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Richardson Idol is growing so much in popularity that this week two episodes aired. Tuesday night's show was jointly sponsored by the Highland Terrace Neighborhood Association and the Neighborhood Protection Alliance of Richardson. Wednesday night's show was sponsored by the Friends of Richardson. Neilsen ratings for each individual night held steady.
Eleven of thirteen contestants vying for the grand prize, a seat on the Richardson City Council, performed on our stage for our judges Tuesday night (absent: Gordon, North). Ten performed Wednesday night (absent: Gordon, North, Mitchell).
As the format requires, it is up to the audience (and by audience, I mean me) to eliminate one contestant each week until we have a council. (The recap of last week's show can be found here.)
But before we hear who will be eliminated this week, let's first hand out superlatives ... after the jump.
Tuesday Night's Show: MST Magnet School
The "Winning The Future" award goes to the RISD. The clock on the wall of the Math, Science and Technology Magnet school was one hour ahead of all other clocks in the city. Richardson can take pride knowing that MST students are ahead of their time.
The "Tell Us What You Really Think" award goes to Scott Dunn. Dunn accused the Richardson Citizens Alliance of wanting to run the city and getting rid of all the good things the city has. When it comes to "us" versus "them" Dunn left no doubt he's on the side of "us."
The "Black Helicopters" award goes to Karl Voigtsberger. He didn't need anyone to explain what "Agenda 21" is. He was quick to say he doesn't support it. It's a United Nations initiative and he doesn't want to give up the sovereignty of our cities to the UN.
The "Kumbaya" award goes jointly to Place 5 opponents Kendal Hartley and Dennis Stewart. Kendal for saying there's no east side, no west side, there's only Richardson. Stewart for saying our drivers' licenses all say just "Richardson." (By the way, is it really true that some Plano drivers' licenses specify the address as being "West Plano?" Could it have been a street address of "West Plano Parkway" that Stewart remembers seeing?)
The "Homespun Wisdom" award goes to Dennis Stewart. "When the wagon is in the ditch, it's everyone's job to get it out." (Diana "I eat nails for breakfast" Clawson chose not to compete this week for this award.)
The "Channeling Babe Ruth" award goes to Diana Clawson. She said she is concerned that the Richardson City Manager's salary is bigger than the President's. When a similar point was made to Babe Ruth, he replied, "I had a better year than the President did."
The "What About Walmart?" award goes to Diana Clawson. When asked what the city can do to bring in more retail, she omitted saying, don't fight them when retailers do want to come to Richardson.
The "She Really Cleared That Up" award goes to Diana Clawson. When asked why she switched her candidacy from Place 1 to Place 7, she said it's no secret; she talked to quite a few people.
The "Joyce Kilmer" award goes, yet again, to Amir Omar. There is no additional cost for this award. The cost is covered in the city's operations and maintenance budget.
The "Losing Control" award goes to the producers of the show at the MST magnet school. After two hours of asking the candidates more than seventy submitted questions drawn from a hat, the director decided that wasn't enough and threw it open to the audience to shout questions from the floor. And shouting we got. Despite the late train wreck, no one was hurt. Our democracy will come out of it OK.
Wednesday Night's Show: Dallas Chinese Community Center
The "Clueless White Guy" award goes to Mark Solomon. There was a large cartoon rabbit on the wall behind the candidates. Solomon told a story of going to a local Vietnamese New Year's celebration and commenting on the Year of the Rabbit only to be told that for Vietnamese, it's not the Year of the Rabbit (or Hare, for that matter). It's the Year of the Cat. The audience tonight laughed politely at the story.
The "Cheeky Candidate" award goes to William Tsao. He's not running for Richardson City Council, but he exploited the opportunity for audience questions to inject his campaign speech for his own election. He's running for Dallas City Council in District 12. Richardson should promote him because he backs Richardson's goal of converting the Cotton Belt rail line into light rail.
The "You're Not Running, Remember?" award goes to Bob Macy. After the candidates answered a question regarding Richardson crime, Macy spoke up from the audience to emphasize that Richardson is the fifth safest city in the state of Texas. All well and good, Mr. Macy, but remember, you won Richardson Idol last time. Let the other contestants compete this year.
The "Hospitality" award goes to the producers of Wednesday night's show for the nice food spread available for guests.
Finally, the time has come to pick the candidate who will be sent home this week. Remember, someone has to go. Not going on to the next round is not a dishonor. Drum roll, please. ... This is it. The votes have been tallied. Richardson has spoken. Amir Omar, you insist on holding onto your outrageous belief that planting trees is good, ... but nevertheless you are safe. Diana Clawson, you decided that you've outgrown our little stage here on Richardson Idol. You were attracted to the bright lights of Channel 5 where you used the spotlight to criticize the stage that gave you your start. This isn't Survivor or The Apprentice, where that kind of tactic might work. This is Richardson Idol, where contestants advance by showcasing their own talents, not by attacking the other contestants. I'm sorry, Diana Clawson, but "Trash the Town" is not a song that impresses our judges. You are out. But thanks for playing and congratulations on the armload of superlative awards you'll take home with you. We'll miss you.
Tune in next week for another edition of Richardson Idol.
For another view of the forum, check out Destiny Delarosa's blog.
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