American Idol: San Francisco Auditions

Today's incredible snow could not keep me from blogging about tonight's episode of American Idol. The snow kept me from going to work. The snow kept me from going to see My Bloody Valentine 3-D. But it will not keep me from experiencing the awesome spectacle that is American Idol.

In the past, San Francisco gave us Katherine McPhee and William Hung. Both classics. Apparently there was a marriage proposal in line. And then that same couple got married. While in line. Good times in San Francisco.

The first contestant tonight is Tatiana Del Toro, who seems to have confused American Idol for the Miss America Pageant. She has a wicked annoying laugh and wears way too much make-up. She's one of those people who takes the criticism by singing another song. She did this twice. Somehow they sent her through to Hollywood. Seriously? Is this how San Francisco is going to be for the next hour? Blurg.

After a couple really bad auditions that I thought would turn into a montage, we get Dean-Anthony Bradford in his amazing technicolor dream coat. Dude's a nut. Way over the top. Wow.

Jesus Valenzula looks to have a pretty large family. His kids apparently convinced him to try out. Simon cuts him off saying that he's not right for it. Paula gets him to bring the kids in. His two sons walk in with the posters. Simon's the only one who can manage to say no to the kids. The other judges' hearts melt a bit. He's going to the next round.

Before the extremely nervous Dalton Powell entered the audition room, he impressed Seacrest by solving a Rubik's cube in under a minute. After hearing him sing, I realize he should stick to the cube. And puzzles in general. I have noticed tonight, for an hour long episode, there sure are a lot of commercial breaks. I find that to be very annoying.

Akilah Askew-Gholston Googled all kinds of information on how to become a great singer. She's got reams of paper containing instructions and diagrams. She's just all over the place. I guess you can't learn how to sing well from researching the internet.

Here's where we insert our montage of successful auditioners. Then comes Annie Murdoch singing, well, she's not sure. She's very indecisive. Then when she starts singing, she's a massive disappointment. Not worth waiting for the decision. I agree with Simon. She sounds like a drunk girl who grabbed the mic on karaoke night.

Adam Lambert won't be a surprise when he gets through. See, they tend to show too much when they do the teasers before the commercials. We know this dude's doing Bohemian Rhapsody. We know his voice will blow away the judges. And he's through to Hollywood.

Last week I complained that two hours was too much Idol. But this week's hour long episode doesn't feel like enough. And I really think it's because for every 6 minutes of actual show, we get 5 minutes of commercials. It's ridiculous. We see one, maybe two auditions before cutting to the ads. Fringe is returning tonight, and that show always has shorter commercial breaks. Maybe the 8 o'clock hour is trying to make up for the ad dollars Fox won't get during the 9 o'clock hour. Blurg.

Our final audition is with Kai Kalama who has been taking care of his mother. Simon's only complaint is that he appears to lack confidence. But he makes it through to Hollywood. Only 12 from S.F. make it to Hollywood. Tomorrow night we'll see what happened in Louisville, Kentucky. Hopefully they'll limit the commercials to only 50% of the hour.