My Day at American Idol Yesterday

I've been on the waiting list to receive American Idol tickets for two years and my name never comes up.

Until Monday. Monday I got an email inviting me to the taping of the dress rehearsal for either the guys or the girls. Since this takes place in Hollywood in the middle of the day, I had to choose the girls rehearsal so that I could request a day off of work in enough time. I figured I had to jump at the chance, since it was the first time ever I had received such an email.

I'd never been to a taping before, though I get emails about other shows..Moment of Truth, some Lifetime show with Cat Deely, etc. People think that because I live in Southern California I must do these fun things all the time, but even though I only live an hour away from L.A. on paper, in reality it's usually at least two hours. (driving home last night was three!!) Oh, SoCal traffic, gotta love it.

Anyway, yesterday was like the perfect sort of break that I needed. I believe in a break of routine, especially on one of the finest days Southern California has to offer when the sky is blue and the sun is brilliant, and the breeze is gentle. I happily zipped on over to Hollywood, made some friends standing in line for the show, relinquished my cell phone (movie theaters should do this), and entered the taping. At first they sat me in the back out of sight, but then she moved me over to the young, hip section (as we liked to call it), thus salvaging some fragments of my self-esteem. After all, this was only the dress rehearsal. (they do use it on the show, though, when they recap the performances at the end) The judges weren't there, but Ryan and all of the Idols were. It's interesting, I have to say that at a live show, you want people to sing upbeat songs. My favorite performances while watching were A'siah and Amanda. They were fun. Especially Amanda, that was a rocking song!

But at home when watching on tv, I think I liked Brooke best. I sort of like her style, I think she's different. What do you all think?

Anyway, they have these fake judges who know the lingo of the real judges and were actually quite entertaining. And can I just say that EVERYTHING looked much smaller than it does on tv? Like, those stairs and the red room and the staging and seating area? And the judges are like practically right in the face of the Idols when they sing!!! I never knew.

Television is amazing. I wish I could give you some great inside information, but that's about it. Ramiele and Danny appear to be good friends, but that sort of came through on last night's broadcast. Ryan seems like a really nice guy and was quite entertaining. Oh, and if you don't stand up and dance to the fun songs, they yell at you. (the stage assistants, and it's not really yelling, but it is scolding)

Sooo...having said all of that, who do you think is going home tonight?

Or, have you ever been to a taping of a show?