The One, July 19: The First Results Are In, and It Ain’t Pretty

After I submitted my recap Tuesday night, I had a moment of remorse for having broken my cardinal rule of not bashing contestants on reality/talent shows. I tried, really I did, but in the end, I couldn't help myself. I also realize that all of this was not entirely the fault of the contestants, but rather of a combination of factors, including atrocious sound quality, a listless band, a cheesy set, and an unbelievably dated song list. It's a great concept, but ABC has tried to produce this on a shoestring budget, and it shows.

And it appears that the “results” for ABC came in on Wednesday morning. While 7.7 million people were watching Last Comic Standing, only 3.2 million tuned into The One. Rock Star: Supernova averaged 5.8 million viewers. Repeats of House won the night, however, with 9.1 million people watching during the same time slot. I don't think these numbers bode very well for The One. A visit to the message board that ABC set up for the show confirmed my opinion as well, and people are wondering how long before ABC pulls the plug.

Funny, I had nothing bad to say about George Stroumboulopoulos. I am told that Strombo, as he is affectionately called, is quite the star in Canada and is held in very high esteem. He’s the host of his own hour-long evening news show on CBC, and has been compared to CNN's Anderson Cooper. I'm sure he figured this would be his big break into the U.S. market, never dreaming he'd be hosting what appears to be the biggest turkey of the summer. Strombo, dude, fire your agent!

Incidentally, one of my readers pointed out that, although ABC didn't include this in her bio, Kara has written a number of songs for Idol alum, including Bo Bice ("The Real Thing," "Remember Me," and "It's My Life"), Kelly Clarkson ("Gone" and "Walk Away"), and Clay Aiken ("The Way").

Anyway, we're back for the results show. After Tuesday night's dismal performances, it's really anyone's guess as to which of the 11 contestants will go home, but as you recall, I predicted that it would be Michael Cole. Of course, we have an hour to get through, and I’ve stalled long enough. Let’s get to it, shall we.

George (Strombo) welcomes us. He seems very earnest tonight. He welcomes the contestants of The One who come out from behind the stage to the adulation of the studio audience. They shake hands with their adoring fans, and the theme music pumps up the crowd. The contestants sit on couches (ala Idol), and we greet the “experts” (i.e. judges), Mark Hudson, Andre Harrell, and Kara DioGuardi.

We move to a review of the performances, along with some of the behind-the-scenes clips. It doesn’t get any better the second time around, really. After they have a chance to see themselves, Strombo conducts a question and answer session. He asks Aubrey if her budding relationship with Nick Brownell is a distraction. She answers by saying that she can’t afford to have any distractions. Strombo then asks Michael if his song choice worked out for him. He says he wasn’t going to sing it a different way. He’s an arrogant fellow, that’s for sure.

The Q&A continues. Jackie is upset about the fact that “one of these talented people” will be going home. Adam, who is a cutie by the way, says that it was interesting for him when the experts who had been helping him suddenly became judges.

After the break, we have a chance to see what happened after the performance show. The contestants return to the mansion, and Aubrey breaks down and cries. Nick kisses her. Austin says that they need to ignore the judges’ comments. Scotty says that the mood has changed. Jeremiah is unsure about his future, and someone, Jackie I think, says that they are trying to avoid thinking about being in the bottom three. They are all freaking out about having to decide who goes home. That is harsh.

Suddenly the word “alliance” gets uttered. Ahhhh, like Survivor, or something. I get it. Michael asks Aubrey whether she would pick Nick over someone like Syesha, who he feels had a better performance. She says, “Yup.” This bothers Michael, obviously. Nick and Aubrey cuddle. They all sign a guitar, and decide that whoever goes home will get the guitar. None of them feels safe, that’s for sure.

Strombo says we’ve come to a “major moment of truth.” The contestants are on the stage, and he informs them that if he tells them to take a seat, they have a chance at being the “One.”

“Syesha, Jeremiah, and Caitlin, take a seat,” he pronounces. So far, so good. Scotty also gets sent back to the couches, and Nick is told to stay. The audience boos. “Take a breath, Adam, and take a seat,” says Strombo. The music is dramatic and the lighting eerie. “Austin, I don’t know if you heard what Adam just said to you…” Suddenly the screen freezes up and we totally miss whatever it was that Adam said. I really don’t believe this. Once the technical glitch is corrected, Austin is hugging people, and we are left to assume that he is safe. Strombo then toys with Aubrey’s emotions a bit, but finally tells her that she is safe as well.

“There are four of you left, three of you will be performing tonight,” Strombo says. “One of you is safe. Nick, take a seat.” Aubrey is jubilant, but the audience boos. This leaves Michael Cole, Jadyn Maria, and Jackie Mendez as our bottom three. We go to yet another break.

Now it’s time for the lifesaving performances by the bottom three. Jadyn Maria will be performing first. We see another clip of her session with Mark and her first performance. She says that if she ends up in the bottom three, it’s because of the judges’ comments. She talks to her mother on the phone, who tells her that she hit the glory note, but pulled the microphone away so that the audience couldn’t hear it. Yeah, right.