Oh....Nashville Star.

I am SOOOO disappointed with Nashville Star. I had never watched it before, but with it being summer and nothing good on, combined with my American Idol withdrawals, I figured I would give it a shot-but so far I have been less than impressed. For as arrogant as John Rich was before the show premiered about how much better his show is than Idol, I expected a lot better. And he keeps complaining about how half of them are not country-but didn't he hand pick them all for the show???? Is he really just now realizing they aren't country singers? How did they fool him for so long?

The show is just weird-they kick someone off at the end of every show, and call everyone in "random" order if they are safe until they get to the bottom 2. How mean is it to go through the entire show, realize in the last 20 minutes you have a 50% chance of going home, and still have to sing live after finding out that news. Which means you will inevitably suck from the pressure and nerves, so if you are the one that goes, it seems like the right thing, and if you stay, you did not give as good a performance as you might have if you were not under the gun to go home, which may affect your votes to stay around next week.

Most of the performances were not noteworthy-I usually like Ashlee, I think she has great raw talent but needs to work on performing, she seems inexperienced in this area but she gets better every week. Did not like her song choices last night. Gabe really showed personality last night, I LOVELOVELOVE Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" and it really worked as a country tune, when he threw the guitar over his back and came forward to work the crowd, I was so proud of him. His second mini-performance (gee, and I thought Idol's songs were too short-Star only let the contestants second song last about 30 seconds) of "Fireman" was cute too, he is very reminiscent of a young, Latin George Strait. Melissa actually sang country music this week-I love Martina's "This One's for the Girls" and she did a great job with it. I could totally see her doing the type of music that Martina does-a lot of inspirational-type ballads but also just fun, upbeat positive energy songs. She also reminds me a lot of Trisha Yearwood, and I think she's sound great covering some of her songs so I hope she will do that. Shawn was much better with Faith Hill's "Breathe" but I also think that if she could just get her confidence together, she could rock "Kerosene" by Miranda Lambert or something along those lines and really impress.

Middle of the road: Coffey was much better than last week, he really took Jewel's advice and picked good songs for him. John Rich told him he should be on Idol instead-um, actually he was a couple of years ago! So much for doing your homework John Rich! Pearl Heart-their main issue is the front woman-she's not convincing. So, the last 2 weeks, Jeffrey Steele has had them sing together more-and sing positioned closely together as a group. I'm not sure that is working so well either-mostly because their harmonies are not always on-when they are, they are very nice, but when they are not, its a little unpleasant. To be honest, the one sister that usually plays the mandolin or banjo or whatever it is-last night she had on the white ruffled shirt and tight black pencil skirt-I think she has the most stage presence, and I would try making her the lead on one song next week and see what happens. They did Restless Heart's "I'll Still Be Loving You" (why does Jeffrey Steele pick the songs for his people? Is that fair to everyone?) and says its a great song (agreed-not that I am prejudiced because I've known the band since I was a little girl or anything) but I thought it was odd that he wanted them to sing it from a place of loss (they delved into the fact that his son died two years ago, which has been big news around town this week because of an annual charity event in his memory) because this was one of the biggest "wedding songs" of the 80's and early 90's and I have NEVER heard it used as a "sad" song before. So I had a hard time getting past that. LOL.

BAD BAD: Laura and Sophie-still not sure how they made it onto this show-they were not ready-and I want them to quit dressing alike. They are not 4 years old. Alyson and her crazy eyes ("your eyeballs are back" Jewel said) finally went home after butchering one of my fave country songs ever-She's In Love With the Boy. Tommy-he was completely out of tune during the first song, and I think he did a bit better on the second but I was scared to uncover my ears. I like his personality, but as they love to say, this is a SINGING competition.

Next week-Billy Ray-worst host EVA-tells us that 2 people will be eliminated. I think L&S, Tommy, and Coffey should be worried.

My other gripe-Blake Shelton performed "Home" and his girlfriend, country goddess Miranda Lambert, a Nashville Star ALUM, who sings back up on the single was not there to back him up on the show! Someone missed a major marketing op there-I mean, she's probably the most successful alumni of the show, I know she did not win but has anyone heard from Erika Jo or Buddy Jewell lately????? Yeah me either. So why not bring Miranda back to show some credibility (which with this crop of contestants the show severely lacks at the moment)? I was downright pissed when she did not emerge from the wings to back up her man. I mean, they have crappy Dannity Kane to sing last week but we've yet to see them bring back any of their own? I know AI is not perfect, but at least they pimp their own to no end. I mean, they even let Fantasia trainwreck on national tv. Show some loyalty Nashville Star!

Basically, the only three folks who could win this show are Ashlee, Gabe, or Melissa. Shawn is OK, I don't think we've seen the best of her (she sounded great in her pre-taped rehearsal bit but not as good live-as the judges keep pointing out, these people have GOT to get over the nerves). I think she will make Top 4 or 5 but that is about as far as she can go with what she's shown us so far. I think she'll get signed though. She's pretty, she CAN sing, and she's NOT the typical blonde that is so pervasive right now in "young" country women singers so I think she would stand out. I hope she gets more consistent.

Is anyone else watching this mostly dreadful show?