Summer is right on top of us- with the last season's shows already wrapping up, and networks announcing their primetime lineups for the coming fall. Welcome to Renzie Reviews the 2008 Fall Lineup- in this post we cover The FOX Network.

Returning Favorites on FOX

Alright! More Summer Glau in "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles". The very first season of only nine episodes just wasn't enough.

You know "American Idol" is definitely coming back for another run, and so are "24", "Family Guy", "House", "Prison Break" and "The Simpsons".

Also renewed are "America's Most Wanted", "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?", "Bones", "COPS", "Don't Forget the Lyrics", "Hell's Kitchen", "King of the Hill", "Kitchen Nightmares", "MadTV", "The Moment of Truth", "So You Think You Can Dance", "TALKSHOW with Spike Feresten" and "'Til Death".

Cancelled Shows

Gone from the FOX lineup this fall are "Back To You", "Canterbury's Law", "Nashville", "New Amsterdam", "The Next Great American Band", "The Return of Jezebel James" and "Unhitched".

New Shows

This is where that new Joss Whedon project comes in: "Dollhouse" starring Elisha Dushku (from "Tru Calling").

Also we have a spinoff from "The Family Guy"- "The Cleveland Show", as well as another animated comedy, "Sit Down, Shut Up".

Also added to the lineup: comedies "Starting Under" and "Do Not Disturb", dramas "The Fringe" and "The Oaks" and the reality show "Secret Millionaire".

We've covered all the major networks so far on our 5-part coverage of the upcoming seasons on TV: Renzie Reviews the 2008 Fall Lineup- feel free to check out the earlier networks in our earlier posts.

Cheers, everyone!

I know the American Idol juggernaut just about got everybody hooked this season- now that it's down to David Archuleta versus David Cook for the finale.

My money's on Cook, but Archuleta does have a whole shitload of fans.

Alright, so I know enough about what's generally going down, but the truth is, I can't help but notice that, for the past several episodes, my enthusiasm for the show has noticeably waned.

I was trying to figure it out: was it possibly the lack of eye-candy for me? Hardly any chicks this season- at least not as compelling as when Katherine McPhee was around (sorry, just needed a reason to put her pic up on this blog :p). In fairness, Carly Smithson was the most fun to watch for this batch, so I know I really stopped watching the actual broadcasts after Broadway night and just relied on the internet for updates.

Was it because the weekly themes were sorta skewed towards a more mature audience? Alright, I dig Lennon/McCartney. Even the Andrew Lloyd Webber night was rather entertaining. But Dolly Parton night? Neil Diamond? I can only take so much Dolly or Diamond in one hour of TV viewing. Oh I didn't even bother watching Neil Diamond night. Where's the element of 'staying contemporary' Simon Cowell has been constantly crowing about?

While the show has inadvertently managed to keep itself interesting somehow- what with the Paula Abdul blunder a couple of weeks back (you can even catch a clip on YouTube if you missed it), or that debacle with Archuleta's dad on being such a stage parent (which you can read about here, here and here)- it doesn't seem to completely accomplish what the show set out to do: get my eyeballs locked on FOX two nights a week.

Luck of the draw, I suppose. Here's to hoping they get a more interesting set of contestants next year.

Cheers, everyone.

Welcome to my continuing coverage of the songs featured on American Idol Season 7. No blow-by-blow reportage, no thoughts about the show (at least not at this point), just the songs performed by our Top 20 contestants.

We're doing the 70's this week, and we just covered the dudes' songs earlier on. Now we have the songlist for the chicks' performances.


List of Songs Sung By The Contestants
The Chicks of the Top 20 Sing the 70's!
American Idol Season 7

Carly Smithson - Heart "Crazy On You"
Syesha Mercado - Billy Paul "Me and Mrs. Jones"
Brooke White - Carly Simon "You're So Vain"
Ramiele Malubay - Thelma Houston "Don't Leave Me This Way"
Kristy Lee Cook - Linda Ronstadt "You're No Good"

Amanda Overmyer - Kansas "Carry On Wayward Son"
Alaina Whitaker - Olivia Newton-John "Hopelessly Devoted To You"
Alexandrea Lushington - Chicago "If You Leave Me Now"
Kady Malloy - Heart "Magic Man"
Asia'h Epperson - Eric Carmen "All By Myself"


Don't forget to watch the results show- we see ours in the Philippines on Star World. Go right ahead and check out the official FOX website here, for exclusive vids, photos, blogs and a chance to interact with fellow AI fans!

4 more episodes 'til we get our Top 12- come back next week for the list of songs performed then!

Cheers, everyone!

This is my continuing coverage on the featured music on American Idol season 7. Just to make it clear, I'm not doing a blow-by-blow or an episode guide: that's the reason why we all watch it live :). However, I aim to do a public service by helping out fellow fans with the song titles and artists featured, as performed by our contestants.

That being said, we're now down to our Top 20. Our theme for this week: the 70's. And here are the songs from our remaining 10 dudes, on American Idol episode aired 26 February 2008.

List of Songs Sung By The Contestants
The Dudes of the Top 20 Sing the 70's!
American Idol Season 7

Michael Johns - Fleetwood Mac "Go Your Own Way"
Jason Castro - Andy Gibb "I Just Want To Be Your Everything"
Luke Menard - Queen "Killer Queen"
Robbie Carrico - Foreigner "Hot Blooded"
Danny Noriega - The Carpenters "Superstar"

David Hernandez - The Temptations "Papa Was a Rolling Stone"
Jason Yeager - The Doobie Brothers "Long Train Runnin'"
Chikezie Eze - Donny Hathaway "I Believe To My Soul"
David Cook - Free "All Right Now"
David Archuleta - John Lennon "Imagine"


The chicks' song choices coming up next. More American Idol Music comin' your way as Season 7 continues. Go right ahead and check out the official FOX website here, for exclusive vids, photos, blogs and a chance to interact with fellow AI fans! Here's looking forward to some interesting performances next week.

Cheers, everyone!

This is my continuing coverage of the music featured on American Idol Season 7. This week, we see our Top 24 in action belting out some jams from the '60's.

We already featured the dudes' song choices earlier on, so now we cover the chicks' musical performances.

So here's the playlist from American Idol Season 7, episode aired 20 February 2008!


List of Songs Sung By The Contestants
The Chicks of the Top 24 Sing!
American Idol Season 7

Kristy Lee Cook - Fontella Bass "Rescue Me"
Joanne Borgella - Burt Bacharach "Say A Little Prayer For You"
Alaina Whittaker - Spiral Starecase "More Today Than Yesterday"

Amanda Overmyer - Van Morrison "Baby Please Don't Go"
Amy Davis - Connie Francis "Where The Boys Are"
Brooke White - The Turtles "Happy Together"

Alexandrea Lushington - Blood, Sweat & Tears "Spinning Wheel"
Kady Malloy - The Mindbenders "A Groovy Kind Of Love"
Asia'h Epperson - Janis Joplin "Piece Of My Heart"

Ramiele Malubay - Dusty Springfield "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me"
Syesha Mercado - The Nashville Teens "Tobacco Road"
Carly Smithson - Tony Bennett "The Shadow of Your Smile"


More American Idol Music comin' your way as Season 7 continues. Go right ahead and check out the official FOX website here, for exclusive vids, photos, blogs and a chance to interact with fellow AI fans! Here's looking forward to some interesting performances next week.

Cheers, everyone!

I was able to catch the 2-hour season premiere of American Idol on Star World, even after I came home from a dinner date. For the most part, I'm really just curious what this season has to offer. It's really more of a guilty pleasure, I suppose. There were already a couple of times when I swore off American Idol, only to get hooked on it again.

As you might probably expect, you'll have yourself a few good singers, some human interest story-pieces that tug at your heart-strings, but also some very interesting characters.

Sometimes you get all three- easily one of my favorites for American Idol season 7 is Kristy Lee Cook.

Did you catch her bio? She wrestles and trains for cage-fighting- which means she can literally kick my ass (or anybody else's for that matter). She lives in a log cabin surrounded by pine trees and raises horses in here spare time. She's darned cute. And she sings well. Well enough, at the very least, to move to the Hollywood round.

A quick Google search has brought me to an old website that was promoting her CD back in 2005. Interesting. It would be nice to hear (and see!) some more of her.

Here's something we got from that old website, CDBaby.com...

Kristy's music idols are Martina, Faith and Shania (do we really need last names). She also loves the music of Garth Brooks and Gary Allen. Kristy has her own unique sound and style, which will be easily recognizable.

At 5'8", Kristy Lee looks like a blonde, blue-eyed Brook Shields, has an incredible voice and is the wholesome, All-American 'girl next door'. The entertainment world is in for a treat! Here's the REAL American Idol!!!