Canadian Idol 4, August 29: Three Are Set For NYC

Tonight, the show begins with series host Ben Mulroney telling us 4.3 million votes were cast this week. That’s the most ever. He then warns us that Rex Goudie will perform tonight. Ben briefly introduces the judges, then runs the standard recap of last night’s performances. If you missed it, you can read about it here, (shame on you, though). Otherwise, let’s move on.

And we move on to a group performance number. It almost seems wrong that there’s no celebrity coach in the center of it all. The song is “When I See You Smile” by Bad English. No one either distinguishes or embarrasses himself or herself too badly, but as a foursome, they don’t sound all that great together.

With more time to fill, Ben brings out Rex Goudie. He’s preceded by clips from his Idol performances of last year, some of which were, frankly, pretty sad. Accompanying himself on guitar, Rex is singing his hit “Run.” I like the song, but after singing it all year you’d expect him to be closer to the melody by now. However, the fans love it. After the song Ben presents him with a platinum album for his debut CD. The next one’s due September 5th.

Prompted by Ben, Rex’s advice for the Idols is to “Have as much fun as you possibly can and take whatever advice you get.” Actually, ignoring advice is probably a better ploy at this stage of the game.

The next time filler is a fake game show hosted by Elena Juatco. “You Be the Judge,” a title they stole from our regular FoxesOnIdol column. The entertainment value of this thinly disguised commercial for fake mayonnaise is fully absent and I’m just not going to recap it. God, I really miss Jon Dore right about now.

It’s time for the results. Ben starts by reading judges comments about all four. Then it’s time for Ben’s I.D.P.Q. (Incredibly Deep Probing Questions) for the judges, and here they come. Asked to comment on Craig, Zack compares becoming a great artist to fatherhood or marriage, saying, “It takes maturity, time, devotion, and technique. You have these things in you, you just gotta bring them out.”

Jake comments on Chad, saying, “You have a unique voice, so sing your own words. So keep doing what you’re doing, and write songs.” For Tyler, Sass says, “You’re a down-earth person with a lot of soul and a lot of heart. That really comes through in your singing. Concentrate on yourself on what you want to say, and also… DON’T TAKE ANY ADVICE FROM ANYBODY!”

This leaves Farley to comment about Eva. He says, “Eva, you’ve got to think really big. I’m talking about film, television, and music. You’ve got to integrate your career, because you have the potential to do phenomenally well in all three of those categories.”

Ben now tells us who is in the bottom two tonight. He addresses Eva and Craig… they are both safe. Tyler and Chad make up the bottom two.

After the final commercial, Ben tells us, “Canada voted… and the Idol who received the fewest number of votes last night… was Chad!” I’m rather surprised it went this way, actually. Somehow Tyler was never in the bottom three/two, but he survived his first trip.

After the traditional funeral video, Chad tells us the fans gave him the message that it’s OK to be unique, and he’s glad about that.

Over the applause, Ben tells us that next week the theme is “Standards,” with a trip to NYC to meet Tony Bennett. They’ll perform with a Big Band on stage Monday, with Tony performing live on Tuesday.

Ben asks Chad to sing us out, and the first time through, he sings “Everybody Leaves” instead of “Everybody Hurts.” Cute. And with that, we are done!

Brian lives in Toronto and would like to hear your carefully considered opinions about the show. He can be reached at uncle_bto@rogers.com.

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