Reality Check - Unfairness Toward Jessica Meuse, Sam the Heartthrob, More - Video
TVLine.com's Michael Slezak returns with American Idol Season 6 finalist Melinda Doolittle for an all-new Reality Check, dissecting the week in reality singing competitions!
Michael and Melinda have hit the ceiling on their tolerance for the uneven judging on American Idol XIII, as Jessica Meuse was undersold by the judges after delivering what they believed to be one of the best performances of the night in "Jolene". Michael and Melinda argue that there's a certain double standard in play, insofar as there are other contestants who fail to properly emote that just never get called out on it. Of course, the anger over Jessica doesn't mean there wasn't plenty to rave about in the past week, from Caleb Johnson's "Undo It" to the result itself, as CJ Harris finally got the Idol chop. Who were Michael and Melinda's other favorites? And what is the deal with the show insisting on making Sam the official heartthrob of the season? Meanwhile, Melinda has a surprising rant about race on The Voice that makes this one of the more amusing episodes of the season. So check out the full video below via TVLine:
Credit: TVLine.com
THOUGHTS
I wish I could say I agreed at all about Jessica, but I just wasn't feeling "Jolene" at all. Still, if the judges are going to call her to the carpet for emotion failing to reach her eyes, I agree that they should be calling out Alex and Sam for the same reasons. I feel as if Jessica is more or less doomed to go home this week unless something huge changes, or unless the judges decide to start treating all of the contestants equally. Then again, a wide-open season like this gets harder to predict the closer we get to the end, so who knows? What I do know is that I agree 1000% that there needs to be far less J-Lo shots during each performance. It's positively absurd how long the camera stays on her in any one performance, and it's hampering my ability to get a good read on a contestant, since so little screen time is their own during their own performance. Bah!
As for The Voice, I think last night's performance show makes the observation that Bria Kelly should go home a far more salient one than it was even last week. I still don't know what happened to the poor girl, and I still wouldn't say it's beyond the realm of possibility for her to turn it around, but she'll need better songs. And Usher is proving to be a really spotty coach in the song choice department.
What do you think of the latest Reality Check? Do you agree or disagree with Michael and Melinda? Sound off in the comments!