But by 10 o’clock, all of the cynicism was gone as I actually felt like I had seen something really special…
There were some pointless performances and some of the videos were a little too overdramatic, but all in all the show was a good one. And we got at least one showstopper performance from someone whose name most people probably ignored (not me, because I’m a fan)…
Here, then, is a recap of the night’s events…
The show gets off to an auspicious start as Ryan flubs his opening tease and asks the director to let him do it again (which he does). Right from the get-go, Ryan starts with his tease of the “most shocking result in the history of the show.” Over 70 million votes were cast…
Ryan then introduces Ellen at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. She asks if the shock is that she’s getting voted off. You can tell by the echo when Ryan tosses it to her that there are some technical difficulties, so the two never talk to each other…
Ellen introduces Earth, Wind and Fire, who does a medley of their hits. I would put this one in the pointless category…
Back to the Idol studio for a video of Randy’s visit to New Orleans. Randy could give Don LaFontaine a run for his money with that dramatic voiceover…
To the audience for the first of many shots of Sanjaya and his sister…
Ryan then introduces a video of Quincy Jones working with the Idols to sing his song “Time to Care.” The finalists are all dressed in white, with Quincy directing them and the band (Ricky Minor, by the way, was at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.). Quincy picked the perfect phrases for each singer—too bad Chris couldn’t step up to the challenge. Once again, Phil comes through beautifully. I have a feeling there will be some producers who will want to work with him. It’s a catchy song with a lot of African rhythms that you can download from iTunes beginning today…Fade to Eric McCormack (“Will & Grace”) asking for your donations…
After the break, David Schwimmer (“Friends”) asking for your donations…
Ryan then introduces a video of Ben Stiller that will become the night’s running joke. He promises to sing “Reminiscing” until they raise $200 billion. The caption on the screen begs us to call and stop him.…
Another sappy video with Ryan comforting a boy who starts crying when he talks about his parents being dead. When they come back from the video, Simon is on the stage with Ryan and he’s completely uncomfortable. He never looks straight into the camera. It’s a strange sight for someone who seems to love attention so much. He was clearly moved by what they saw in Africa…
Fade to Teri Hatcher asking for donations…
After the break, Forrest Whitaker in Uganda (where he filmed “Last King of Scotland”) asking for donations…
At 8:30, Ryan tells Melinda she is safe…
Ryan introduces a video of Paula at the Boys and Girls Club in Los Angeles. So Ryan, the busiest man in show business, makes time to go to Africa and Paula just goes down the street?...
Back to the Disney Concert Hall with Ellen, who is forced to segue from kids crying. It’s a little awkward, but she handles it like a pro. She introduces Il Divo, who give a stirring rendition of “Somewhere.” I’ve got to believe that Simon is back in the Idol studio grinning from ear to ear (He put Il Divo together.). However, someone makes the bad choice of cutting to a video during the musical interlude of the song and the crowd ends up cheering when the words “a child dies” appear on the screen. They quickly get quiet…
Fade to Dr. Phil asking for donations…
After the break, Hugh Laurie asks for donations. I’m relieved to see at least one FOX star involved in this. I really think it was a mistake to not have more…
Ryan picks an audience member to come on stage and it’s Jack Black (much to Sanjaya’s delight since he met him on “The Tonight Show”), who does “Kiss From a Rose.” I think that was Kyle, his Tenacious D partner, in the audience holding the rose. Randy and Paula (in a bad acting job) tell him they didn’t like it, but Simon said it was better than Sanjaya (who laughed hysterically). Jack tells him that Seal would have loved it. Seal is, of course, in the audience and tells him it was the best rendition ever. Jack leaves the stage singing “Greatest Love of All”…
Ryan tells Blake he is safe. Blake doesn’t seem all that relieved, so it’s the first indication that maybe the Idols know what’s up…
Ryan introduces a special music video of “I’ll Stand By You” by Carrie Underwood. The video shows Carrie in Africa with some children and you can download it on iTunes…
Back to the Disney Concert Hall for Rascal Flatts doing “My Wish.” I think there must have been some technical problems, because the guys sounded a little rough…
Ryan introduces Tom Anderson, the co-founder of MySpace, and thanks him for his support. Like he had a choice. MySpace is owned by News Corp., which owns FOX…
Ryan introduces a video showing families dealing with illiteracy and poverty in Whitesburg, Kentucky. Paula narrates the video, but none of the judges (or Ryan) actually went there…
Paula joins Ryan onstage to ask for donations. Apparently, she thought that showing off some of her assets would help bring in money…
The Ford ad features the song “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” I would tell you what it was about, but it didn’t really make a lot of sense…
Then it was time for the video that showcased most of the stars Ryan had been mentioning over the last several weeks—the “Stayin’ Alive” lip sync video. Some of the stars included Kevin Bacon, Hugh Laurie, Teri Hatcher, Helena Bonham Carter, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marc Anthony, Eric McCormack, Dr. Phil, Hugh Grant and Keira Knightley. The video was a little pointless, but it was good to see David Schwimmer and Lisa Kudrow on the screen together again—even if was superimposed. And Rob Lowe looked really good. You can download the video at iTunes…
Ryan tells Phil that he’s safe. At this point, I’m really thinking that there won’t be an elimination since Phil is smiling from ear-to-ear. Ryan even asks him why he’s smiling. “I love you, man” is his reply…
Ryan introduces a “difficult video to watch” of he and Simon in Africa visiting a dying woman. Simon actually leaves the home because he can’t take it. Then, we see Simon helping a man get a woman into a truck so he can take her to a hospital. Simon channeled his inner Jack Bauer and took over the situation. I loved his “well we better get out of the way then” comment. Unfortunately, the woman died two days later…
And unfortunately for Ellen, she had to talk out of that video, but she managed pretty well considering. She announced that she personally donated $100,000…
Ellen introduces Josh Groban who performed “You Raise Me Up” with the African Children’s Choir. It was a pretty special moment, especially when those super-cute kids all huddled around him for a hug…
Next up, a video of different stars talking about how many funerals they had been to in their lives, which led into a video about an African man who had been to 280 funerals because of malaria…
Back to the Disney Concert Hall for Kelly Clarkson. I was absolutely positive that she would not sing “Never Again” and I was right, as she did “Up to the Mountain,” with Jeff Beck on guitar. I felt kind of bad for the audience because I think they really wanted to rock out, or at least be able to yell, but everything was so sedate after that first upbeat performance by Earth, Wind & Fire—which made that one seem even more pointless. I wonder if Ellen entertained them during the breaks…
After the break, we got a “The Simpsons” short with Homer, Marge and Lisa critiquing the singing of a nervous Simon Cowell, who did “Don’t Cha.” It was pretty darn funny. You can see it for yourself at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5B94LX9nwQ...Ryan introduces a video with Randy showing the emotional survival kits our money can buy…
Then, it was time for the Celine Dion and Elvis Presley duet of “I Can Dream.” In all honesty, it was totally cheesy—but not for the reason I would have thought. It was Celine who was just way too stiff and it hurt the song. The special effects were pretty good, though, as they made it seem like Elvis was standing next to her (In case you’re wondering, that was an Elvis impersonator we were seeing in the wide shots.), but it was totally pointless. And it got a little weird when the Idols went over to stand behind them. I’m not really sure what the whole purpose of that was, unless it was just to show off the effects. But I thought I might have counted one too many Idols. Remember this was already taped…
Ryan introduces a message from Madonna in Malawi…
At 9:45, Ryan announces they’ve raised $30 million dollars so far…
Debbie, the stage manager, tells Ryan there’s a problem, so he tries to stall. They fix the problem, and Ryan goes to Ellen…
And Ellen introduces the performance of the night, in my opinion, by the amazing Annie Lennox. I know for a lot of you that “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is Clay Aiken’s song, but the simple beginning with her playing the piano was pretty awesome. I was a little disappointed with the way she ended it, but it was still a showstopper that finally gave the audience a reason to get on their feet. I’m a fan of hers, so I knew the performance would be good, but she really didn’t get a lot of the pre-show hype that others did…
And speaking of which, where were the performances by Pink and Gwen Stefani?...
Fade to video montage of kids saying, “Thank you”
Rob Schneider asks for donations, but says he’s Adam Sandler…
Finally, Ryan gets back to the eliminations with only Chris and Jordin left. They both stand. Ryan tells Chris he’s safe and Chris gives him a little smirk. Jordin gives Ryan a smile too, while the crowd gasps in surprise. At this point, I ‘m so sure the Idols are in on it, that I didn’t even blink when Ryan says, “It’s a shocker because Jordin is safe too.” The finalists then hug as Ryan explains that this week’s votes will be combined with next week’s votes and the bottom two will be sent home. I was pretty impressed with the way they were trying to sell their “relief”…
But then the Idols separated to show Jordin in tears. If they knew everyone was safe, then someone forgot to tell her. Maybe some of the older ones just suspected it…
Finally, at 9:57, Bono made his appearance via a taped segment with the Idols to talk about the organization, One. Then, the Idols took the stage to sing the song Bono co-wrote called “American Prayer.” And wouldn’t you know it that poor Jordin had to start it out. Her echoes of “This is my American prayer” gave the song kind of an eerie feel, but it was good. And once again, Phil rose to the occasion. Say what you want to about his looks, but that guy can sing…
The credits rolled as the finalists finished the song, which, of course, you can download on iTunes…
So, did the show manipulate us into watching? Absolutely. But for such a good cause, I’m willing to forgive them…
If “Idol” had done a separate program just for this, not as many people would have watched and they wouldn’t have raised as much money. And considering that the Idols had one less day to rehearse their performance song AND they had to learn two others written by music superstars, I think it was only fair to not eliminate anyone…
And yes, I am definitely singing a different tune today. What can I say? The warm and fuzzy side of Simon got to me…
