Bye-Bye Sligh, Idol in People Magazine, and the Fate of Studio 60: The Friday Media Roundup

Chris Sligh had me from "I want to make David Hasselhoff cry." He had a wry, self-effacing sense of humor, a warm, smooth voice that lent itself to an indie-rocker sort of style and those dreamy curls. He just didn't turn out one of those singular, star-making performances that are so crucial to getting though to the later stages of Idol. Think Fantasia's "Summertime" or Kelly Clarkson's "Natural Woman." Those are the kinds of standout turns that are going to send a contestant to the record-contract land that is the final 2 or 3. Don't forget-- that's what these kids are REALLY playing for here. Winning doesn't matter anymore. Taylor Hicks made an album but so did last year's runner-up Katharine McPhee. Even bronze medal winner Elliott Yamin just released a disc. And those two don't have to come at their careers with the iron chains of 19 Entertainment around their ankles, but with the immesurable benefits of the exposure that Idol affords.

Sligh even addressed this phenomena himself in an interview with his hometown paper, the G-Vegas Greenville News.

"I never came into this wanting to win it," Sligh said Thursday in a telephone interview, a day after being voted off and finishing tenth in the wildly popular singing competition. "I made the Top Ten. That was my goal."

"I wanted to make the tour," he said. "I wanted to be able to make music for my living, so I don't have to work at the marketing company that I was working at. It doesn't matter who is going to place ahead of me. What matters is the fact that I reached the goal that I really wanted to make."

Sorta like making the money in a tournament but juuuuust missing the final table. The article also reveals that Sligh also bet fellow contestant Phil Stacey $50 that he would be sent home that night. During his final performance after hearing the bad news, he interrupted the chorus of his Police song to remind Stacey "you owe me $50!"

Know what else? Chris Sligh attended Bob Jones University (yes, THAT Bob Jones University) and was expelled for attending a Christian rock concert.

"They kicked me out," Sligh said. "It was actually good, because I had been trying to figure out how to leave. My parents had given me the option of going to two colleges, and I chose the less-crazy one, believe it or not."

Sligh, however deserved to stick around longer than LITE-FM Scarnato and the horror that is Sanjaya and his pony-hawk. Showcase and I were doubling over in the front seat of his car this morning at radio talk show host Rhandi Rhodes' take on the Sanjaya situation. She's convinced that Abu Malik Al-Zarquawi (or whoever our new terrorist-of-the-week is) is texting in millions of votes for Sanjaya as an attack on America.

In more Idol news, the top ten grace the cover of this week's People magazine. Haley Scarnato is clearly continuing to play the leg card-- check out her choice of outfit in these photos from the People magazine shoot:

At this rate, Haley will be performing on J.Lo night in nothing but pasties and a thong. And high heels of course.

See up there where it says "Wedding Singer?" That explains a lot. Like why she can't get past the LITE-FM thing. Clearly she's sticking with what she knows.

And in the last Idol tidbit I have for you today, apparently Ms. Gwen Stefani was so horrified with Sanjaya's performance of "Bathwater" in rehearsals, she wanted to pull her song from the show. Check out the sordid details on CelebNewsWire.

For the (few) of you out there who still watch Studio 60, it looks like they're finishing out production on the rest of the first season, but chances for a second look non-existent. Anyone care to set an over-under on the first "Sorkin-totally-loses-it-to-the-press-and-blames-failure-of-show-on-middle -americans-who'd-rather-watch-Steve-Sanders-dance" interview?

Speaking of Steve Sanders dancing, my friend Carmen is posting some excellent episode recaps of Dancing With the Stars over at her site. Check 'em out.

Last but certainly not least, Showcase just showed me these two videos of Lily Tomlin and David O. Russell going apeshit on the set of I Heart Huckabees. In video one Russell flips out on Tomlin and in video two, Tomlin goes equally crazy on her director and poor Dustin Hoffman is sitting there in the middle just trying to keep it together.

Back when I was a D-girl, I worked on a lot of projects with an exec who was one of the producers of Russell's first big studio pic Three Kings and was on the set during the infamous George Clooney-David O. Russell strangling match/fist-fight. "That man is a FREAK" he would say, dryly, whenever asked about the experience.

Enjoy your weekends, people...