Revisionist Idol - Season 6

1. Melinda Doolittle (actual finish, 3rd): VINDICATION! Melinda won by a comfortable margin. Most of the negative comments about her dwelled on her "boring" qualities, but I think there was a widespread acknowledgment that, on the basis of singing alone, she was the best.

2. Blake Lewis (2nd): Blake gets the runner-up trophy again.

3. Jordin Sparks (1st): And the actual Idol is dethroned. Interestingly, just like two other dethroned Idols in this poll (Ruben and Taylor), she fell all the way to third. (Carrie managed to hang in as a close second to Bo, while Kelly and Fantasia held on to their championships.) A recurrent comment on Jordin was that she needs more seasoning, or something to that effect.

4. LaKisha Jones (4th): So the top four remains, with Melinda and Jordin switching positions. LaKisha got a lot of respect for her voice, with complaints mostly centering on her perceived arrogance and uncomfortability in the spotlight.

5. Phil Stacey (6th): A nice little bump for Phil, who came very close to knocking LaKisha out of the final four. In retrospect, after all the Nosferatu jokes, he seems very well-liked.

6. Gina Glocksen (9th): Where did that come from? All of a sudden Gina is anointed the high-potential rocker deprived of her rightful status by an early exit.
7. Chris Richardson (5th)
8. Stephanie Edwards (11th): Well, she would have made the tour if this poll determined it. Tied with Gina for the biggest jump from reality, on votes obviously based on her potential. I agree; I would have liked to see what she could have done, and wonder if she actually had more to offer (in the sense of being able to handle a wider variety of music) than LaKisha?
9. Chris Sligh (10th): Just a hair behind Stephanie, but still manages to improve his standing. Still, a preponderance of comments suggested he blew it for himself, either by slacking off or mouthing off.
10. Haley Scarnato (8th)
11. Sanjaya Malakar (7th): Biggest divergence from reality in the vote, and not unexpectedly -- most true Idol fans tended to resent the sideshow he created. It sure would have been a lot easier to handle if he'd managed to sing half-decently.
12. Brandon Rogers (12th)

Revisionist Idol - Season 5

via Idol Chatter

1. Elliott Yamin (finished 3rd on the show): I think Elliott was fortunate enough to have both a dedicated core of fans and at the same time be the finalist who was most liked by dedicated fans of other singers. I think he has just become (or may always have been) the most likable, least polarizing finalist of the season.

2. Chris Daughtry (4th): Chris' fervent fans, and those impressed by his post-show dominance on the sales and airplay charts, were enough to offset his detractors and net him the retrospective runner-up trophy.

3. Taylor Hicks (1st): He always was a polarizing figure on the show, and his lower profile since (which is quite likely at least partially by choice) may have cost him in the long run.

4. Kellie Pickler (6th): How about that? Many commenters mentioned how impressed they were with the way her post-show career has developed (must not insert bad joke here...). A new country artist selling more than 600,000 records is remarkable; to expect her to equal Carrie's sales is unrealistic -- Carrie's career is one of those rare, perfectly aligned combinations of timing, circumstance and talent. Kellie's album showed off surprising depth and a knack for lighthearted, upbeat country, and clearly it (and her public persona) impressed a lot of you, enough to give her a two-notch boost in the rankings.

5. Mandisa (9th): Now that surprised me. It is a consistent result with the retrospective boosts received by Tamyra, Nadia and La Toya, adding to the feeling that Idol frequently gives short shrift to talented African American female vocalists. But I'm not sure that alone, and her modest post-Idol career, explains her extremely strong showing in this vote.

6. Bucky Covington (8th): Close behind Mandisa (it's a very tight little cluster between positions 7 to 4), the season's other emergent country star improved on his original ranking. I think his chart success and artistic growth were factors, as well as his evident likability, which only became more apparent from his diary entries on this blog earlier in the year. Plus he gave Taylor-haters a Southern rockish guy to vote for.

You may have noticed the absence so far of a very prominent Season 5 finalist, who can finally be found at ...

7. Katharine McPhee (2nd): Wholly surprising! (Well, partially surprising, anyway.) This was easily the most radical rejection of a top-two finisher so far. Factors presumably include her relatively sluggish sales (although, at least at this point, they're in the same neighborhood as Elliott's), dissatisfaction with her post-Idol musical choices, and a strong feeling (one that kept coming up in comments) that she was an unlikable personality, an overprivileged type, or an erratic singer (or two or three of those things). Something of a shocker.
8. Paris Bennett (5th): Paris also took a tumble in the rankings, likely a combination of her perceived immaturity and widespread disappointment with the album she recorded.
9. Ace Young (7th): Not having an album out yet surely didn't help his cause. It was interesting to see how many people who voted for him cited Father Figure (which if I recall he sang in the semifinals) as their reason for picking him.
10. Lisa Tucker (10th): Finally, down in 10th place, someone's revised ranking actually matches the historical finish. Lisa got some nice comments about how well she performed on tour, but many felt her youth held her back.
11. Melissa McGhee (12th)
12. Kevin Covais (11th)

Revisionist Idol - Season 4

via Idol Chatter

Clearly, fans of the winners don't have nearly the same fierceness of motivation as the "wronged" fans. The winner already, well, won, so there's not a huge need to mobilize to make sure it happens again in a re-vote such as this.

1. Bo Bice (actual finish, 2nd): Shocking, considering post-idol success.

2. Carrie Underwood (actual finish, 1st): It was actually a close race. The margin of difference amounted to a little more than 2 1/2 percent of the total points earned by Bo and Carrie. I think it was that Bo's fans cared more than Carrie's -- I've got to think in sheer numbers, Carrie's got more fans -- certainly the kind that buy records (although I wouldn't blame any Bo fans for boycotting his debut album, which I agree with most of you was not representative of his talents).

3. Constantine Maroulis (6th)

4. Nadia Turner (8th): Like Tamyra and La Toya before her, people thought she was a superior singer who might have lost personality points to other, inferior finalists.

5. Vonzell Solomon (3rd): Vonzell just didn't seem to inspire a whole lot of reminiscent passion. We might be forgetting how much she improved over the course of the show; finishing third, she was a sleeper, but a much more talented one than, say, Jasmine.

6. Anthony Fedorov (4th): Fans complimented his voice, heart-tugging back story and nice-guy personality, but the combined Constantine and Nadia movement kept him from matching his actual rank.
7. Jessica Sierra (10th): She has a lot of fans she may not know about; many rated her above Carrie (rather questionable), but the enthusiasm for her vocal stylings was stronger than expected.
8. Anwar Robinson (7th)
9. Nikko Smith (9th)
10. Lindsey Cardinale (12th): Voters in this poll don't seem to think Idol gets it right in the early eliminations. For a last-placer, Lindsey drew a surprising amount of support, praising her versatile vocals.
11. Scott Savol (5th): And the award for the biggest divergence from his actual finish goes to the smooth, soulful singer with the weird personality. His legal run-ins have done him no favors in the memories of Idol fans, apparently, as he was mentioned on very few ballots.
12. Mikalah Gordon (11th): Whew. Any other result and I would have strongly questioned your collective sanity. The novelty contestant of Season 4 is listed in the thesaurus as a synonym for "abrasive."

Revisionist Idol - Season 3

1. Fantasia Barrino (actual finish, 1st)

2. Diana DeGarmo (2nd)

3. LaToya London (4th): Here's where we start to diverge from the historical record. Many felt she was robbed; I have to admit some degree of satisfaction that she won third place in this poll, displacing Jasmine Trias, whom I couldn't buy as a third-place Idol (she equates to the equally overrated Nikki McKibbin, rather than other, more stellar third-placers such as Kimberley Locke, Vonzell Solomon, Elliott Yamin and Melinda Doolittle. Speaking of Melinda, LaToya seems highly comparable to her and Tamyra Gray -- undeniably excellent singers whose cooler demeanors (as opposed to the more fiery Fantasias and LaKishas) seemed to arouse indifference in the hearts of Idol voters.

4. Jennifer Hudson (7th): Before we started on Season 3, I thought Jennifer might make it all the way to No. 2 based on her subsequent high profile. Indeed, she did very well, but a lot of people were still put off by her personality and unimpressed by her inconsistency. This placing seems pretty close to justice in my book -- she definitely didn't deserve to go out as soon as she did, but Fantasia cleaned her clock on the show. (We'll see what happens in the record marketplace when Jennifer puts her album out.)

5. George Huff (5th): I thought of George as an inferior version of Ruben, but probably more family-friendly. Given more of a shot, Brandon Rogers may have aspired to George's level.

6. Amy Adams (10th)
7. Camile Velasco (9th)
8. Jasmine Trias (3rd): Huge drop from the 2004 result, belated recognition, I like to think, that she was way over her head in finishing third.
9. Jon Peter Lewis (8th)
10. Leah Labelle (12th): I wonder who the most undeserving 12th-place finisher is -- Leah? Vanessa? Or some of the names to come?
11. Matthew Rogers (11th): Ended up matching his actual finishing point. Works for me. A friendly disposition is not enough to make an Idol.
12. John Stevens (6th): Poor Red.

Revisionist Idol - Season 2

Just like the last post, this was based on comments left on the blog Idol Chatter about how viewers would rank past season contestants in the present day. No surprise that Season 2 should have been won by Clay Aiken.

1. Clay Aiken (2): Duh!

2. Kimberley Locke (3)

3. Ruben Studdard (1)

4. Josh Gracin (4)

5. Trenyce (5)

6. Rickey Smith (8): Big move up for Rickey, whose residual popularity I was unaware of. His supple voice and friendly personality seemed to be his big strong points.
7. Kimberly Caldwell (7)
8. Carmen Rasmusen (6)
9. Vanessa Olivarez (12): How about this? She very nearly knocked off Carmen for 8th, retaining a lot of good will despite getting to perform in the finals only once.
10. Julia De Mato (10): A few strong supporters but clearly not enough.
11. Charles Grigsby (11)
12. Corey Clark (9 -- eliminated without a vote for failing to disclose a previous arrest): Corey has clearly left a very bad taste in the collective minds.

Revisionist Idol - Season 1

This is a cool idea asking blog readers/Idol fans to re-imagine the results of past season of American Idol. Would your favorite contestant still win? Who made it too far or not far enough? Season 1 was pretty obvious (see below) but the what about the other seasons?

Leave a comment with your opinion on how Season 2 SHOULD'VE gone down.

Via USA Today's 'Idol Chatter' blog.

1. (and still champion) Kelly Clarkson (1st): Kelly didn't win in a landslide -- it was a pretty tight battle -- but the result was clear. I've got to go along with this verdict -- Kelly has done the franchise proud, and I don't know that anyone else in this crop could have come close to equaling her subsequent achievements.

2. Tamyra Gray (4th): Clearly the feeling is that Tamyra got robbed by the original voters. She was far and away the No. 2 vote-getter in this poll, a lot closer to Kelly than to the No. 3 finisher. As a postscript to the interesting but perhaps overheated discussion that cropped up about her post-Idol accomplishments, maybe she did make the right decision in gravitating toward acting and songwriting, but it would have been nice to have seen what she could have done as a singer with a big push (rather than an album that snuck out well over a year after her Idol season concluded).

3. Justin Guarini (2nd): Justin's fast fade from the public eye (aided and abetted by the From Justin to Kelly movie, which strangely didn't seem to affect Kelly's image at all, and the corporate neglect suffered by his first album) is reflected in his loss of standing retrospectively. He was the clear No. 3 choice, but was way behind Tamyra in the voting, and only a couple of people cared enough to vote him No. 1.

4. Christina Christian (6th): Substantial support for Christina, who on this vote joins Tamyra in what could be, by the time this exercise is complete, a substantial subset of African-American female singers who people now feel got a raw deal from the voters at the time. It'll be interesting to see where Kimberley Locke, Trenyce, Jennifer Hudson, La Toya London, Nadia Turner, Vonzell Solomon and others wind up in the revisionist vote.

5. RJ Helton (5th): A bit of a surprise, not that he equaled his actual finish but that he beat real-life third-place finisher Nikki McKibbin to do it (by the slimmest margin between any two finalists). I found RJ inoffensive if bland, but a superior singer to Nikki, so I was pleased to see this result.

6. Nikki McKibbin (3rd): Biggest gap between actual finish and revised vote, and well-deserved if you ask me -- I always thought Nikki was overrated, and her claim as a "rock chick" quite dubious -- Gina Glocksen could probably sing rings around her.
7. Ryan Starr (7th): Fairly substantial gap between Nikki and Ryan, who struck me as substantially more bogus than Nikki -- although she was arguably better than her piano-climbing male namesake on Rockstar: Supernova. She was kind of the Haley Scarnato of her day (in terms of teenage boy appeal), but less wholesome.
8. E. Jay Day (9th): E Jay carves out a small triumph by getting voted a notch higher than his actual finish. Having zero memory of his singing ability, I can't comment as to the merits of this result.
9. A.J. Gil (8th): The boy-band-esque A.J. was the victim of E. Jay's success, falling to ninth in the revisionist standings. No great loss, if I recall.
10. Jim Verraros (10th): And as it was in the beginning, so shall it be for eternity (or until the next poll comes around). Coming out didn't gain Jim a lot of retroactive support, it appears.