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Thursday, May 25, 2006
11:12 am
38 Comments
So yesterday was the big American Idol showdown between Katharine McPhee and Taylor Hicks. We finally learned who would be this year’s winner and who would be returning home as just another anecdote in the annals of pop culture. Every season, Fox throws official viewing parties for the finalists, and since Katharine McPhee’s big bash was being held just a few miles from the TVgasm offices, I knew I had to drop by to take some pictures. Of course, that meant having to suffer the embarrassment of perusing with 7th grade girls all afternoon in the hot sun, but hey, it’s got to be better than eating a P’Eatzza, right? Photos after the jump…
The party was being held here at Universal Studio Hollywood. Home of Back to the Future, the Ride, the Desperate Housewives set, and of course, an extremely rusty fountain.
This is the Universal Citywalk. It’s where the festivities were specifically being held. I like to think of this place as HELL.
McFountain!
I’m told the party is starting at 3 PM. I arrive at 3:40 — an hour and twenty minutes before the live telecast (5 PM on the West Coast for this party). As you can see, the McPheever Central is out of control!
Ryan Seacrest’s radio station is here at least. So that’s exciting.
There’s a whole big stage set up for performances and whatnot. It’s never used the entire evening.
Some random signage.
The McPhee fans show unbridled enthusiasm!
I like this lady. She’s a real housewife from Orange County who says she actually knows Katharine. Other things she knows: spunk!
I never learned her name. I’ll call her Peg.
Work it, Peg!
It’s now just over an hour until the live telecast. McPheever has taken hold of the Citywalk!
If it’s any consolation, local radio celebrity Valentine is handing out headshots. Consider this day a success!
I have to take pictures of banners because THERE ARE NO PEOPLE.
Yay! More banners!
Valentine rouses up the masses. All three of us.
People start to filter in a little bit. They’re all huddling in the shade though. Did I mention that it’s about 150 degrees out?
Up on the big screen, the producers play the San Francisco tryouts episode — the same episode where Katharine was found. She finally comes on screen for her emotional audition and…
…No one is watching. They’re all looking at Valentine. Poor Kat.
I retreat to Starbucks for a foofy iced blended mocha. The baristas don’t double blend as I request, but somehow I survive.
Finally, some real fans show up. The girl on the left is nuts about Kat. Literally. I’m concerned for her.
Another excited fan!
This guy in the black shows up with a whole bunch of pre-made signs. I really hope and pray that he’s an uncle. Otherwise, that’s just sad. (Says me, lurking around taking photos).
Ten minutes to showtime! I think we almost have twenty people!
Uh-oh! Dissension amongst the ranks! A lone woman hoists up a Soul Patrol sign, making it official: 10% of the party is pro-Taylor!
The cameras are out. Eight minutes to go!
Tamyra Gray takes the stage. Is it wrong that the first thing I notice is how small her breasts are?
One minute until the live show begins. Look at the fans just trying to cram into the party!!!
Tamyra’s a sweet girl. She even smiles for my camera. The unexpected benefit of this: since I’m the first one to ask for a photo, all the little girls and mothers then ask too. Tamyra moves off to the side to take pictures, the girls all follow, and I score a sweet spot in the first row. Awesome! (And lame.)
The shocked crowd suddenly realizes that Taylor has a whole stadium full of fans. Yeah, it’s pretty much over.
Tamyra’s about to go live. Exciting!
Oh how the children love Meat Loaf.
This woman was hilarious. She was standing sort of next to me, and she kept on muttering hostile comments like, “If people think I’m going to move, then they’re WRONG! I am NOT moving! I’ve waited here for THREE HOURS!” RELAX!
“Hahaha. Look at Clay’s dumb hairstyle!”
Dionne Warwick entertains the youth of America.
I really like the grim turn this poster takes. Have McPheever? Then you will DIE!
McPitStain!
Tamyra was supposed to come on live a second time. I’m all ready to force my TVgasm.com t-shirt onto TV (since the first time, all I managed to get on screen were my stupid sunglasses).
Awww! The McGrandparents!
Okay… moment of truth…
They’ve waited all season…
Do it for Peg, America. Do it for Peg!
And the winner is….
Taylor Hicks. Wah wah wah.
McDespondency.
The heartache…
The sadness…
Hey, what are these two smiling about? Worst McFans EVER!
Awww… The McGrandparents are McSad.
A little girl cries by her mother’s side. If you think I’m being exploitative, that video camera being shoved in her face? That’s Access Hollywood.
And now the stunned fans talk to the McPress.
I think this McSums it all up.
TV Social
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38 Comments
I’ll call her Peg…Work it Peg! Laughed my ass off. Dionne Warwick entertains the youth of America. I didn’t care who won, this recap was the best!
I live in NY and I totally forgot that I have been to that City-Walk. It’s kind of big and it’s sad that McTit’s fans didn’t come out. At least Peg and the disgruntled woman came out. Oh, and Clay Aiken.
“10% of the party is pro-Taylor!” Oh my husband, B-Side, I had to stop reading I was laughing so hard.
B-side,
I’ve been so McBored at work today watching the clock. Thanks for the pick-me-up!!
What was up with the misplaced exclamation point on “Peg’s” shirt? Side effects of the McPheever I guess.
“10% of the party is pro-Taylor.” Hilarious!
I am so happy that you covered this …event? I knew it had the makings of a classic TVGasm on the road picture extravaganza!
I felt like I was there with you, and after seeing those pictures, I’m pretty darn happy that I opted out of attending and stayed at work.
Thanks for sacrificing your afternoon for the TVgasm fans at home – great work B-Side!
proof that pictures are worth a thousand words. hysterical! and a little sad… i didnt relapse with the mcpheever after my initial bout, but, now i kind of feel bad for her. that lame viewing party AND she loses to my grandfather? ouch.
Anyone notice that the woman with the Soul Patrol sign misspelled Patrol? (PATRL).
Obviously Kat was very popular to have gotten to the finals, so I don’t understand why she didn’t have a better turn out in Hollywood rooting for her last night. I don’t McGet it.
Have McPheever … than you will die! I laughed so hard! Then with McPitt stains right after, I had people in my office staring at me I was laughing so hard! These photos rule!
OMG the pictures and the words were McPriceless!!
You had me crying!! Thanks for making me laugh in my dull and boring day!! That was the best recap ever!!! B-side you are brilliant!!
Being a small town Mid-westerner, I dont get that only a handful of people showed up to this viewing party. The Soul Patrol appear to have taken over Birmingham while Katherines neighbors and relatives barely filled in a city block. Perhaps they should have held it in the school gymnasium again. At least that looked full. They did their best with the camera angles they showed on AI last night – it looked like not as many people as Taylors crowd but my god, there was nobody there. It is pathetic really and pretty much sums up the entire AI season – Do people in California just NOT care about their idol? Too many other real celebrities with mcboobies hanging out. Even the govenator didnt want anything to do with Katherine – did she get a key to the city? She might want to give it back!
Great job on the recap/pics B-side. Hopefully poor Kat will never know. Perhaps the Mcfever made everyone who was planning to attend SO ill they stayed home? I am grasping at anything here folks!
EdHill gave me a McFungus.
Do you have any helpful homopathic remedies B-Side?
Oh, my God.
I laughed so much.
By the way, I did the “McPheever kills” thing weeks ago at a Melissa McGhee viewing party here in Tampa the week after she was voted off.
Well, it was “Fact: McPheever kills 9 of 10 people it infects.”
This may sound McSnobby, but any contestant from a big city is going to be at a serious disadvantage for these types of events. When people live in a place where they see major celebs every day (L.A., NYC), even if they’re fans, they’re not going to be so overwhelmed with civic pride that they’re going to leave work to go to some rally for an Idol contestant, as opposed to Albemarle, Richmond, or Birmingham, where obviously this is a huge deal. I’m sure the Kat haters are loving every minute of this, but I guarantee you if Kat were from Iowa, or pretty much any small city or town she would have had thousands of people come out for her. That being said, anyone going to any of these parades or rallys needs to get a McLife anyway.
“Do it for Peg!” LoL!! Too funny!
JasonR said it all. You came off kinda cold, man. She deserved better. However, I’ll be Mcglad there will be no more McPheeisms!
Making excuses for the lame turn out:
8:00 PM on the East Coast is 5:00 PM on the West Coast. People are driving home from work at the time and stuck in traffic.
People in LA Basin don’t want to drive to The Valley.
You have to pay an expensive parking fee in the parking garage. City Walk is part of Universal Studios so you’re paying for Amusement Park parking fee to attend a free event. So not many alternatives to get to the event if you don’t want to pay the parking fee.
Now if they had put the view party somewhere in The Basin… maybe The Grove… people might’ve come.
But then again, McPheever is like The Avian Bird Flu and there might’ve been an outbreak with much of her fans already dead in their homes.
You’re right B-Side, that was totally better than eating a P’Eatzza. Then again, what isn’t. Actually, I think I’d rather eat a P’Eatzza than have to suffer through another episode of “Puck & Pickler”. What the hell was that?
FOX made it look like there were a ton of people at Kat’s party, so I never would have guessed that it was a complete and total failure. I’m glad we have you here to fill us in on what REALLY happened. That’s why we love you, B-Side!
Mark, I’m a Tampa person too, how could I have possibly missed a sign alerting all Floridians to the dangers of the lethal McPheever? I’ll have to find you next time around so we can place bets on what parts b-side will recap and make fun of.
B-Side, where are the pictures of you??
The first photo – the one with the sign reading “Mc Pheevergasm”…did you happen upon 4 fans of the gasm or did you do a little product placement?
hb
“She’s going to be the next Clay Aiken,” said Stephanie Miranda, a bartender from Covina wearing a “Got McPheever?” T-shirt.
–That’s from MSN! That’s Peg!
My favorite part is how no one must have brought any signs from home as all of these have the KIIS FM logo on them. Looks like they were handing them out and begging people to make a sign once they got there.
Honeybunny — it was total product placement. I made that sign and then gave it to them to show off. KIIS basically showed up with blank pieces of poster board and let people make their own signs, which was good because yes, very few people brought their own.
omg daniel franco? (where did you go…)
oh nevermind- it’s just clay
I almost peed myself I was laughing so hard!!
That is just too funny.
I figured that they were handing out the posters to people.. that is just damn funny.
I feel bad for her, that’s embarassing
Then again LA fans pretty much suck and I say as a Los Angeles native. We just don’t care.
If you have ever been to a Lakers game or when you watch it, it’s horrendous, it’s like no one cares and only want to be seen.
I have to give props to smaller towns, they go all out for their instant celebrities.
I haven’t commented in a while, but as always, I have to say I LOVE YOU B-SIDE. You are truly McFrickin’ Hilarious!!!
P.S. Seriously…is anyone else in shock that Taylor won?? What is this world coming to? I just can’t wait to see the SNL skit…
Reading this was just a lovely experience … thank you B-Side.
“This woman was hilarious. She was standing sort of next to me, and she kept on muttering hostile comments like, “If people think I’m going to move, then they’re WRONG! I am NOT moving! I’ve waited here for THREE HOURS!” RELAX!”
Are you sure this wasn’t my mother? She’s pretty much got a patent on such remarks in crowded places.
This is my LAST comment regarding AI and its rigged voting mechanism.
I just finished looking at B-Side’s hilarious recap oF the McPheever Viewing Party in LA. He makes it clear that it was NOT well-attended. In LOS ANGELES. One of the nation’s largest cities! Taylor and Elliot fill up stadiums. Kat gets gymnasiums and a pathetic turnout like this. This begs the question: WHERE WERE ALL THOSE PEOPLE THAT WERE “VOTING” FOR HER? Millions supposedly voted for her. We should’ve seen a representative sample of those “fans” attending this event. Man, this isn’t just a smoking gun, it’s a safety-off, machine-pistol spitting-lead-every-which-a-way kind of gun.
I so resent the masses being treated as if we are brain-dead sheep. To those who have eyes to see: question everything.
Where was the coffin with the body lying in state? Oh what..it wasnt a wake? My bad.
Man, that is really a pathetic show of support for this lovely girl. I can’t believe that only a handful of people showed up. I can testify that the Soul Patrol fever was in full swing in BHAM. I did not watch the show but I heard on the radio today that the local affiliate got a 75 share. That’s right, a full 75 share on that night. That’s just out of this world ratings. Maybe some of you are right; small towns do give instant celebrities more support than big cities.
Great job as usual!
As for the turn out comments, it’s not a maybe, it’s a definite. Most of us are too busy with our own lives to spend time and money going to something we probably wouldn’t get much out of. It’s just not exciting enough for us. You can pretty much be guaranteed that, if their hometowns were switched, they wouldn’t have gotten the same turn out as they did with their actual hometowns.
Methinks her 15 minutes of McFame is up…
hilarious recap!
THat was amazing. I almost went but thought it would be too crowded! Too bad I could have met you! You are a hoot!
I loved the recap and your snarkyness!
i miss mcphee … but do have some breaking and terrifying news about her
check it out
http://flipkicksandnightbellows.blogspot.com
this is too mcfunny.;).. first time visitor to your site.. loved this recap!..
this just goes to show that Elliott Yamin was supposed to go up against Taylor.. not Katherine.. she screwed up her songs for weeks in a row.. Elliott was awesome.. and still got the boot..
it’s just not right!
and by the way.. i’m from Miami.. BIG city!!!.. if a hometown person was on American Idol.. it would be a BIG DEAL over here.. and people would miss work and give them a parade.. I think McKat’s embarassing showing of fans has more to do with their lack of passion for this performer… than work or rush hour..