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Clay Aiken sounds off on Adam Lambert

NEW YORK - Clay Aiken is no fan of Adam Lambert.

The American Idol also-ran has blasted this season's runner-up on his website, mocking Lambert's rendition of Ring of Fire as "contrived,-awful" and "slightly frightening."

According to Aiken, he tunes into the show about once a season - and this year, he caught Lambert's take on Johnny Cash and thought his ears would bleed.

But wait - there's more. Aiken aims his vitriol on Idol itself. He thinks the series showed bias for Lambert over eventual champ Kris Allen and has focused on "slick productions and polished contestants" rather than raw talent.

Aiken lost out to Ruben Studdard in 2003. He's since released several albums, appeared on Broadway and publicly confirmed he's gay.

Website Twitter planning celebrity chasing reality series

NEW YORK - Twitter, the website that asks what everybody's doing, says it wants to be doing a TV series.

The social-networking service said Monday it has teamed with Reveille productions and Brillstein Entertainment Partners to develop an unscripted series based on the site, which invites 140-character postings from members around the world.

The show would harness Twitter to put players on the trail of celebrities in an interactive, competitive format.

The producers call their proposed series the first to bring the immediacy of Twitter to the TV screen.

"Twitter is transforming the way people communicate, especially celebrities and their fans," said Reveille managing director Howard T. Owens, who expects the new project to "unlock Twitter's potential on TV."

Reveille's scripted entertainment includes The Office (NBC), Ugly Betty (ABC) and The Tudors (Showtime), plus reality programming that includes The Biggest Loser and American Gladiators (both NBC).

Source: The Associated Press