Drunken Paula Abdul is hearing things; other personalities chime in with "not me"

[Grimmlok]

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Paula Abdul must be hearing double.

On a night when "American Idol" switched up the judges' format by making them hold their appraisals until every contestant had a turn, Abdul offered feedback Tuesday for two songs by Jason Castro - except that he'd only sung one.

Unlike the usual format, in which each "Idol" performance is judged immediately, Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell were made to take notes, then offer individual critiques in rapid succession at the end of each round. The reason, Seacrest explained, was because "this show is so tight."

So after each of the final five contestants sang one Neil Diamond song, Jackson zipped through his appraisals, offering a few terse words for each before kicking it to a visibly flustered Abdul.

"Oh gosh, we've never had to write these things down ... fast enough," she began, shuffling through her notecards. "Jason, first song, I loved hearing your lower register, which we never really hear, um ... ."

And that's where it started going off the rails.

"The second song, I felt like your usual charm wasn't - it was missing for me. It kind of left me a little empty."

Indeed.

All six people on stage, including Seacrest, stared blankly (except Syesha Mercado, who wore the furrowed brow of mystification).

"The two songs," she continued, "made me feel like you're not fighting hard enough to get into the top four."

After a smattering of nervous crowd laughter, Jackson finally broke the tension.

"That was just on the first song," he said sheepishly, pointing up to Castro. "Just on the first one."

Simon Cowell closed his eyes and shook his head, and began to guffaw as Abdul's confusion mounted.

"Oh my god, I thought you - I thought you sang twice!" she said.

She explained that she got confused by looking ahead at the notes for David Cook.

At that point Seacrest, who makes his money by smoothing over situations just such as these, pointed to Abdul, saying: "You're seeing the future, baby!" before cutting her off and throwing to Cowell.

Even Cowell gathered himself to help patch up the moment, patting Abdul on the shoulder and asking, as if to speed things along, "Paula, who was your favorite?"

Her reply: Cook (the same contestant whose performance she supposedly noted as having left her "empty").

Pressed for time, Cowell then put an end to the awkward-fest by bursting into his own rapid-fire valuation: "Jason, forgettable; David Cook, just above average; Brooke (White) a nightmare; David Archuleta, I thought it was amateurish; and Syesha, I thought it was old-fashioned.

"So guys ... I want to see the performance of a lifetime coming up," he said, as if to ensure absolute clarity, "the second time around."

Abdul told "Entertainment Tonight" after the show that she was thrown for a loop when producers apprised the judges of the change "in the dark" at the last minute.

"This was officially the strangest show we've ever done," Cowell said at the conclusion of the telecast, "but I like that. It's kind of a bit chaotic tonight."

www.apnews.com

Maybe iff she stopped spinning in her chair..

[Sasha]

I don't watch AI, but that sounds like a stupid format to foist upon a pharmacologically impaired judge.

[WesCAdle]

WTF??? Goes to show how impotent these judges really are - GO JASON - he's the only one that really doesn't give a shit and IMO deserves to win based on that alone!

[msdeb]

i watched this and i cracked up! it was hysterical. she genuinely looked lost! hahahaha

[sprynkles]

So awkward. She is so far over the edge it's ridiculous.

[LynnieD]

Don't watch the show--but maybe I'll start to hear her fuck up constantly.

And she continues to claim she isn't drinking or swallowing handfuls of pills right???
HOW?

[Lonewolf]

I'm guessing what happened is she took notes during the rehearsals when the contestants sang both songs and just got confused..as usual

[Mel1973]

nah, she was fuuuuucked up.

[LynnieD]

Yea, she's a drunk and we all know it.

[sprynkles]

I don't think making a judgment about the rehearsal
and using that for the real performance is fair either.

[Mel1973]

and if, as Paula stated, this new way judging, was last minute & sprung on them - there's no way she knew about it in rehearsals. she's a lying little drunk fiend...

[Lonewolf]

Well let's hope they didn't let her drive home after the show then.

[MrsDark]

I'm actually thinking about watching to just to see Paula. A few clips I've seen and things I've read sound hilarious. Just don't know if I could sit through that whole gag-worthy mess. Maybe I need to TiVo it and do it on a weekend when I've had a few glasses of wine.

[XLNT1]

to settle this Paula is on pain killers not booze, no proof aside from seeing/experiencing pain killer addicts before. but i'd bet a fortune on it....

[Mel1973]

paula washes her pain killers down with booze.