Ryan Cayabyab Is My Philippine Idol

Why do I have this feeling that this will be Ryan Cayabyab's first and last season as the judge for Philippine Idol?

That's my fearless forecast for this season and I'm sticking with it after watching tonight's show.

No, Ryan Cayabyab did not become a wannabe Simon Cowell. On the contrary, he did the very thing that I had always wanted the Idol judges to do: help the finalists become better singers by giving honest, constructive criticisms. He actually told Ken upfront that he brought about the ouster of Drae and Raymond [although the same can be said of Jan, Miguel and Jeli].

I think Mr. C had prepared his comments for tonight in advance as he was not really commenting on the performances but just gave general but helpful, expert comments. I can actually feel his frustrations at the way the show is shaping up, which is the battle for who has the most resources.

Me thinks that while Mr. C knows that this is more of a popularity contest than a real search for the best, he never expected that the votes will be skewed to those who are, uh, more moneyed. Well, you can't prevent the finalists' friends and relatives to vote like mad for them [I know I would have done the same], but the problem is that the show doesn't really have a lot of viewers at this time and the casual viewers, even if they can discern who is the best among the finalists, are not even bothering to vote. It didn't help that it is too expensive to vote.

But how can you turn in more viewers if a mediocre singer will be crowned as the very first Philippine Idol? Oh, the horror.

Wency Cornejo was also very honest with his comments. Pilita Corales is totally useless as a judge as she knew next to nothing about rock [if you could really call tonight's theme as rock]. I would have accepted her ignorance of the genre, if she didn't come off as too condescending with her comments.

Please, for the sake of all things good, please listen to what Mr. Ryan Cayabyab said tonight and vote for the worthy finalist.

And in other news, the sight of Reymond in the audience is making me go squeee! I'm officially in love with this guy. [even if he's a bit too soft...hehehe...]