American Idol: “Idol Gives Back” recap

by guest bloggers Becky Tennant and Bethany O’Neil

Last night was the “Idol Gives Back” two-hour show of American Idol. Let’s begin by saying that if Jordin Sparks would have been sent home last night, we wouldn’t be writing about Idol right now.

Were the producers trying to give half the viewing audience a coronary?

Needless to say, next week Chris and LaKisha had better step up their game, because they are the two on the hot seat.

Now for our run down of “Idol Gives Back.” All in all, it was a decent show. We understand that they were just trying to use the notoriety of American Idol to get people to donate to a good cause, and it was a good idea. It was a severely depressing show, but it did have a good purpose. And as of right now, the producers are saying that they have raised well over $30 million, which is outstanding.

The clips from around the world were sad. Talk about a reality check. It made us realize how lucky we are.

While the show was for a good cause, there were definitely some corn-ball moments of the evening, one being the “all-white” outfits of the six finalists and their little group songs. Totally corn-ball material. We felt like we were back in the days of The Brady Bunch. Can you sing, “It’s a Sunshine Day?”

And we know that we’ll probably take some slack for this, but the Celine Dion and Elvis “duet” is right up there with one of the “why, who cares, weird” moments of all time. Yes, Elvis is the greatest rock-n-roll legend of all time, but come on; that was eerie. Maybe the producers were smart about this, though. They brought Elvis back from the dead for the parents who would be calling in to pledge cash, not the millions of 12 and 13-year-old girls out there.

There were several celebrities that were featured: Ellen DeGeneres, Ben Stiller, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Josh Groban, Annie Lennox etc. And the musical montage of “Staying Alive” featured several well-known celebrities.

While we felt at times that we were in the throes of the Jerry Lewis Telethon, “Idol Gives Back” wasn’t overtly maudlin. It raised a lot of money. But let’s bring on some fun next week. We need to get out of this funk.

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