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Rating: Country: USA Release Date: November 22, 2005 Distributor: Capital Entertainment Enterprises Director: · Bruce Gowers · Nigel Lythgoe Cast: · Paula Abdul · Ryan Seacrest · Simon Cowell · Randy Jackson Related Sites: · American Idol Official Site · SirLinksaLot: American Idol Grade: B

When it comes to American Idol, there are two types of fans: Those that view it as a serious competition and live for great musical performances, and those who view it as a freak show and live for bad musical performances. For the first type of fan, Capital Entertainment Enterprises and Freemantle Media have released The Best of American Idol, and for the second type, they have released The Worst of American Idol.

Then there's the uberfan, who can't get enough of American Idol. For them, there is a special, limited edition of The Best and Worst of American Idol, which includes both of the above-referenced DVDs and also a bonus DVD disc of interviews.

The Best of American Idol

It's apparent from looking at The Best of American Idol that it's intended as a free-standing DVD. It includes quite a bit that doesn't qualify as the "best," but that simply reflects on the show overall. Those who have watched the show will be familiar with the season overviews that are included for Seasons One through Four -- they're the same as have been included in finale shows each season. In addition, there are generic overview segments about "the judges" or "the search." More interesting in their specificity are interviews that Paula Abdul conducts with various members of the Season Four set (Carrie Underwood, Vonzell Solomon, Scott Savol, Constantine Maroulis, Anwar Robinson, Anthony Federov, Jessica Sierra and Nikko Smith) during their tour. While there are no shocking revelations, it's fun to hear them talk about life on the road. Divided into four separate segments, the interviews total 49 minutes. For old school fans, there's a June 2002 interview with Kelly Clarkson, back while she was still a contestant.

Where the "best" comes in is with the auditions and the performances. In terms of auditions, we see the top two finalists in each season when they were first told they were "going to Hollywood." (Seeing Bo's extended audition, I have to wonder if the reason we weren't shown it very much during the season is because Paula is in one of her loopy stages.)

The real meat of the DVD is in the performances, so here's the full track list:

• Kelly Clarkson - "Respect"
• Justin Guarini - "Get Here"
• Tamyra Gray - "Feel The Fire"
• Kelly Clarkson - "A Moment Like This"
• Ruben Studdard - "Breakin' Up Is Hard To Do"
• Ruben Studdard/Clay Aiken/Kimberley Locke - "Medley (Solid As A Rock/Reunited)"
• Clay Aiken - "Bridge Over Troubled Water"
• Ruben Studdard - "Flying Without Wings"
• Fantasia Barrino - "Summertime"
• La Toya London - "Don't Rain On My Parade"
• Diana DeGarmo - "Enough is Enough"
• Fantasia Barrino - "I Believe"
• Bo Bice - "Whipping Post"
• Carrie Underwood - "Alone"
• Constantine Maroulis - "My Funny Valentine"
• Bo Bice - "Vehicle"
• Vonzell Solomon - "On the Radio"
• Bo Bice - "In A Dream"
• Carrie Underwood - "Inside Your Heaven"

While "best" is a term that can be debated endlessly, I think that this was a good selection. The top two from each season are represented, as well as some folks who left too early (e.g., Tamyra Gray); on the flip side, some people who'd be included based solely on the numbers appropriately were not included (e.g., the infamous Nikki McKibbon). But hey, as long as Fantasia's "Summertime" and Bo's "In A Dream" are included, you know that you have the best of American Idol represented!

(Here's a hint for your viewing pleasure. There's an option to watch all 56 minutes of performances in a row, without having to select each one individually, but it's a little hard to find on the DVD. Select "Play All" from the Main Menu and, contrary to what you'd expect, the DVD will not automatically start playing. Instead, there are then the options to play the disc, play all the auditions, or play all the performances.)

Disc Rating: B

The Worst of American Idol (2 hours and 46 minutes)

Some people love seeing the bad singers. Me, not so much. If this weren't part of the set that includes the bonus disc, I never would have bothered with it.

That said, this disc wasn't as bad as I expected. Well, let me be clear -- the singers were as bad as I expected. But the segments moved quickly, and there weren't a lot of wacky sound effects or anything other than is presented in the shows -- in fact, sometimes we skipped even hearing the singers and went straight to the critiques. And I actually sort of enjoyed some of the longer auditions. While some of the extended audition segments were with such outright bad singers as William Hung or Keith Beukelaer, others, such as Daron Beck, Leroy Wells, and Fookling Lee, were with people who were unusual and brought something different to the table. Those, I actually enjoyed having a chance to explore in greater depth -- at least once.

Disc Rating: C+

The Bonus Disc

The bonus disc is definitely focused on Season Four. There are two interviews with Carrie Underwood (47 minutes and 18 minutes), an interview with Bo Bice (19 minutes), an interview with Vonzell Solomon (14 minutes) and an interview with Constantine Mouralis (9 minutes), all of which took place before the end of Season Four. There are also extended segments of the "home visit" trips of Carrie and Bo (12 and 24 minutes, respectively), and a 53-minute post-Season Four interview with Paula Abdul.

For hard-core fans of American Idol, these interviews are fascinating. They provide a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes world of the competition, and bring a very real, personable element to the show. There's not a lot of dirty laundry aired, but there is a ring of authenticity to the comments and reflections, particularly from Paula Abdul.

For the most part, this bonus disc exceeded my expectations. The interviews were leisurely, reflective, and personal in a way that you rarely see on American Idol. My sole disappointment was, ironically, with the Bo Bice coming home segment, which was the segment I'd most looked forward to seeing. Being a huge Bo Bice fan, I'd looked forward to seeing his performance with Lynyrd Skynyrd again. While we did see him meeting Lynyrd Skynyrd, and before and after his performance with them, we never see the actual performance. (However, his interview segments make up for this loss -- Bo has a surprising and wacky sense of humor, and is the only person to get an audible response out of the unseen interviewer on his segment.)

Disc Rating: B+

Final Thoughts

I have to give kudos to the folks at American Idol, Capital Entertainment Enterprises, and Freemantle Media for this collection. They've put together an interesting collection of great performances, bad performances, and reflections on the series. And with ten hours of material, even the most ardent fan of American Idol should be able to satisfy their appetite. Would I recommend it for someone who's never watched the show? Possibly the Best of ... disc, although for the non-fan the series overviews might be a distraction from the performances. Would I recommend these discs for a fan? Absolutely!