Blog Posts by Lyndsey Parker

Everyone loves a good TV feud, of course. And now that Adam Lambert's neon-painted claws have so thrillingly come out during a recent Bravo interview, when he was grilled about fellow "American Idol" runner-up Clay Aiken, I can't wait to "watch what happens" next, as Bravo's copywriters would say.

So Adam appeared on Bravo's chatfest "Watch What Happens" Thursday night, and host Andy Cohen put him on the spot by ordering him to "say three nice things about Clay Aiken," as part of the show's "Plead The Fifth" segment. Adam, who is nothing if not honest (his bluntness gets him in trouble sometimes, but hey, I love him for it), answered, "Can't think of any."

"Want to plead fifth?" Andy asked. "No, I just can't think of any nice things!" Adam answered with a laugh.

"So You Think You Can Dance" returned for a ninth season this Thursday--although, sadly, this will be the last time we'll be seeing "SYTYCD" on Thursday for a while. You see, next week, the show will settle into its regular Wednesday night timeslot...and it'll only be on ONE night a week, instead of its usual two. So remember all those awesome "SYTYCD" Thursday night results shows, the ones featuring amazing wheelchair dancers and amazing Wade Robson group numbers and amazing career-launching performances by Lady Gaga and Christina Perri? Yeah, well, those days are over. Apparently the Fox network would rather have "SYTYCD's" Emmy-nominated Cat Deeley host some cockamamie spinning-chair dating show called "The Choice," instead of having, say, prestigious Alvin Ailey company dancers perform on Thursday nights. Really??? Boo, Fox, boo!

However, "SYTYCD" made the most of its sole two-hour spot this week, premiering with a slew of typically brilliant auditions in New York and Dallas. And with both a female winner and a male winner planned for the Season 9 finale in September, even more talent has the potential to be rewarded this year. Yay, Fox, yay!

Don and Phillip Phillips at their Georgia pawn shop [photo: Fox]Newly crowned "American Idol" winner Phillip Phillips, who has a long history with kidney stones, underwent painful surgery earlier this "Idol" season to install a stent in his kidney. However, he didn't let that keep him from becoming a frontrunner in the competition: Incredibly, only six days after that operation, he delivered a solid performance of "Hard To Handle" on the "Idol" stage, and he eventually made it all the way to the winner's circle, never once even landing in the bottom three. But when Phillip started noticeably sitting out the show's Ford Music Videos, fans worried if another health scare had derailed him. And only now is it coming to light just how serious Phillip's medical problems were this season, as his father, Don Phillips, told People this week that his son underwent no less than eight surgeries while he was on "Idol" to remove a build-up of kidney stones.

Last night, Phillip Phillips was crowned the Season 11 "American Idol" champ--a controversial result, of course, but one that my "The Day After" co-host Matt Whitfield and I are totally okay with. Besides, there's SO much more to talk about today than that whole "WGWG" phenomenon: catsuits! Mantasia/Fantasia! crazy Jennifer Holliday faces! wigs! Neil Diamond! David Webb Jewelry!

What happened to Jessica's duet with Kristin Chenoweth? [photo: Fox]On Tuesday night after the top two "American Idol" show taping, Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth and Season 11 runner-up Jessica Sanchez pretaped a performance of the Donna Summer/Barbra Streisand classic disco duet "Enough Is Enough," which was supposed to air during Wednesday night's "Idol" finale as part of a tribute to recently departed diva Donna. But apparently "Enough" was not enough for "Idol," since the performance never ran. According to tweets Kristin posted on Thursday, the number was scrapped due to time constraints.

"Apparently AI ran so late they scraped the whole donna summer tribute bc of time. :( bummer," Kristen tweeted. "They cut the entire donna summer tribute [song] due to time. There was a great medley with other singers too. :("

Kristin also retweeted a comment from an irate fan, who said: "Not cool. Time management sucks at AI. You don't do that to Donna Summer and to you."

photo: FoxMany avid "American Idol" viewers like myself, disgruntled about the lack of honest, constructive criticism from judges Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, and Randy Jackson, have been rallying for the show's straight-shooting in-house mentor, Universal Records honcho Jimmy Iovine, to take a permanent seat at the judging table in Season 12. But speaking Wednesday night to reporters after the Season 11 finale, Jimmy crushed fans' hopes by emphatically stating that he has no intentions of moving into a judging role. (Boo!)

"No, that's not really my thing," he said. "You can see by the little clip that they had, I am good not live! It's not what I do, and I like working with the kids; it goes back to when I was a record producer. I get to work on the music, and that's what I really want to do, and it's fun to do; you can feel them a lot better like that, and that's a great experience. Being a judge is probably not for me."

But just because Jimmy isn't an official "Idol" judge doesn't mean he

Phillip performs his victory song, "Home" [photo: Fox]Georgia pawn shop worker Phillip Phillips won the 11th season of "American Idol" Wednesday night, and when he spoke to reporters backstage following his emotional win, he still seemed to be in a fog, even forgetting to speak directly into the microphone at the start of his press conference. When asked if he'd ever expected he would make it to this point, the dazed and bemused Idol quickly shook his head.

[VIDEO: Top 10 Performances of Season 11]

"Honestly, man, I didn't even think I would make it to see the judges," he confessed. "I have no shame in saying that I'm not a great singer. I just love having fun up onstage jamming with the guys, and playing good music, man. I like getting the crowd into it. Music's fun, dude...I have no idea how stuff like this ['Idol' victory] happens. I just love playing music, and I'm just a lucky guy."

Jessica congratulates Phillip [photo: Fox]On Wednesday night, many admirers of "American Idol" powerhouse Jessica Sanchez were shocked and outraged by her second-place finish, but when the 16-year-old graciously spoke to the press backstage after the finale, she didn't seem to share her fans' reaction. Jessica was quick to give this year's champion, guitar-strumming Southern crooner Phillip Phillips, props--saying that she was not only perfectly pleased with his victory, but that it came as no surprise to her whatsoever.