Ted deCerchio first time for me ever watching American Idol, a verse of Summer Wind was deleted "the world was new beneath the blue umbrella sky," as well as That's Life's 2nd verse. Summer Wind did not have the Riddle crescendo,although the vocal was about the best that evening. These songs were done by a younger generation of rhythm & blues stylists, not very compatible with the Sinatra bel canto style. Whe did the arrangements,Harry Connick? They weren't the Nelson Riddle,Michael Buble arrangements that bring out the best in the Sinatra singer,as they did for Frank Sr.

Ted: Connick Jr. did the arrangements specifically for the show. I was surprised how the songs were shortened - maybe to make time for the obligatory "behind the scenes" fluff, maybe. I wasn't expecting any outright Sinatra-style singing, much less a rebirth of his style. What stunned me was how none of the performers really took the place by storm. No one DID anything with the songs. It was mild and pleasant. You can't force kids raised on tame, gutless, pretty warbling to have presence. They didn't seem to know what to do with their hands or how to move or plant themselves onstage. The music just lay there. It's like "WPEN in Philly" wrote - I didn't see or hear any of them "feel" a song the way Frank did. I'd like to assume the listless adequacy was driving Connick nuts. I imagine him thinking you don't get points by wanting to simply SCORE points, that all the things Sinatra has to offer by example was lost on these kids. It was the bland leading the bland, you know? It was the first and last time I'll watch the show.