I don't think Jason Collett has anything to worry about..

Agreed. But we've never needed some lame Karaoke show to get our talent noticed. Still, I maintain Kalan Porter could still out-fiddle anyone in Broken Social Scene.

never watched the show, won't miss it. Not that whatever they program instead is likely to captivate me anyhow...

I watched it mostly because my son likes it. And actually some of the kids really aren't half bad. American Idol has been virtually unwatchable for years. Everyone is just taking themselves way too seriously. It should just be fun family viewing.

Because of my extreme dislike of Ben and Brian Mulroney, I simply have never watched this show. An extreme ick factor whenever I see Ben or his father always maks me feel like I need a shower. brrrrr...shutter...gah

I just tried to listen to one of the clips, but Ben came on and I had to click away. I'll try again later after my shower.

But I have to admit that AI is one of my weird guilty pleasures. (please forgive me) ;)

Well that's what youtube's for. Fastforward. Especially Mookie's performance. He's so much hotter than anything I've ever seen on AI. And everybody really should go check out Jacob Hoggard in the Ziggy/Elvis catsuit.

Juliet, you said "But we've never needed some lame Karaoke show to get our talent noticed."

Yes. For some inexplicable and darkly mysterious reason Bryan Adams has enjoyed a successful 25+ year career. The pride of Canada! :)
MJ

And so the flame war begins. Listen, last time I saw Bryan Adams he was over coaching the American Idol finalists. We can't help what you guys do with our sloppy seconds. (That there's hockey talk, for anyone in the know.)

I'll miss Can Idol this year - it seemed gentler and sweeter than the godawful American thing that pokes fun at the inept and does the deceptive you-lost-look for candidates before the *reveal* that they won after all...and plays to the histrionics. We're ever so much more civilized (repressed).

Although, Myriad (and here we reveal that I actually did take a peak at AI this year ) this season AI stole that mean trick from us where the last two contestants think they're down to the last two, but then the judges reveal that they've suddenly EXPANDED the number of contestants....And we did it with two brothers.

Worth pointing out here that Canadian Idol also introduced instruments the year before AI did, and have always had four judges...I'm taking this pattern as a hopeful sign that this is also AI's last year.

Forgive my chauvinism here, but what really strikes me is that these Canadian performers seem almost like a throwback to a time when American performers simply sang and let the song and their performance do the talking. Present-day America is over-run with performers who are so over-the-top visually and vocally that the song gets lost in all the me-me-me.

I know that's a helluva lot of generalizing, but having spent a lot of years as a performer and an audience, that's how I see it.

Yay! We lead the way...into oblivion.

These clips are exactly why I don't watch Idol from any country. It is like watching bad club band's bad front men proving why they are at best singing for a bad club band. The only good thing about Idol - no two drink minimum though it does take four drinks before most Idol singers sound OK.
ABC, NBC, & CBS better watch out TNT. TNT has found the formula for taking a chance on dramatic TV series. Buy a small number of episodes but let all of them air. That way maybe the show will catch on. For instance "Trust Me" still hasn't fully caught my interest but it is growing.
I hate that network TV networks have decided that cheap reality/game shows should take the place of quality comedies and dramatic TV series.
Survivor, Idol and the like demonstrate the dumbing down of America after school lets out.

And begin the flame war must. I've got Bryan Adams in my sights now young lady! I don't care what the editors say! Anyone who writes a song using the simile "cuts like a knife" deserves what he gets.
:)
MJ

What's that on his lip?

Second biggest lie in the world? "Baby, it's just a cold sore."

Hi Juliet ...no sound card here
but rated for wishing I had one

MJ... Dude. You're not getting any argument from me. Bryan Adams totally gets up my nose. Which is very blocked right now with a bad Canadian cold. So forgive my grumpiness. Although when I sing, I do sound a little like B right now.

Tom. Thank you for noticing the lack of bullshit arrangements.

Barry, not that I want to say that the idol franchises are more quality than they are, but here's the thing...There's a difference between a cover band that has devoted their sad career to imitation, and a bunch of kids given a week to learn some new material and new arrangements. If there's a difference between Canadian and American Idol, I think it's that the kids here are having a bit more fun. And in Canada there are a lot LESS Celine Dion covers.

Trig. Get a sound card. I thought you were a musician?

Uh...Bobby, there's this fresh new trend called piercing.

Juliet, LOL! Yeah, I heard about that. Old and boring cat that I am. Ugh.

I've never watched anything but snippets of either Idol but I do think Tom was right on about the purity of the performances. I like Kalan Porter -- he has a good voice and old Gordie Lightfoot IS hard to top -- he plays a mean fiddle, and he is obviously pouring his heart and soul into his performances. I'm tired of glitz masquerading for actual talent.

And yeah, the Mulroneys. Don't get me started.

Well, they all seem so sincere. I am old enough that I heard each of these songs the first time around and owned the LPs back when. I don't remember ever thinking the word 'sincerity', but perhaps that is the problem with singing someone else's music, no matter what the country.

It kind of made me want to download some Gordon Lightfoot from iTunes.

Nah, kalvin, because then it will just degenerate into a bash fest. I hate 'em for all the reasons you and others mentioned, and then some. Never could tolerate lying, right-wing, shyster lawyer crooks who get away with it and have the nerve to be proud of themselves.

Jacob Hoggard - Holy Cow - Paul Anka and David Bowie are somewhere vomiting. He looks like the offspring of Trent Reznor and Cyndi Lauper, with Cyndi's voice... to quote Simon "utterly horrible!"


I loved the kid doing Lightfoot. He did his thing with it and it's a phenomenal song by an underrated artist. Now, can he sing "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald"?! :-D "good ship and crew were in peril..."

I agree Mookie has a a Beck-like sound to his music, but lacks his vocal prowess. Still, not bad at all.

Kalan is definitely a a ballad singer. He's more like "Born to Be Mild". Good looking kid. He would probably win over here because of his looks and curly locks.

(rated) Canadians need some love. It cold up der!

MJ--but ... but ... don't you get it?!? I mean, what else could cut better than a knife? I suppose he could have been more specific, but "cuts like a machete" or "cuts like a shiv" just doesn't work as well.

Just back from driving aspiring idol to and from piano lesson.

Emma and Susanne: One of the nice things I do like about CI is when they bring back some of the old Canadian singers. That Lightfoot show was pretty great all around.

Greg. If I could rate your comment for obviously having watched all the clips I would. Sometimes it's a little hard to appreciate some of these performances out of context. If memory serves me the week before Porter sang Born to be Wild was the week Lionel Ritchie visited the show. Man, nothing more painful than watching some poor kid trying to emote his way through, Still, a song Ritchie wrote after his second divorce, or something. So I kind of appreciated Kalan wanting to change things up a bit. And he does have the pipes for the occasional power ballad.

As for Hoggard. I think Anka and Bowie would have liked his little Johnny Rotten trill just fine....Though I will concurr that on Ritchie week his performance of Brick House was probably a little over the top.

Odette, I'm still trying to work on some better Bryan Adams lyrics too.

In my experience, I have yet to feel an emotion that has ever cut me as painfully as my microplane cheese grater, the time I forgot to wear the special gloves.

But that's not much of a song.

Juliet, you are so correct. ONE performance out of context can really not be representative of one's TRUE talent. Hoggard seems like someone who could create a really far out and original band. I think he needs to do his own stuff.

Kalan seems like someone who has A LOT of potential. He definitely has that American Idol look.

Love the piece.

I found this very late, a month late so no one is going to read this comment, perhaps you might.

Mean, fiddle eh, what more could I xpect from Canada. Nattlie McMasters, April Verch, Tania Elizabeth, Beau Klaibert, Adrian Dolan, and the late Oliver just to name a few of your Canadian musicians.

And we are only talking of a few of the fiddlers and haven't got into the bands that some play with.

Canada has a deeper talent pool per capita than the US, and in general the music is more interesting, at least on the Americana end.