I can't remember the last time I laughed so long and loud. For anything.
For a split second, when the camera zoomed in on Ashley Ferl (aka Sanjaya's crying fan), i thought they were replaying scenes from the REAL British Invasion. When women were swooning, adoring and crazy fans of the Beatles, crying at the mere sight of them, pulling their hair out and fainting on the spot.
But no, it was LIVE and very real.
And after that, i honestly did not catch another moment of Sanjaya's performance.
I saw him jumping up and down, head banging and going crazy on stage but I didn't hear a single note he sang. Randy and Paula liked it so I suppose that counts for something. Plus I like him, he's just so cheek-pinchingly adorable, even when he's trying to be rock star.
I tried to concentrate, I really did, but everytime they would zoom back to little Ashley I burst into more gales of laughter.
Not since Michael Jackson's Thriller tour has a fan cried at the sight of her Idol. (can i just mention the irony of Sanjaya wearing cut-off gloves??)
I could see little girls all over America picking up their phones and voting for Sanjaya, even before the lines opened. They were so thrilled that at least ONE fan got to touch and see the Guru that is Sanjaya.
Once i had calmed down I knew i just HAD to find out if there was some mention of who this little girl was.
As it turns out, I should just have let sleeping dogs lie. There is such a thing as knowing to much.
Apparently Ashley and her family were in the audience of that other show that they mentioned last week - something about knowing as much as a 5th grader.
Anyway, while there, they scored tickets to see the Idols rehearsels and THAT's when she started crying already. I'm guessing the producers or whoever saw the perfect Kodak moment and then invited them to watch the live show, probably hoping for the same reaction, which they got.
Now what I am trying to understand is why they decided to pan in on her while Sanjaya was singing. She was apparently crying throughout the whole show... I even caught a glimpse of it during Melinda's performance.
Surely they would know that Sanjaya's ratings would soar after that? So did they purposefully time it for Sanjaya's benefit?
I am really going to have to catch Sanjaya's performance again to see how good he really was.
Whether or not Ashley's crying actually DID help Sanjaya's ratings is anyone's guess. All I know is that it made for a really entertaning performance.