There are lots of weird things about
American Idol banning David Archuleta's father, Jeff, from rehearsal sessions—the timing (the news was released late Friday, after the three remaining
Idol hopefuls had mostly completed their homecoming tours), the source of the leak (did a Fox source tell TMZ about the ban?), and the fact that the producers were citing David's "unfair advantage" of having his own musical arranger
now, instead of at the beginning of the semifinals among them. But what's most frustrating about the ban is the way that it's turned the contestant at the center of it into a bulletproof entity, and how the conclusion of
American Idol is even more foregone than it was when the Archuleta clan was just beginning its whirlwind tour of Utah's mall parking lots and basketball stadia. The reasons why we're going to definitely see David have his now a week from tomorrow after the jump.
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Idolator
David Archuleta (and not his father) announced today that he'd sing Chris Brown's "With You" on tonight's episode of American Idol, during which each contestant will sing three songs—a personal pick, a judge's pick, and a producers' pick. This startling foray into 21st-century music should prove something of a test for young David, if only because his previous songs have only solidified his "young Wayne Newton frozen in amber" persona. Anyway! This post is also serving as a reminder that I'll be liveblogging the East Coast feed of tonight's show, which starts at 8 p.m. ET and runs for a little longer than an hour, after which I'll toss my computer aside and eagerly flip the channel to the Bobby Valentine documentary on ESPN2. No guarantees on what happens should the Archuleta/Fogelberg pairing reduce me to a puddle of mellowed-out goo, but at the very least, any melting will likely make for good blog fodder. The full slate of already-announced songs (via MJ) after the jump.
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