The three remaining American Idol contestants are currently enjoying their homecoming days, and the Fox affiliates in their largest-populated hometowns (Salt Lake City, Kansas City, and Tampa) are going all-out with coverage, employing streaming video, blogging, and third-party chat-room technology to make sure that people can spend their Fridays slacking off to David Archuleta’s overly licked lips, David Cook’s unending grunge homages, and Syesha Mercado’s inflated sense of importance. A guide to the proceedings–including pointers to the not-really-live webcam feeds that are claiming to follow the hopefuls all day, but have also provided somewhat terrifying glimpses into the rest of the country’s local news offerings–after the jump.
David Archuleta
Schedule highlights: Fox’s Utah affiliate is celebrating “D-Day” (yes, they’re really calling it that) with a 90-minute special about David’s life airing on the local Fox affiliate. Expect more filler than an elimination episode and lots of lip-licking.
What he’s up to right now: Radio interviews.
What’s on the live feed: News about the UN suspending aid to Myanmar. Happy D-Day?
Average number of people in chat room: N/A. It’s exceeded its limit. For real.
David Cook
Schedule highlights: Singing the national anthem at tonight’s Tampa Bay Rays- Anaheim Angels game;
What he’s up to right now: He just finished up a mini-concert in downtown Kansas City, and his schedule seems to be free and clear until 5:30 p.m. ET.
What’s on the live feed: A hard-hitting report on barbecue.
Average number of people in chat room: 1,070. Lots of people are smack-talking Blake Lewis, because beatboxing is so over as a gimmick.
Syesha Mercado
Schedule highlights: Singing the national anthem at tonight’s Tampa Bay Rays-Anaheim Angels game.
What she’s up to right now: Traveling between a celebration at her high school and a helicopter tour of her hometown, Sarasota, Fla.
What’s on the live feed: Some sort of court proceeding, which may be a stark reminder of the actual levels of Syesha’s popularity.
Average number of people in chat room: 65. Is it because of the crossed streams, or does she have as few fans as the Rays?
[HT: ONTD]
Who cares about these assholes? They are driving nails in the coffin of modern music. This glorified star search has got to go. Maura, I am sorry I am cursing, and being generally negative. On the body of crap music being force fed to us now, AI is pretty much the head. I really wish this show had never been made.
Maura, why do you have to hate on Syesha so much? If it were Kristy Lee or Amanda who made the top 3, I’d understand.
Anyway, it makes me all sadpants.
@brasstax: I’m not hating! I’m disliking. There’s a difference. And here’s why: Her voice is grating, her sense of self-importance is laughable, and she made her dad hold up his freaking rehab diploma for heartstring-tugging purposes… I mean, come on.
I thought we were supposed to have a “Songs From The iTunes Top 100″ nite this season. Was that maybe supposed to be last week and was swapped out for the Rock-n-Roll HoF thingy?
Also, recall that Top 3 week is the first time we get three songs from each contestant: a judge’s pick, a producer’s pick, and a contestant’s pick. How hard is this week gonna suck?
P.S. I was hoping there would be an Idol post today, because I just got around to seeing Wednesday’s show last nite (was busy Wednesday), and I wanted to say that I thought that Bo Bice feat. T-Pain performance was awesome!
@Maura Johnston: Fair enough. I agree that she’ll likely never be a pop star, but now that Brooke’s gone I have to have a girl to root for and Syesha’s all that’s left!
What’s Syesha doing in the top 3. She’s cute sure but I find her a bit phony and bland. David Cook? I even hate his hair. Little David’s ok but he really hasn’t had a good performance in weeks.
Who cares who wins, it’s a mess…
Little David is far from okay. He should’ve stayed in the oven for 3 or 4 more years before he even auditioned.
Syesha will probably embark on a Broadway career any minute now. She’s not good enough to win, and maybe I just like her because I like what I could imagine her singing different things in different ways than what she actually sings the way she sings it.
David Cook, out of who’s left, gets my support I guess. I’d never buy one of his nu-rock borefest records, but he already seems famous anyway.
What I read recently about Idol really makes sense: that they purposely keep contestants on to ensure high ratings. We have a rocker guy for the generic group, the black girl and the teeny bopper guy. We all know Syesha is not better than Michael Johns or Carly Smithson, but we can’t have one happy white trio can we? I am the least racist person in the world, but Fox always manages to do something sneaky and this would fall under that category. This is by far the worst season of Idol! Cook’s good, but he’s not as good as Daughtry. Archuleta’s good, except for his wheezy breathing. Syesha’s good, but not as good as others. What is this telling us? That we’re either surrounding by buffoons who only vote for the “cutest” or Idol’s rigged. I think it’s both.
These are three most talented people in (the portion of) America (that tries out for soppy talent show contests)???
When is Lil David going to put that tired jacket back in his closet? Why does David Cook look like AI’s producers picked up a plumber and gave him a shopping spree at Urban Outfitters? Why must Syesha do that “I’m a model!” pose?
Bleh.
@punkybunky: Hey man, that jacket is for Members Only!!