| American Idol - The Best & Worst of American Idol ( Limited Edition ) | 
 enlarge | Actors: Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Elliott Yamin
Studio: Capital Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: $12.98
Buy New: $2.41
You Save: $10.57 (81%)
New (19) Used (31) from $0.90
Avg. Customer Rating:  28 reviews
Sales Rank: 18592
Format: Box Set, Color, Compilation, Dvd-video, Limited Edition, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 3
Running Time: 360
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.6 x 0.9
MPN: DCAP1013D
UPC: 187323000136
EAN: 0187323000136
ASIN: B000B58D0S
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
Release Date: November 22, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New, Factory Sealed, Thousands of Titles Listed, Fast Processing
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Many millions adore it, many others probably wish it was illegal, but there's no denying the magnetic pull of American Idol on television viewers. Maybe it's that we can't avert our eyes from the train wreck that comprises about 90% of the contestants, or that we appreciate the heart and soul of the ones who are genuinely talented; or maybe we just love to hate house villain Simon Cowell and his caustic put-downs. Good, bad, or whatever, American Idol really is the phenomenon it claims to be. And with some ten hours of material spread out over three discs--there's so much stuff here that even the bonus features have bonus features--this overview of the first four seasons will surely satisfy even the most ardent fans. Disc One, The Best Of, takes us from the first step in the process (the cattle-call try-outs so popular they need stadiums to accommodate all the hopefuls) through the initial auditions and interviews with judges Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul to the performances seen on the telecasts themselves--including those by eventual winners Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, and Carrie Underwood, as well as runners-up Bo Bice and Clay Aiken, among others. In other words, nothing unexpected. Indeed, for many viewers, Disc Two (The Worst Of) will likely be the favorite. For it is here that the set focuses on our fascination with the profoundly clueless, those utterly untalented folks who make us squirm with their outlandish self-delusion and willingness, nay eagerness, to humiliate themselves on TV (epitomized by William "She Bangs" Hung, the so-bad-he's-good sideshow that's depressing on so many levels), only to then find themselves genuinely astonished and angry when they fail to make the cut. Finally, Disc Three includes an interview with Abdul, "homecoming" footage featuring Underwood and Bice, and additional interviews from the fourth season. If American Idol has a dirty little secret (aside from Abdul's personal life), it's that the show hasn't produced a single artist with not just a good voice but an original one--a Norah Jones, an Alicia Keys, a John Mayer, someone can play and write as well as sing. But then, that's not what the show is about; we're frequently reminded that this is "a singing competition," pure and simple. Which brings us to what may well be this exhaustive (and perhaps exhausting, too) set's defining moment: When a particularly awful "singer" begs to do another tune, Cowell says, "There's only so much punishment a human being can take." Replies the contestant: "No, I can take a lot more." --Sam Graham
Description
Features the best and worst performances from the 1st four seasons of the pop cultural phenomena American Idol. Worst: Includes outrageous performances from William Hung and a collection of some of the most unreal performers. Best: Features the hottest talent to come out of the show: Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice, Fantasia (single "I Believe" hit #1 on the charts), Diana Degarmo (single "Dreams" hit #2 on the Billboard charts), Constantine, Clay Aiken (first single was #1 with 400,000 sold first week), Ruben Studdard (platinum artist whose album was in the Top 10 for 6 weeks), and Kelly Clarkson (double platinum).
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 23 more reviews...
 Forget the worst of "American Idol," this one is for Carrie Underwood's fans January 21, 2006
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
The best thing about "American Idol: The Best & Worst of American Idol (Limited Edition) is not that Paula Abdul is "hosting" the three DVDs rather than Ryan Seacrest, but that all of the Worst bits are on the second of the three DVDs. After watching over an hour Keith Beukelaer and those who cannot sing and Tamika Bush and those who want to argue with the judges, I had to proceed to the third disc. I can only take so much, because I do not watch "American Idol" to see people humiliated, I watch it to see people who can sing learn how to perform in front of millions of viewers. Watching the premier of "American Idol V" this week I was totally disgusted by how not the judges but the producers of the show further ridiculed a young man with gender issues by playing the theme from "The Crying Game" underneath his post-audition meltdown. I really think those who audition and are given a hard reality check by the judges need to be venting at the producers who set them up and not Randy, Paula and Simon. At least William Hung brings a smile to your face for the right reasons, but he is really the only reason to go back and watch anything on the worst disc.
That is why I liked being able to see the complete auditions for the top two contestants from the show's first four seasons. Seeing the judges me impressed is always a lot more fun than watching them come up with minor variations on telling somebody they are terrible. Yes, it would be nice to see more of the memorable performances, but they do get beyond the winners and the winning moments from each season (Kelly Clarkson squealing and crying through "A Moment Like This" is still the best of those, although Fantasia's "I Believe" has its moments too). But "Breaking' Up is Hard to Do" was Ruben Studdard's best performance, and you can say the same for Clay Aiken's "Bridge Over Troubled Water," Fantasia Barrino's "Summertime," Bo Bice's a cappella "In a Dream," and Carrie Underwood's "Alone." They also get beyond the winners, so that you have Tamyra Gray's "Feel the Fire" and Constantine Maroulis' "My Funny Valentine." But you do end up with the eight auditions, nineteen featured performances, to go along with recaps of the seasons (the first three are dealt with together and then season four). There is also the infamous Paula and Simon kissing/nightmare bit (but not the spoof on the big stir about Paula from last year).
The third disc has an extensive interview with Carrie Underwood (the girl knows how to tell stories and the one about not being sure she wanted to actually get on an airplane and fly away from Chekotah is about as endearing as you can get), along with a follow up one with her and interviews with Bo Bice, Vonzell Solomon, and Constantine Maroulis. Then there are "extended never-before seen footage" of Carrie and Bo on their return trips home shortly before the 2005 "American Idol" was crowned. Then the finale is an exclusive Paula Abdul interview where she discusses her experience on the show and her relationships with the contestants and other judges. The interviews alone run close to two hours, so the bonus disc is not a skimpy throw-in. All things considered, fans of Carrie Underwood will be very happy with what they get to see of her on this disc. It even leads you to not only hope but actually believe that life in the big cities and the fast lane will not change this small town girl. She is definitely the star on this disc and makes up for the fact the "Worst" disc brings the overall rating of this collection down.
 Five Star review from the Washington Post? November 19, 2005
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
I am admittedly a huge American Idol fan, especially Season's 3 & 4 and can't wait to get my copy of the DVD.
The following is a review from the Washington Post that someone posted on the Fox American Idol site. I am posting it for people that want to know more about what's on the DVD's.
High and low notes of `Idol'
New DVD set explores popular show's first four seasons
By Curt Fields
Washington Post
Fans of TV's insanely popular "American Idol" fall into one of two camps. They watch because they enjoy rooting for the occasional discovery of genuinely talented performers, or they enjoy the train wreck of seeing people who have no business being near a microphone destroying a song and acting amazed when they're told they stink.
Whatever your motivation for watching, Tuesday's upcoming DVD releases should tide you over until the show returns in January as "The Best of American Idol: Seasons 1-4" ($19.98), "The Worst of American Idol: Seasons 1-4" ($19.98) and, combining the two and tossing in a bonus disc, "The Best & Worst of American Idol: Seasons 1-4" ($34.98) hit the market.
"The Best Of" disc contains some of the show's more memorable moments, including Fantasia Barrino's "Summertime," Kelly Clarkson's "Respect" and Bo Bice's a cappella "In a Dream." It focuses primarily on the top two finalists from each season, so there's lots of Clarkson (the most successful post-"Idol" performer so far), Justin Guarini, Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, Fantasia (she's dropped the Barrino since winning in Season 3), Diana DeGarmo, Bice and Carrie Underwood.
A few other contestants are represented. Season 1's Tamyra Gray sings "Feel the Fire" and reminds you what a joke it was that Guarini made it to the final two that year.
A collection of season recaps is a fun bit of nostalgia for fans, as is seeing the full-length auditions of the winners and runners-up and watching them evolve musically and stylistically. (Watching Aiken's look steadily transform from geek to pop singer in the photo album feature is a testament to the power of stylists everywhere.) Even the most devoted fans will learn new tidbits. For example, Underwood was flirty and animated at her audition, much more so than during the rest of the season. Who knew she had a personality?
There is a certain amount of filler. I, for one, need never see the skit of Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul on a "romantic date" ever again. The photo gallery is a bit boring because there's no sound with it, but it is fun to see how many contestants you can still name.
"The Worst Of" features all the note-cracking, tuneless delusional favorites from the audition shows. The guy who did "Like a Virgin"? Yep, he's on it. The crazy blonde chick? Yep. The guy who needed subtitles? Yep. And many more abysmally bad singers, a large number of whom felt compelled to argue with the judges about their abilities. And, of course, breakout success William "She Bangs" Hung is featured.
If you get the combined package, there's a bonus disc with lots of interviews of various Season 4 contestants, extended footage of Underwood and Bice on their "hometown trips" and an "exclusive" Abdul interview.
Outstanding September 7, 2005
7 out of 12 found this review helpful
This is an amazing colloection of many of the greatest moments in the history of American Idol. It has so many unbelievable performances that will blow you away. It also has shocking eliminations and special features. It has performaces by some of the best American Idol contestants such as Kelly Clarkson, Tamyra Gray, Carrie Underwood, Clay Aiken, and many other great contestants. It also has some of the worst performances. These performances are absolutely the best of the worst. They are hilarious. It has performances by Mary Roach, William Hung, Leroy Wells, and many other contestants. This dvd is good for all ages.
I founnnndd ittttt.... November 10, 2005
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
heheh, one of the advantages of knowing the people I do is that I get to sneak peeks at different DVD's..hehehe...well I've seen this one.
All I can really tell you is that the Best of is just like you'd expect. You see the best performances, the best moments on a jam...and i mean JAM packed DVD (seriously between both discs 1 and 2 and the bonus disc I'm not sure If I have enough time to watch everything on it!)! On the worst of I found myself trying not too look because of how horrid some people are. It's just sad to a degree to watch these people croak, scream, and cry their way through a song (my fave is Simon's comment after the girl with the Puppets sing "I'm tempted to put the dog through!").
And the bonus disc, well for American Idol this stuff is for you. If you are curious the type of people that get picked, what it takes and what it doesn't take, pick up this DVD. The Deluxe edition I am told will be limited...meaning they are going to destroy the masters after a certain limit. Get it now crew ;)
Love this! November 22, 2005
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
For anyone who has ever watched American Idol, even in passing, this is the PERFECT DVD. I am a HUGE fan (Fantasia, Bo, Constantine especially) and I couldn't be happier with this. I especially like the season reviews and all of the extended interviews and performances that are on the "Best Of" disc. There's also great interviews with the idols on tour. I thought that this would be a nice collection of all my favorite parts of the show BUT I was happily surprised to find that this is packed with never before seen footage (and I thought I had seen it all!)
The Collector's Edition has a Bonus Disc that is the greatest---interviews with the season 4 contestants (Carri, Bo, Vonzell and Constantine), and a fantastic interview with Paula Abdul.
The Worst Of disc of this set is hysterical---this is the kind of DVD that EVERYONE will find entertaining (even though you may cringe during some of the really bad performances).
Overall, there's HOURS of entertainment---performances, auditions, interviews, etc. This is the type of DVD that's going to make my Christmas shopping much easier.
|
|
|
