Jennifer might be if we can get her off the diva throne long enough to look upon the commoners. (FOX claims the list of her demands was falsified by people trying to sabotage the show. If only this was the silliest thing FOX would claim all year.) Steven may just be here because Paula's been gone for a year and the drug reserve stolen by the staff is running out.

Don't count on JLo to walk among the mere mortals often. We took a tour of The Tonight Show's stage once - the only star the guide disparaged was JLo. I think he must have been the one that had to lay on the ground for her to step on when she got out of the limo.

This? Is one of the more flattering images. I would have pulled up one that was up to last night's entertainment news broadcast standards, but it would have been more suited to Discovery Health.

As VFTW has already noted, HDTV will not be kind. (One of my texts from last night: 'Does Joan Rivers know she has competition?' Imagine if they had children: practical android construction in-womb.) Standard definition isn't going to be all that flattering either. Somewhere out there is a surgeon who has to admit s/he's Steven Tyler's personal maintenance expert -- assuming the license is still intact. Unlike Steven's original factory features, which seem to be hovering four inches over the floor.

I'm going to assume the stage equipment set him on fire. It's the kindest assumption I can make.

Besides having to look at the contrasting faces of Randy, J-Lo, and Styler, I'm wondering how each will fare in the 'judging' department.

I mean, does Steve even talk? I have never really heard him say much, and I'm sure when and if he does, it will be filled with 'uh, um, yeah, sure's'. In contrast to J-Lo's more intricate detailed, sugar-coated, Tex-Mex mix, and the 'Dog' with his pound. Geez, we may NEVER get a bathroom break again!

I dunno...I'm going to watch ONLY because I have to see how these 3 are going to work together. Once that is established, unless there are more talented people than EVER before, I'll be utilizing that time for something more productive. Like sleep.

According to the NYC tabloids, during the first two sessions, Randy:

1. Moved into Simon's seat. (Left to right: Steven, Jennifer, Randy.)

2. Got a lot meaner.

Seriously. There was barely a dawg to be found.

Steven Tyler vs. The National Anthem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea2Ebg_ejDM&feature=player_embedded

Just read Entertainment Weekly's interview with the crew, and I have a feeling Steven Tyler is going to be incredibly annoying. He's not funny, but thinks he is. I haven't a feeling he'll be a spotlight hog. Seems to think this is more about Steven than about the contestants.

-A Tribetastic Creation

Okay I may be alone in this but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, Steven Tyler. I watched an episode of Biography recently on Aerosmith. Steven has really turned his life around. I'm willing to give him a break and I hope he does well on the show.

i agree!!! I LOVE< LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, STEVE TYLER. What a refreshing change of pace. randy has now taken over simon's spot with rash comments. Jennifer is the new semi nice paula,
but wow steven tyler is actually F______ FUNNY!!!

I thought the judges did a fairly decent job last night.

I think it took Jennifer about six hours to figure out the difference between watching and presence: no mute button, no pauses, and no escape. 'That last one made my ears bleed. Can we go to commercial now?' No, because the humor in letting the worst ones through so they can torture the panel wears off pretty quickly when you happen to be part of the panel -- and watching her squirm was the newest part of a very old joke.

I found myself more distracted than I usually am during the opening season of 'wannabee's'. A lot of yawns, and runs to the potty, mostly because it was, well, booooooooring.

The judges were 'ok', kind of sweet, actually. Randy seemed a little more out of his element, working with 2 people who are positive and not so abrasive. I mean, for once, it's in HIS lap to be the tough guy, and he doesn't do tough so well. He mostly starts laughing and looking around like, "where is the exit, anyway??".

Tyler's 'oh, baby', seemed to go to the good, bad and ugly, but overall, I think he was genuine. I felt he WANTED to see everyone go through. Except the paint-chip-eater. That was a bit out of context for the evening. But good, nontheless.

Jennifer seemed sweet enough. And having seen her on a few talk shows, I think motherhood has ex-diva'd her. Or diva'd her down, whatever. In other words, she has a bit more compassion. I was surprised that so many of the contestants were so enamoured of HER. She is beautiful, though, sexy, and amazingly talented....(stars in my eyes...).

As I said before, it's a 'wait and see' season. But I think IMHO, I'm getting burned out with the singing, beggging, screetching, threatening (haven't seen that yet), broken dreams, etc. It's all relevent, and we've seen it now for TEN FREAKING YEARS!!

Mindy, I pretty much agree with your take on all of the judges. I thought Randy's bit that he does is not working as "head judge." He would try to be tough with all of them, even the decent ones, by saying, OK but you have some work to do.

I honestly think Jennifer was surprised at how hard it really is to sit for hours on end and be mean to people. I think that's what happened to Ellen last year and she didn't have to do the audition phases.

Steven, was pretty funny and kind of all over the board. He did make me a bit uncomfortable with how he was giving the eye to 16 year olds. He has the "American Idol Vocal Lick" and isn't afraid to use it. Felt like he had been saving up humorous things to say.

Cracks me up when Ryan's voice-over said "This is the toughest year, with the most talent, ever." He says that every year, and I had to sit for a minute to remember who won last year. I thought it was Kris Allen, so I think I just deleted last season from my memory.

Mindy, also agree that perhaps I am just over it also.

I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn't embarrassed for Steven, Jennifer does indeed seem to be not so full of herself since becoming a mother, and Randy didn't fair as bad as I thought he might. Plus he's calmed down on the "Dawg's".

I still like Idol - I just wish they'd condense their audition shows down to just 2 or 3!

I heard Wendy Williams describe Randy Jackson as just being "beige" and I know what she means. I didn't really like or dislike him. In fact, I kind of forgot about him. Maybe during this first set of auditions, everyone involved was trying to figure out their roles and interactions. At least it was not that frat boy attitude that he and Simon had developed the last year or two.

I like J-Lo better than Paula by a factor of about a million, but I still watched most of the first 2 episodes on fast forward. They seemed to be really easy on people who were good-not-great, which was disappointing. They seemed to spend less time gawking at the truly horrid, but I almost always skip that part anyway.

One thing I did like about Tyler, and I didn't expect this, he seemed genuinely pleased to be there. Simon seemed to think we were lucky his butt was in the seat, and it was unreasonable to expect any more than that. Tyler seems to realize he's getting paid extremely well for a pretty cool job, and his attitude is appropriate for the situation.

If they can manage to put through some reasonably decent talent after the Hollywood round, I may make a real effort to watch the entire rest of the season.

Slice n' Dice's Sigpic Chop Shop 2004

I love your assessment of Steven Tyler. He does seem to enjoy being there. Personally, I love the look he gets on his face when he's really enjoying someone's audition.

And I love the fact that he can tell someone it wasn't good without getting all mean the way Simon did. I think we're seeing a lot less confrontation from the contestants than we usually do because of this.

Chocolately deliciousness by agman