American Idol 4: Episode 2
The St. Louis Auditions, 32 Make The Show
By Jillian Kuras
January 20, 2005
Welcome back to premiere week of American Idol! Last night's episode drew in 34 million viewers, which is up 17% from last year's season premiere. Way to go America! Continuing on with my celebration, today I wore my official 'I Voted for Diana Degarmo' t-shirt.
Tonight's episode includes auditions from St. Louis, Missouri. After the new snazzy version of the AI theme, Ryan tells us that St. Louis has found a triple threat. The first contestants we are introduced to tonight are the Maynard triplets. Auditioning with a sibling, identical or not, is always risky. Because American Idol is a competition where only one person can win, and where originality is everything, it's hard to win over the judges when there are two (or more) people who look, dress, sing and act exactly alike. We saw this in season two with twin girls who auditioned in New York. Even though they both sounded great while singing Fallin', there can only one American Idol. I can already tell there is going to be a problem if these three girls sing together.
Simon then asks the girls if they will be singing separately, and sure enough, the girls tell us they will be singing together. They sing It's Raining Men, and they do sing it very well. Unfortunately, they sang it well as a group. It's impossible to tell if they are good as individuals. At first, Randy and Paula do agree that they can sing. Simon however isn't as impressed and tells them they are all overweight Jessica Simpson's. I personally think Simon is crazy. I don't think they are overweight at all. The judges then ask who the best singer is out of the three of them. The girls agree that Erin, the one standing in the middle, is the best. The other two girls are asked to leave. Erin is not given another chance to sing, the judges simply tell her she won't be moving on. The three girls leave, but are very upset. I think if they would have auditioned separately one, if not all of them, would have made it through.
Next we meet twenty five year old Katrina Rece who Paula describes as "colorful". Katrina tells us that she has eaten human flesh as part of a college course, that she grew up in house that had a panic room, and that she is a customer service representative for mentally challenged people. That's a lot to take in fifteen seconds, and Simon tells her the audition isn't starting well. Katrina tells us she is singing I Wanna Dance with Somebody. Her voice is ok, but lacks power. You can tell she has a very limited range. The judges agree that her voice won't stand up in the competition and Katrina will not be going on the Hollywood. Simon finishes by rudely telling Katrina that he would like to introduce her to the triplets. He thinks her human flesh eating ability will come in handy with the three overweight Jessica Simpson's.
After the break we see a short clip of Ryan throwing out a pitch at a St. Louis Cardinals game. Ryan wildly throws the ball towards home plate and misses by a mile. Too bad Ryan wasn't a better pitcher; the Cardinals could have used him last October when they got swept by the Red Sox in the World Series. Oh well, us Boston fans aren't complaining.
Next we meet the son of Cardinal Hall of Famer Ozzy Smith- Osborne Smith II. Osborne is twenty two and sings All I Do by Stevie Wonder. Osborne has a nice voice, he can definitely sing, but I'm not sure I like him all that much. His voice has a very gospel, church like sound to it. I can't really picture him going very far in the competition. The judges really like Osborne and he gets three yes votes. Osborne is off to Hollywood.
Next up is eighteen year old Johnny Hayes from St. Louis. Johnny sings My First Love. His voice sounds like a combination of Kermit the Frog and Donald Duck. Simon and I are thinking exactly alike tonight, because he tells Johnny if he was Walt Disney he would hire him to be the voice of Pluto.
We are now introduced to Jeremy and his singing teacher Angel Higgs. Angel, who is twenty four, sings first. She walks into the room dressed very conservatively and with a big smile on her face. She sings Ain't Nobody, and sings it very well. Her voice is very low, and I'm guessing she is naturally an alto. It's a unique sound though, and I like it. Paula and Randy agree she is a good singer, but that she needs to dress and perform younger. They both say yes to Hollywood. I agree with them, she does look a lot older than twenty four. Simon however tells her that she is not a star, only a background singer. He is overruled though and Angel is off to Hollywood.
Next we meet sixteen year old Jessica Pontius who tells us she has the confidence and the look to be an American Idol. When the judges ask her to tell them about herself she says she likes to shop and tan. Things are not looking good for Jessica. She sings Over the Rainbow and does not sing it well at all. Paula tells her she should do voice over work for cartoons. Randy agrees and tells her she can make a lot of money doing that. Simon questions Paula and asks her what cartoon she could do a voice over for. Paula tells Simon any type of cartoon such as Rugrats. Simon clearly does not know what this is and thinks Paula is telling Jessica she could be a rat. The judges continue to laugh and joke and Jessica eventually walks out.
Next up is twenty five year old Joe Schoen. Joe showed up to the audition with a fan club of about twenty friends and family members complete with signs and banners. As Joe is talking to the judges about himself, it is clear that he is way too overconfident, and way too full of himself. Joe sings My Girl and he sings it pretty well, but he is just so darn annoying. You can tell he's not nervous and that he completely feels he will go through. He even managed to find which camera was shooting him and looked directly into it (instead of the judges) while he was singing. Simon tells Joe he is a cruise ship singer. This makes Joe extremely mad, and he begins defending himself. He and Simon argue back and forth and Simon tells Joe he's obnoxious and he won't be making it through. I again agree with Simon. Joe leaves the room shocked and he and his family and friends can't believe he didn't make it.
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