Inside Idol

Forget JLo's crying: Rosen & Alaina emerge as worthy favorites in Idol's longmarch to top 24

Robbie Rosen brings a combination of confidence and musical talent.
Jennifer Lopez went Idol soft, but her tears aren't the real story.
Lauren Alaina has ridiculous raw talent — and an equally ridiculous fashionsense.

After weeks of Hollywood rounds, a new Beatles challenge in Las Vegas and a set of comically long walks down the “Green Mile” (in what appeared to be an airport hangar), the top 24 contestants were finally revealed this week on American Idol. Props to the producers for giving almost every one of the successful contestants a fair amount of airplay — though it meant three whole hours for the reveal — and for generally cutting out the drama. Even Jennifer Lopez’s much buzzed about “breakdown” after Chris Medina's elimination felt as sincere to me as it did milked.

At the end of it all, we have an interesting and technically solid group of semifinal contestants, distinct and polished in a way that reminds me of the Season 7 cast. With so many big voices and personalities, the key to staying on top will be finding ways to make powerful, genuine connections to the music. As Jennifer so aptly put it: “Now we gotta see what you guys’ messages are as artists. What do you have to say? Do you believe what you’re singing?”

Next week we enter the live rounds as the 24 contestants are whittled quickly down to 12 — or 13. Lets take a quick a snapshot of the group that will sing for your votes:

The Chosen Ones

It’s tricky business being an early front-runner on Idol: every year one or two “anointed” contestants face early backlash from the public and the near impossible task of living up to initial hype. This year’s batch includes Robbie Rosen, Julie Zorrilla, Lauren Alaina, Jacob Lusk  and Casey Abrams.

Robbie and Lauren have impressed me equally — Robbie with his skilled combination of confidence and musical instinct, and Lauren with her ridiculous, raw natural talent (for her inexplicable Barbie-meets-tacky-cowgirl fashion sense, I will just have to forgive her).

Julie’s first audition with “Summertime” left me thinking “style over substance,” but we’ve since seen shades of subtlety from her, like on her superb “Something" duet with Tim Halperin. Jacob is one hell of a singer, but his notion that every performance demands every ounce of his voice is ill founded and unfortunately perpetuated by the judges (seriously, Randy, his “God Bless the Child” was the best performance of all Idol seasons?).

And Casey? When you not only have flawless pipes but can fully — fully — invest in your performances the way he does, you have my vote.

Hidden Talents

Blink and you might have missed Paul McDonald, Lauren Turner and Kendra Chantelle these past few weeks, seeing as the talented trio received little to no airtime. That’s a shame, because each shows promise and originality. Paul’s quirky, nuanced voice is unlike anything we’ve heard before on Idol. His “Blackbird” duet partner, Kendra, is equally intriguing, with a voice that teeters delicately between soul and country (does she remind anyone else of Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott?). And Lauren infuses some much-needed grit into the pool of girls with her bluesy, muscular voice.

Let’s just remember that we didn't hear so much as a snippet of season nine winner Kris Allen’s voice until the live semifinals — anything’s possible, folks.

Head Scratchers

Hailey Reinhart seems to be taking a page from Jacob Lusk's playbook; her oversung performances have been so squeezed and stretched that you can barely understand what she’s singing about. Joining her in the questionable decision camp is the inconsistent Tatynisa Wilson, the unremarkable Pia Toscano and the why-can’t-I-figure-out-why-I-don’t-like-her Thia Megia, whose technically proficient performances have left me cold.

And then there are two of the most polarizing contestants of the season: James Durbin and Scotty McCreery. The rocker displays an impressive range and an admirable drive, but I still don’t hear brilliance — or correct pitch — from him. The latter sang a spot-on version of (surprise!) Josh Turner’s “Long Black Train,” but there’s something detached about his persona that I can’t quite put my finger on.

And the Rest

Rounding out the rest of the Top 24 are:

Unique performers Rachel Zevita, Naima Adedapo and Brett Loewenstern
Powerhouses Clint Jun Gamboa and Jordan Dorsey
Smooth-toned Jovany Barreto and Stefano Langone 
Big-voiced Karen Rodriguez and Ashton Jones 
And singer-songwriter Tim Halperin

Quote of the Night

“I’m here to prove that people like me can be sexy”

-Casey Abrams before his delicious, bass-accompanied take on “Why Don’t You Do Right”

Get more of Tara Seetharam's pop culture musings on her website www.taraseetharam.com and follow her on Twitter @TaraAshley.

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HOWDY, DOCTORS

Grey's Anatomy spins off new medical drama led by Houston-born showrunner

Photo via Meg Marinis/Instagram

Showrunner Meg Marinis poses with actor Kevin McKidd, who recently exited Grey's Anatomy after more than a decade playing Dr. Owen Hunt.

ABC is bringing the Grey's Anatomy universe to Texas with a new one-hour rural medical drama co-created by longtime showrunner Meg Marinis. Marinis was born in Houston and is an alum of both the Kinkaid School and the University of Texas at Austin.

According to an exclusive report from Deadline, which production company Shondaland shared on social media, the untitled series has received a straight-to-series order from ABC and will follow a team at a rural West Texas medical center described as “the last chance for care before miles of nowhere.”

The series marks the first Grey’s Anatomy franchise show set outside the West Coast, and it's the first that's not centered around an existing main character from the original series.

The new drama will be co-created by Shonda Rhimes and Marinis, who has spent nearly two decades working on Grey’s Anatomy. She joined the series during its third season as a production assistant before rising through the ranks to become a researcher, writer, executive producer, and now showrunner.

"This opportunity will bring new characters and stories to life that will embody the same heart, emotion, and connection audiences have loved from Grey’s for more than two decades, all set in my home state of Texas,” Marinis said in a statement announcing the series. "I am so grateful to Shonda Rhimes for creating this dynamic world and feel so fortunate that I get to be a part of it.”

Marinis’ path to running one of television’s biggest franchises started in Austin. In an interview with Shondaland last year, she recounted moving to Los Angeles during her final semester at UT through the university’s UTLA entertainment program, which allows students to complete coursework while interning in the industry. While finishing school, she interned at Universal before landing a production assistant role on Grey’s Anatomy in 2006.

Marinis has also woven Texas experiences into the flagship series itself in recent years. According to Deadline, she personally knew families affected by the Camp Mystic tragedy and rewrote part of a recent Grey’s Anatomy episode after becoming emotional while working on the script.

The West Texas setting is particularly timely, as rural healthcare access remains a growing issue across the state. According to the Texas Hospital Association, more than 20 rural Texas hospitals have closed since 2010, while roughly a quarter of the state’s remaining rural hospitals are considered at risk of closure.

By centering the new series on what ABC describes as “the last chance for care before miles of nowhere,” the franchise could bring national attention to healthcare access challenges facing communities across West Texas and other rural parts of the state.

The new series joins a long lineage of Texas-set television dramas, though not all were actually filmed in the state. Grey’s Anatomy itself is famously set in Seattle while primarily filmed in the Los Angeles area. Friday Night Lights became closely associated with Austin through extensive local filming, while series like Dallas often recreated Texas from California sound stages, with exteriors of Southfork Ranch serving as the Ewings' fictitious home. Walker, Texas Ranger, meanwhile, became one of the best-known examples of a network drama heavily filmed across Texas itself.

Even after more than 20 years on the air, Grey’s Anatomy remains one of television’s most durable franchises. According to ABC, the drama is now the longest-running primetime medical drama in television history and continues to rank among the network’s strongest scripted performers.

Ellen Pompeo, who stars as Dr. Meredith Grey in the original series, is attached as an executive producer, and the new drama is expected to premiere in 2027.

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