Blog Posts by Lyndsey Parker

Jennifer Diley courts male viewersFrom the special Sunday San Diego episode's manly locale on the USS Midway aircraft carrier, to its soundtrack of the manly Top Gun theme "Danger Zone," to its increased amount of Steven Tyler swearing, to its first audition featuring a modern-day Vargas girl in a teensy-weensy red white & blue bikini, to its final audition by a manly mechanic named "Wolf" who covered CCR and Johnny Cash, it was obvious that "American Idol" producers were hoping to hook male viewers who'd stuck around after Sunday afternoon's NFL playoff game. And the tactic just might have worked.

"Idol" hopeful Jane Carrey with her dad years agoOnce again, this was an episode heavy on impressive singers, some of which may have roped in a few new fans. And among those impressive singers was one who probably had some longtime Fox viewers, male and female alike, feeling all nostalgic, as Jim Carrey's 24-year-old daughter, Jane Carrey, tried out in front of Jim's old "In Living Color" Fly Girl castmate, Jennifer Lopez. ("I was 2 when you were on TV together," Jane told

S.Ty's controversial anthem performanceSteven Tyler, the nicest and cuddliest judge on "American Idol," has a habit of telling almost everyone on "Idol" that they're "beautiful, just beautiful." But I have to wonder how he or his fellow judges, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson, would ever react if a prospective contestant walked into the "Idol" audition room and sang a song as pitchy as Steven's rendition of the national anthem at this Sunday's Baltimore Ravens vs. New England Patriots AFC Championship game.

Season 10's Sarah SellersDiehard "American Idol" viewers will  remember Sarah Sellers as the geek-chic food blogger who made it to Hollywood Week last year. (Watch her Season 10 audition here.) Since leaving "Idol" last year, Sarah has continued her food-blogging and kitchen experimentation, and she has been whipping up yummy snack suggestions for any "Idol" viewing party and posting them here exclusively in Reality Rocks. And she's back this season to get your mouth watering on every Wednesday and Thursday night--and, in this case, on a Sunday night, since there's a special episode airing after the NFL game this evening.

For Wednesday night's big "Idol" premiere, Sarah went with a Southern theme in honor of the  Savannah  auditions, serving up grits cakes with crab dip, and for Thursday's auditions in Pittsburgh, she's combined two of that city's most popular munchies: pierogies and kielbasa. Now, for tonight's bonus episode in sunny San Diego, it's time for some California cuisine. Enjoy!

Randy, Ryan & Steven on "Leno"President Barack Obama became the latest viral video sensation last Thursday after he sang a couple snippets of Al Green's classic "Let's Stay Together" at a Democratic fundraising event at Harlem's Apollo Theater. Al Green himself was there, and Al told TMZ that he thought Obama was "terrific" and "nailed" the song. That's all fine and good, but what's really important here is...what do the "American Idol" judges think of Obama's vocal skills?

I'm not really sure how to set this one up, except to point out the obvious fact that fashion + Muppets + reality television = all sorts of awesome.

This week, puppet fashionista Miss Piggy, most recently seen playing the plus-sized fashion editor of French Vogue in The Muppets, was the guest judge on "Project Runway Allstars"--and to celebrate, Season 1 alum and current "Allstars" contestant Austin Scarlett has made his own music video for the Kermit classic "The Rainbow Connection," which he says is "intended as a gift to all the Lovers and Dreamers of the World."

Last night, "American Idol" headed to Pittsburgh, the city of champions, and some potential Season 11 champions were in the mix for sure. The hour-long episode was positively packed with great auditions (and only one bad audition, which wasn't even THAT bad)...thus leaving me, and my "Day After" co-host Matt Whitfield, feeling excited and energized for this season. Bring on Hollywood Week, so we can see more of these awesome singers!

Erica Nowak gets rejected"American Idol's 11th season kicked off this week, and already there's been grumbling in the Twitterverse/blogosphere that there haven't been enough trainwreck auditions. Where are this year's William Hungs, Larry Platts, Big Bird Ladies? In fact, Thursday's episode, in Pittsburgh, only featured one reject during the entire hour (while 38 legitimate Pittsburgh singers made it through). Personally, I haven't minded the emphasis on actual talent so far this season; after all, awful auditions may be fun for five minutes, but it's the great auditions that will lay the foundation for a strong "Idol" season in the long run.

That being said, an "Idol" season without any bad auditions would be like a day without sunshine, or like a Steven Tyler appearance without a ridiculous hat, or like a Randy Jackson critique without the word "dawg" in it. So of course, there were a few clunkers in the bunch to keep "Idol" rubberneckers entertained this week. Here's a roundup of who didn't get a golden ticket this week--but at least these wannabes got their 15 minutes of fame:

early frontrunner Hallie DayRyan Seacrest described Pittsburgh as the "city of champions" at the start of Thursday night's "American Idol" auditions episode, and that wasn't just hyperbole put on his teleprompter by over-arching producers. The singers that Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler, and Randy Jackson found in Pittsburgh, a town "Idol" had never visited before, was surprisingly solid--the show really ought to have held auditions there several seasons ago, judging from who lined up to try out for Season 11. And among them was one girl, the striking (and sob-storied) Hallie Day, whom J.Lo actually predicted could be the champion of this entire show.