I tried from about 9:45 to 10 pm to get through for anybody but Scott. The only one I got through on was Vonzell about 3 times. Called at least a dozen times each and that was the only line I got through on.

I got through and voted for A-Fed about 5 times.

Who?

I got through on Carrie an hour after the lines were open. I tried initially 10 times to call her number. I got Anthony's after seven tries 15 min after the lines opened. So, I am thinking Anthony is in the bottom three and more than likely gone.

"The Simon of the Wabash Valley"

I was wondering if we could predict the bottom 2 or 3 tonight from the phone traffic last night--if Bo is in the bottom 3 even I will be ticked off because that will meant they do not have enough phone line support AGAIN and it is unfair to the contestants.

Sounds like Anthony and Vonzel may be in the bottom 2 from what the call traffic has been like so far.

It took over an hour for the Vonzell lines to open up, and that was just a little bit.

I've never actually voted (never will), but I'd have assumed that the process would be easier than you've described.

There have been allegations about impropriety with voting results etc, perhaps the show (amid these claims) is redoubling its effort to keep things "above board".

In any case, your inability to get through seems like yet another reason that a 'one phone-one vote' policy should be instituted no later than at the beginning of next season.

LAST EDITED ON 05-04-05 AT 02:00 PM (EST)

LAST EDITED ON 05-04-05 AT 01:58 PM (EST)

I did get through to vote within an hour of the show ending.
I voted for Bo (four times) and my husband voted for Carrie (twice)! This was all before 10 p.m., eastern time.
I heard lots of people are voting for Scott to get him to win as a kind of joke! That's so wrong!
I guess they do have to figure out some sort of "fair" system.
Until, then, I will vote for Bo as long as I'm awake!
I really think Bo are Carrie and "head and shoulders" above the other three.
And then I think Bo will win!

I heard lots of people are voting for Scott to get him to win as a kind of joke! That's so wrong!

And why, may I ask, is it so wrong?

I guess they do have to figure out some sort of "fair" system.

And as of this season, there is no motivation to do this. This phone-lines-tied-up-forever business happens year-after-year, and each year a marketable person wins. The Scott Plan isn't just a joke, it's a ploy to force a change in the voting system.

Don't get me wrong, I *heart* Bo, but I want him to stop short of winning the "American Idol" title because it's cheesy, which he isn't.

The world is my litterbox.

Totally agreed, Frisky. Let Carrie win it. Bo will be successful no matter what. Have we seen Fantastia?? Where the eff is she? Why isn't she visiting the show? Why don't we see more of her. Bleh.

I cringe to think what will happen to Bo if he wins AI. We can only hope that Fox'll take AI to a different level if Bo wins. However, I'm not naive enough to believe that Fox will.

>Have we seen Fantastia?? Where the eff is she?

Doing voices for the Simpsons.

By the way, I've thought the same thing you are saying about Bo. It would be a little lame if he won.

"Evil" Dr. Will: Reality Show Legend!

Actually Fantasia's songs are playing on the R&B stations and some of those mixed stations. She is also on the Russ Parr Morning Radion show on Friday's giving $500 to single parents to help pay for their child care.

Don't hate untill you have all the facts.

"I don't wanna grow up, I'm a grown a$$ kid"---Kanye West "Through the Fire"
"If Karma is a boomerang, I will see you sooner than later."---Will, Big Brother 5, USA

That's nice for her, but I see bigger and better things for Bo, and I think he's capable of reaching greater heights using his own creative juices rather than being tied down to a contract that will dictate his music, his style and his audience.

The world is my litterbox.

LAST EDITED ON 05-04-05 AT 01:27 PM (EST)

I wasn't hating, I was just wondering why Fox doesn't showcase Fantasia more. They may be waiting until the end. We'll see.

Ok.. I tried to vote for this years next American Idol Carrie from 8:57 - 11:00 with some breaks in between!! =) But none longer than maybe 10 mins. And I NEVER got thru, which I am taking as a good sign, but I feel alittle bit of guilt for not using my "voice" to vote for the best!!!!!!!!!! (IMO) Also, with Constantine gone, It's kinda a wake up call 2 vote!! This is the 1st time this season that I haven't been able to get through with my vote. So.. I am glad to hear of you that did get thru! LUCKY DOGS!!!! ;)

>In any case, your inability to
>get through seems like yet
>another reason that a 'one
>phone-one vote' policy should be
>instituted no later than at
>the beginning of next season.
>

I also have not voted before and don't plan to, but what really bothers me is that it appears that most of the fans vote for a bunch of people "got thru for Carrie and Vonzel" or "voted for everybody but scott". How in the world is this fair? If you place one vote for Bo and one vote for Carrie they cancel each other out! HELLO! What am I missing here? Why would anyone vote for someone other than who they want to win???

Anyone else here also think that Idol needs to limit the voting to one call from each telephone and that's it. No more multiples...

--Donna :~)

Donna,

At this point in the contest they will show us the top 2 and the bottom three, then the bottom two and then announce the boot.

Voting for more than one can help separate the top vote getters from the bottom three or two.

If you voted, say 10 times for all five, then that would be cancelling the votes out. But you could vote for 4 of the 5 without and still be helping make an impact on the one who did not get votes.

Maybe some people like more than one contestant and would be happy to see more than one win--and so they vote for each of the people they would like to win.

P.S. One thing I like about tonight is that you can get a sense of the contestants' ranking. There will be two front runners and then the bottom three but since Ryan will tell us which of the three is safe before the break, we'll know the third and fourth place contestants by the end of the show. My guess is that tonight's rankings will hold through the rest of the Idol shows (unless there is something odd, like Bo getting the boot) and we'll know who is destined for final two tonight.

I didn't start voting until 10:30, and I was able to get through on Bo's line about 30 out of 40 times (just a guess - I always plan to count but lose track around 5.) I thought I'd throw Baby V a few, too, but was only able to get through twice in about 10 tries.

At that point, I thought, "Bo's in trouble." But, historically, I don't think we can make accurate guesses based on the number of busy signals.

to vote for Bo and I started dialing about 9:45. I got lots of busy signals and voted about 5 times.

Voted for Bo -- of course!!

I got TONS of busy signals, but managed to get through about 6-7 times.

I hit redial pretty consistently through the 2nd half of TAR, and L&O/Jury (kick-arse! Alfred Molina, Angela Lansbury & Bradley Cooper!).

Plus, I continued to try beyond the 2 hour limit, and got through once or twice then -- I don't know if it's because they don't REALLY shut down the phone lines region by region, or because I call on a cell phone & they don't know where I am -- although my area code should tip them off. Is it even possibly to block by area code? Is it only possible to block land lines?

I'm in Central time zone, so my 2 hour cut-off (10pm) is right when Pacific is starting to call, right?

I confuse myself. Anywho, I kept trying. I checked back shortly before midnight CST, which would be right before the Pacific cut-off, and got nothing but busys.

Does anyone know what it sounds like when the lines are actually closed?

I *tried* to vote for Carrie no less than 25-30 times and NEVER got through whether is was 9:01 or 10:00 or 10:59. Never got through.

Having never voted (blame Canada) I am curious as to what some folks have been saying about trying to figure out whose lines is busy and who's line is not.

If you call, say, Anthony's line just to see if you can get through, are you not then placing a vote for him, as unintentioanl as it would be?

Or can you hang up as soon as it starts ringing and not have the vote be counted.

Please enlighten this little Canuck who cannot for the life of her figure out why Pillsbury Psycho and Anthony Federup-to-here are still on that stage?

The phone has to be answered. So if you just get busy, it is not a vote yet. If the call is answered the vote is in for that number you called. It is just a recording, you don't talk to anyone or push a button or anything.
I tried four different numbers last night (everyone BUT Scott)and got through for Carrie, Anthony, and Vonzell but not Bo. Not that my one vote will mean a lot when others are voting 300 times for people. I'm sure Bo will have enough votes without my one going through.

Thanks lov. Helpful to know but that just blows my theory for why those two lunkheads are still there.

Yep you do end up casting a vote in their general direction. But if you are going to vote many times for someone else a quick check to see if the person you don't want to win has clear lines is usually worth the risk, and if it is busy I think people feel they need to vote for the person they want to all the more.

I've done it a few times if I am having problems getting through just to make sure I can get through. Now that the vote totals are so high I do not know how much difference between the the high vote getters and low ones are for time to get through. I think they are all probably pretty crowded (and it usually get worse at the stage when there are only a few to vote for in the getting through on any line thing)

I'm done voting, the Constantine thing left a bad taste for me.
BUT! My child decided she wants Vonzell to make it, so I set her up to vote and she called for a half hour straight, got through several times but it was mostly busy.

I called for Nikko for 2 hours straight, got through probably 200 times, but that was the night they screwed up the phone numbers and then had a re-vote. I was pissed. My power voting days were over, I voted some after, but not like that again.