Hi gang. Tonight is group night and do you think we are going to get lots of drama? You bet we are! Ryan starts the show by welcoming us back to hell week. He adds the worst is yet to come as we see several clips of people who struggle, cry, get critiques from the judges and others who seem to nail it. It is 11:00 pm as the first rounds have ended and 85 have been sent home so far. Now of the 96 remaining comes one of the most difficult parts of this process and that is group night. We see all the remaining contestants trying to find people to group with. I have to add here that in reality 97 contestants started out however along the way in this show you will see that Katharine Nestel will quit because she mostly does not want to humilate herself.
As the formations begin we see problems already. A lot of focus is placed throughout the show on four main groups known as "The Dreamers", "The Mighty Rangers", "Phoenix" and "Team Awesome". My idea is to cover these groups first before we get to some of the others. Here goes:
The Dreamers consist of Alex Lambert, rocker mom Mary Powers, Erin Hundley, Margo May and Hope Johnson. Throughout the show we will see that Mary really needs a time-out as she is demanding, over-powering to her group and frankly speaking a real bitch. I do not like her period. This group argues over everything from song choice to choreography and also whether to keep Erin and Hope in the group at one point. They finally all stay together and I will cover their performance later in my re-cap.
The Mighty Rangers consist of Mark Labriola, Tori Kelly, Maddie Penrose, Danny Jones and Kim Kerbow. They all connect well but seem lost on what to actually do for their performance. As the night progresses, we start to see some discord as Mark, Tori and Danny want to go to bed while Maddie and Kim think they should rehearse more.
Phoenix contains Jermaine Sellers, Ben Honeycutt, Jeff Goldford, Kat Nestel and Moraya Mosa. Moraya actually did well last year as her group then consisted of Danny Gokey and his best friend Jermaine. She takes charge and picks the spot to rehearse in thinking this will bring her current group good luck for the group sing. However problems arise along the way with Kat Nestel bailing just before the actual sing.
Team Awesome have Mike Lynche, Tim Urban, Michael Castro (yep, that's Jason Castro's brother) and Seth Rollins. Throughout the show they seem to nail their song however Big Mike's wife has gone into labor with their first child. He talks to her often throughout the show and at one point actually talks her through the birth.
Two other groups are somewhat covered by the names of Destiny's Wild and Neopolitan who are singing the same song "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga. Both are performing acapella which brings up the fact that Destiny's Wild thinks Neopolitan stoled their ideas on how to perform this song.
Now that we have basically covered the most talked about groups of the show, let's get to the actual performances we get to see.
It's a new day and a beautiful morning (enhauced with the song "It's A Beautiful Morning by The Young Rascals) which brings out re-newed energy from some of the contestants. It is now 10:30 am and final dress rehearsals are in full swing. Some are still having problems like The Dreamers and Phoenix we see. Others feel confident like Destiny's Wild who along the way have gotten compliments from some of the other groups. I must add here that we do get to see Michael Orland and Debra Byrd who are the vocal coaches working with some of the groups.
We next see the groups being seated as Big Mike's daughter is born. His team have been supportive while they wait. Mike cries tears of joy before he joins his group to get down to business. Ryan tells us how mentally exhausting the night has been for so many and knows each are fatigued as they wait their turn to perform in front of the judges.
First up is the group "Faith" which consist of Charity Vance, Ashley Rodriguez and Michelle Delamor. They impress the judges as well as the other contestants and are the first group to make it through.
Next is "Team Awesome" who perform "Get Ready" by The Temptations. My personal opinion was that Big Mike and Seth Rollins sounded the best from this group. Tension mounts as Mike and Tim are asked to step forward once they finish singing. So what does this show do but go to commercial break. I guess the saving grace of the commercials was once again seeing Kris Allen in the Ford commerical. Now back from the break, we see that Big Mike and Tim Urban have made it through while the dreams of Seth Rollins and Michael Castro are over for this year as they are cut. Seth is so saddened but feels like goes on. Big Mike shows off his new daughter via cell phone as their part of this process comes to an end. Cute kid for sure!
Neopolitan do a wonderful job with their moment on stage. This group contains Thad Johnson, Liz Rooney, Jessica Cunningham and Paige Miles. Simon thinks they were very good and appreciates their effort on the Lady Gaga song. All make it through and once again we see some discord from their rivals, Destiny's Wild.
Destiny's Wild take the stage. This group has Todrick Hall, Theri, Jareb Liewer and Siobhan Magnus. They perform the same Lady Gaga song however their act is somewhat different with Todrick doing a somersault during the performance. Ellen mentions that it was sort of weird and compares it to Cirque Du Soleil. It is surreal to her however they impress enough to also make it through. I liked both groups alot.
Next we see several scenes of four different groups who make it past the group round. Sadly we only see them sing for a few seconds but I do recognize some of the faces.
Now comes The Mighty Rangers. The song they perform is Ne-Yo's "Closer" but to my ears it was horrible. Maddie Penrose and Tori Kelly make it through however Danny Jones, Mark Labriola and Kim Kerbow are cut from the competition. I thought they should have all been cut. Mark begs for another chance but the judges no is final and in his final moments we see Mark crying.
It is now 5:00 pm and our next group is Phoenix who have had nothing but trouble with their rehearsals. As mentioned earlier, Kat Nestel has quit the competition which un-settles the whole group some. Moraya does the baddie by forgetting the words during the performance. I actually thought the other 3 guys sounded good. Before they hear the results of their performance of "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas, Moraya tries to tell the judges of the hardships they have endured in the rehearsals. Simon calls it rubbish. Moraya is cut as his Ben Honeycutt who we have seen little of. I felt bad for this young man as he sounded like he had real potential. Jermaine Sellers and Jeff Goldford are put through. Moraya has tried out 3 times but says in tears that this is the last time as we see their moments end.
Now comes a struggle for several groups who are performing the song "Sweet Escape" by Gwen Stefani. This song contains many words that seem to run together. Some falter as the judges comment but one group does impress (sorry no name was given). We now see the group Big Dreams who hold Matt Lawrence (who spent time in jail), Amanda Shectman (our drama queen), Allen Burton and Bryce Larson. This group tanks big time with Simon calling it horrific. They all get the axe. Briefly we see comments by Matt and Amanda who are devastated at being sent home.
Others are shown who have also been cut along the way which include Leah Laurenti, Carmen Turner, Kimberley Carver and David Pittman. I was sad that Leah got cut. While this part of the process has been tough, saying good-bye was equally hard for many. Now come two groups who do excel.
Middle C consists of Janell Wheeler, Jermaine Purifoy and Casey James. They sound awesome and do make it through their group round. Sorry I did not catch the name of the song.
Another who does great is "3 Men and A Baby" who sing "No One" by Alicia Keys. This group has Andrew Garcia, Katie Stevens, J. B. Afhua and another guy whose name was not shown. Great job from all on this song and of course they make it.
Now comes the very last group of the day which are "The Dreamers". Mary (the bitch) Powers starts off singing the lead to some Fleetwood Mac. Briefly we hear from the others but I frankly thought all of them sounded terrible. I was surprised that Alex Lambert, Hope Johnson and rocker mom Mary make it through while Margo and Erin are cut from the competition. Mary shows her true colors once again as their moments come to an end.
The group rounds have ended and what a relief to the 71 who did make it past them and still have a chance. Next week each contestant will perform solo on Tuesday night's show with Wednesday giving us our top 24. I wish all of you a great week ahead.
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Subject: Hollywood/Group Rounds - 2/10/10 
Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:46 am
