monday bits & pieces...

I never enjoy the themes where the kids pull songs that have played on the radio in the last twenty years. Okay, so call me an old fogey, but I don't listen to top 40 stations, unless the electricity is MIA, and it's the only signal I can get. (I still can't listen to Kelly Clarkson's Breakaway without getting shivers from the five days I spent in the dark last year.)

So it should come as no surprise that I am not exactly giddy over this week's "Songs from the 21st Century" theme. I read recently that "the 21st century is the worst century for music since the 19th century." I laughed. Then I nodded in agreement.

Needless to say, all of the purported song spoilers, song suggestions, song rumors are simply sailing over my head, and I'm too uninspired to even go look them up.

But I do know that Johnny Cash covered a 1990s song by Nine Inch Nails. Hey Chris!

Actually my only suggestion this week is for Ace. After all, I'm still maintaining that Ace is gonna be history, because the trends must continue.

In season three, Amy Adams landed in the bottom three of twelve, got put in the anchor position in the week of eleven and never hit the seal, but got booted in tenth. In season four, Jessica Sierra landed in the bottom three of twelve, got put in the anchor position in the week of eleven and never hit the seal, but got booted in tenth.

Ace landed in the bottom three of twelve, got put in the anchor position in the week of eleven and never hit the seal.

He's toast.

So my suggestion is for Ace to sing Bad Day by Daniel Powter. That way on Wednesday, he can sing during his funeral tape and get the whole freakin' song in before FOX cuts away to whatever the next show is.

My fear: somebody's gonna sing Kelly Clarkson. My nightmare: it's gonna be Pickler.

All Bets Are On!

Daughtry-gate might still be the topic of discussion (although I still haven't figured out exactly why), but it doesn't seem to have hurt him in the odds. Chris is still favored to win at this point in two of the online wagering sites.

Betdirect.net (as of 8:10 a.m. EST) has him at 6/4 odds, just ahead of Katharine at 14/5 and Taylor at 26/5. Who's bringing up the rear? Bucky at 100/1, just behind the 40/1 Lisa Tucker.

Bucky's also the heavy favorite to be banished this week at Pinnacle. (If one is favored to lose, does that truly make one a favorite? 'Jes askin'.) Guess the folks over there haven't heard of the trend. It's gonna be Ace, I tell ya'.

Bet on it.

With Ten You Get Tour

Somebody questioned the fairness of only allowing the top ten finishers to go on tour if the show is going to narrow the final field to twelve. Why not take all twelve?

That's a question we've asked for years with no clear answer. (So if anybody has the real answer, please share.)

The best we can surmise is that, in season one, there were only 10 finalists, so, in the second season, when they upped the field to 12 they may have just concluded that costs, staging, etc. made it easier with ten.

But the better (if somewhat cynical) suspicion is that the powers that be did not want to deal with Vanessa Oliverez, the first one booted in season two, so they cut the tour group at 10 to prevent her from qualifying. (Season two watchers might remember that Vanessa was scripted to smart off to Ryan during her first post-performance interview, which led to boos from the audience and, at least in my opinion, a premature exit from the competition.) That speculation might be somewhat credible, considering that Charles Grigsby, the 11th place finisher, was also excluded from the tour, even after Corey Clark was disqualified a couple weeks later. Grigsby could have been added to the tour in Corey's place, but wasn't, and possibly because the producers knew that the liklihood of Josh Gracin touring was remote. And one substitution would have led to a second, so the season two tour went with eight instead.

And it's been at ten since.

That probably didn't answer a dang thing, but I tried.

If you're new to watching American Idol, and you have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments. Somebody will probably have the answer.

If not, we'll make something up.