Hold Your Applause

Driving Down The Coast And Reminiscing: The Sopranos 6-15

And yet more Godfather parallels (I might as well keep listing them, since I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago and I just keep seeing them): Doc Santoro shot through the eye Moe Greene-like; Junior cradling a cat; Tony seeing to his tomatoes.

This was the sort of episode that tends to drive casual watchers crazy, because there weren't obvious advancements of the overall plot. For longtime fans, it's likely to be remembered as what is likely the last real showcase for Dominic Chianese (who was actually in The Godfather, Part II) as Junior. It was an episode about looking back, and in Junior's case about trying to hang on. Tony seems pissy throughout most of it, complaining about the futility of playing "remember when" and looking thoroughly fed up with his life.

Paulie finds out that the FBI is digging something up at the site where Tony's first-ever whackee is buried (the heretofore unmentioned Willie Overall), meaning the men will have to hit the road. Carmela has seen this a few too many times: "This is what life is still like? At our age?" The trip is an opportunity for Tony to examine his feelings about Paulie, who seemed on the verge of switching his allegiance to New York a couple of seasons ago. His feelings of resentment at having been bypassed by the much younger Tony have never really been articulated, and in fact I don't recall any previous episode making so clear the age gap between the two men. Paulie was apparently a key mentor in Tony's early days, present for Willie Overall, and he even tells the prostitute in Florida that at one point, he had wished Paulie was his father.

Now, the relationship between the two is strained enough (though again, this is basically unarticulated) that Tony, still angered about the way Paulie's loose tongue touched off all that trouble with Johnny Sack several seasons ago, and none too pleased about the way he runs his mouth now, is wondering to himself what should be done about him. Tony is concerned about Paulie's vulnerability to potential pressure, now that his "legit" job is in jeopardy. The culmination of this half of the week's festivities was a trip out on a sport fishing boat, which Paulie, who was present for the nautical whacking of Big Pussy, is plenty nervous about. How much thought did Tony give to the idea of actually going through with it? Quite a bit, it seemed to me.

Paulie, as we've found out over the last few years, is basically a weird old man, when you leave out the part about him killing people. His hoarding of food from a hotel buffet, watching dumb sitcoms alone in his room...it's a pathetic life. Junior is seen to be dealing with his incarceration in a home for the criminally debilitated by trying to recreate his outside life in a rudimentary way. In the episode's best scene, he runs a card game with the assistance of some on-the-take orderlies, showing the same imperiousness with his audience of crazies that he displayed as a mob boss. He even has a new avuncular relationship with a kid named Carter, who is both eager for a father figure and cursed with a really, really nasty temper.

Junior's incipient dementia isn't much in evidence these days, but signs of his physical decay are unmistakable now: "I'm dyin' a low death, that's how I'm doing," he gripes to an orderly. Paulie alone with his sitcoms, Tony alone with his psyche: New Jersey is a lonely place. 

Fracture: Bad Break At The End

Fracture has more than a passing similarity to The Silence of the Lambs, the movie that gave Anthony Hopkins his Oscar and made him a brand name nearly a quarter-century into his film career. Once again, Hopkins is playing a smarter-than-your-average-bear killer, and he's locked in a battle of wits and wills with a young antagonist sporting a noticeable accent. This time, the co-star is Ryan Gosling, and the accent is a quasi-southern drawl and not that of his native Canada.

Hollywood is always looking for young men who can carry films, and Fracture is the first real test of whether Gosling can grow into that sort of actor. Save for The Notebook, which was a surprise hit, Gosling has mostly made his name in smaller films such as The Believer and last year's Half Nelson, which netted him an Oscar nomination. It's also noteworthy that the movie was directed by Gregory Hoblit, who directed Primal Fear, the film debut of the Gosling of the '90s, Edward Norton. I think this film will help Gosling; he holds his own with Hopkins (though the movie is at its best in the all-too-few scenes that feature the men together) and displays effortless charisma and genuine likability. Too bad that the movie doesn't have a script, and in particular a last act, worthy of the talent in front of the camera.

Hopkins plays Ted Crawford, an airline executive of some sort who we see at the film's outset spying on his wife, who is at a motel with her lover. He heads home, confronts his wife calmly when she arrives, and shoots her in the head (she's not quite dead, though, a fact which will become important later). When the police arrive, there is a brief tussle during which Crawford appears to confess to the crime. The movie isn't yet 15 minutes old at this point, so Hopkins is obviously up to something.

Gosling is Willy Beachum, a prosecutor who has been successful enough to draw the attention of a major white collar firm (Gosling looks barely old enough to be a law school graduate, let alone someone with a long enough track record to be getting elite jobs, but no matter). The Crawford case comes up, and Beachum figures it's another easy conviction to cap his life in public service. Crawford insists on representing himself in court, which Beachum sees as simply more evidence that he has nothing to worry about, despite the nagging mystery of why the police haven't been able to locate the murder weapon even though it's known that Crawford never left his house after the shooting.

The trial gets under way with Beachum asking rote questions of his key witness, the detective who confronted Crawford at the crime scene. Crawford doodles on a note pad during the direct examination, but waits till his cross to spring his surprise on the ill-prepared Beachum: the detective is the same man Crawford's wife was having the affair with, and he was present during Crawford's "confession,"  an obvious violation of policy. The confession is tossed, and without any murder weapon, Beachum's case is suddenly in very serious trouble. This is a problem both for his prospective new employer, which can't very well hire someone coming off an embarrassing high-profile disaster; and for the district attorney's office, which doesn't look kindly on mistakes either.

Beachum's cat-and-mouse game with Crawford comprises the second half of the film. Watching Gosling portray Beachum's evolving moral sense is the best part of Fracture, as the lawyer goes from overconfidence, to alarm at the damage the Crawford case can do to his career, to a genuine sense of wanting to do the right thing for the sake of the victim and the need to take Crawford off the streets. The film is basically a two-man show, although Billy Burke does a good job as the humiliated detective; and David Straitharn, suddenly looking like he's ready for grandfather parts,  does his avuncular thing as the district attorney. We also get eye candy in the form of Rosamund Pike as Gosling's would-be supervisor at the white collar firm. She's not especially believable as a legal eagle, though, and her brief affair with Beachum adds exactly zero to the plot.

What everybody wants to see at the end is how Crawford finally gets nailed, and this is where the balance on Fracture tilts from "decent little legal drama" to "if this was Law & Order, they'd be in rewrite right now." It's been established that both Crawford and Beachum are smart cookies, but his eventual comeuppance is attributable to a technicality it's hard to believe Crawford would have ignored, and the mystery of the murder weapon is one that at least one character and probably several of them should have thought of almost right off the bat.

If Gosling goes on to become a major star, Fracture will probably be remembered as a minor stepping stone along the way, a sign that he can stand up to a legend and acquit himself well. If he doesn't fulfill his evident promise, the film is destined to be an afterthought.

Not A Good Week For The Baldwins: The Sopranos 6-14

What's with the Godfather allusions all of a sudden on The Sopranos? Sure, some similarities to the ultimate mob experience in pop culture are inevitable and have been there all along. But last week, we had a fight between brothers-in-law and a despondent Tony sitting by the shore of a lake; and this week we have a whacking in a restaurant (Jerry "The Hairdo") and a baptism scene. If Tony starts hanging around racehorses again...watch out.

This episode was most noteworthy for featuring the first in what most assume will be a series of deaths as the show winds down, though in keeping with the general theme of decay, Johnny Sack departed this earthly realm not in a blaze of glory or a barrage of bullets, but as the victim of lung cancer. When I saw where they were going with this, I wasn't exactly looking forward to what was to come--my mother died of the same disease earlier this year, and I figured that probably filled my quota of cancer death scenes for a good long while. But even in my own situation, there were moments of weird humor to be found, and so in a strange way I took some comfort from elements like the way Ginny was trying to get a cigarette into Johnny's mouth as he was literally taking his last breath. Plus, the subplot gave us Sydney Pollack as an orderly who had been an ace oncologist before murdering his wife, her aunt, and the mailman.

The younger generation continues to disappoint. The New York crew has basically been rudderless since Johnny was put behind bars, and the one man who could unify things, Carmine Jr, makes it clear to Tony that he's perfectly happy as a suburban dad who dabbles in movies in his spare time (Little Carmine had probably his goofiest ever nonsensical saying in this episode: "Like a child, a film has many parents."). A.J. and girlfriend Blanca seem to be heading for a rough patch. And Christopher debuted his movie Cleaver, the one that originally was to star Ben Kingsley but now stars Daniel Baldwin, the least busy (at least since Homicide ended) of the fraternal acting quartet. That's a pretty big fall, from an Oscar winner to Daniel Baldwin, but Christopher is enjoying the fulfillment of his life's dream.

The estrangement between Christopher and Tony, hinted at in the preceding episode when Tony hung up on his nephew who had called to say Happy Birthday, appears likely now to come to an explosive climax. Carmela clued Tony in on the frankly obvious fact that the Baldwin character in the movie, who meets his demise via the film's title weapon, is a stand-in for Tony himself. "I know too much about the subconscious now," Tony says to Melfi, positive that he's correct to think that Christopher has wished him dead on the big screen. Christopher has also been avoiding the Bada Bing, ostensibly because it's not a healthy environment for someone in recovery. But he's been away from the meat and potatoes of family life for a while, and the idea of offing him has to be in the back of everyone's mind (Paulie, for one, wouldn't mind the assignment).

Still lingering on the fringes is Phil Leotardo, who disavows any interest in taking control of New York, feeling it's a job for younger, healthier men. But by the end of the episode, with Jerry having been killed (presumably by rival Doc Santoro) and Phil suddenly awash in anger thinking about his late brother, it appears he might be ready to nurse his old grudge with New Jersey once again.

How much longer does Christoper have? Or Phil, or Paulie? Or Tony? Or any of us, for that matter? Ah, philosophy.

With Fall On The Horizon...

The May sweeps begin in another week, a sign that the 2006-7 television season is winding down. A few shows have already packed it in for the year (Prison Break, Friday Night Lights, The Apprentice as of Sunday). Others have quietly disappeared and won't be heard from again. Soon enough, decisions will be made about some of the close calls for renewal, as well as about the proposed series that will be picked up for the fall schedule.

As regards my personal pet project, Friday Night Lights, I'm hopeful though not excessively so. I got a thank-you just yesterday from someone who was glad I turned her onto the show, but while there's a lot of anecdotal evidence regarding word-of-mouth around FNL, it just didn't register in the ratings. NBC has ordered additional scripts for the show, which isn't the same as picking it up for the fall. Most likely, the network wants to get a sense of where the producers want to take FNL, and this worries me some since I'm guessing they're going to want more teen soap stuff (which was the weakest element of the debut season). Still, the network has been pretty patient and the script order is the best news fans of the series have gotten since it got moved away from the Idol juggernaut. FNL became less self-consciously "movielike" in its presentation as the year went on, and I think it's completely accessible for those who give it a chance (and you can still do that on nbc.com, if you don't want to wait for the Season One DVD).

The CW is trying to convince some of the main people at Gilmore Girls to come back for a truncated eighth and final season. The main stumbling block here is rumored to be Lauren Graham. Gilmore Girls is one of those series that's actually been in creative decline for most of the time it's been on the air. I haven't found it terribly interesting since the second season, recognizing here that I'm hardly the show's  key demographic. But the CW needs familiar names, which is why 7th Heaven was talked into changing its collective mind and coming back for what's been an uterrly forgettable last (and they mean it this time) season.

At its best, Gilmore Girls was as well written as any show on the air (some of the dialogue was Moonlighting-like in quality), and it finally gave the totally adorable Graham a hit after several aborted takeoffs. It's funny how that works--actors who land in failed series after failed series, before latching on to a hit. Leah Remini, whose The King of Queens just made it to its 200th episode, was in that boat for years. So was Patricia Heaton.

Live From Blacksburg

Today was one of those days--and we get only a few of these a decade, at least of this magnitude--where we can watch a news event unfold in real time, with new information coming in almost every second from various sources. For those of us who are both news and Internet junkies, the need to find out everything combined with the realization that it's almost possible to find out everything can be exhilirating, even on a day of profound tragedy.

These snapshots in time, spaced out year by year, also provide a miniature history of technological progress and of ways to report and disseminate news. The murders at Virginia Tech provided an instant recollection of the Columbine massacre, but people over age 50 might have been more likely to draw a parallel to the sniper murders at the University of Texas in 1966. There was no live TV coverage of that awful day, of course; just black-and-white footage shot on film. Columbine wasn't long ago at all; it was 8 years ago this week. But in Internet terms it was the Middle Ages. Google was still brand new. Major news sites existed, but video offerings were miniscule. The big revelation to come out of Columbine was the use of cell phones by students in the school--both for the purposes of letting people know they were OK, and for on-the-scene reporting of a sort.

A kind of milestone in Internet journalism was reached the following year when a Seattle man started a thread on Metafilter saying that he had just experienced an earthquake. This was the equivalent of an AP bulletin: the reporting of a legitimate news event to a worldwide audience, several minutes before even the earliest reports of the quake by cable news or by the actual AP. And of course, Spetember 11 was covered in every imaginable way--the first big story for the age of online video, and the event that did more than any other to kick off the blog boom. People wanted to talk about it, and Lord knows the Web was made for the chatty.

As I said, Columbine wasn't long ago, but few then could have predicted that a mere 8 years later, the most arresting images of another school shooting would actually be filmed by a phone. Facebook and MySpace, which weren't around for 9/11, provided an alternate way of finding community and letting loved ones know you were OK, a way that didn't tie up phone lines.

There's a similarity to the way all these big events are covered, and if you have the TV on the coverage for several hours, it's hard not to get irritated by the endless repetition, and not to feel sorry for the news anchors whose inexperience at dealing with breaking news can't be more obvious. Given that it was obvious at an early stage that this incident was one of the largest mass murders in American history, the slowness of the networks to understand the magnitude of what was happening was mystifying--not sure if this is because they've all more or less turned serious breaking news over to cable, or if they were put off by how long it was going to take to get one of their people to Blacksburg, Va. But I suspect if Cory Lidle's plane had hit a building a few blocks from their corporate offices again, they would have cut into their precious soaps a bit earlier.

Will this incident have lasting resonance in pop culture, as Columbine did? It's too early to say; the Texas shootings, tucked into the middle of the Vietnam War as they were, seemed to have relatively little cultural impact (younger people may only know the name of Charles Whitman from a classic scene in Full Metal Jacket). But it was another little advancement for ad hoc citizen journalism, and that could have some positive effects down the road. I know that my own online life would be very different today had September 11 never happened. For starters, I might not have this blog. Now that's positively George Baileyan in the level of tragedy averted.

Intimations Of Mortality: The Sopranos 6-13

There's little doubt that The Sopranos has lost some narrative momentum due to the slowing down of the production schedule, and the need to stretch out this sixth season to meet David Chase's last-minute announcement that they needed extra episodes to wrap things up. And a lot of viewers have apparently lost interest too--this was only the thirteenth new episode since May 2004.

But this first in the last group of 8 episodes that will wrap up the Soprano story reminded us that no show is its equal in establishing mood, and the sense that things are running towards a painful and depressing end was unimistakable in this hour. Most of the main characters were either completely absent or barely there (Christopher literally phoned his appearance in). It would be nice if all the supporting characters will get an episode that showcases them over these next 2 months--it probably won't work out that way, but it would be nice. This, then, was a Bobby and Janice episode, with Carmela and Tony heading up to the Adirondacks for a 47th birthday (for Tony) weekend at the Baccalieri pad. Tony being Tony, he reacted to nature by firing his new and very large gun into several nearby trees.

Worried more than ever about not only aging, but also about the likely fate of someone in his position, Tony actually seemed to be hinting at giving Bobby some additional repsonsibility, perhaps even grooming him the way he once mentored the now mostly absent Christopher. This was before the two men got into a knock-down drag-out, following a game of Monopoly during which Tony, pulling rank as always, was seen blatantly ripping of the bank. Janice, as she always does, served as the not totally unwitting catalyst as her passive-agressiveness was on full display. Tony was physically beaten, but took steps to restore his wounded pride and re-establish face--including ordering Bobby to perform his first ever hit (really a momentous and somewhat surprising occasion, for those who remember Bobby's introduction in the show as a sort of valet to Uncle Junior).

So what else happened? Tony got arrested on an old weapons charge (the gun he discarded running away from the Feds at the end of Season 5 coming back to haunt him), and that might still present a problem. A.J. is still with his girlfriend and is lying to his parents again. Meadow's new career path has her wanting to be a pediatrician. Phil Leotardo is out of cardiac intensive care and back in Brooklyn, though his current stance towards Tony is unclear.

And there were the mentions of ducks, the trigger for Tony's panic attack way back when. The waterfowl, and the lake setting for this episode that couldn't help but recall the brutal climax of The Godfather, part II, portend even more pathos in the 7 weeks to come.

Unfinished Business

Due to unforessen technical difficulties--namely, my failure to publish entries and save them at the same time, a skill that anyone who can turn on a computer ought to be able to handle with no problem--I haven't actually been posting the last several American Idol recaps as they've been written. So here they are, just below this post in the 3 subsequent posts; perhaps better late than never although I suppose you'll be the judges. Does anyone even remember Stephanie Edwards at this point?

I Shoulda Left My Tongue Stud In San Francisco: American Idol 6-26

"Standards Night" is the bone American Idol annually throws to its sizable older folks audience. And although it's not the music I habitually listen to, I do appreciate a lot of it; and I understand that the ability of a would-be Idol to handle unfamiliar material can say something about their adapatability, cleverness, and overall chops. And since a song doesn't get to be a standard without being pretty damn good, you at least don't have a dilemma such as how to judge a well-sung version of "Open Arms". The downside is that these nights can draw a different audience than the typical Idol show, and for all I know that had something to do with "rocker" Gina Glocksen getting eliminated.

The show had quite a coup getting Tony Bennett as the week's guest mentor. I think it's safe to call Bennett the biggest name they've ever landed (apologies to all you Manilow fans out there), and despite that odd jacket that made him look like he was part of the Monday Night Football team, he was helpful in his avuncular way. He made it clear early on, with his praise of Sanjaya's entertainment quotient, that he wasn't there as a drill sergeant or even as a mildly snarky Gwen Stefani (though saying "they're all very competent" was pretty lukewarm). I suspect that Bennett saw this appearance as a way for him to evangelize for the music he loves and has sung so well.

Whether the singers rose to the occasion because of Tony Bennett I can't say, but the overall quality was a little better than usual, which might have also contributed to why Gina was the one to leave this week. I'm a bit surprised the airtime she's amassed over 2 seasons didn't help keep her around longer, but it's proven to be a bit unpredictable, in part because Sanjaya has been both lousy and impossible to knock off. What's totally predictable is that a night of standards would see the singer who's been scoring with them all along rise to the top once again, after a brief vacation:

1. Melinda ("I Got Rhythm"): She came in as the heavy favorite to clean up given that it was Standards Night, but even given the expectations she still managed to score as well as astonish. I do get the sense that she's beginning to irritate people with her surprise every week that people like her. Memo to Melinda: there's no one any more who doesn't believe in you, so learn how to accept compliments, girl! Now on to the song...well, first, there's the way she looked tonight, with her most flattering dress and hair ever. Now on to the song: the first verse is unfamiliar to most of us, and seemed to drag a bit for that reason, but then we got into the portion we all now, and the way she switched tempo--fast, slow, then churchy at the end--is something no one else in this competition can even think of doing. I still wonder how Melinda is going to fit into the contemporary music scene if she winds up winning, but hell: I'm starting to think I can see myself buying an album of her and the standards.

2. Jordin ("On a Clear Day You Can See Forever"): Tony Bennett sounded a mite curmudgeonly when he praised Jordin for singing in tune "which is rare these days." She did a more uptempo version of this song than Barbra Streisand's definitive version, but after a few seconds of disorientation I got into it, although I was distracted a bit by the audible intakes of breath Jordin had. The performance was solid but nothing too special until the last 30 or so seconds, when it really took flight, complete with the really big (dare we call it Streisandian?) finish. Jordin just plain brings fun to this season in a way no one other than Sanjaya does, and she has the added advantage of being able to sing. I don't know if her obvious improvement is being reflected in the vote totals, but unless America loses its mind...again...she's going to be a contender till the very end.

3. Lakisha ("Stormy Weather"): I wasn't bothered by the way she seemed to ignore Tony Bennett's advice to not end the song with her "ain't no sunshine when it's gone" tag--it worked for me, and besides, there's nothing wrong with listening to the mentor and still deciding to go your own way if it's what you truly feel. Lakisha started out singing this in a weird accent (was she imitating someone I'm not familiar with?), but the bridge is where she starts to belt it out, and as always she's a lot more convincing when she's doing that. A fair criticism of Lakisha is that she didn't sound suitably sad enough. Her talent is for mimicry of existing versions, not for interpretation. I'm not sure what to think about Lakisha's future here. She's near the top every week, but also behind Melinda every week, and Jordin is not only doing well now too, but presents a contrast to Lakisha both agewise and in potential pop appeal. I think Lakisha may be closer to the end of her run than most viewers realize.

4. Gina ("Smile"): Part of the reason Gina is going home a little earlier than she probably deserves can be seen in how I ranked them--while she was certainly good on this night, she was only the fourth best woman, and there weren't many nights this season when that wasn't true. Gina had commented earlier this year about how tough it was going to be competing with the big voices that the Big Three women can bring (her comeback to Simon was one last defense of her place in the competition), and I think she was intermittently successful in working around that. Tonight and (especially) last week worked well; "Paint It, Black" was a train wreck; her Evanescence cover won points with the judges but wasn't that great in my opinion. But I think Gina's strength is probably in the quieter songs.

Tonight she went with "Smile", which has a decent history on this show, since Ruben Studdard performed it. It's not an especially difficult song, but I think Gina invested it with a fair amount of emotion (and that helped her on the second verse when her voice was wobblier). Whether the stud in her tongue hurt her enunciation I can't say; if Tony Bennett objected to it, we didn't see it. But I'm sure it doesn't help, and it just looks distracting. Call me old fashioned, but I don't want to notice someone's tongue while they're singing, and Gina made it impossible to look away.

In the end, she was a middle-of-the-road finalist who went out a week or three too early because of Sanjaya's unique appeal (I still have no idea how Phil survived this one). Gina was ambitious even by the standards of Idol and her pain on being voted out was real and tough to watch. But the way she pulled it together for her reprise of the now ironic "Smile" was a great moment in show history.

5. Blake ("Mack the Knife"): Bennett seemed concerned that Blake didn't get the "meaning" of this song, which struck me as a curious thing to say because there's not much in the way of tender emotion here--it's a song about a murderer. I'm not sure Blake got that all the way--I didn't really understand what "Mack the Knife" was about until after I read The Beggar's Opera--but I think his original instinct to emphasize the swingy elements of the song were probably right on. It's not like Blake can really radiate danger anyway. And the weakest parts of the performance featured Blake crooning inappropriately on lines like "lies a body, oozing life." Towards the end, when the band picked up in volume and Blake dispensed with the crooning, it came across to me much better, and he came through with the big ending the judges love so much. I haven't always been his biggest fan this year, but I have to admit Blake just looks like he'd be comfortable doing "Mack the Knife", and for the most part he sold it.

6. Chris ("Don't Get Around Much Any More"): What was with the torn jeans? The hat wasn't half bad, but Chris is a good looking guy and in my opinion missed an opportunity by not dressing up a bit more. Chris has not been a particular favorite thus far in this season, but I will say this: the advice he's been getting to watch the vibrato and the runs seems to be making a small but positive difference in the way he's been singing. He looked more comfortable than most of his cohorts tonight, more so than did his rival Blake. The weak links remain that tinny voice of his and his occasional problems with enunciating, but it didn't bother me as much tonight. The ranking of 6th reflects tough competition (Chris didn't sing that badly), but having said that, the judges were a little more praising of him than he deserved. I think they see him as someone they can work with in the studio, if that should come to pass.

7. Haley ("Ain't Misbehavin'"): Haley is still on this damn show--how about that? Who really thought that this nondescript girl from Texas, who's only a wee bit more descript than she was 7 weeks ago, would still be here this late? It goes to show what having a big demographic all to your lonesome can do for you on AI. It's maybe too facile to attribute her survival to her more provocative outfits--tonight's green dress provided lots of TiVo-worthy moments for all you cleavage fans out there--but we have to be honest and say that's the closest thing she has to an image right now. for all Haley's seeming inoffensiveness, she got chewed out by a guest mentor again this week, this time for misinterpeting the lyrics and suggesting that the singer of "Ain't Misbehavin'" might actually be misbehavin'. As always with Haley, she makes no real mistakes, but doesn't add any character to the song--not during the slow open, not when she perks it up. The people who have compared her to Kathie Lee Gifford may be onto something--Haley has that vaguely Vegas-y, showoffy in a mannered way style, one that sounds instantly dated. She compounded her difficulties this evening by referring to Simon's praise as the only praise worth having, causing the other 2 judges to have a snit or pretend to. And for all the negative crap I say about her this and practically every week (she's pretty much camped out two from the bottom in my rankings all season)...Haley is still here.

8. Sanjaya ("Cheek to Cheek"): The show is getting increasingly bold about referring to Sanjaya's first-among-equals status, at least when it comes to his place in the outside world. Seacrest called Sanjaya's introduction to Tony Bennett "two legends collide." Sanjaya said he wanted to prove to America that he actually can sing, which is a good goal to have, I feel, 3 months into a singing competition. He crossed things up by slicking his hair back and dressing in a suit that made him look like the Thin Nonwhite Duke. His presence continues to improve, and he actually put a little oomph into a few of his phrases, but the performance is only intermittently on key and he has, not surprisingly, even more trouble coming across as a man overcome with love than Phil does. What Sanjaya has going for him is the undeniable sense (at this point, we have to admit it to ourselves) that his appearance are events. When he strolled down to take Paula's hand and give her a twirl, in one sense it was familair idol shtick, but it was still more fun than anything Phil could ever dream of doing, and that's why the Navy man is below Sanjaya this week. One note of caution: if I were Sanjaya, I'd try to make it look a little less like I was enjoying my cult status. Comebacks like "Welcome to the universe of Sanjaya!", as he told the by now dumbfounded judges, are going to put a dent in his vaunted likability if he keeps it up.

9. Phil ("Night and Day"): For those keeping track at home, that makes twice in 3 weeks I've put this guy behind Sanjaya, which is not an especially positive sign...except that Phil is still here. While I'm probably not the ideal guy to be ragging on someone else's appearance, we have to be honest here: Phil is the last guy you want to be singing you a love song, and it's all about his Cryptkeeper looks. But Phil's other problem here is that from the very beginning of the song, he sounded tentative and overrehearsed, almost as if he had imbibed Bennett's instructions about "finding the meaning" to the point where he was concentrating too hard to make the song sound unforced, let alone as blithe and "passionate" as it ought to sound. For the whole second verse, he sounded like he was trying on a few new accents. Rndy Jackson, who generally wasn't any more useful this night than he ever is, caught the disconnect too.Basically, this just needed a more upbeat approach, and needed to sound like it was being sung by a man in love instead of by a zombie who's been in ESL classes for a few days. He might remind Paula as a "young Frank Sinatra," but he reminds me more of Sinatra today.

Slip Slighding Away: American Idol 6-24

It's now beginning to look unmistakable that ratings and overall public interest are down for this edition of American Idol. Failing to match up to the standard of Season 5 is not in itself a red flag; every series, after all, will by definition have one season where ratings are higher than all others. My guess is that the decision to ignore the country and rock demographics when setting the top 24 is the main factor underlying the lower ratings.

I'm assuming that concern about the ratings, and frankly, the fact that the frontrunners this season aren't a lot in the personality department, are behind the explosion of Sanjayamania in the last 2 weeks. He's gone from being this year's curiosity, someone likely to overstay his welcome a bit but not really relevant to what we'll be talking about in May, to being a true phenomenon, someone who has crossed over into the wider culture on a level to rival any AI contestant ever. Is this a bad thing? I sense that a lot of fans of the show are truly alarmed and disgusted by Sanjaya's continuing presence, as if his victory would bring about the unprecedented crisis of trying to put someone who can't sing onto the pop charts to join the golden-throated likes of Britney Spears, Rihanna, and Cassie. There are even those who claim his victory could destroy the show...and yet, if he wins, he is by definition the most popular, correct? How do you go wrong if the peoples' choice wins? I hasten to add I don't think he can win; once the field narrows a bit more, the good singers will pick up support from the fans of defeated candidates, and I think Sanjaya's ability to do that is very limited. But really, it's not worth tearing our hair out about.

The theme for Top 10 week was, as near as I could tell, "Songs by Gwen Stefani or by Artists Inspired by Gwen Stefani, Except in the Case of Donna Summer Who We Put in There Because We Didn't Want to Ask Lakisha to do Something by Sublime". My thinking ahead of time was that Stefani would have lots of advice about performing energetically, and might even have a thought or two about marketing, but as far as singing advice...well, she's not Amy Lee, is she? But somewhat to my surprise, she was very effective and quickly zeroed in on what the weaknesses of these singers are, and her defense of singers who don't have the "big voice" was something new for this show. It's a new thing for Idol to have current charttoppers serving as guest coaches, a sign of its increasing clout; and I thought it should have been helpful for the kids. Unfortunately, this was not anywhere near as strong a night as the British Invasion was; and as evidence for that, I point to my standings for this week. It's a sign of overall weakness that someone like this week's #1 was able to ascend to these heights:

1. Gina ("I'll Stand By You"): I'm not sure in what way The Pretenders influenced Gwen Stefani, but Gina is sure glad they did because this was the perfect song for her--in fact, if she now realizes this is the sort of material she does reasonably well and vows never to try "Paint It, Black" again, the world will owe Stefani a debt of gratitude. Stripped of the need to try to pretend to rock, Gina was surprisingly affecting on what is, to be honest, not one of Chrissie Hynde's finer moments. There's a rough note in the first verse, but she picked up steam and hit her stride when she got to the chorus. You could even sense her gaining confidence as she got near the end, and that's always fun to see on this show. Nice to see Simon tell her that it's about "knowing who you are," after the judges had goaded her into rock schlock the last several weeks. If Gina can find a power ballad every week, she just might make it into the season's latter stages after all.

2. Melinda ("Heaven Knows"): There may have been some disappointment that she picked another older song (though the 29 year-old  "Heaven Knows" is the most current song Melinda has done yet. But the good news is that it was an uptempo dance song and--shocker--Melinda is about as good on those as she is on everything else. It's not a vocal showcase, so Melinda out a few elements into the chorus that allowed her to shine. I'm sure she'll be safe as ever, even though I worry a backlash will set in unless she makes more concrete stesp to widen her repetoire. "She's too good" may seem like odd criticism, but if you're a character on a soap, and she is, predictability is deadly.

3. Phil ("Every Breath You Take"): Finally, Phil picks a song whose stalker-ish lyrics are an excellent fit with his mug-shot looks. "I didn't know it was going to be that good," said Stefani, no doubt speaking for 300 million other Americans. He looked even paler than usual this week and his hat gave him the appearance of a guy who was had shown up on AI en route to sticking up a Carl's Jr, but judging it strictly on the vocals, he was right on the money, with only a bum note or two putting him behind Melinda. He was especially strong on the bridge, which gave him the opportunity to wail in a way that almost did recall Sting. I think Phil is even working a bit on his lower register issues, though probably not in a way that's going to keep him on the show more than 1 or 2 more weeks. But I

4. Lakisha ("Last Dance"): As I suspected might happen when she led off the year with that Jennifer Holihuddayson song, Lakisha has had trouble drumming up any sort of excitement for her subsequent performances, even though they've all been at least OK, and some have been fine. It was nice to see Lakisha, who like all of these contestants is too young to remember the disco era firsthand, do something uptempo and glam up her image somewhat. The arrangement cut out much of the slow intro to enable her to get into the swingin' part quicker, and while she followed the not uncommon but still annoying pattern of trying to put melisma into a song that didn't have it originally and doesn't need it, she sang it strongly and was believable as a dance diva. Of course, this was one more missed opportunity to show she can go outside the diva box, but she may be figuring that with several more mediocre performers still around, why rock the boat?

5. Blake ("Love Song"): This performance was more than a little reminiscent of last year's 24-hour controversy ovr Chris Daughtry's performance of "I Walk The Line", in which he was credited for an allegedly original reinterpretation that he had in fact borrowed from the band Live (Chris probably wasn't at fault, but those who believed the producers were pulling for Chris assumed the show was trying to bamboozle viewers). Blake's laid back, vaguely elevator music-y take on "Love Song" was, as millions of viewers no doubt realized, a carbon copy of the 311 remake of the song a few years ago. I would have thought that the judges might have been aware of the remake, which was probably the closest 311 ever came to a real pop hit, but no such luck. Anyway, this isn't a big deal except that Paula praised him for being "original". There wasn't any beatboxing or gimmickry of any kind, and Blake didn't make any overt mistakes; he simply did an extremely boring cover version true to the letter, and that's why he's in the middle of this week's rankings. It's a bit too far away from the third week of May to be coasting, sonny.

6. Haley ("True Colors"): The problem is that once you've shown them your thighs all the way up to whoa! and done the no-bra thing, you need a second act. Haley didn't really have one this week, and while strictly vocally speaking it was in the middle ground, it was so enervating that it's almost impossible to recall anything about it. All Simonesque snark aside, the girl really is forgettable, to the point where you wonder how she could have possibly survived 6 separate votes. Stefani was critical of Haley's attempt to embellish the melody of this song, which to be frank is awfully dull if you're not possessed of awesome vocal talent. As almost always with Haley, it was sung prettily and with few obvious mistakes, but without any real character or memorable elements. How this girl can consistently fail to take any opportunity to pick something entertaining is a mystery, because she's been given several extra chances.

7. Jordin ("Hey Baby"): She picked one of the more difficult songs in the No Doubt canon: catchy chorus, but a wordy, fast-paced, eccentric verse. I was looking forward to this because Jordin was so great last week that I thought we might be looking at the start of a juggernaut, but 'twas not to be. Her outfit was strange and made her look dumpy. As for the song, her voice almost disappeared in the low notes on the verse, and then became shrieky on the "girls say" parts of the chorus. It helped that she picked a relatively new song, one she might have sung along to on the radio before, but she didn't sound comfortable to me. What's more is that the song doesn't really allow a vocalist to shine even when it's done well. I call it a misstep, but hopefully just a bump in the road.

8. Chris R. ("Don't Speak"): Not unspeakable, but not real good either. I'm not sure if Stefani has watched this whole season or if it really only took her one quick meeting with Chris to get the essence of the guy, but her implying that his "vocal Olympics" weren't necessary was one of the great moments of the season so far. One of the worst moments came immediately after Chris was done singing, when Randy Jackson told him that he really looks forward to Chris doing those runs of his. By rewarding needless melisma and teaching a generation of Americans that "singing talent" lies mostly in the ability to try to sound like Mariah Carey no matter what the song or how talented the singer, the AI judges have done untold damage to the culture. I'm not a fan of "Don't Speak", because it's a ballad and Gwen Stefani's voice, in my opinion, isn't strong enough to carry most ballads. Chris's voice is even weaker than Gwen's, and even though he had a little syncopation built into the arrangement to allow him to do his thing, he didn't put across any of the emotion of the original version. The judges do love him still, though.

9. Chris S. ("Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"): Chris began his final performance on the show by making an unfunny joke about knitting and playing the bongos in his boxer shorts. He mentioned how tiring the show's grind is, and that may have shown up in this disaster of an effort. As even Stefani mentioned in her segment, Chris had all sorts of trouble keeping to the beat, and that's going to be more noticeable on this song than on most. He sounded more nasal than he has in the past, and showed signs of being breathless even before getting to the chorus. The bridge was even worse. I'm not sure what happened here, or how someone who's been a working musician for a while can have so little feel for the tempo of a song. It should have been a really good fit for his voice, but Chris just looked beaten down from the time he took the stage.

Chris came out of the auditions as one of the favorites among the men, joining such departed worthies as Brandon and Sundance. I think he lost his way thanks to some song choices that didn't allow viewers to connect with him. I have a vague memory of him doing really well on that Mute Math song during the first week, but I couldn't give you one lyric from it today. And among Idol diehards, his bragging about how he knew how to game the show and his all too knowing inside jokes (such as his acknowledgment of Vote For The Worst last week) made him seem like just a wee bit of a tool. For someone who

10. Sanjaya ("Bathwater"): You think Gwen Stefani was eager to hear this guy doing one of her songs? This was a strange song choice for Sanjaya: it's wordy, the rhythm is tough, and you have to remember to change pronouns when you're a man singing it (that appeared to be the thing that threw him off in the second verse). Sanjaya seems to be gaining some confidence as a performer now in the wake of his tribute to the Kinks, and even brought it a little bit on the chorus. There are these occasional moments when you hear a nice tone from him and remember what it was like before he became William Hung's Indian cousin. But all anybody could talk about after this was the ponytail mohawk, and I guess I have to credit him for knowing what his strong suit is (I might urge him to lay off talking back to Simon, though). The judges have all but stopped critiquing his performance--they obviously have no idea what sort of message to send to the viewers, let alone the best way to say it. "Thank you for the entertainment," said Ryan Seacrest, and I suppose that's what it's all about.

Ferry Cross The Misery: American Idol 6-22

OK, I know these prospective Idols are young, but to hear them talk about the British Invasion, you'd think it took place in Shakespeare's time. Several of the contestants were openly worried about finding something they could mold to their style, which is no doubt why somany liberties were taken with the established definition of the term British Invasion. But in short, show tunes (like Melinda performed), American songs that secondarily became hits by British artists (Haley, Jordin), and movie themes from the 1970s (Lakisha) are typically not thought of as fitting under the Invasion umbrella.

Still, these nights that test the ability of the frontrunners to stretch have given us many classic moments over the years, and this turned out to be the most entertaining episode of the year thus far--although a certain 13 year-old girl had a lot to do with that. The big long term story from the night, however, is that AI6 is clearly no longer a two-person race, if it ever was--when you see how I ranked them last week, you'll see what I mean.

Idol should be commended for finding Lulu and peter Noone to serve as gurst coaches for the week. At first, I thought these two seemed like they would be too small potatoes for the biggest show on television, but both proved surprisingly well acquainted with AI and with this year's contestants, and had almost invariably excellent advice, not that all of it was heeded. Lulu had song choice and phrasing selections, and Noone got through to Chris Richardson in a way none of the permanent judges have been able to (mostly because they're trying too hard not to hurt feelings).

As my pre-Final 12 predictions might have suggested, I was not surprised to see Stephanie going home as early as she did, even though the media tended to play her departure as a shocker. As Simon noted, she just seemed to fade gradually after the first week, perhaps discouraged at being left out of all the Melinda/Lakisha speculation. She had difficulty moving beyond her particular style and making a connection to viewers/voters (though missing out on early publicity certainly didn't help--Stephanie was the last of the 7 contestants to get no airtime in Hollywood or from their audition to be eliminated). The problem Stephanie had is that the people who might have been predisposed to like her were probably voting for other singers who just plain did it better. So I'm not especially angered by the fact that Sanjaya is still there and the superior Stephanie isn't, because she wasn't a plausible candidate to win anyway.

My ratings for the week...well, they're just a little less predictable than usual, as Melinda maks way for some new blood at the top:

1. Jordin ("I [Who Have Nothing]"): She's mostly been just OK so far, and the week she did "Reflection" she wasn't even that good. But this was a true revelation--the first performance of the year other than Lakisha's "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" and Melinda's "My Funny Valentine" to scream out "star". And don't think the producers aren't excited about the possibility that this teenager could become a contender--the makeover this week, which tamed her curly hair and had the effect of making her look even more mature than she already did, was proof that they're starting to groom her literally and figuratively. Jordin took this over-the-top ballad, which isn't terribly well known these days, and invested it with a startling amount of emotion, so much so that Simon half-joked about how depressing she was. She still doesn't nail every note--she can't compete with Melinda here--but it's not a pure vocal competition and never has been. IIf she wins (and it still has to be considered a longshot at this point), this will be the week we'll look back on. And anyone think she's still going to have trouble getting a boyfriend after this?

2. Melinda ("As Long As He Needs Me"): I thought about docking her for her blatant violation of the spirit of the week's theme, since a song from an early 1960s musical is hardly in keeping with the "British Invasion". And I think it was a mistake for her to do a ballad from a musical for the second straight week, since she already has an issue with the perception she skews old. But just judging the actual performance, it was stellar as always. I don't think it's important that Melinda did the song straight, with no appreication of this song's context in Oliver! (where it's sung by a woman about the lover who will eventually kill her). More important is that she made listeners believe through the conviction in her vocals, and phrased everything perfectly as she invariably does. I can't put her first tonight, but it's not a criticism in the least.

3. Chris S. ("She's Not There"): Gee, too bad he didn't do "I'm Henry the VIII, I Am". The stroll through the crowd for the song's opening verse was reminiscent of Taylor, and it was probably supposed to be since Chris has something of a love/hate relationship with the Hicks legend. Chris's voice doesn't have the ethereal quality of the Zombies' Colin Bluestone, but the verse was pretty good, especially since he had to worry about threading his way down the aisle. I think he made a mistake on the chorus by barking it blues-style somewhat, although it works with a song called "She's Not There". Basically, though, it was a good night for Chris, who finally picked a song most viewers will know and sang it well. This makes, for those keeping track, 4 times in 5 weeks I've thought Chris delivered the best vocal of any of the men.

4. Lakisha ("Diamonds Are Forever"): Would she have been better off taking Lulu's advice to do Cilla Black's "You're My World"? Probably, because despite the fairly high rating, this performance was only fair by the high standards Lakisha has set for herself. My guess is she searched for something--anything--she could adapt to her diva style, and settled on Shirley Bassey's theme to Sean Connery's last official Bond film. Lakisha just didn't seem engaged, and tried to compensate with a pretty frank imitation of Bassey's dramatic style. She didn't miss any notes in a noticeable way, but didn't really connect either. I wish Lakisha had shown some guts and dared to go a bit otuside her comfort zone, but this came across as an attempt to hold serve until she could get back on solid (American) ground.

5. Chris R. ("Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying"): Peter Noone was, apparently, the first person on Idol to grab Chris by the lapels and tell him to stop putting all those silly melisma runs into everything, letting him know that this ain't the way Gerry and the Pacemakers did it back in my day!It led Chris to what was far and away his best performance of the season so far. He still threw in a few runs, but they were usually confined to the final words of verses, and he (as Noone suggested) mostly left the title line alone. He still has a thin and not terribly versatile voice, but this week we actually got to hear it stripped of all the affectations, accompanied only by a guitarist. I'm sure he's going to be out there Timberlaking it up again very soon, but it's the first time he's delivered a song worthy of the tongue baths he's been getting the last month.

6. Blake ("Time of the Season"): I don't get it at all. Last week, I thought Blake's updating of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" was solid and clever, but the judges didn't seem charmed. This week, he gave a similar treatment to the Zombies' ethereal classic, and while the judges loved it, it didn't do a lot for me. I thought the vocals were thin and the failure to attempt the falsetto on the title line was noticeable, especially when he lost pitch the last two times he tried it. The beatboxing on the bridge came across as even more gimmicky than usual this time, and I thought the performance actually crossed over into kitsch towards the end when he started winking at the crowd. Still, the judges are in love again. Maybe I just have too much affection for the original version to credit Blake fairly.

7. Haley ("Tell Him"): Lulu's advice to Haley for this song (best known for its American version, by The Exciters) was quite good: sing it with punch, rather than trying to do runs on the lyrics as so many Idol wannabes want to try. I'd say this worked half-well--Haley still sounds like a refugee from a halftime show in 1974. Her vocals are blandly pretty on a song that isn't at all taxing, although she manages to punch it up in the moments she's not worn out by her dancing. Oh yeah...the dancing. She bounced out on stage in shorts and a flimsy looking top with an obvious lack of support (except on the sides, where the double sided tape was doing yeoman's duty). In case anyone missed the image she was trying to create, she stood in front of the judges and the front row of the audience and did her little shimmy. She finally, after 5 weeks, has herself an image: the "naughty little thing," as Simon called her. I'm not sure that can get her much farther, but it's gotten her onto the tour, and that didn't seem all too likely a few weeks back.

8. Sanjaya ("You Really Got Me"): Well, good grief, man. This performance helped to explain why American Idol is the most popular show there is, because this was GREAT entertainment, which is why I don't have Sanjaya in his accustomed last place, or even next-to-last. I have to give him credit for showing more energy than I thought he could ever possibly bring, even though it was utterly non-rock and roll (hell, so was David Lee Roth). This is a song that rewards attitude more than straight singing chops, and he was determined to try to sell it. It was funny that Peter Noone didn't want him to do his group's "I'm Into Something Good", but I'm glad he was discouraging because we then would have been deprived of RAWK Sanjaya and his little crying friend. My question is whether this represents some sort of turn of the corner for him--can he really keep up this energy level now week after week? Because that's really been his main issue all along.

9. Stephanie ("You Don't Have to say You Love Me"): At first, I thought this would be the ideal song for Stephanie: a huge ballad that would allow her to indulge her diva-ness. But it turns out she was really the worng kind of singer for Dusty Springfield's classic, lacking the necessary phrasing and the  confidence to not push the lyric. The chorus gave her a chance to salvage things--had she nailed it, the judges would have forgiven her the shaky verse--but then she started cracking notes left and right, including the very last one. I think Randy hit on what the problem was here--Stephanie didn't have the ability to "chop it up" and put her Beyonce-ian affectations into it. She's a decent performer and apparently a nice girl too, but too limited in the end to be an American Idol.

10. Phil ("Tobacco Road"): Did you know the Nashville Teens were British? Neither did I. Not many would have guessed that of the 3 attempts at really rocking this night, Sanjaya and Phil would account for two of them. "Tobacco Run" was performed by the Idol guys during the last show of AI5, and I found myself wishing for the return of Ace Young while Phil was singing it. I wasn't expecting a huge power chord accompanying Phil, nor did I expect him to carry the mike stand all over the place a la Bo Bice. Bottom line is that while he was game, he doesn't have the sort of voice you need with an arrangement like this. He can be loud, but in the service of a power ballad, not a real rocker. Still, it might have been a canny move in this rock-light season, although I think inviting the audience to criticize the judges is usually a poor idea. Anyway, Phil made the tour, and I never thought he'd get that far.

11. Gina ("Paint It, Black"): Are people still going to keep calling this girl a rocker after this effort of unmitigated suck? Lulu told her she needed to bring the drama, but Gina couldn't even come across as a snotty teenager. The first verse was awful enough, but then she just went off on her own melodic tangent--honestly, what tune was she doing there, because it definitely wasn't "Paint It, Black". I have to think she was working off a cover I don't know. The last minute of this performance was practically unhinged, capped off by Gina saying she wanted to see the sun "flying high up in the sky", which is not the lyric. Simon was right to say that Gina is "style over content," but that was true way before tonight.