American Idol – Omaha – Loopy Paula Abdul Returns

If there is one thing that most American Idol fans look forward to, it’s when Paula Abdul goes off the reservation a little bit. Up until tonight’s episode, she had been relatively restrained, and even a bit insightful. But in Omaha, Nebraska, when the corn grows as high as your thigh, the wacky side of our favorite Straight Up Girl finally showed up - even though Abdul herself was absent for the first quarter of the show.

The auditions started with only Randy and Simon holding down the fort. This made Christopher face a Paula-less panel, and he probably could have used her moral support. Christopher is the kind of person that makes the Idol trip to Farm country worthwhile. He’s probably in the theater troupe of his school, and gets picked on a lot by the jocks, and American Idol is his way out of his one-horse town. Alas, with his shaky voice and dopey headstands, it was not meant to be. But he did have a smart back-up plan: He moved from auditioning for Idol contestant to Idol red-carpet host. Simon tells him to contact the local FOX affiliate and tell to send him to Hollywood for the finale, and if they refuse, to have them reach of to Idol to make it happen. Christopher is more excited about this than if he got picked for the next round. I’m actually looking forward to see how this pans out.

Next was Jason, who is obviously trying to impress is girlfriend’s father by working on his farm. The setup shot of him picking at his guitar makes it seem he’s cruising to Hollywood, but he hits a roadblock. He’s so nervous about his audition that he needs three tries to get through a song. You know Simon wants to put him through because he gives him the chance to keep trying. Jason’s third try hits an excellent stride and he’s put through, but I think that if he has to work in a group until 3 AM to get a song down pat, he will find himself going back to his plow.

Rachael is one of my favorite contestants. She is a six-time arm-wrestling champion, who is attractive, but not over-the-top girly. But this was when Paula’s wackiness began to rear its head, as she challenged Rachael to an arm-wrestling contest, then she started to twist hear head around and flail during the judging. She finally plops her head down on the table. Good showing for Rachael; not so hot for Paula

Sarah the Goth girl puts in the first freak factor of the night. She used to be a pro-wrestler, and her trademark is her diabolical laugh. Although she’s dressed for a night at the Hellfire Club, she sings something that sounds like it’s from The Sound of Music. Simon hates everything thing about her, and she heads out. No screaming, no cursing, which is kind of a refreshing change from the previous visits.

I guess things in Omaha got a little boring because Ryan and the crew partake in one of the fakest, most-staged stunts the show has done in its run. Ryan comes in and complains about how Sarah was treated, so to show him how hard it is to be an Idol judge, Ryan and Paula switch places (see, she’s not acting normal) and Ryan gets to say yay or nay to the next contestant. Ryan was actually somewhat harsh to the next girl (Samantha), which in turns make Paula critique Ryan worse than she has any contestant. Ryan does concede than Samantha should have made it (making it the first time someone got four votes to get to Hollywood), but he’s pretty much going to be stuck in that audition hallway for awhile.

Angelica has a dramatic story that makes her good final 12 fodder. She fought with her parents to the point that she moved in with her grandmother. She seems to spend most of the day crying, even up until she hits the floor in front of the big 3. She ends up doing those vocal gymnastics that usually dooms contestants, but her voice does have a good quality. She gets put through, and Ryan calls her dad so she can tell him she’s on to Hollywood. Not only is he supportive, he calls her a “bad ass” (Funny, when my dad calls me, he only uses the second word).

There’s a whole bunch of rockers in the Omaha around, and apparently, it’s all Chris Daughtry’s fault. This would explain why he seems to have so much disdain for the show. They throw David into this batch, even though he looks more like Blake “Beat-Box” Lewis, minus the guyliner and plus the fauxhawk. He sings Bon Jovi, and he’s really good, and probably stands a good chance to make it into the final 12 with his scruffy but breathy vocals.

But it wouldn’t be an audition show without one truly talentless wonder: His name was Johnny. He called himself “weird,” which can’t be a good sign, since even the oddest of the weirdos on the show consider themselves “normal.” He sings “Shout” which he says is by Otis Day and the Knights, but is really by the Isley Brothers (sorry, but stuff like that bothers me). Sure, he’s awful, but that’s not the highlight of this performance. No, the real standout in this segment is Paula, who lets out a hiccup that is usually only accompanied by wine that comes in a box chased by shots of Jaeger. I though that her missing the first parts of the auditions would be a sign of a problem, but her wino hiccup noise by finally cause the show to have some sort of intervention.

Leo is our final contestant, and he claims to be the homecoming queen his mother always wanted. While his audition was OK, and decent enough, I think it’s worth noticing that Simon was appreciative of Leo’s openness and defenselessness. I guess Simon is tried of those contestants denying who they really are so they can win a TV contest (that means you, Mr. Spamalot). This is also a noteworthy audition for the way Paula yelled “Touchdown!!” at the end of the show. This was definitely not one of Ms. Abdul’s better days. Maybe the sun and fun of Miami will make her feel a little better next week (although Miami has a way of bringing out the worst in people).

No matter how many of the contestants featured pull though to the final group, I am rooting for one girl right now: Any girl on American Idol who yells into the camera that she wants to prove Simon wrong and become “America’s Next Top Model” gets my vote. You think there are too many reality shows on TV right now?