[AndyJK]

Did anyone see Pop Idol: The good, bad & ugly? What I found very interesting was Pete Waterman's comments following Michelle's first audition. He said to her while shaking his head and looking grim "you sang well but you'll never, ever be a Pop Idol", and voted against sending her though along with Foxy. So the decision rested with Simon who gave the ok. No wonder Pete stayed away after the final.

I ddin't think much of Mark's audition. And he also scraped through with the decision resting with Simon.

It was funny to see Daniel again. And I have to correct myself in a previous thread when I said the background music was the Jaws theme tune, it was in fact from Psycho. And I am still convinced he is a scary bloke who can't sing .

Anyway, a great compilation and was good to see the best and worst of this year's contestants.

[Kaz]

Yep, I saw this as well Andy.

It was brilliant to see some of the truly awful auditions again. However, I'm sure I read somewhere that all the contestants are pre-vetted and not all of them actually get to perform in front of the judges, so I'm sure a good few of them were put forward purely for the sake of making good TV!

I'd forgotten that Michelle and Mark both just scraped through their first auditions on Simon's say-so. Apologies to anyone who's fans of their's, but I find it hard to believe that they were the two best undiscovered singers in the UK at this point in time. I do prefer Michelle's voice, and put in a vote for her during the final, but does she have a lasting career? Will she sell over 1 million copies of her single next week? I doubt it.

[steve_o]

I saw it, gave up watching it though when Susanne got knocked out, then when Sam got booted out I thought what a load of rubbish who are the idiots voting. Mind you I did like Will Youngs new single when he was on, so it must of done something to wipe away the cynic about Pop Idol in me.

[AndyJK]

Originally posted by Kaz
Yep, I saw this as well Andy.

It was brilliant to see some of the truly awful auditions again. However, I'm sure I read somewhere that all the contestants are pre-vetted and not all of them actually get to perform in front of the judges, so I'm sure a good few of them were put forward purely for the sake of making good TV!

I'd forgotten that Michelle and Mark both just scraped through their first auditions on Simon's say-so. Apologies to anyone who's fans of their's, but I find it hard to believe that they were the two best undiscovered singers in the UK at this point in time. I do prefer Michelle's voice, and put in a vote for her during the final, but does she have a lasting career? Will she sell over 1 million copies of her single next week? I doubt it.

I agree, I think some singers are so bad they're put through to get slaughtered by the judges. The Irish guy was a good example obviously over 40yo, and wouldn't have got through unless he had some comedy value attached.

And I also agree with you about Mark and Michelle. They do nothing for me either, and out of all the Pop Idol series I've seen including the ones abroad they are by far the worst finalists ever.

Originally posted by steve_o
I saw it, gave up watching it though when Susanne got knocked out, then when Sam got booted out I thought what a load of rubbish who are the idiots voting. Mind you I did like Will Youngs new single when he was on, so it must of done something to wipe away the cynic about Pop Idol in me.

I always had a feeling Susanne would never reach the final, even though I was a big fan of hers. I realised as the weeks went on, that her voice was not adaptable to all pop music. I predicted from early on that Sam and Chris would make the final, and I was totally shocked when they didn't. How Mark reached the final goes beyond my understanding considering the number of weeks the judges savaged his performances and overwhelmingly predicted he would leave the competition.

Although I've never been a huge fan of Will's, I do accept he has a unique voice, is intelligent and a great role model for kids, and fully deserved to win Pop Idol. I also liked his last single too.

[BusyBee]

Well according to sales it looks as if Michelle will make no. 1 this week. The record has sold really well in Scotlan, particularly Glasgow.

Wonder how well its gone down in the rest of the country. Personally I think its a corny, sugar sweet song which if sung by anyone other than the Pop Idol winner would just disappear without trace. I do hope they actually give her something decent for her next release, but to be honest I cant see her making a long-term career out of it. She just doesnt have the x factor.

I quite agree with Simon who said that there have been 2 pop stars, 2 pop idols and 2 fame academies and that we are only a small island so how much undiscovered talent is actually out there.

[James]

Michelle is apparently on target to sell 120,000 records this week - Will Young sold 1.1 million of Evergreen in the first week.

I agree, I think some singers are so bad they're put through to get slaughtered by the judges. The Irish guy was a good example obviously over 40yo, and wouldn't have got through unless he had some comedy value attached.

I read somewhere that out of the 20,000 who entered only 900 or something were seen by the judges. They don't tell you that on the show though.

And I also agree with you about Mark and Michelle. They do nothing for me either, and out of all the Pop Idol series I've seen including the ones abroad they are by far the worst finalists ever.

I think that people are voting for reasons other than the music. Also Simon Cowell doesn't know all that much about music, just selling records.

[Kaz]

Snippet from today's Sun Online:

MICHELLE McMANUS is storming to No1 — but she shouldn’t feel too comfortable. The Glaswegian winner of Pop Idol is forecast to have sold around 100,000 copies of her first single All This Time by the end of the week.

But WILL YOUNG - who won the first series in 2001 - sold a staggering 1.1million copies of his debut Evergreen by the end of his first seven days.

And one third of Michelle’s sales are set to come from her native central Scotland.

The gap shows the difference in popularity between the first and second series of Pop Idol.

They're basing Michelle's total week figure on the Tuesday midweek sales, which were just 30,000. This is then multiplied by approx. 3 to get a projected weekly total.

Contrast this with Evergreen, which sold 385,000 copies on its first day, with a first week total of 1,108,659!

Around 4.7 million voted for Will in Pop Idol, meaning around 1 in 4 of them then bought his debut single.

Michelle supposedly received over 5 million votes to win Pop Idol 2 . . . . . . . so where are they all now that her single's been released? It just goes to prove that winning alone is no guarantee to a successful career! It's a shame for Michelle, but I'm not surprised.

Oh, and Steve . . . . . . . . .

[AndyJK]

Would it be cynical to presume the reason Michelle got as far as she did in the contest was because of the Scottish vote? During the final while she was out campaigning for votes, she appeared outside Holyrood surrounded by Scottish MPs from the Assembly which seem to imply it was an England vs Scotland thing.

I know during American Pop Idol the contestants campaign in their home states, and perform in front of a home crowd, but there is more rivalry on our small island which could have swayed the vote. And Michelle's nationality was mentioned more often than should have been during the competition. I don't think us English really care as much, and maybe I'm wrong here, but it seems to matter more in Scotland.

And her new single is poor, her voice seems totally unsuitable for it. Evergreen was far better and sung perfectly by Will. So the contrast in sales figures doesn't surprise me. Whereas Will can always reinvent himself (and I admit I like him better now than when he won Pop Idol), I think Michelle is stuck in a rut and the public will soon grow tired of her completely, except perhaps in Scotland.