up.

The other very noteworthy aspect of tonight’s show is that Idol is finally openly acknowledging that there are (and long have been) LBGT contestants.

There are 169 Idolists with Golden Tickets to Hollywood. I guess the other thing about the long audition season is that it does build excitement for brutal realness of Hollywood. In addition to my usual anticipation, I am very curious to see what, if any, changes are coming in this old and improved reboot of Idol.

See you again after tomorrow’s show. In the meantime, listen to some good music. I know I will.