'IDOL' WATCH: Boston Auditions

Another season of the hit reality TV show "American Idol" kicked off its ninth season last night, bringing the familiar faces of Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, and Kara DioGuardio as America's favorite judging panel back to the silver screen. The show that has brought such talent as Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken auditions people from across the country and lets America choose who will be the next "Idol." Now in its ninth season, "American Idol" has been one of the biggest reality TV show hits of the decade and has taken the country by storm.

The most notable difference this season, as was glaringly obvious to repeat viewers in the first episode, is the absence of audience favorite Paula Abdul on the judging panel. As was announced earlier this year, Paula will no longer be a judge on the show, with her spot being filled by television star Ellen Degeneres. DeGeneres will not join the show until it moves to Hollywood, with the fourth judging seat filled by a series of guest judges, including Kristin Chenoweth and Neil Patrick Harris, throughout the auditions. The ninth season began the auditions in Boston with guest judge Victoria Beckham (also known in pop music circles as Posh Spice).

As is a staple with "Idol," the auditions provide an entertaining blend of the talented and the talentless, and Boston did not disappoint. The episode began with Janet McNamara's interesting rendition of Pocket Full of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield, complete with what can only be called "self-echoes". Before her audition, McNamara was seen jumping up and down while repeating "You're wicked awesome!" to the bathroom mirror. McNamara said she received perfect scores for her performances on "Karaoke Revolution: American Idol" and was rather surprised with her quartet of "No's" from the judges.

Other noteworthy performances included Derek Hilton's rendition of Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word by Elton John (after which he felt surprised he didn't make it, saying "I hit really loud notes!"), musical theatre major Michael Ryan's tone-deaf performance of Run Freedom, Run from Urintown, and PatRick Ford's presentation of Britney Spears' Womanizer, complete with dance moves.

Perhaps the most interesting audition of the night was by Andrew Fenlon, who seemed to irritate all  four judges right off the bat, responding to Simon's question asking why he was there with, "I'm here auditioning for American Idol...which should be fairly obvious at this point." After his stilted and disconnected performance of House of the Rising Sun, he only angered the judges further, reaching the point where Kara told him, "You need a spanking!"

That is not to say Boston was without its impressive singers. Jennifer Hirsh's jazzy Ding Dong the Witch is Dead, Justin Williams' smooth Feeling Good from the Newley/Bricusse musical The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd, and Tyler Grady's Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye all pushed them through to Hollywood. A short clip of Jess Wolfe singing The Impression's hit People Get Ready aired for much too short a time as her voice proved rather outstanding.

Several of the younger singers made quite an impact on the judges. Likely the best singer of the night, as agreed upon by Randy and Kara, was 22 year-old Leah Laurenti who sang Irving Berlin's classic, Blue Skies with an emotional, pure tone. 16 year-old Katie Stevens had a voice beyond her years and received a unanimous "Yes" from the judges with her performance of At Last, made famous by Etta James.

As always, Simon delivered some excellent one-liners to the contestants, usually sending their hopes up in flames. Some of the more memorable include his proclamation, "You sing like a three-year old girl. You dress like Lotoya Jackson," to male contestant Norberto Guerrero and, when "singer" Mary Doyle told Simon she really wants to be a performer, Simon explained you can't always do what you want: "I would love to fly to the moon, but I can't."

As was recently announced, the ninth season will be Cowell's last on "Idol," as he moves on to work on the American premiere of "The X-Factor".

Overall, the new season of "American Idol" is already shaping up to be an entertaining one. Although it begins with a mix of both the good and the bad, the core of the show is finding talented performers. Thus far, the talent pool still seems to be overflowing.

The next episode of "American Idol" airs tonight, January 13th, at 8PM EST on Fox, and follows the Atlanta auditions with guest judge Mary J. Blige.

"American Idol" is a reality competition to find new solo musical talent, created by Simon Fuller. It debuted June 11, 2002 on the Fox network and has since become one of the most popular shows on American television. It is currently the #1 TV show in the Nielsen Ratings and is one of only three that have been #1 for five consecutive seasons. The cast of "Idol" includes judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Kara GioGuardio, and Ellen Degeneres, and host Ryan Seacrest.

The program aims to discover the best singer in the country through a series of nation-wide auditions, and subsequent viewer voting. Through telephone voting, America has chosen past winners Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, David Cook, and Kris Allen.

Several "Idol" contestants have been seen on the Broadway stage, including Barrino (The Color Purple), Hicks (Grease), Clay Aiken (Spamalot), Diana DeGarmo(Hairspray), Josh Strickland (Tarzan), Tamyra Gray (Rent, Bombay Dreams), and Constantine Maroulis (The Wedding Singer, Rock of Ages).

"American Idol" airs on Tuesday and Wednesday nights on Fox at 8PM EST.