American Idol Gives Back

[newsposter]

Does anyone know exactly what the net proceeds are? I assume stuff like credit card fees, 800 number lines, and paying the people to man the phones. Anything else? I hope there's an accounting of this so we know where the money all goes.

And not to diminish what companies like exxon give, but are they really thinking we will buy more gas or because we saw their name or is that just supposed to make us feel better about buying there instead of sunoco?

[Kamakzie]

I think it says where the money goes here.. http://net.gamespyid.com/linktrack/redirect.aspx?i=12717&t=http%3a%2f%2fwww.americanidol.com%2fidolgivesback%2fwhere

[jpwoof]

Terri Hatcher singing Before He Cheats... that's totally random! :P

[JLucPicard]

Only about half way through, but I loved the Terry Hatcher song and HATED - HATED - the Billy Crystal what's-her-name Cyrus schtick.

Fun to see Jamie Denton on guitar, the cop from Heroes on the drums, Chase from "House" playing the fiddle - I'm sure there were other "stars" involved in that song, but none that I readily recognize. Not having heard Hatcher sing before, I thought she did a really good job!

[jlb]

Best perf of the night.....Fergie singing Barracuda. She blew away Anne Wilson. Of course, she has a few years on Anne Wilson. And Fergie in the leather pants singing a song like that, and doing "flips" too.......Yummy!

[Sadara]

Only about half way through, but I loved the Terry Hatcher song and HATED - HATED - the Billy Crystal what's-her-name Cyrus schtick.

Fun to see Jamie Denton on guitar, the cop from Heroes on the drums, Chase from "House" playing the fiddle - I'm sure there were other "stars" involved in that song, but none that I readily recognize. Not having heard Hatcher sing before, I thought she did a really good job!

I had to go back and see that again, I was so uninterested in listening to Terry Hatcher sing I skipped over that the first time.

[Sadara]

By the way, I loved when Robin Williams grabbed Simon's butt!! That was great, Simon turned about 20 shades of red!!! :)

[NJChris]

Best perf of the night.....Fergie singing Barracuda. She blew away Anne Wilson. Of course, she has a few years on Anne Wilson. And Fergie in the leather pants singing a song like that, and doing "flips" too.......Yummy! I thought Fergie was SCREAMING most of the power notes.

[LoadStar]

I thought Fergie sounded really good singing her song - but all I could think was that I wanted nothing more for her to shut up and get off the stage and let Ann sing when it came time for "Barracuda."

I was totally and utterly unamused by Robin Williams' bit. Frankly, I think it's been quite a long time since I've seen him be really, truly funny.

Billy with Miley was totally stilted, completely predictable, and also totally unfunny. Her performance that followed makes me question the hearing of every single preteen and teenage girl who bought Miley's CD. (Admittedly, her later performance was somewhat more listenable.)

The last two songs of the night were... interesting choices, and I'll leave it at that.

[JFriday]

Fergie needed to be there to salvage some hotness from the previously hot Heart. Loved the pants. Yum!!

[stargazer21]

Best part for me? The dancers from SYTYCD. :)

[TiVoJedi]

Terri Hatcher singing Before He Cheats... that's totally random! :P

As random as Dr. Chase from House playing violin and Matt Parkman from Heroes playing the drum kit on the same song? That was cool to see their other talents as well.

It bother anyone else to see the guests like Paula dressed in expensive clothes and diamonds when kids are starving, living in shambles, suffering the loss of parents of the AIDs epidemic and Malaria-infected babies? Seems Reese Witherspoon had the right idea to dress simple without the ostentatious appearance.

[jpwoof]

When the Idols 8 sang Seasons of Love, Little David messed up the lyrics again. You probably wouldn't notice it unless you're a Rent fan. He said "... times that she died." *what? she died more than once?!! lmao* The actual words should be, "... the way that she died." but I have to say that he was the only one who was on key.... the rest were way lower.

[jpwoof]

It bother anyone else to see the guests like Paula dressed in expensive clothes and diamonds when kids are starving, living in shambles, suffering the loss of parents of the AIDs epidemic and Malaria-infected babies? Seems Reese Witherspoon had the right idea to dress simple without the ostentatious appearance.

how about Jimmy Kimmel's nipples obsession on a charity episode? that's unnecessary too.

[DevdogAZ]

I thought Kimmel's roast of Simon was hilarious. I'm a big Kimmel fan.

So who else was in the "Band from TV?" We've mentioned Greg Grunberg, James Denton, and Dr. Chase from House. I recognized Bob Guiney as one of the backup singers, but didn't recognize either of the blond girls singing. I also didn't recognize the keyboardist, the bass player, or the other drummer. Anyone know who those people were?

Edit: Here is the site (http://www.bandfromtv.org/connectme/) for Band from TV. According to that, Hugh Laurie plays keyboard and Bonnie Sommerville is one of the backup singers. I don't think it was Hugh Laurie playing keyboard on Idol Gives Back, though.

[atrac]

Jennifer Connelly looked really good in that water video! :)

I was a little liberal with the FF Button this evening and I missed her intro, so I actually thought it was Grace Slick as I pushed to play button on Ann Wilson. :o

I agree about Robin Williams...I wanted him to be funnier tonight.

Overall, pretty meh for me.

[TIVO_GUY_HERE]

The amount of $$$$ that Idol brings into FOX, I would think they could of done this with fewer commericals. I know they have sponsers who gave alot of money for this cause, but 80% of the commericals were not even from those sponsers.

[stargazer21]

When the Idols 8 sang Seasons of Love, Little David messed up the lyrics again. You probably wouldn't notice it unless you're a Rent fan. He said "... times that she died." *what? she died more than once?!! lmao* The actual words should be, "... the way that she died." but I have to say that he was the only one who was on key.... the rest were way lower.

The Kiddo called me when they started SOL and I caught the end of it. It sounded pretty off key. I would have been in physical pain if I heard Archachalupa mess it up. :eek:

[AlexDombroff]

It is always nice for a tv show to raise some funds and share it with the less fortunates. American Idol, I salute you!

[jlb]

........and Matt Parkman from Heroes playing the drum kit on the same song?........

That wasn't Matt Parkman........that was the Pilot from Lost!


No wait, that was the guy from Alias! ;)

[newsposter]

. Her performance that followed makes me question the hearing of every single preteen and teenage girl who bought Miley's CD. (Admittedly, her later performance was somewhat more listenable.)


While i'm not a teen girl, isn't it more the mob mentality with them? just get a few girls to say 'oh she's cool' and they all follow in line? I cant imagine teens are as discerning as adults. I thought the gesturing and other dance moves were so trite and forced as to have been followed by a script she was reading off the prompter. Of course i'm not a concert aficionado so maybe this is the norm these days? She literally seemed lke 'an act.'

I also wonder how the judges would rate each performer last night.....certainly all those playing have made money and are 'proven' but i wonder if simon would have said 'dreadful' if he judged?

[gossamer88]

The show had a great opening but it went downhill form there.

If Dubbaya would put an end to this billions-of-dollars-a-day war, those causes wouldn't need an Idols Gives Back show!!

[jwehman]

The show had a great opening but it went downhill form there.

If Dubbaya would put an end to this billions-of-dollars-a-day war, those causes wouldn't need an Idols Gives Back show!!

Trying to keep this non-partisan, but please read this WH press release on the aid given to Africa over the past 8 years:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/02/20080214-11.html

In AIDs funding alone, the US has given over 2.5 Billion since 2001, with a pledge to increase total funding to 10 Billion by 2010.

[Magister]

I did think it was pretty funny that Celine Dion had so much freaking makeup on in the middle of absolute poverty. Her makeup cost more then the annual income of that whole little town. I just can't believe her. Most of the others seemed sincere. Annie Lennox was torn up by the whole thing.

My wife laughed when Robin Williams walked out, but that was the only chuckle he got from my household.

[timckelley]

Jimmy Kimmel was a little too rough on Simon, and went a little too far with it.

But Paula's dress was much better than than chest-smashing sardine dress she wore the day before.

I think Robin Williams was pretty funny, compared to the others.

The closed captioning was HORRIBLE. All kinds of words missed, and anything Robin Williams said with too much of an accent didn't get captioned.

[aindik]

If Dubbaya would put an end to this billions-of-dollars-a-day war, those causes wouldn't need an Idols Gives Back show!!

Yes. If government would only extract charity from people using threats of prison time, we wouldn't have to ask people to donate voluntarily. Coercion is just so much easier.

[aindik]

I did think it was pretty funny that Celine Dion had so much freaking makeup on in the middle of absolute poverty. Her makeup cost more then the annual income of that whole little town.

The African children have been through enough. They don't need to also suffer through Celine without makeup.

[Mavrick22]

Wonder if they raised this:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=10297&d=1207840406http://

[timckelley]

BTW, the closed captioning repeated displayed "gagillion", but he obviously was saying "googilian", if you listened to his pronunciation.

Also, did you catch his definition of how big a googilian was? He said it was equal to 1 following by a googilian zeroes. Hmmm, so that means if we define x = a googilian, then

x = 10^x

But if you graph y = 10^x, and y=x, you'll see there is no intersection. Therefore, his definition makes no sense, and there is no such number.

He also went on to say that if a googilian of us each donate one dollar, they'll have a googilian dollars. I guess that part makes sense, at least.

When I pointed out his contradictions to my wife last night, she seemed completely uninterested in what I was talking about. :p :o

[speaker city]

My highlights:
*Intro. The dancers were awesome and I think I might download the track.
*Terri Hatcher and Band from TV. They were REALLY good!
*Fergie and Heart. WOW!
*Mylie's second song actually had me nodding my head. I was pleasantly surprised. This was the first time I had seen her sing or anything. The girl's got talent.
*The fact that we weren't subjected to Paula's singing.

Let downs:
*All the comedy bits. Ellen, Sandler, and Silverman actually got a few laughs out of me. Everyone else had to suffer bad writing.
*Blake Lewis is my all-time favorite idol and he wasn't there. I wanted to hear some beat-boxing.
*Me for not padding an extra 10 minutes to the show.

I FF'd though every spot about AIDS in Africa and poor kids in New Orleans.

[goMO]

When I pointed out his contradictions to my wife last night, she seemed completely uninterested in what I was talking about. :p :o


did you say something? ;)

[timckelley]

I actually padded 10 minutes, and the show went over 9 minutes, which cut it close. Maybe I should increase my pad.

Why didn't Paula perform? I kind of wish she did.

I agree those intro dancers were great, and I recognized some of them from "So you think you can dance". BTW, the premier ep for this year's season is on Thursday May 22 (a 2 hours special), and I plan to have an SP for the series.

Oh, and what about the lady judge from "So you think you can dance"? She has that trademark scream that she does on the show, and she did it last night on American Idol as her way of drumming up money. I usually think her scream is cute, but she really overdid it last night, to the point of getting on my nerves.

[DevdogAZ]

When I pointed out his contradictions to my wife last night, she seemed completely uninterested in what I was talking about. :p :o
She's not the only one. ;)
Why didn't Paula perform? I kind of wish she did.

If you listen to that new single she released, her singing sounds horrible, and that is after being massively overprocessed and overproduced in a studio. I don't think there's any way she could sound good live, and considering that she critiques people with actual talent for a living, she'd lose all credibility if she got up there and showed how bad she is.

[timckelley]

I don't think there's any way she could sound good live, and considering that she critiques people with actual talent for a living, she'd lose all credibility if she got up there and showed how bad she is.But this is Paula Abdul, from "Straight Up". :p

[GDG76]

Why don't they just call it "Idol Gets Everyone Else To Give Back?"

I'll pick my charities on my own, thankyouverymuch.

[LoadStar]

Why don't they just call it "Idol Gets Everyone Else To Give Back?"

Given that 19 and Fremantle Media both were corporate sponsors, I'd say that there's nothing wrong with saying "Idol Gives Back."

[aindik]

I thought Fergie was pretty terrible with her own song, and pretty damn good with Barracuda.

The recurring bit with the Idols answering the phones and everyone on the phone wanting to talk to Ryan Seacrest was pretty lame. These Idols can barely sing, we expect them to do comedic acting, too?

[GDG76]

Given that 19 and Fremantle Media both were corporate sponsors, I'd say that there's nothing wrong with saying "Idol Gives Back."

Probably at a cost of about what they made in commercials for the show :)

[timckelley]

I personally would prefer they leave the telethons to Jerry Lewis; I tune into American Idol for the contestants and competition, not to watch a fundraiser.

[MickeS]

I LOVE "Please don't stop the music" so it was fun to see the group perform that song.

[zalusky]

Comparing this year to last year it seemed to me that they had less star power.

The ads surprised me, I really sensed the network and sponsors werent taking this very seriously. IE less ads more air time.

I am wondering how much of the money gets caught up in overhead.

[jwehman]

I am wondering how much of the money gets caught up in overhead.


According to the CPEF (Simon Fuller's Charity Organization that sponsors "Idol Gives Back"), "Of the $71 million received by CPEF, $63.4 million has been awarded as grants to beneficiaries and $5 million has been used to pay for last year's campaign and program related costs."

So that seems to be about ~7% used in overhead.

http://www.cpefund.org/terms/

[scooterboy]

Oh, and what about the lady judge from "So you think you can dance"? She has that trademark scream that she does on the show, and she did it last night on American Idol as her way of drumming up money.

Well then she failed miserably, as far as I'm concerned. I had no idea who she was, but any thought I had of donating went out the window when she started screaming and wouldn't stop.



I'll never understand why some people think that being annoying is a good way to get donations. The loud salvation army bells that I complain about every xmas is another example.

One more: the fire dept. in a nearby town collects money by having a fireman stand in the middle of downtown, bringing all traffic to a crawl. As the cars creep by, he holds out a fireman's boot for drivers to throw money into. I don't even roll down my window.

I'm a pretty charitable person. You want money from me? Ask nicely and you'll probably get something. Annoy me and you get nothing.

[Cainebj]

Comparing this year to last year it seemed to me that they had less star power.

+1 Thank you, I thought the same exact thing.

[timckelley]

My wife and I had never seen the Hanna Montana girl before last night, but my wife thought she strutted around too much for a 15 year old girl, and that it's not right for her to do that. I told her that at least she doesn't do some of the more risque moves that Madonna has done, so it's not so bad. She's probably as about as bold as she can get away with for her age. I wonder what her act will look like in a few years, though.

[JFriday]

My wife and I had never seen the Hanna Montana girl before last night, but my wife thought she strutted around too much for a 15 year old girl, and that it's not right for her to do that. I told her that at least she doesn't do some of the more risque moves that Madonna has done, so it's not so bad. She's probably as about as bold as she can get away with for her age. I wonder what her act will look like in a few years, though.

When she was strutting around I wondered to myself how many years until a Britney type meltdown.

[MickeS]

My wife and I had never seen the Hanna Montana girl before last night, but my wife thought she strutted around too much for a 15 year old girl, and that it's not right for her to do that. I told her that at least she doesn't do some of the more risque moves that Madonna has done, so it's not so bad. She's probably as about as bold as she can get away with for her age. I wonder what her act will look like in a few years, though.

I had seen a few minutes of her on her TV show, but never seen her sing. I have no idea why she is is a star, I guess enough exposure will eventually make anyone a star? She certainly didn't have anything that stood out.

[aindik]

I had seen a few minutes of her on her TV show, but never seen her sing. I have no idea why she is is a star, I guess enough exposure will eventually make anyone a star? She certainly didn't have anything that stood out.

I'm 31 and I like the single she has out now. Sue me. :o

[MickeS]

I'm 31 and I like the single she has out now. Sue me. :o

Yeah, I've heard it on the radio, and it's pretty catchy. I just don't see why SHE is a star. Normally I see artists on TV and I can see their appeal, I guess I just don't see why she is as popular as she is.

[aindik]

Yeah, I've heard it on the radio, and it's pretty catchy. I just don't see why SHE is a star. Normally I see artists on TV and I can see their appeal, I guess I just don't see why she is as popular as she is.

Yeah, I guess anyone can sing that song.

She's a star, I suppose, because she's on a TV show on the Disney channel that got popular.

I really expected Billy Crystal to make a Billy Ray reference some time in that interminable bit, but he disappointed me.

[MickeS]

I wonder if Amanda (skunk haired chick, for those with short memory) was as happy to not be a part of the group gospel thing that the contestants did as I was that she wasn't. That would have been too embarrassing.

[gschrock]

*Blake Lewis is my all-time favorite idol and he wasn't there. I wanted to hear some beat-boxing.

If I remember the ads properly from around here, Blake got stuck with hosting the big screen viewing of this at one of the movie theaters here in Lansing, Mi. I figure he must have pissed someone off to get stuck with that gig.

[JLucPicard]

Blake did make an appearance on Idol already this year. I wonder if that had anything to do with him not being on AIGB (along with what could have been hundreds of other reasons).

[jay_man2]

As a NASCAR fan, I immediately noticed that they spelled Jimmie Johnson's name wrong in the graphic that was displayed while his spot ran.

And why do they call it "Idol Gives Back." Seemed more like "Idol takes whatever you'll give." :p

[Jesda]

Terri Hatcher was really annoying. Watching a wrinkled actress attempt to sing... tedious and stupid.

[aindik]

Terri Hatcher was really annoying. Watching a wrinkled actress attempt to sing... tedious and stupid.

Terri Hatcher's singing was better than Carrie Underwood's acting.

[Jesda]

Terri Hatcher's singing was better than Carrie Underwood's acting.

But the bad acting was nice and brief.

[JFriday]

I really expected Billy Crystal to make a Billy Ray reference some time in that interminable bit, but he disappointed me.

I thought for sure he'd say he used to play for the Yanks.

[Fleegle]

I had seen a few minutes of her on her TV show, but never seen her sing. I have no idea why she is is a star, I guess enough exposure will eventually make anyone a star? She certainly didn't have anything that stood out.

Because Disney Channel SAYS she's a star! And she plays one on TV!

[MickeS]

Terri Hatcher was really annoying. Watching a wrinkled actress attempt to sing... tedious and stupid.

I liked the performance, but it was definitely not close-up friendly. But good for an amateur.

[classicX]

Best perf of the night.....Fergie singing Barracuda. She blew away Anne Wilson. Of course, she has a few years on Anne Wilson. And Fergie in the leather pants singing a song like that, and doing "flips" too.......Yummy!

Well now.

See sounded terrible to me - she over-sang it and screamed the high notes. The way she was moving on stage was akin to a crackhead.

Not attractive in the least.

[classicX]

I thought Fergie was pretty terrible with her own song, and pretty damn good with Barracuda.

The recurring bit with the Idols answering the phones and everyone on the phone wanting to talk to Ryan Seacrest was pretty lame. These Idols can barely sing, we expect them to do comedic acting, too?

So let me get this straight - you think the contestants can barely sing and you think Fergie sounded "pretty damn good"?

I'm quite shocked, actually. At least some of the contestants are really good.

[classicX]

I liked the performance, but it was definitely not close-up friendly. But good for an amateur.

I also thought she sang well (in the context of not being a singer at all) - I was surprised that she did the whole song, though, I thought Carrie would come out and sing.

Such smooth skin Carrie has...

[Fleegle]

Well now.

See sounded terrible to me - she over-sang it and screamed the high notes. The way she was moving on stage was akin to a crackhead.

Not attractive in the least.

Agreed. I was thrilled when I saw Heart, but Fergie ruined an awesome set.

Sorry, but her actions on stage screamed "whore"...

[aindik]

So let me get this straight - you think the contestants can barely sing and you think Fergie sounded "pretty damn good"?

I'm quite shocked, actually. At least some of the contestants are really good.

"They can barely sing" was a joke. Some of them are pretty amateurish, though. And yeah, I thought Fergie sounded good singing Barracuda. I didn't think she sounded good at all on her first song. I also didn't think Ann Wilson sounded all that great last night.

[jsmeeker]

Yeah, I've heard it on the radio, and it's pretty catchy. I just don't see why SHE is a star. Normally I see artists on TV and I can see their appeal, I guess I just don't see why she is as popular as she is.

It's cause you aren't a pre-teen girl.

[leana]

I think Fergie was hot. I am a straight woman, but she was totally sexy and hot and I think she sang well.

She actually is on the soundtrack for Shrek singing Barracuda. I actually think she sounded better than Annie Wilson who I love, but sounded a little out of it. Great guitar playing though!

[DevdogAZ]

I thought for sure he'd say he used to play for the Yanks.
He did mention that he just retired from baseball.

[Cindy1230]

Bit of trivia.. did you guys know that the kodak theatre stuff was taped on monday?

I'm not sure if they did that last year... but knowing that while i was watching bugged me.. because even though ryan said they were live while on the idol stage, he would say.. lets go back the kodak theatre.

When the Idols 8 sang Seasons of Love, Little David messed up the lyrics again. You probably wouldn't notice it unless you're a Rent fan. He said "... times that she died." *what? she died more than once?!! lmao* The actual words should be, "... the way that she died." but I have to say that he was the only one who was on key.... the rest were way lower.

glad that i'm not the only one who noticed... :) the times that she died?? i totally said... whaaaaaa outloud.
I know they needed their own line to sing, but I didn't like how they broke up that verse,
I figured they were going to have Syesha do all of it.

[jsmeeker]

Bit of trivia.. did you guys know that the kodak theatre stuff was taped on monday?


It was obvious that SOMETHING was pre-taped. Pre-taping the main show at the Kodak made the most sense.

[leana]

Archuletta once again screwing up major lyrics for a song that is popular is pretty annoying. This kid is a mess.

[newsposter]

I think Fergie was hot. I am a straight woman, but she was totally sexy and hot and I think she sang well.



I first saw her on new years eve 2 years ago...attractive...then saw her up close and boy i know even i will be old some day and maybe even look it now but i'm not the one up on stage lol...she could be 40+ with some shots i've seen of her. but she carries the clothes and body so most people dont care about face lol

[Einselen]

Bit of trivia.. did you guys know that the kodak theatre stuff was taped on monday?

I'm not sure if they did that last year... but knowing that while i was watching bugged me.. because even though ryan said they were live while on the idol stage, he would say.. lets go back the kodak theatre.

So even with the pre-taped stuff from the kodak theatre (that made up a majority of the show) they still run over by 10 min? :down: BIH FOX.

What happened/who performed the last 10 min?

I was entertained with the Miley Cyrus and Billy Crystal bit. I found it entertaining and it was funny as it shows the gap between the two stars. I personally don't think Miley is an aweful performance. Granted she is mainly a star because of her dad and Disney, but gotta hand it to Disney being able to create such hits and stars. In three years it will be fun to see where Miley is at :D

Anyone else feel like playing GH after watching Barracuda? :p

[MickeS]

Anyone else feel like playing GH after watching Barracuda? :p

Ha, that's exactly what I did. :D

I can't ever seem to nail that song.

[LoadStar]

What happened/who performed the last 10 min?
Mariah Carey performed her 2006 single "Fly Like A Bird," a gospel infused song accompanied by Randy Jackson on bass guitar.

Immediately following, the remaining finalists performed the Darlene Zschech/Hillsong praise and worship song "Shout to the Lord."

Finally, after the credits, they showed a taped bit featuring Ben Stiller coming out to an empty Idol studio, looking for everyone, then storming off supposedly swearing his head off (censored of course).

[timckelley]

Fortunately I padded by exactly 10 minutes, and this went 9 minutes over, so I had 1 minute to spare. But I've just gone in and changed my SP pad to 30 minutes, because who knows if even 10 minutes will be safe in the future. I think AI is famous for running long.