Official Wed. Idol Preview: Boys Night Out

Lisa Tucker set the bar last night and the men will take their swings at stardom. Quick capsules and odds:

Ace Young +447
The odds-on male favorite right now. He has the looks the teenyboppers swoon over and if he can avoid a Constantine-like disaster he will advance to the final four and further. Right now Ace can almost taste the Hollywood Theater according to some, but let's see him actually perform before we declare him champ.

Bobby Bennett +1000
The long of longshots. Bobby hopes to capture some of that Scott Savol magic and ride the carpet to glory. Starting behind the 8-ball, Bobby will have to shake things up in a big way to see next week.

Bucky Covington +6500
What I've seen and heard of him has been impressive. May have a semi-live dog here. His problem may lie in that he's a poor man's Bo or Constantine and Ace and Chris have him beat in spades in that area.

Chris Daughtry +1126
He is the Bo to Ace's Constantine. Powerful vocals and southern style. 11/1 is about as high as I've seen and considering he's a solid top-12 candidate and beyond, value lies therein.

David Radford +6500, Patrick Hall +6500, Will Makar +3000
These three are kinda like the 17,18,19 horses in the Kentucky Derby. They are the prototypical Abercrombie & Fitch white teens. Will seems to have the most polish, but these three are so similar they will cannibalize votes from each other. At least 1 of the 3 will likely be gone next week, the question for tonight is which one.

Elliott Yamin +6500
He stands out from the above 3 in that he lacks the preppy look. In this case, that is a plus for Elliott. Lots of chops for him, but in a crowded field of claimers he will have to do something special to rise above.

Gedeon McKinney +7500
Here's where the question of race comes in. Gedeon is the only African-American male. Therein, he will have an inherit advantage when it comes to voting. Whether he can sing or not is slightly irrelevant until later. We are looking at a very live dog here and worthy of at least a sawbuck shot. If he can sing as well, we are looking at an outright steal.

Jose "Sway" Penala +6500
Odds hit hard early, then everyone has avoided him. Another voting advantaged customer who will receive both Asian and Hispanic votes. Are you kidding me, that's two huge blocks. If he can sing as well, welcome to the top 12.

Kevin Covais +2543
So what sucker bet on this kid? He should be 200-1 at least and I still wouldn't touch it. Best case scenario, he is this year's John Stevens. Even with that he wouldn't sniff the title. Worse case scenario, he is a cute kid with a bad lisp that will embarrass himself. Avoid at all costs.

Taylor "Grandpa" Hicks +897
Curiousity killed the cat, but it is making Taylor legendary. The grayer than Grandma Hicks is all the buzz because of his quirky mannerisms and his Cocker-esque sound. While a solid bet to advance far, his shot at winning the whole enchilada is slim at best.

You will see the first evidence of the importance of demographics in voting tonight. Lesser constestants will stay and better voices will go home. This is the key to handicapping Idol and if you pay attention it will pay off big time down the road.

Good luck.

nice analysis !

i will say this , the bang-a-bility of about 8 of the girls is very high..

good looking bunch.

Thanks GD

Someone please tell me how in the hell this last guy who sang "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" made it on this show?!?

Can't seem to figure out why Fox keeps embarrassing themselves and Paula Abdul herself by inviting her back to this show.

She's a mumbling, bumbling idiot.....

No nicer way to put it! lol

Very proud of my boy Chris Daughtry tonight... this years Bo Bice.. going to be around for a long time..

bo bice wishes he could sing that good.. that kid should be around until the final show .

The Green D review, as always brought to you by TiVo:

Patrick Hall up first:
Hey isn't he that QB from North Texas, oh no that was Scott Hall. It doesn't matter as the Rock would say as Patty boy gives a forgettable rendition of Noted Lesbian Etheridge's "Come to my Window". Get away from my window Mr. Hall and go back to the pile of average white singers.

Jon Peter Lewis is back in the form of David Radford, giving his absolute worst Elvis. I say he stays a week or two before he joins the AWSGP (Average White Singer Garbage Pile). Side note, if you've ever been to Radford, VA you'd know they say the only thing that comes out of there is the clap. Well, that would be a step up from that performance.

Yeehaw, here comes BUCKY! Busting out the Skynyrd! First impression is he is the third best rocker in the bunch and while he seems an amiable good ole boy, he certainly is no threat to win. I'd like to see him one more week over the cardboard cutout Backstreet Boy-types, though.

Will "Mousketeer" Makar comes in. Much like David Radford, he give us that feel of the marginally talented kid in high school who was way to into drama class. Free Willy voters, free Willy from my TV screen. Back to his prep school in time for the Spring play of "Bye, Bye, Birdie".

Where there's a will, there's a "Sway". Pinoy Penala busts out the first hint of personality and showmanship. He has the West Coast block, the Hawaiians, and the Filipinos and Hispanice votes locked up. Now if he can just get those hanging chads to go his way. If you have him at 65-1, be happy and content right now. If you can get him cheap on interactives do it and sell around 6th or 7th place.

Here comes Bo Bice, no wait this guy doesn't do coke, it's Chris Daughtry. Busting out the Bon Jovi, er, ok. But he hits it solid for a ground rule double. No question he will stick around a while and put on solid performances.

Linus van Pelt, nee Kevin Covais is on. How many times can my girlfriend say Godawful in one minute. I counted 17. If he is one of the top 24 singers in America, I have one of the 24 longest schlongs in America. A Tang rant on this kid would be entertaining. Otherwise, back to the cartoons Kevy.

The dark horse in more ways than one is up in Memphis Gedeon. Our token black singer, he was a steal to me at the longest odds. Survive and advance McKinney, survive and advance. He busts out some Otis Day in Animal House and gives us a pleaseant Shout. No way he goes home tomorrow, just no way.

Elliott Yamin from the murder capital of Va is on. Busting out the Stevie Wonder, Elliott shows why I complimented his singing previously. Tonight he separated himself from the carbon copy Idols and cemented a place in the top 12.

Bobby Bennett, who eerily reminds me of an overweight drag queen, gives up a horrific Copacabana. He then proceeds to compliment Barry Manilow about 12 times. Good news Bobby, you can catch Barry's show at the Hilton, starting oh about tomorrow night. Anything less than -500 to go is huge value on this pretender.

Here come's Constantine, er, wait, no that's Ace. With the eyebrow raising choice of George Michael (He loves the monkey and the monkey loves him), this year's hearthrob gives a solid rendition. No need to panic on Ace, he's minimum top 5 bound and likely top 3 at worst. A definite threat.

Taylor "Grandpa" Hicks is up. You know the combo of Rain Man and Joe Cocker. It would seem he has no chance against younger looking foes, but he belts out an Elton tune which solidifies his top 12 status. I'm just waiting for him to give us some Cocker and blow us away, it's more predictable than a John Chaney meltdown.

Summary:
OK, we can narrow the possible winners of guys down to 5. Ace, Taylor, Chris, Sway, Elliott see you in the top 12.
Gedeon has an outside shot and one of the Backstreet boy lookalikes could sneak on but not win.

I observed the girls watching and noticed a huge difference in maturity and attitude with Lisa and Paris. This only convinces me more Lisa is the one to beat.

I can envision three "Holy Crap" moments in the coming weeks:

Taylor busts out "When the Night Comes" and nails it. This could very well be a defining moment.

Sway crushes Frankie J's "Obsession" and stamps contender all over him.

Lisa pops Mariah's "Vision of Love" and gives us our Fantasia "Summertime" moment.

Any of these three would be over the top, memorable performances that could vault them to superstardom.

:lolBIG: OMFG, that is a hilarious recap, GD. Thanks man :missingte


You really should be writing for ET or some entertainment column. Way funny stuff....

Thanks for the compliment ppeter, just trying to keep it entertaining.
I model myself as a very poor man's Bill Simmons.