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We’ll Be the Judge of That! – Celebrity Duets, August 29by Foxes On Idol Judging Staff -- 08/30/2006
View Printable version of this article It’s the premiere episode of the latest show to pair stars and celebrities – this time doing so in the usual arena of American Idol. After two hours of Celebrity Duets, one star was kicked to the curb. Who do our judges, David Bloomberg and Ashley Lundy, think should have gone? Who do they think did well? Read on to find out! Lucy Lawless & Michael Bolton David: Lucy sings pretty well for a Cylon! OK, you can see what shows I watch besides reality TV. Anyway, I actually think Lucy sounds pretty good – certainly better than many Idol contestants! I did think she looked a little uncomfortable on the stage, though. Maybe she knew ahead of time that Little Richard would be talking and wouldn’t make a lick of sense. Good way to start the show! Ashley: Lucy looked beautiful and going first takes some courage. She even looked comfortable on stage (despite what David said, above). So, snaps for that. I thought she was okay. She smiled, she performed, and oh good heavens, did she try to sing. As calm as she looked, her voice sounded wobbly and a little pitchy. Also, her last big note went very wrong. Michael Bolton definitely upstaged her, but I imagine that is going to happen with almost every duet. 
Alfonso Ribeiro & Michelle Williams David: Carlton put on a few pounds since the Fresh Prince days. But he also showed that the Fresh Prince wasn’t the only one on the show who could sing. I was quite impressed. Ashley: Alfonso’s voice is decent and he seemed to have such a good time on stage. I even liked his dancing. Michelle sounded great, but looked awfully thin. Overall, a good performance and the audience got into it. I think the problem with Carlton is that he just seems out of style. Like mullets. I mean, the guy had sequins on his shirt sleeves. He’s still very likeable and I think it was good enough to send Alfonso to the next round Carly Patterson & James Ingram David: Uh oh, we had our first stumble of the night. Carly sounded, well, squeaky. She was the first celebrity to sound like an amateur. Not horrible, but not particularly good either. Ashley: Carly has gained a little weight since the gold medal and it’s very obvious in the dress she choose. The song matched her young girly voice, but she didn’t nail it. I liked the friendly chemistry between the two singers. It was probably mutual respect. I agree with David Foster that she could really advance in this competition, but it will take a considerable amount of growth. A lot more work, a lot more practice, and no more songs from animated movies. Cheech Marin & Peter Frampton David: Oh my. Cheech didn’t start off well, and it only got worse when we heard him taking turns with Peter Frampton. Marie Osmond was worried about which side of the guitar Cheech was on, but I think she missed the big picture here, which is that he just wasn’t good. I’d like say, “Dave’s not here, man,” but David was here, and did hear it. Ashley: Ever since I heard that Cheech was going to be on this show, I’ve been dying with curiosity. I mean, it’s Cheech we’re talking about here. Can he really sing? I am here to tell you fine readers that, indeed, he cannot. He’s terrible, really. Cheech is good for a little comic relief and I believe that is why I was even forced to listen to it. There is no way a producer heard that cat-calling and thought he had a chance to win a singing competition. I think Little Richard just said he wants to eat Cheech with mustard and ketchup. Lea Thompson & Randy Travis David: After hearing Carly and Cheech, Lea sounded pretty good. She made a good duet partner for Randy Travis, and their voices actually meshed pretty well. I don’t really have any criticism! Ashley: I love me some Lea Thompson. (That is proper grammar in Texas). She seemed just as cute and fun as they come. I even love me some Randy Travis. I just didn’t love me this performance. On paper, it sounded like it could’ve been great, but, no. Lea’s pitch was all over the place and I honestly think she was messing up the great Randy Travis. The last note came out low and creepy. Also, there was a major lack of chemistry between them. Or maybe they were just both aware of Lea messing the notes up. I like them as people and take them serious as entertainers in their fields, but I didn’t like this duet. At all. Jai Rodriguez & Gladys Knight David: Wow. Jay started out great and kept right on going! In fact, I would go so far as to say it was difficult to tell that Jay isn’t a professional singer! Little Richard finally made sense when he said, “You are fantastic!” Ashley: Wow. What confidence. What style. What an opening. Solid performance. Gladys proved she still has it and Jai proved that he may have missed his calling as a singer. The best of the first round. ‘Nuff said. Chris Jericho & Lee Ann Womack David: Chris is used to singing heavy metal, where he has fronted a band called Fozzy. But there was no screaming or thrashing here. Unfortunately, there also wasn’t any particularly good singing either. He might pile drive me, but I’ll risk it – he just wasn’t good. Ashley: I don’t watch wrestling, I don’t know who Chris is, but he sure is a cutie. He tried very hard to be soft, tender, and not oversing the song. The result was a total UNDERsinging of the song. Lee Ann has such a rich strong voice, Chris needed to match that a little better. He was almost so soft I couldn’t tell if he was a truly good singer or not. And why did he keep trying to touch Lee Ann? The performance was entirely too cheesy. I hope he does something in his comfort zone and rocks out on his next song. 
Hal Sparks & Smokey Robinson David: Hal did pretty well on the early high notes and carried it into the rest of the performance. Singing next to Smokey, though, Hal was lucky the music covered him up a bit during the later parts of the song. Not bad. Ashley: Now that was a surprise. Hal was oh so slightly pitchy, but still enjoyable. He really nailed the opening, and then it seemed he couldn’t fight the urge to go goofy loud for a second. He brought it back home and sounded good again in the end. A compliment from the great Smokey is no small thing. I think if Hal can get a little bit more serious and relax a tad, he could be a real contender. What a surprise. Lea Thompson & Michael Bolton David: I can’t put my finger on why, but I just didn’t like Lea as much as the first time. Uh oh – I just agreed with Little Richard. But I didn’t feel like I could hear her voice as well over the music and backup singers. Ashley: Okay, Lea loosened up a little bit and it was loads better than the first round. She was having a blast and sounding fantastic. Redemption, Lea, redemption. Michael did not upstage this time. She proved something with this performance and I think she should definitely stay in this competition. 1 2 Next-->View Printable version of this article
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