No, I don’t watch the show, but I caught a news item on the way out the door this morning…apparently some 16 year old girl skipped school for two days, auditioned, and made it to the next step? She told her parents she was spending the night at a friend’s so they wouldn’t miss her, and when she called her father after she made it, he was okay with what she had done???
Before I begin my little rant, did I hallucinate the whole thing due to caffeine withdrawal?
She was 19, not 16, but otherwise correct.
The funny part was when she called him crying, saying, “Daddy, don’t be mad at me.” and he responded, “Who is this?” 
It was like the bottle rocket whose fuse went out. She had lamented on and on and on about how he never says a kind word to her, how he’d surely toss her out into the street if he knew, and how he’s never been proud of her in her life. She painted him just this side of a registered sex offender.
Then, when Seacrest called her dad and apparently woke him up, she began (or rather, continued) crying hysterically, her voice so limpid and whiny that he didn’t even recognize it. She tried to manipulate him into saying something unseemly, but when she told him she was going to H-hh-hhh-olly W-hoo-hoo-d oh boo hoo hoo, he just said, “Hey, that’s great!”
What a ditsy little tart.
I’m pretty sure the AI stories are embellished for the benefit of us, the viewers.
There’s probably a kernel of truth there, but I think the show’s producers didn’t want to risk a full-out meltdown between cute chick and angry dad.
I had a great little analysis typed up, but now it doesn’t add anything.
I’d take her hysterics over anything Ian Benardo anyday.
Well, all I know is that if my child said, “Guess what, Mom? You know how I said I was spending the night at Susie’s? I actually skipped school for two days, auditioned for American Idol, and now I’m going to Hollywood!”
My reaction would have been,
“No, you’re not. You sit tight, I’m coming to get you, and it will be a VERY long drive home.” :mad:
But I would imagine the phone call scene was edited very carefully.
Since she was 19, I suspect I wouldn’t be able to do much about it, much as I would want to.
But I take most of the Idol wannabes’ stories, especially the sob stories, with about three blocks of salt, for obvious reasons.
I agree with you, but I initially thought she was 16, in which case, my toe-tapping and angry glare and taking away all of her privileges would stand.
Is she still in high school? Or did she ditch two days of college?
The thing that bothered me the most about it was that when she called her dad, she was crying, and presented it like this…“I skipped school the last 2 days, and I wasn’t at Susie’s house, and I went to New York…” by that time, if I were her dad, I would be having a heart attack wondering where the hell she was and what awful thing might have happened to her to make her cry like that. Would have freaked me out completely. By the time she was done telling me about American Idol, I would have been so pissed at her for scaring the hell out of me, I can’t imagine what I would have said.
My initial thought was much like yours…but then I decided she sounds like a whiney high-maintenance drama-daughter and she probably starts all her conversations in tears.
“DaddyDaddyDaddyDaddypleasecanIhavethecarpleasepleaseplease?”
College. There’s really no story here.
Aren’t the phone segments sponsored by a wireless company? (It seems like they try to get in at least one per episode.) I imagine that was the second call she made to her father; Seacrest was pushing buttons like the number was already in the phone (redial), and we never saw the girl type in the number. And of course they put it on speakerphone.
I nearly freakin’ died, then he was like “you made it? great!” after she was all “my daddy doesn’t support me or understand me, he’s going to throw me out of the house if I don’t go to college, etc.”
She had a really odd nose; turned up at the end like a puppet. Still cute though.
When you go to audition, they ask for proof of age*, and if you’re under 18, you have to have a parent or guardian co-sign. No exceptions, no “I left it at home,” no “My parents totally know.” AI/19 Entertainment/Fox already have a ream of additional waivers for parent-approved minors; they’re not going to let someone even start the process if they don’t know for sure that they’re either of age or accompanied by an adult.
*There are always people over the age limit (28) who try to get in. Usually, they’re told that the door is that way, but sometimes, like with the fedora-wearing guy last night, and the weatherbeaten “28 year old” in Vegas two years ago, they’re allowed to audition for the same reason people in space suits and self-proclaimed psychics are allowed.
Yeah, you might be right about that.
I figured it was something like that. Okay, if she’s 19, then she’s free to be a flighty twit. Like I said, I caught the story as I was heading out the door, and I thought she was 16. But AI probably has covered their ass six ways to Sunday and I doubt even a forged waiver would pass muster.
Im guessing she thought she was gonna live off his buck after HS and he told her she had to go to college or get a job or she wasn’t living under his roof. It must be terrible to discover you can’t mooch off your parents all your life.
Damn, I had exactly the same thought. I pictured daddy getting the call, hearing his daughter hysterically confessing and crying, and jumping to the conclusion she’d been a) beaten b) raped c) impregnated or d) all of the above. That girl deserves a loooong talk when she gets home.