Show Blog: A Day At Access (May 23, 2006, 10:49 AM PDT)

#5 (10:49 AM PDT) — If there’s one good thing that comes from all of this “Idol” blogging this morning, it is the news I can now break for you.

Rob just got off the phone with Fox’s reality guru Mike Darnell and asked him the question he had ruminated so emotionally about this morning. “Why can people only vote for two hours?”

Turns out – surprise! -  in news direct from Fox’s Big Cheese, tonight you will have four hours to vote. So now you can have your ACM awards and eat it too.

– Mathew Baxt

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#4 (10:12 AM PDT) — With continuing respect to my friend and colleague Adam, you simply don’t know what you’re talking about, dimwit.

Let’s look at the tried and true hall of fame country classics Taylor Hicks sang on “Idol” this year (dug up with greased lightning speed by Powerhouse Research Department Superman Eugene). “Living For The City” by Stevie Wonder…“Something” by the Beatles…“Try A Little Tenderness” by Otis Redding. It might be me, but I’m not picking up much of a Nashville vibe here.

In fact, the only country song Taylor did sing over the course of this season was John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” – and only because it was Idol’s “country week”. And not for nothing, but when Taylor was done singing, Simon called my man’s song “safe, boring, and lazy”. Yes, he may be from Alabama and he may have performed all over the South, but Taylor Hicks has about to do with country music as Rudy Giuliani.

Taylor is a soul singer, Katharine was bred to be a pop singer, the ACMs aren’t going to make an ounce of difference in tonight’s voting,  you are as wrong as bleu cheese on a sundae and once again I am grinning as I write this because I can picture the look on your face.

– Mathew Baxt

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#4 (9:49 AM PDT) — Riled up, I have become.

TV research god Dan just reminded me of this little fact (that I happened to ask him for!):

Here are the percentages from last week’s top two:

1. 33.68%
2. 33.26%

That’s a difference of 210,000 votes. They never specified on the show who was number one and who was number two.

So Taylor Hicks is a Southern Gentleman who hails from Birmingham, Alabama who spent years performing all over the South. He may just miss out on a few of those country fans votes.

End.

– Adam Jordan

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#3 (9:00 AM PDT) — With all due respect to my man, Adam… last year the ACMs pulled in a respectable 12 million viewers, (thanks to super researcher Eugene for the stat) while the final “Idol” performance lured more than 28 million people. And this year, despite “competition” from the ACMs, “Idol” should actually be even bigger. Bottom line, the ACMs will not be a factor in the voting.

Add that to the fact that neither of tonight’s finalists have real country cred, unlike last year’s winner Carrie Underwood, and you have to go with conventional wisdom. It’s going to be The Grey Ghost.

That said, I haven’t watched a single episode of “Idol” since they stopped showing the people making fools of themselves in, like, the third week and have no insight other than the stats I asked the research department to round up for me and my decision to take a direct opposite tact from Adam, which I am doing mostly to rile him up.

– Mathew Baxt

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#2 (7:30 AM PDT) — Something to note;

ACMs air live tonight at 8PM against Idol.

Remember how close the voting was last week?
Some country fans may be watching ACMs and not voting for Taylor tonight.

Katherine may have it.

– Adam Jordan

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#2 (7:00 AM PDT) —  Two successful forty-plus-year-old male sports fans.The morning after two Game 7’s in the NBA playoffs and a huge Yankee/Red Sox game.

And what are they debating?

How many records Taylor Hicks will sell should he be named the American Idol tomorrow night.

On one side, Supervising Producer Mike – who feels that Taylor just isn’t a star. He may be a character, goes Mike’s line of reasoning, but if “Idol” is the search to find a great recording artist, this guy isn’t going to cut the mustard. We’re talking sub-Ruben Studdard sales. On the other side of the great argument, we find Executive Producer Rob, who loudly exclaims that Mike is wrong.  Something about it doesn’t matter who wins because people are going to buy it anyway and why doesn?t Fox keep the voting open longer than two hours and Baxt is an idiot for suggesting that it could have something to do with the cost of the ?866? phone numbers and why is he sitting here anyway, he has to go write Shaun’s standups which have to be shot at the Kodak Theatre in 15 minutes and put that in your Blog, dummy.

Uh, okay.

– Mathew Baxt

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