When "Idol" Judges Attack!

[TheConfessor]

I guess I'd better not tell my parents in Louisville to "be careful," even though trees and power lines are down everywhere and they have no power so they are hunkering down at my sister's house across town and it may be a week or more before power is restored. Simon and Paula and the Idol producers would consider that a threat.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 063&s_pos=
Warm Kentucky Adieu Turns Chilly 'Idol' Threat

By Lisa de Moraes
Friday, January 30, 2009; C07

"American Idol" has apologized for an incident in which judges Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul accused one of this edition's auditioners -- a descendant of the doctor who set John Wilkes Booth's broken leg -- of threatening them by telling them to "be careful" as he exited the audition room.

The accusation was part of a story line in which Mark Mudd Jr. was made to appear to be a menacing character during the Louisville auditions.

"We apologize to any viewers who were offended by the misinterpretation of the contestant's comment to 'be careful' upon completion of his audition in Louisville," "Idol" producers said in a message posted on the show's Web site.

"Our visits to audition cities are relatively brief and sometimes regional greetings and salutations are lost in translation," the "Idol" apology continued.

"We had not heard that phrase from any other contestants during the day, so it took everyone by surprise."

But the whole "he's scary" gag started earlier, before Mudd even entered the audition room.

Show host Ryan Seacrest had already spent a little on-camera time with Mudd, so he could tell viewers that his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, Samuel Mudd, was "the doctor who fixed John Wilkes Booth's broken leg after he shot Lincoln and jumped off the balcony."

"They gave him 10 years in prison just for doing that," Mudd commented.

"That's not a gun, is it?" Cowell asked Mudd of the cellphone carrier clipped to his belt, as Mudd walked into the audition room.

Cowell and gang may not understand the "regional greetings and salutations" but surely they've seen a cellphone carrier before?

"No, no, no -- it's my phone," Mudd explained, adding that he was nervous.

"It looked kind of like a holster," judge Randy Jackson jumped in.

After his audition -- lousy -- and the judges' comments -- snarky -- Jackson (speaking of regional greetings and salutations) told Mudd, "Sorry, Mark, good lookin' out dawg. Thanks for comin' out, baby."

To which Mudd responded: "All right. Y'all take care, and be careful."

"Be careful?" Abdul said.

"Yeah, careful in whatever you do," Mudd replied.

Abdul and judge Kara DioGuardi still seemed puzzled and started "huh"-ing and "what"-ing.

"I'm just saying be careful in whatever you do," Mudd explained patiently.

"That was a threat," Cowell sneered.

"Yeah, that's a threat," added Abdul, liking where this was going.

Mudd again tried to explain himself:

"I'm not -- I'm just saying, just be careful, you know . . . "

"Well, you know, you don't say that to people . . . 'be careful' . . . that's not a normal thing to say," Abdul said sternly.

"I'm just saying -- I was just saying," Mudd said, now clearly confused at the reaction to his farewell greeting.

"You be careful, too, okay?" Abdul shot back.

"We're gonna be extra careful. Really careful," DioGuardi added.

"I don't know about you, but I'm flying out tonight," Abdul added.

Real Ugly American stuff.

"Idol" producers had liked their Mudd the Menace package so much that they had teased it a couple of times, earlier in the show:

Seacrest: "When this good ol' boy strolls in to audition . . . "

Shot of Cowell saying, "That's not a gun, is it?"

Back to Seacrest's tease: ". . . things take a serious turn."

Shot of Cowell: "That was a threat."

DioGuardi is heard asking, "Are you threatening us?" over a shot of Mudd standing with one arm extended toward the judges.

Shot of Abdul: "Yeah, that's a threat."

Yesterday, however, "Idol" was very, very contrite.

"We now know better and look forward to visiting Louisville again someday," the show's producers said in the apology.

Perhaps they'll be more careful.

* * *

[Jeemie]

Idol's name is mud!!!!

[frogman042]

My son Daniel and D-I-L Raquel live in Louisville and luckly did not lose power - we were especially concerned since Raquel is in the middle of the 2nd trimester.

[MarleysGh0st]

So do folks in Louisville commonly say "Be careful"?

The rest of it just sounds like a bad restaging of Joe Pesci's scene from Goodfellas.

Hey, Simon, you're funny!

[TheConfessor]

So do folks in Louisville commonly say "Be careful"?

The rest of it just sounds like a bad restaging of Joe Pesci's scene from Goodfellas.

Hey, Simon, you're funny!

I don't watch Idol, so I didn't see this episode, but it sounds like the producers were all too happy to twist an innocuous, polite remark into a sinister, promotable ratings booster. I think for many people, "be careful" is just a common variant of goodbye, take care, aloha, ciao, adios, or that sort of thing. I know I say it all the time, and people say it to me, especially when the people involved require travel to reach their destinations.

[kusch]

So do folks in Louisville commonly say "Be careful"?

The rest of it just sounds like a bad restaging of Joe Pesci's scene from Goodfellas.

Hey, Simon, you're funny!

I don't watch Idol, so I didn't see this episode, but it sounds like the producers were all too happy to twist an innocuous, polite remark into a sinister, promotable ratings booster. I think for many people, "be careful" is just a common variant of goodbye, take care, aloha, ciao, adios, or that sort of thing. I know I say it all the time, and people say it to me, especially when the people involved require travel to reach their destinations.

I saw the episode and the whole time was wondering what Simon and others from the show were thinking. I thought maybe they edited out a more threatening comment. I took the "be careful" as just a friendly "goodbye", have a "good day" or whatever.

I actually thought of Hill Street Blues---"let's be careful out there".

[Sisyphean Fan]

So do folks in Louisville commonly say "Be careful"?

The rest of it just sounds like a bad restaging of Joe Pesci's scene from Goodfellas.

Hey, Simon, you're funny!

I don't watch Idol, so I didn't see this episode, but it sounds like the producers were all too happy to twist an innocuous, polite remark into a sinister, promotable ratings booster. I think for many people, "be careful" is just a common variant of goodbye, take care, aloha, ciao, adios, or that sort of thing. I know I say it all the time, and people say it to me, especially when the people involved require travel to reach their destinations.

I saw the episode and the whole time was wondering what Simon and others from the show were thinking. I thought maybe they edited out a more threatening comment. I took the "be careful" as just a friendly "goodbye", have a "good day" or whatever.

I actually thought of Hill Street Blues---"let's be careful out there".

I thought he was kind of a sketchy character. He seemed to have a sociopathic demeanour (no emotions) and didn't have much eye contact. He kind of gave the comment under his breath and out of the side of his mouth after he had turned away. I realize that is the way some people talk but I would have been uneasy with him before that just on his general shiftiness.

Then again, maybe I watch too much Discovery ID.

[Estonut]

So do folks in Louisville commonly say "Be careful"?

The rest of it just sounds like a bad restaging of Joe Pesci's scene from Goodfellas.

Hey, Simon, you're funny!

I don't watch Idol, so I didn't see this episode, but it sounds like the producers were all too happy to twist an innocuous, polite remark into a sinister, promotable ratings booster. I think for many people, "be careful" is just a common variant of goodbye, take care, aloha, ciao, adios, or that sort of thing. I know I say it all the time, and people say it to me, especially when the people involved require travel to reach their destinations.

Interesting how "be careful" is a threat, yet "take care" is innocuous.

[silvercamaro]

I thought he was kind of a sketchy character. He seemed to have a sociopathic demeanour (no emotions) and didn't have much eye contact. He kind of gave the comment under his breath and out of the side of his mouth after he had turned away. I realize that is the way some people talk but I would have been uneasy with him before that just on his general shiftiness.

Then again, maybe I watch too much Discovery ID.

I didn't think he was sketchy. I thought he was a good ol' boy, without any particular social polish, who accepted his disappointment politely and wished the judges well. I saw nothing threatening about his demeanor or his words.

[vettech]

My boss told me to drive carefully when I left work the other day. Now I know what she really thinks of me! It had nothing to do with the snowstorm or anything..

[peacock2121]

They were leery of the guy from the get go. If they had not been, his comment would have meant nothing.

[T_Bone0806]

I'm with Silver. He just seemed like Larry the Cable Guy on Quaaludes. The producers thought it would be cool to edit the promos to make it look like "Coming up..Norman Bates goes before the judges". He didn't seem threatening at all. And he wasn't even hideously bad, although nothing even remotely Idol-ish. He was ok, in a "Uncle Bubba sounded pretty good singing that George Jones song at the family BBQ after he socked down a couple of Budweisers" kinda way.

The auditions had their good and bad points.

The good:

--3 weeks instead of 4.
--One less week of auditions means one extra week of Hollywood, which (unless more fancy editing makes it look better that it actually will be) looks to be hot stuff, with lots of drama and yelling.
--A better balance of talent and trainwrecks.

The bad:

--Despite the improvement in balance, there were STILL too many of the passers that we didn't hear a note out of. This is because they went overboard on the "witty" interplay between judges, Ryan acting goofy in the respective audition cities, and the 10-minute profiles and endless teasers (7 times throughout the show it'd be-"coming up..the heartbreaking story of Josie, who lives in a paper bag with 17 brothers and sisters, all of whom have bowel control problems...").
a little less promotion, a little more of the contestants singing please.
--The auditions were pretty bland, both the good AND bad. Seems like the passers were abundantly Melismatic, and there were no overwhelmingly memorable trainwrecks. There were no characters of the "I AM YOUR BROTHER" guy variety. Even Alexis Cohen, the psycho chick from last year ("take it Simon, take it! take it!! take it!!!) who returned for Thursday's show, seemed quite restrained (or medicated?) What's up with that? Hopefully, there were a couple of rockers/gritty soulsters who made it through that we didn't get to hear during the auditions. If all we get in the Top 12 are Jordan Sparkses and David Archulettas doing trampoline routines with their vocal cords, then it may be "T-Bone out".

My favorite lines of the auditions:

No, for me it wasn't the insinuating slam leveled at Simon regarding his activities with Seacrest. That apparently had much of America laughing, but not so much me, as they've been making wisecracks like that on votefortheworst for a long time.
Honorable mention goes to the high school president. who announced that he was going to do an old soul song by Raffi

Line of the year goes to the gal who walked around all day with charts of the human body and expounded (usually by mispronouncing the name of each and every body part) on proper singing techniques. After blowing her audition with flying colors, she reasoned that it was beecause she "sang from the wrong rectum".
Actually, that's EXACTLY what it sounded like to me, too!

Hoping that things pick up in Hollywood.

[MarleysGh0st]

They were leery of the guy from the get go. If they had not been, his comment would have meant nothing.

If they were really leery of the guy, I doubt the producers would ever have passed him on to a taped audition.

Was it last season when they showed one of the auditioners in Philadelphia singing a creepy stalker song directed at Paula? Everyone involved had to know it was all an act to get his two minutes of airtime.

[MarleysGh0st]

(7 times throughout the show it'd be-"coming up..the heartbreaking story of Josie, who lives in a paper bag with 17 brothers and sisters, all of whom have bowel control problems...")

Ewwwwwwww!

[cindy.wellman]

(7 times throughout the show it'd be-"coming up..the heartbreaking story of Josie, who lives in a paper bag with 17 brothers and sisters, all of whom have bowel control problems...")

Ewwwwwwww!

T-bone made me laugh.

[T_Bone0806]

They were leery of the guy from the get go. If they had not been, his comment would have meant nothing.

If they were really leery of the guy, I doubt the producers would ever have passed him on to a taped audition.

Was it last season when they showed one of the auditioners in Philadelphia singing a creepy stalker song directed at Paula? Everyone involved had to know it was all an act to get his two minutes of airtime.

And indeed it was, as it was determined that the guy was some sort of wannabe comedian/radio host or something of that variety.

[cindy.wellman]

(7 times throughout the show it'd be-"coming up..the heartbreaking story of Josie, who lives in a paper bag with 17 brothers and sisters, all of whom have bowel control problems...")

Ewwwwwwww!

T-bone made me laugh.

I can only watch these shows if I have them recorded. I would rather be a day behind than to sit through the "coming up" type comments. I can tolerate them if I have the ability to FF through them.

[T_Bone0806]

Ewwwwwwww!

T-bone made me laugh.

I can only watch these shows if I have them recorded. I would rather be a day behind than to sit through the "coming up" type comments. I can tolerate them if I have the ability to FF through them.

I would, but my granddaughter likes to watch the shows with me as they air. Plus, with her motormouth, the commercials are the times that she gets to go on and on about how cute this guy was or how that one sang really well and how come I was making an "I smell a decomposing banana" face while that girl was singing just like Christina Aguilera, etc.

[peacock2121]

They were leery of the guy from the get go. If they had not been, his comment would have meant nothing.

If they were really leery of the guy, I doubt the producers would ever have passed him on to a taped audition.

I meant they the judges, not they the producers.

[secondchance]

I like the new judge Kara; she seems pleasant and fair enough - I wonder why she's gotten such a bad rap?

In fact, I think I'm a fan, a big one. Found this clip of her performing a song she co-wrote, called "Lost," which was recorded by Faith Hill... and I'd rather listen to Kara's version any day.

Check this out, it blew me away -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBKszP4ZGJw&NR=1

Also -

anyone else think the chubby girl who won 700 singing contests or whatever, really wasn't bad at all? All 4 judges acted like she'd stunk up the place. I did a bit of head scratchin'.
She's the one whose mom/friend took a shrieking nose dive after running up the steps. We had to replay that 4 or 5 times and laughed just as hard each time. (Sorry - but the same human nature reaction that keeps America's Funniest Home Videos on the air I suppose.)
We also got some major laughs out of that screaming "you're selling ice cream" guy.

I liked Melinda Camille (shaved-headed naked dancer girl) - cute, with a very special vibe.

I also can't understand why they don't show at least a tiny clip of each audition that made the cut...

Looking forward to Hollywood Week, as always.

[Ritterskoop]

I also can't understand why they don't show at least a tiny clip of each audition that made the cut...

They do this so that we will have some surprises in the semifinals. The David Archulettas and Carlys get overexposed in the early rounds. They know we need a few contestants we haven't seen much of before the semis to root for, like last season's Jason Pothead. Because he was a surprise in the round of 24 for most of us, we had a chance to like him. If we'd seen a lot of him earlier, his schtick would have been old. I realize it got old quicker for some folks anyway, but the idea is, they deliberately hold out some stories for later.

The flip side of this is, we are more likely to vote for the people we are more familiar with, so the underexposed people often don't make it into the round of 12. But the ones that do, tend to have something special about them that gets our attention quickly.