During last night’s episode of American Idol—which, thanks to its mansion location, had a weird sort of Joe Millionaire feeling to the proceedings—major-label refugee Joanna Pacitti was shown as making it through to the circle of 36 semifinalists, while Felicia Barton, a Virginia mom and “bar singer” who also sings in her church, got sent packing. But when the official press release announcing the semifinalists went out and Fox updated its official site, Pacitti was out and Barton was in, and Fox put out a cryptic note saying that the powers that be had deemed the “Let It Slide” singer officially ineligible for the competition. What happened?
A not-very-wise man told me over and over before I took this job that the music business is “all about relationships,” and it would appear that Pacitti had a couple of very close ones with some higher-ups at Idol production company 19 Entertainment. Star went so far as to call it “the biggest Idol scandal ever” during its breathless reportage:
An insider tells Star that Michelle Young and Roger Widynowski have very personal connections to the Idol hopeful, all of which we detail in our can’t miss story. How personal? Well, Joanna has referred to Michelle as her “manager” and “best friend,” and credited Roger with “helping me get where I am today.” Plus, the three of them even lived in the same L.A. apartment complex for several years.
Having two ins with Idol’s production company could give the 24-year-old wannabe star – seen as a shoo-in for the final 36 – an advantage that the rest of the contestants don’t have.
“It really seems unfair,” an insider tells Star.
And something did seem fishy about Pacitti making it through to the semifinals despite bluffing nearly every song featured in her Hollywood Week montage, while other worthy singers got the boot. (Never mind her calling herself “unemployed”—if she was really still an aspiring entertainer, wouldn’t she be trying to puff up her profile as much as possible?) The Los Angeles Times‘ Idol blog has a source saying that the producers wanted to avoid “the appearance of impropriety,” although I wonder if it’s a little too late for that.
Anyway, here’s hoping someone uncovers the dirt on why Tatiana Del Toro keeps making it through soon! Because she is seriously the worst.
Felicia Barton [MySpace]
Updated: Joanna Pacitti disqualified from ‘American Idol,’ Felicia Barton in [Idol Tracker]
[Thanks MJ]
not surprising considering the crazy amounts of information to leak about this crop of Idol wannabes. Still, this should tell producers to let the show lag a few seasons before going on another run. The sad thing is more and more ‘former’ stars will want in, get in then get out not to mention the great ratings boon I’m assuming the show is getting courtesy of these scandals.
@Invisible Circus: actually ratings for tuesday night’s episode were down quite a bit:
“American Idol” dominated at 8 o’clock as usual (9.0 rating/24 share in adults 18-49, 24.5 million viewers overall), though it was down about 10% week to week; still it roughly matched the combined 18-49 delivery of ABC, CBS, NBC and CW. And “Fringe” (4.3/11 in 18-49, 10.5 million viewers overall) was down more than 10%,
[www.variety.com]
@Maura Johnston: and also, this is just anecdotal evidence, but the google trends penetration of ‘idol’ contestants has been way off compared to last year. maybe that will change once the top 36 episodes start and personalities start to form out of the quivering, auditioning mass, but for now interest has been somewhat muted.
Free Jamar Rogers.
No one’s making my ears really prick up at this point, but I don’t remember if I really liked anyone yet at this point last year, maybe only Brooke (and Carly, of course). I’m waiting until they start singing for real.
Nathaniel and Tatiana and their Drama are the very definition of Danny Noriega’s Too Much To Handle, although a couple of people pointed out that Tatiana seemed to drop her act for a minute when she didn’t think the cameras were focusing on her. I still don’t think her voice is that great.
As for Joanna, if she is indeed gone, that’s a good thing. I thought Carly was way too emotional last season, but Joanna’s taken the “second chance” mentality and the simpering and cranked it up to an intolerable volume, not to mention the “constantly forgetting the words” factor.
Why don’t they have a “Second Chance” show? Unfortunately, “Redemtion Song” is already taken as a title, but you know. There’s a certain pathos attached to committing youself to music and trying to make it work and failing that just as compelling as being a big oil rig guy or fry cook or whatever.
@Varina: When Tatiana was leaving the room, she definitely screamed, looked over at the camera, and then screamed three times louder.
What I don’t get was the ending, where the hunky blue-collar one and the less hunky blue-collar one were the last two, and they had a sing-off and both made it through to the final 36. Was no one keeping track of numbers up to that point?
@bcapirigi: The consensus is that the order shown on TV wasn’t the actual order, so we don’t know when exactly the blue collar sing-off occurred.
The order of things as we saw them last night was not the order of things that occurred. Whenever they’d cut back to the holding room, you could see plenty of people they’d already dismissed waiting their turn.
@chim_richalds: Yes! Free Jamar Rogers.
I liked that kid’s energy, even if he wasn’t the strongest of singers.
@bcapirigi: I think it was for dramatic effect.
@chim_richalds: I have heard some speculation that the producers didn’t want Danny and Jamar to go against each other in the voting. The idea being that Jamar might take votes away from Danny, who the show wants to win. Say people like them both so they vote for Danny 20 times and throw Jamar 5 votes to try to keep him in, instead of voting for Danny 25 times. Then Von Smith somehow makes it through and all hell breaks loose.
Even as I was watching, I commented to my wife that the judges seemed over-encouraging for Jamar to keep singing and to try out next year.
Free Leneshe Young.