Fano'...of course it's not a foregone conclusion that Kat (or any of them) will fade out of the public eye…but frankly, the odds are that most of them will…if they could ‘hit the ground running’ and release a CD within a month or two of the show’s end, they would have a much better chance at having an impact by riding on the inertia of the fan base they accumulated…but the restrictive contract they sign prevents that from happening.

Kat has a distinct advantage over most because she brings so much more to the table than just singing ability, she could end up on Broadway, on T.V. (I ‘d love to see her in a sit-com as opposed to a Soap); in movies (please no ‘Justin Loves Kelly’…) etc.

Kat obviously connects with me, but some other people are still searching for that connection point with her…and the sentiment I’ve sensed is that a lot of people want her to give a performance that is less structured and more reckless, passionate, risky, etc.  The fans that love Kat will keep loving her…the fans that hate her will keep hating her…but there is a large faction in the middle that is waiting for Kat to win them over, and it won’t be achieved with ‘safe’ performances…as other contestants get voted off I think Kat has to do something powerful to win her share of those ‘new’ votes.

I’ve heard Vegas odds makers are still picking Kat as a favorite (I didn’t know you could bet on Idol??!!) so she’s still very much in it...and I think if she makes some adjustments and delivers  some really stirring ‘moments’ she can still win more fans over and her only worry will be how to get all that confetti out of her hair…

Also Noni, I'm coming right back at you. You've said elsewhere in this forum: "Also most of the boards have international fans as well who constantly post but cannot vote, that goes to all contestants..."

FanofMcPhee, I'm going to "pick on you a bit", too. You've said elsewhere, "Yes, and also some of us married guys have to try and avoid our wives for 2 hours while we're "power voting" for Kat so the wife won't be ill at us for being into this 22 year old beautiful, talented female singer enough that we would keep a phone in our hands for 2 hours hitting the redial button. So far I've stayed out of hot water but I definitely keep a low profile after the show."

And for all of the rest of us who've been spending hours mostly writing comments to one another, IT'S NOW TIME TO TAKE ACTION!!!

Pardon me for summarizing some of the remarks I've made earlier on this & other threads....  Last week after American Idol aired, the TV entertainment program EXTRA showed Simon Cowell saying the future is dim for the one person I feel is the most talented of all – Katharine McFee. He said, "She's reaching a point where she's looking so perfect and sounding so perfect, ironically, it can work against you ....she won't win." HE’S RIGHT! There are lots of angry, hateful comments about Katharine by viewers on the Internet. Many of these are a twisted expression of jealousy or envy. Many others simply believe Katharine is too good to be true --that she’s really a Hollywood fabrication, not the gifted natural performer we're convinced she is!

(I genuinely believe the most productive thing any of us as fans can do is to recruit as many other 'Mcphans' as possible who are willing to vote, using multiple phones when possible, to rapidly RE-dial for a solid 2+ hrs tomorrow (and every Tues nite). In my judgement as a telecommunications engineer, all text voting & automated techniques will account for only a small percentage of the vote totals, so our best response to all the negative comments out there about Katharine is to increase the number of people we can enlist for Katharine who are willing to vote massively for her tomorrow night!)

....SO IT’S TIME FOR US ALL -- INCLUDING US FORUM COMMENT WRITERS + ANYONE LIVING OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES + THOSE WHO FEAR MAKING A WIFE OR GIRLFRIEND JEALOUS, TO GET OUT OF OUR COMFORT ZONES & ‘LEAP INTO ACTION’ (as my boss in the space program often says)!!!!!

LET’S CALL OR EMAIL ALL OUR FRIENDS & ASK THEM TO RAPIDLY REDIAL EVERY PHONE THEY HAVE FOR KATHARINE NEXT TUESDAY NITE & EVERY TUESDAY NITE STARTING RIGHT AFTER THE LAST SONG, UNTIL THE LINES ARE BUSIED OUT JUST OVER 2 HRS LATER!

[It's highly probable that the vast majority of votes received by AI will come from people dialing manually. I also think rapid manual redialing is ALMOST as effective as autodialing when the idiosyncrasies of redialers (such as falsely detecting a fast busy signal as a ring tone) are considered. The reason I've been promoting the use of 2 lines & 2 phones dialed alternately (for increased speed) is primarily because many if not most American homes have 2 separate lines, that rapid manual RE-dialing is a highly-effective voting technique, and that the most registered votes will therefore be dialed manually. We should therefore not lean back & assume that autodialers operated by a few will be a dominant factor -- to the contrary, we would all be well advised to rapidly RE-dial manually using 2 lines & 2 phones for increased voting speed (if 2 lines are available, OR to rapidly RE-dial on a single line if 2 lines are not available), from just after the last song every Tuesday until AI busies the lines out just over 2 hrs later.]

SUGGESTED EMAIL OR PHONE MESSAGE TO FRIENDS, RELATIVES OR ACQUAINTANCES LIVING IN THE USA (You're encouraged to copy/paste the text in quotes below into a text editor, modify it as you may care to, then email it to everyone in your address book and/or use it as a phone script:

"Dear __________, I’m emailing you (or calling you) to ask a HUGE favor. If you can receive a live telecast of Fox’s American Idol, could you please watch it TOMORROW (it airs at 8pm Eastern Time, Tuesday)? ....And If you agree with me that contestant Katharine McPhee gives the best performance (here comes the big favor I’m asking for)....

.....PLEASE RAPIDLY REDIAL EVERY PHONE YOU HAVE TO VOTE FOR KATHARINE TOMORROW (TUESDAY) NITE, STARTING RIGHT AFTER THE LAST SONG & UNTIL THE LINES ARE BUSIED OUT ABOUT 2 HRS LATER. (Since it’s an 866-type number it’s FREE, no matter how many times you dial, and she’ll receive 1 vote each time the number rings for you.)

I know this is a gigantic favor to ask, but I have been following her on Tuesdays for quite a while and I’m afraid she may be in danger of being "voted off" because there are lots of angry, hateful comments about Katharine by viewers all over the Internet. Many of these negative comments are obviously a twisted expression of jealousy or envy. Other negative commentors must simply believe Katharine is too good to be true --that she’s really a Hollywood fabrication, not the gifted natural performer I am convinced she is! In my opinion, Katharine McPhee is the most talented (therefore the most likely to be successful) of ANY contestant in American Idol’s history! It would be a travesty if excessive "popularity contest voting" caused her to lose!

Thanks! I'll be forever indebted to you!

(PS: It’s a good idea to try out & compare any different links such as cell, land line, VOIP, etc that you have access to, since busy signals can result from signal routing path traffic anywhere along the signal path, as well as at the receiving end. And remember this can vary dramatically from time to time & from locale to locale! (However, I also believe just plain old re-dialable phones work fine, and they’re FREE for 866 #’s. Please email or call me if you have any questions – I’d love to hear from you)."

[I've duplicated the above post on another thread because of it's importance]

NASA...your suggestion is certainly going to help increase Kat’s demographic coverage…any ideas on how we can use the same network to spread the word on what Kat is really like to embellish her demographic appeal…dispel some of the notions that Kat is ‘too perfect…a snob…bla…bla..’

In addition to Kat having to continue to produce solid and inspiring performances, and concurrent with the massive voting initiative, I wonder if there is something we can do to ‘tear down the walls of ignorance’ in terms of the misconception that Kat is ‘too perfect’.

Is there a fan out there who knows Kat and can provide some facts that might help bridge the ‘too perfect’ gap (or maybe her family?)…we don’t need to hear of anything she may have done wrong…but just some interesting anecdotal stuff that we could get out there to counter some of the negative sentiments….I don’t expect to convert the current twisted Kat ‘haters’, but there are a lot people who may have ambivalent feelings about Kat or are currently supporting a contestant who will be voted off soon…and if we could shed some reality on who she is, that might generate support….does she/did she play sweaty sports in school; is there an ‘ugly’ (endearing) missing tooth picture of her as a child…did she ever do volunteer/charitable work…camping/outdoor activity…live on a farm…donate blood…take care of a sick animal…what about reliable info from close friends/schoolmates who could attest to her good nature….whatever…any positive ‘human’ touch info that will help take her from ‘surreal’ to something just short of ‘snot rag’ intimacy (thanks for that Kellie?!) with the public…it is imperative that the source be verified to assure accuracy of course...but, in essence, such information is at least a start'...one small step for Kat...one giant leap for Katkind?!!'

Inasmuch as it affects her appeal, I hope that they give Kat the public forum tomorrow on AI (most viewers are not plugged into the message boards) to set the record straight, at least on the misconstrued ‘I know I do…’ as well as on Simon’s statement that she is ‘too perfect’. Simon raised the issue publicly; Kat deserves a prime time opportunity to answer his comments…talk to us Kat !! 

I am cynical when it comes to trusting the nefarious T.V. execs behind AI…they seem to selectively stickhandle the optics of what the viewers get to see in order to subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) shape our impressions…they have their favorites… some (luckily Kat’s in this group) get more high-end dramatic production support (lighting, video backdrop, more intricate camera coverage and close-ups) on their performances …then they stick poor Elliott on a block of ice and hand him a stick and tell him to sing or ‘…’Just follow the band’…they deliberately edit Ace’s interaction with Queen to make it look like he had a major conflict with Brian May in the arrangement for ‘Champions’(he didn’t)…Kellie was the first (that I can recall) to get a one-on-one opportunity to explain/defend/admit that her naivety is ‘not really an act’…Chris got to respond to the public outcry and clarified that he took the inspiration for ‘his’ arrangement of ‘Walk The Line’ from Live...

Simon is a curious duck too…not sure what his mandate is on the show…one week Simon praises Chris for being the ‘only artist that has refused to compromise’ on his style, the next week he says Chris can’t keep doing ‘the same old thing’…he tells Kat one week she’s performed almost as well as Aguilera….she’s a star…the next week he says he’s ‘not surprised’ that she’s in the bottom three…and Simon has publicly spouted off, initially predicting Chris, Taylor and Kellie as finalists…now Kat is too perfect and categorically ‘won’t win…’ and suddenly Paris is his ‘sentimental favorite’…I wonder which of his previous favorites Simon will now try to subvert in order to work Paris back into the mix...we'll see from his performance comments tomorrow ??!! I may be reading too much into it, but it makes me wonder…

I even wonder to what extent the producers control and/or ‘bend’ the portrayal of the ‘stories’ of each contestant to suit their purposes… they help create the image that viewers base judgments on…they have a direct hand in determining what information is conveyed to the public...from the hard luck stories of some, to the ‘silver spoon’ advantage spin they have saddled Kat with (and to a lesser extent Paris)… All the more reason to answer NASAMAN’s challenge of a voting blitz.

Having said all that, we still have to come down to the performances. I’ve said it before, in my opinion, it’s time for Kat to give up a little of the caution and demure composure and completely rip into a song…just show Simon and the rest of America that they can kiss her (nice) butt if they think she’s too perfect, controlled, and proper to open herself up and soar through a truly memorable and emotionally charged performance…like Ciuma said…put ’emotion before the perfection’…dance/ move/don’t move, I don’t care… as long as at the end of it she can say to herself…I left it all out there…I couldn’t give anything more…(Liza don’t fail me now…)

Go Kat