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Chris Daughtry to Give Free Concert

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Music, Prime Time, FOX, American Idol,

In other American Idol news, last season’s finalist, Chris Daughtry, is planning to give a a free concert in Greensboro, North Carolina on March 23. Daughtry, who has seen much success since his departure from Idol, will perform at the Greensboro Coliseum to kick off the NCAA women’s basketball tournament on March 24 and 26. Organizers of the event expect between 6,000 and 7,000 people to attend the concert, which could give the city a boost in their efforts to host the 2012 women’s Final Four. Daughtry made it to fourth place before getting the boot on Idol, but his exit from the show didn’t dampen his career any. He released an album in November 2006, with band Daughtry, which has sold nearly 1.3 million copies. This week, the album made it to number one.

CES 2007 Video: Piano Wizard Teaching Software

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Gizmatic, Short Bytes, CES, CES 2007, Features, Music, PC / Laptop, Software, Videocasts,

What do you get if you combine DDR and a Piano? Piano Wizard! The Piano Wizard teaches basic music notation and piano playing skills in a somewhat childish interface. Don’t get me wrong - it sounds like a great idea for kids, but the company seems to be marketing it at ages 4-40, and I’m not so so sure if it will succeed in the teen and up market.

Check out the video for it’s DDR-tastic interface, and some hot MIDI love.

Grease Reality Show Down to Twelve

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Music, Prime Time, Reality, FOX, NBC, American Idol,

Olivia Newton John While I haven’t been a faithful watcher of Grease: You’re the One that I Want, I have tuned in briefly and found myself pleasantly surprised. The show, which is seeking the next Danny and Sandy for the broadway production of the musical, has announced their twelve finalists. Here’s where the viewer’s votes come into play, with each finalist performing live, a la American Idol. The first live show is Sunday, January 28th, on a two hour episode, with seven more live episodes to follow. Plus Olivia Newton-John will be on hand for judging duties. You can’t get any better than Sandy herself.

The twelve finalists are: Allie “Baby Sandy” Schultz, Laura “Small-town Sandy” Osnes, Ashley “Ballerina Sandy” Spencer, Kate “Serious Sandy” Rockwell, Juliana “Rock Chic Sandy” Hansen, Kathleen “Spiritual Sandy” Monteleone, Max “Slacker Danny” Crumm, Kevin “Bellhop Danny” Greene, Derek “Wholesome Danny” Keeling, Chad “Ambitious Danny” Doreck, Austin “Hot Danny” Miller, and Jason “Boy-band Danny” Celaya.

American Idol Rules the Ratings

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Music, Prime Time, Reality, FOX, American Idol, Internet, Ratings,

Despite my grumblings yesterday where I explained that I can’t watch the auditions of American Idol, the little talent show seemed to do just fine in the ratings. The premiere of the sixth season kicked off with 37.3 million viewers tuning in—a five percent jump from last year’s season premiere. Not bad, right? Well, seems some folks are becoming as disenchanted as I am, according to an article on Reuters. While the show garnered the highest viewership in American Idol‘s history, it still left some dissatisfied. Last night’s show included auditions from Minneapolis, with most of the wannabes not quite making the grade. One fan posted on Americanidol.com’s message board: “I think that we need to see more of the good with the bad. Not only did we get bad but it seemed to be longer segments of individuals… I’m not going to waste my time tonight.” So my critique yesterday was not too far off the mark—another fan on Yahoo’s message boards said, “Too much of a bad thing is not so entertaining… The bad ones are just mostly ridiculous, by this point.” Amen.

(You can find all the American Idol 6 posts here.)

American Idol Starts Tonight—Will You be Watching?

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Music, Prime Time, FOX, American Idol, Ratings,

So, the big event is here. I speak, of course, about the sixth season premiere of American Idol. And what better way to make it an event than by spreading it over two nights, at two hours a pop? The question is, will you be watching? I have a real love/hate relationship with American Idol—mostly because it’s like a train wreck that I can’t look away from. The last couple of years, however, I have passed on the initial audition episodes and instead watched from the Hollywood sessions onward. Last year, I just waited until they had whittled it down to the finalists. Why? Well, I’ve come to dislike the audition shows immensely because they have so many horrible wannabes. It makes for interesting television, right? To me, it just seems cruel to pass people through to the final audition to be judged if they aren’t any good to begin with. And viewers wonder why these people are so angry? Wouldn’t you be bummed if you made it that far only to get ripped apart? I guess it wouldn’t be as interesting if they only showed the quality people, but I really do feel for those talentless souls who are given a glimmer of hope when they stand before Simon, Randy, and Paula. I mean, really, how would you feel?

(You can find all the American Idol 6 posts here.)

Bravo Documentary Follows Paula Abdul

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Music, Reality, Bravo, Cable, American Idol, Cable/Satellite,

Hmmm. Has Bravo run out of original programming ideas? The network announced that it will be airing a documentary series titled Hey Paula, following 44 year-old Paula Abdul at her various jobs and peeking at her personal life. I say “jobs” because, not only is she working on the latest season of American Idol, but she is developing a perfume and cosmetics line, working to expand her jewelery line, and preparing to film Bratz: The Movie. This will be her first involvement with a film, taking the popular Bratz toy line and converting it to a live-action movie. Bravo President Lauren Zalaznick said of the new series, “It fits the Bravo mandate to show what’s going on in the culture of the moment.” Zalaznick also said that Hey Paula will show “an intimate glimpse at the real woman behind the headlines.” Keep an eye out for Hey Paula later this year.

Katharine McPhee to Guest on Ugly Betty

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Drama, Music, Prime Time, ABC, American Idol,

Being runner-up ain’t too shabby for last season’s American Idol second place winner, Katharine McPhee. The singer will be playing herself in an upcoming guest spot on the hit show Ugly Betty. Need I remind you that Ugly Betty is a fantastic show—I hope if you weren’t a fan before, that you caught the recent marathon of it and are now hooked. McPhee will appear as a celebrity guest in the episode titled “I’m Coming Out.” The episode, which airs on February 1st at 8 p.m. will have McPhee appearing at the Mode Fashion Week runway show.

In other Katharine McPhee news, her debut album will be hitting the shelves on January 30th, so the timing with her appearance on Ugly Betty seems right on the mark. The first single, titled “Over It,” will undoubtedly be in heavy rotation on radio stations soon enough.

Grease: You’re the One That I Want is a Ratings Winner

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Prime Time, Reality, NBC, American Idol, Desperate Housewives, Ratings,

So, I could say the great ratings for NBC’s American Idol rip-off, Grease: You’re the One That I Want, surprises me. I mean, the show seems to really copy the formula of Idol—but hey, that’s what worked for Idol, so why shouldn’t it work here? And work, it did. The ratings were fantastic, as the show averaged 11.6 million viewers. Mainly viewed by young women and teenage girls, the debut proved that people are interested in just about any type of talent competition that the networks can throw at us. Americans love to root for their favorite, and this show has viewers voting the finalists all the way to the lead roles in a new Broadway production of Grease. The ratings were so stupendous, in fact, that the show earned NBC’s highest non-sports ratings for 18-49 year-olds during that timeslot since January 2004. It was also the highest rated show of the evening for women 18-34 and teenage girls, ages 12-17. Desperate Housewives came in and took a bite of the viewers, but Grease held on to its teenage demographic.

“Grease” Reality Competition to Feature Newton-John

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Music, Prime Time, Reality, NBC,

Okay, so Grease: You’re the One that I Want doesn’t immediately sound like a hit. But what if they raised the stakes with the promise that Olivia Newton-John, who starred as Sandy in the film Grease, would be on hand to dole out the complements and criticisms. Hmmm, the show now sounds slightly more interesting to me. And she ought to know what flies and doesn’t in this talent competition—the film was the most successful movie musical of all time, with the soundtrack being the most successful musical soundtrack.

Newton-John, who went on to earn multiple Grammy awards and star in other films, will guest star on the first two episodes of the talent show. Like American Idol, Grease: You’re the One that I Want will be looking to America to choose the most talented “Sandy” and “Danny” for the Broadway revival of Grease. The show will begin airing on Sunday, January 7th at 8:00 p.m.

YouTube to Preview Scrubs Musical Number

Posted by Wendy Michaels Categories: Comedy, Music, NBC, Scrubs, Internet,

Scrubs As a fan of all things Scrubs, I can barely contain my excitement over the upcoming YouTube preview from the series’ musical episode. On December 29th, a sneak peek of the song “Everything Comes Down to Poo” will be available to view on YouTube. The song is performed by Zach Braff, Donald Faison and Stephanie D’Abruzzo (who guest stars in the musical episode). If you haven’t already, check out the video “Guy Love” on YouTube. This tender sweet song expresses the totally straight, yet sometimes misunderstood, relationship between Braff’s JD and Faison’s Turk.

The upcoming musical episode of Scrubs will air on January 18th.

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