Season 12 of American Idol underway

There is no other Opening Day in sports like baseball. It’s spring,
green grass, the sun is shining, the unis are pressed and clean, the rosters are
new and everyone is tied for first-place.

Sounds a lot like American Idol doesn’t it? It’s almost spring, the Coke
glasses are lined up on the judges’ table, in SoCal the sun is shining, Ryan
Seacrest’s hair is straight and his jeans are pressed and clean, the judges
panel always has some new faces (Nicki Minaj’s hair has been spray-painted to a
perfect luster) and all contestants are on their way to Hollywood (at least
momentarily).

So it was on Wednesday night with Opening Night of Season 12. They don’t
play the national anthem or sing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” part way through
the show … but Ryan gives us that now famous “Thiiiiiiis is American Idol!” at
the opening and then near and at the end you can count on some tear-jerker
storyline/backstory on an alleged singer who almost always makes it through to
the Hollywood round.

And so it was Wednesday as the season started with auditions in New York
and nine lengthy commercial breaks (hey, someone has to pay Mariah’s $18 million
salary). It opened with a delightful acoustic performance by last year’s winner
Phillip Phillips of his hit, “Home” (Philllips has already said he isn’t going
to even watch the show this season) and ended with Ashlee Feliceano, a 20-year
old who comes from a large adopted family. Did she get a gold ticket to
Hollywood? Seriously! You know she did.

The contestant names fade in and out but put it down in your AI
scorecard that 41 made it through and willl be or already have been on a plane
from JFK to LAX. And that includes the guy sporting a turban and dubbing himself
as the
“Turban-ator!” Of all judges,
Nicki had the sense to say no to this guy, but alas, he got three yes votes and
off he went.

More on the judges later. Idol Chatter has to let this sink in. Hey, if
the new starting shortstop on Opening Day goes 0-for-4 you put him right back
out there on Day 2, right?  So, after Day
One we won’t give the judges a grade … just yet. Let’s see how they do tonight
in Chicago.

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