one less fanilow to warble...

It's execution night and time for one of the little Fanilows to get drop kicked to the curb, destined to keep on walkin' the line after midnight in the still of the night until he or she develops a fever. Oh boy. At least he or she won't hurt anymore. Or hurt us.

In my normal morning after cruising, I am seeing universal love for Mandisa's performance and a range of critiques for all of the others. After all, this IS American Idol. Nobody's supposed to agree.

There is rightful criticism, though, of the reviews for Chris Daughtry's performance. Unlike the week before, when he performed the Red Hot Chili Peppers version of a Stevie Wonder song, and made that clear, the fact that Chris actually performed a Live cover of Johnny Cash, all the while getting glowing remarks about originality and not compromising is smacking of duplicity. So, of course, I had to find Ed Kowalczyk's version of I Walk the Line, and sure enough, Chris did nothing more last night than cover a cover.

Now, I have no problem at all with contestants doing an alternative version of a theme night song, but, for those of us voters who may not know of another version (Carrie's rendition last year of Piece of my Heart comes to mind), to not mention or attribute the cover of a cover is a little sneaky. And certainly not original or uncompromising.

Whew. Got that off my chest.

And, as much as I consider myself a Fanilow, I really hope Barry stays in Vegas tonight. With only a half hour to cram in 17 minutes of commercials, another celebrity performance will mean another night without a crappy group number. And I miss the crappy group numbers. Never thought I'd say that, but without the crappy group sing, that means that the crappy commercial is the only thing I have to make fun of. And that's no fun.

Junkie to Idol: I will buy Barry's CD if I get a crappy group number. Thank you.

So, who's gonna be safe, and whose butt is getting close to the flame?

The safe ones are the usual suspects: Mandisa, Chris, Taylor, Katharine, Paris and Pickler. Ace is probably going to be okay too, considering fans don't like seeing their guy standing helplessly on the seal and tend to come out en masse the following week.

[Note: watch out next week for Ace, though, as he's following the path of both Amy Adams and Jessica Sierra, both put in the pimp spot on eleven night, after being in the bottom the week before. Each of them was booted in tenth.]

The ones most likely of standing with Ryan at the end of tonight's results are, of course, Lisa who will likely make a return visit, Kevin, who's perennially in trouble, Bucky, who really turned in a crappy performance and, unfortunately, Elliott, who is still struggling to find a fan base.

This season we have the benefit of Dial Idol who, after a little run-in with Idol attorneys, is back up, running its speed dialing software and giving us an unscientific idea of whose number carried with it the most and the least busy signals. Busy signals equal votes, the theory goes, so the fewer beeps, the fewer votes. It's an interesting theory and it's had a good success rate thus far, and if it's to be believed, Elliott is a goner, coming in last, so far behind the nearest contestant that he has his own zip code.

While it's an interesting topic of conversation, I still can't put my whole faith in its results, because there are so many variables, including text message votes, that aren't accounted for. I do, however, believe in a track record, and Dial Idol is earning one.

Therefore, because I've hedged enough, here they are:

Who I want: Kevin, Lisa, Pickler (Lisa)
Who should: Lisa, Kevin, Bucky (Lisa)
Who will: Lisa, Bucky, Elliott

And, despite what it appears, Lisa's schedule will suddenly be free.

So, what do you think?


tag: american idol