a hodgepodge of random thoughts...

It's always fun to gather information, opinions, suggestions and observations on the morning after performance nights. When one is watching, or trying to, writing, or trying to and constantly fighting off a pup who wants to take your socks off like now, I always seem to miss something. Heck, it wouldn't matter if I was watching without writing or defending my feet from the four-legged sock bandit - I always miss something that somebody else catches. That's why I tape.

I rewatched last night's episode in full this morning. And first things first: no way am I changing my prediction that tonight will be ladies night on the seal.

But I did see the Katharine flash that has so many people excited, mostly men. Unfortunately, that means I also saw the panty line too, the one that has so many people aghast, mostly women. Looked to me like she lost a button just as she was hitting the power notes and, unfortunately for her, not standing like a Grecian statue at the mic. Oopsie! Remember folks, always wear clean underwear, cause you never know when you're gonna pop a button in front of zillions of people.

And so okay, I did kinda re-evaluate my assessment of Kat's performance. Kinda. She remains fifth out of six though. I still think she oversang the most oversung song in Idol history. I think that's why I detested it last night. It wasn't so much her as it was the song, sung by Trenyce in season 2, Jennifer Hudson and Leah LaBelle in season 3, Vonzell in season 4 and now again. Holy Mother of Whitney, would somebody put a ban on that song already.

But I could help but picture poor little Lisa Tucker sitting at home in the OC just mumbling "that coulda been me..."

And I have now officially added Barbra to my list of forbidden artists.

Seems the opinion du jour is pretty universal: Paris is roadkill after tonight.

And the DialIdol results are quite intriguing, placing Paris and Pickler as the projected bottom feeders, but putting everyone else in pretty much a statistical dead heat. So, technically, if the vote is anywhere close to the dialidol predictions, the P sisters could be joined by Elliott, who gave the performance of the night and his seminal performance of the finals.

This is where the cynic in me starts boiling up, because, while I do believe that the bootee is determined by votes, because no matter who gets kicked in the shins, this show is not going to ever run the risk of imploding under a voting scandal, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't play a little bit with the others. And we all know they have their favorites. And I don't blame them for that either, cause whoever survives this game is gonna cost a fortune, so why not do all that's within the boundaries to hedge their bets.

Maybe it's me, but it seems that Pickler, once the darling of the show, is starting to be cast aside either in favor of Katharine, the superior vocalist, or the three remaining men. If the women are, in fact, the three bottom dwellers and Paris is the dead teen walking, will they want Pickler standing in the two, a sure bet to light a fire under her remaining fans, or might they want Katharine standing there at the end, to give her the voting boost that normally comes from a bottom two appearance? Wouldn't surprise me a bit.

But, of course, the show relishes those gaping mouth moments. Watching Paris sing over the credits while Pickler sits on the sofa with her snotrag, might just spark the Thursday morning watercooler outrage that has been sorely missing this season, much like last year's sixth-place ejection of fan fave Constantine while Scott Savol grinned from ear to ear.

Whatever the scenerio, for the first time this year, Pickler's future with the show appears genuinely in doubt.

I know people are blasting [again] Paula on her behavior last night, but she really did make some astute observations, even though most of them were extensions on Randy's remarks. She nailed Kellie precisely, telling her she hasn't raised, or even attempted to raise, the bar of excellence, even though we're at the final six. I like it when Paula gets critical, because otherwise, her fashion reviews or the ever-popular "You will be a star who will go far" rubbish is worthless. Plus her erratic behavior, as long as it's not a complete slap in the face to the kids as it was during the semi-final boot night disaster earlier this year, does make for some entertaining television.

And I know people are saying she was over the top with Elliott, and maybe she was, but I have to admit, I was dabbing a tissue to my eyes as well. It wasn't the song, or the power of the song, that I found emotionally grabbing; it was the performance, the switch, the blooming of the performer Elliott, right before my eyes, as opposed to simply the vocalist Elliott that I've adored since Moody's Mood for Love. He's been lauded for his pipes but blasted for his stiff stage persona, but finally he became a package. Full circle, some might say. Like I just did. Had a tear on the repeat too, but I still laughed at Simon laughing at Paula.

I don't know what's up with Taylor. Luckily his fan base is tenacious enough to keep him afloat, but it almost appears as though he's grown weary and even possibly bored. So many long-term contestants have complained of the fatigue factor as the weeks drone on. I hope that's all it is. After all, I've had weeks like that too.

So next week is when the contestants double up on their performances. No word yet on theme(s). Of course, last season there were double-themed nights, the first song of one genre, the second of another. We do know that Elvis is coming up, and I'm already coming up with my wish list for that night.

So that pretty much wraps up those random thoughts that swirl through my brain whilst I await another execution.

Got thoughts?