The Great Idol Adventure

I've been putting this off for a while now, so I might as well just crank out at least a handful of stories from the adventure, as it took place over a month ago and they have yet to be told...

It was a warm, sunny Sunday morn as we shifted the sat truck into gear. The time on the clock was 11:11 AM and Don Henley's Dirty Laundry chimed out through the radio. Oh yes, good omens all around as we began our Sacramento to Los Angeles pilgrimage to bare witness to the Mecca of news ratings, the goldmine that made every non-Fox affiliate sick with envy. That's right, it's that time of the year... the grand American Idol finale was afoot, and we were on our way down South to feed it to the masses.

Granted, I'm no Idol fan myself... I hadn't seen a single episode this season until the week before we left, which showcased the final two: Adam Lambert and Kris Allen. One guy could sing, the other could kinda sing (but gosh if he wasn't adorable), and the grudge match was on.

So seven or so hours later we get down there, and what happens? We haven't kicked off our shoes for more than an hour when BAM! Los Angeles is hit by a full-on, straight-up earthquake. Seriously, what are the odds?

So, getting to the meat of the story- Wednesday was the big finale, and we had to do morning and evening show hits through Thursday morning... which ammounts to about 2 or 3 hours of sleep a night before hitting the pavement and doing it all over again.

Cutting to the chase... Day 1 was primaraly focused around pre-event events going on around the Nokia Theater, such as a So You Think You Can Dance dance-off. We chatted with that jerk Brittish guy, who actually had some insightful things to say about this year's Idol competition.

POW! Day 1, no problem.

Day 2 actually had a show in the evening, where the two contestants had their big face-off. This show would be so much better if the two hated each other and were constantly talking smack, but apparently they get along, so it's kinda dull. We had our first experience in the media center, which offered quite the spread...

So first up, good ol' Paula Abdul was trucked out, and she seemed... well, confused as ever. As reporters threw out questions (and I gotta say, they were terrible questions... who the hell are all these people anyway?), Paula seemed to dance around answering any of them directly, then declared that she'd be doing a live telecast for the Home Shopping Network upstairs, hocking her line of jewelery. Somebody finally shouted out the question that everyone was thinking... will she be back next year? Her publicist, or assistant or whatever, quickly ran up on stange and led her off by the arm, saying they were out of time. As she disappeared around the curtain, she shouted "Stay tuned!" It was both strange and awkward, and I wouldn't have expected anything less from the woman.

Next, the boys were trucked out for a few questions, most of which were answered by saying "Gosh, golly... we're just such good friends and it doesn't matter who wins. It's just a wild experience". Come on... let's get some fight in there! Let's get some "I'm gonna eat his children!" Maybe next season we'll find some UFC guys that can sing... Now there's a finale that I'd watch!

WHAM! Day 2 brought with it a quality package, primarily made up of stuff recorded from the show, and we were well on our way to another day of sleep deprivation... but Wednesday had much more promise to it.

For you see, Day 3 was the grand finale! The big red carpet event that was really the whole reason we were down there! We, along with probably 50 or so other media outlets, lined the red carpet and prepared to desperately plea for someone of note to stop by.

It was kinda sad, really, to see who the first ones were to arrive... mostly people that were on the show in the "top 50" or something, who were milking the experience for all it was worth. Like these girls...

They were actually there hours before the event began, and were sure to stop by each media outlet, sometimes more than once. Oh, and then there was this guy...

Blake something-er-other... He was the first to arrive on the red carpet and the last to leave. Apparently he did alright for himself some years ago on the show, but has yet to do much else, other than wander the carpet and shoot off some cocky attitude. He even had his own mic, but it was never made clear who was shooting him or why (although I suppose the flag did say Time... which really only raised further questions). He stopped by us 2 or 3 times, and really once was more than enough.

Anyone of note just walked past and made his or her way in- Santana, Heather Locklear, Steve Martin, and so on. We got a handful of former contestants, and were lucky enough to squeeze in and catch a few words from Carrie Underwood. Plus Simon hollared out "Hello Sacramento" as he strutted past. Not a bad turnout, and everything seemed to be going better than expected!

Then, as the big finale began, an ungodly number of catastraphies lined up and pummeled us, one after another, threatening our ability to have anything at all for the show. Will they make it? Can they solve the numerous problems before the looming deadline strikes? Well, that's a tale for another night. To be continued...