8 girls, 6 spots: against all odds...

So the semi-final performance episodes end with eight girls just wanting to have fun dancing with somebody to the beat of the songs of the eighties.

Next week - the big stage.

The girls didn't deliver, as a group, as entertaining a show as their male counterparts the night before, but despite two Whitney songs, one Celine song and one song I never want to hear again ever ever in this or any other lifetime, it was, to date, their best outing.

Because THIS is American Idol. And sometimes they're good. Sometimes they're great and, well, sometimes Paula is coherent.

In fact, I found myself more annoyed with the judges, who wasted precious time in yet another one of their "it's all about us" modes. Thought this year it was going to be all about the kids. Alas.

Nonetheless, here are my reviews, a day late as usual but as always, from worst to first.

Kady Malloy (Who Wants to Live Forever). And to think I cringed a little when Miss Kady took on Heart last week. Imagine what happened to me when I found out she was doing Queen. Even though it was an improvement over the unspeakable act she committed the week before, she didn't deliver anything close to saving her chances to advance to the finals. But I said that last week, so no promises.

Ramiele Malubay (Against All Odds). I hate this song with the intensity of a trillion Easy Bake Ovens. I hated it when Corey Clark sang it; I tolerated Scott Savol's version, and I detested Kat McPhee's. On the hate-o-meter, Ramiele's version falls somewhere between zero and Savol. I won't even try to critique her vocal skills, because I doubt that the next time (God forbid) I have to pull out the Against All Odds Crappy Troop, I'll have forgotten she did it. It was that good.

Kristy Lee Cook (Faithfully). Actually I didn't find her country-fried version of Randy's Journey hit too terribly offensive. I just didn't find it all that good either. Kristy needs, if she survives this week, to establish herself very firmly as this season's country singer. And this, while a modest attempt to do that, didn't fully do so.

Asia'h Epperson (I Wanna Dance with Somebody). Asia'h starts the show with a Whitney number, but fortunately for us, it's not one of her "loud" ones. Asia'h is okay in a sweet, bouncy sort of way, but her version of this song lacked any sense of originality or spark. The judges say she's earned a spot into the finals, despite calling her effort "second-rate Whitney Houston." She may have earned a spot, but I'm not sure she'll get one.

Syesha Mercado (Saving All My Love For You). Again, luck prevails when Syesha, who insists on diving head first into the Whitney book of 80s songs, doesn't pull out one of the "loud" ones. And so we begin the show with a Whitney song and we end the show the same way. Like Asia'h, Syesha doesn't do anything terribly unpredictable with the song, but unlike Asia'h who kicked off the night and was likely forgotten seven performances later, Syesha benefits from the anchor spot, one and two-word concise judging assessments, the close of the show and the opening of the lines. She's lucky.

Brooke White (Love is a Battlefield). Brooke forgoes the instruments this week. She forgoes most of the band. She forgoes her feet too! Sitting on the edge of the eyeball stage, she turns this Pat Benatar classic into a sad, lingering, almost-folk ballad. Randy and Paula are so-so on her arrangement, but Simon brightens her face, calling it her second straight great performance. I concur with Simon.

Amanda Overmyer (I Hate Myself for Loving You). I am already trying to figure out which Beatles song Amanda may pull out of her hat if she makes it that far. After last week's poor song choice meets poor song performance disaster, Amanda gets back into her rocker groove and pulls out all the stops to go from almost worst to almost first in the matter of seven days. The unfortunate thing for her is that she is turning into the one-trick pony Simon feared, even though he lavishes her with praise. She is obviously taking her critiques to heart, though, as she toned the cosmetics and softened the hair, showing off how really pretty she is. Now if she would just pretend to be happy to be there. Baby steps.

Carly Smithson (I Drove All Night). Okay, so this is technically a Cyndi Lauper song, but Celine worked better in the intro. Shoot me. I'm not the biggest Carly fan, so it takes a superior effort for her to take top honors from me. Despite the sleevelessness, which I find myself distracted by, Carly does put this song in its place without hitting a bump or a single pothole.

Tonight is final 12 night. I pegged Luke and Chikeze to be without seats. The women are bit more tricky, and I would like for more than two to leave. But them's the rules.

Who I want: Kady and Kristy.
Who should: Kady and Kristy.
Who will: Kady and Asia'h.

See you tonight.

10 girls, 8 spots: i sing opera...

The 1970s was a good decade. Too bad Wednesday night's girls got totally cold-cocked by them.

I've seen some bad semi-finals rounds. And last night ranks right up there, once again making me loathe this unfortunate need for gender equity on this show.

Let's hope it was just the flu. Or Mercury in retrograde. Or global warming.

Because THIS is American Idol.

And these are my impressions, after subjecting myself to two viewings of each performance, and, as always, from worst to first.

Kady Malloy (Magic Man). Honestly, I didn't think anyone could or would deliver a more out-of-tune, poorly-chosen and poorly-delivered performance than the rocker nurse. Boy. When I am wrong, I admit it. If Kady continues past tonight, it's on the basis of pity. And I'm going to stop there while I'm still being kind.

Amanda Overmyer (Carry On my Wayward Son). Holy Mother of God, what has this girl done with her hair? And what has she done with her skill? Maybe she was distracted about being this year's first scandal victim, but I can count on one hand how many notes she delivered that were actually in tune. I've seen bad, and this ranks right up there. In fact, if I knew how to spell the sound of agony, I'd be able to describe the sound that came out of my pup during this performance. If Amanda stays past tonight, it will be on the strength of the VFTW vote.

Alaina Whitaker (Hopelessly Devoted to You). I was hoping we'd get through the night without having to hear this oversung song. Nothing was right with this performance, from the hair to the wardrobe to the song choice to the song delivery. But following Amanda, it wasn't all that noticeable. Now will somebody please remove all songs from Grease from the available songlist? Thank you.

Kristi Lee Cook (You're No Good). Kristi Lee is a tomboy, she assures us in her pre-performance clip. Maybe she was too busy fishing to dig deeper in the 50-title deep catalog. I didn't like this song when it was first recorded; I detest it now. Even the growling didn't rescue this effort, even though, as the judges pointed out, it was light years better than her effort last week. Simon reminds her that she's this year's token country music rep. She promises to represent next week. If she's still there, that is.

Syesha Mercado (Me and Mr. - formerly Mrs. - Jones). This was just dumb. The key to the song - the thing that makes the song make sense - is the Mrs. And Syesha tries to turn it around. She loses points just for that. And then she didn't sing it all that sexily, but again, on a night like this, she's better than most.

Asia'h Epperson (All By Myself). After totally swallowing the second note, Asia'h tries her best to rebound, taking what should have been the Eric Carmen version instead of attempting the diva version. Simon informs her she's not a good enough singer to take on Celine. I'm not sure she's a good enough singer to take on Eric Carmen.

Ramiele Malubay (Don't Leave Me This Way). Geesh. And I really thought we'd get through the 70s without having to hear disco. Everything that Ramiele kicked butt with last week she seemed to leave in last week. But I still love her and firmly believe she's in no danger of leaving anytime soon.

Alexandrea Lushington (If you Leave Me Now). Something about Alex-and-Rea's outfit (which was FAB) and this song just didn't match. But whatever. Up till now, I've liked the richness and strength of her voice, but this performance came across as too thin. Randy whips out the "safe" attack. He's exactly right.

Carly Smithson (Crazy On You). Carly starts the show whipping out this Heart song because she says she loves them and this song is one of her all-time faves.. And the anointed one, who served up massive disappointment last week, redeems the judges (and producers') faith in her. It wasn't an Idol-winning worthy performance, but on a night like this, it was good enough. Simon says she's the girl to beat, but he prods her to find better songs. Note to Simon: they sing what you let them sing.

Brooke White (You're So Vain). She's just so cute! Brooke needs to find any and every reason, excuse and loophole to keep getting those Carly Simon/Carole King songs. She is perfect in that mold, and, with guitar in hand, turns in the best performance of the night, virtually assuring herself a ticket to the big stage.

So who's staying and who's leaving. I think VFTW will save Amanda, so my money is on Kady, who should be kicked off twice just on principle and - geesh just flip a coin - either Alaina or Asia'h.

So, who's on your short list?

12 girls, 10 spots: it's like christmas...

The flu was the star of Wednesday's first female semi-final, as many of the ladies were reported to be at death's door just prior to belting out the songs of the 60s in the hope of advancing to next week when the theme will be heaven knows what.

Some of them pretty much assured themselves of moving into next week and possibly onto the summer tour, while a couple pretty much assured themselves of having next Wednesday free.

Because THIS is American Idol.

And this is my assessment of the first female outing, a little late, as will be the custom this season, but, as always, from worst to first.

Amy Davis (Where the Boys Are). This song can be done well. It can be. It wasn't. At all. Enough said.

Kristy Lee Cook (Rescue Me). Kristy Lee, who has sickness written all over her face and gets zero sympathy from the judges, has to lead off and fulfills the prophecy. She's begging to be rescued. So am I.

Joanne Borgella (Say a Little Prayer for You). No mention of illness for Joanne, and that's too bad, because it would have been a plausible explanation for what she did to this Dionne Warwick classic. Randy says the first half was bad, but the second half okay. Simon says the second half was worse than the first half. I put them both together and call the whole thing wrong.

Kady Malloy (Groovy Kind of Love). Kady picks another one of my favorites, but slows it down to the point that it took a few bars to recognize it. This is not a ballad, Kady. Randy is exactly right that the song had a start, middle and end that never varied. That equals boring. The most enjoyable part of Kady's stage appearance was the look that could, shoulda, woulda struck Simon dead.

Brooke White (Happy Together). Another retread from the boys night before, but no complaints from me because I love the song, and I enjoyed both performances, although I think Brooke could have ended with a word other than "baa."

Alexandrea Lushington (Spinning Wheel). While Randy and Paula were drooling over this performance, I found myself siding with Simon. I love Alexandrea's attitude, but the vocals and the arrangement of this number just left me unsatisfied. But Alexandrea (and I'm practicing saying the name) should advance based on the poor performances that preceded her and her winning style. I'm sold.

Alaina Whitaker (More Today than Yesterday). With only 50 songs from which to choose, it was inevitable that some of the gals would repeat selections from the guys. Alaina drop kicks Chickeze Eze's version, and, for the first time, leads me to think that another teenager could just slip through to the finals.

Syesha Mercado (Tobacco Road). My biggest issue with Syesha is her need to sing at the constant level of loud. She has proven she's got a great voice but she, like Amanda, needs to color it up a bit. But I don't think she has any fear of leaving anytime soon.

Carly Smithson (The Shadow of Your Smile). I love this song. And with as much hype that Carly has gotten since day one of this season, I really was hoping for a great rendition, especially since the apparent anointed one was given the pimp spot, and after Ramiele had already proven that staying true to the simplicity of the melody can pay off ten-fold. Randy and Paula's drooling aside, Simon was right: it just didn't live up to any semblance of expectation.

Amanda Overmyer (Baby, Please don't Go). Amanda tells us pre-preformance that she's going to boycott the Janis catalog, on the advice of Simon. So she scats through, impressing once again and, for the first time, delivers a friendly, funny and animated post-performance interview. I really hope, though, that she switches up the hairstyle, because I find it distracting.

Asia'h Epperson (Piece of my Heart). Asia'h picks up the Janis catalog that Amanda threw aside and delivers, possibly, the best big stage version of this song that the show has seen, both vocally and performance-wise. Simon calls it his favorite of the night, and on a night that Simon is being stingy with praise, that's saying a lot.

Ramiele Malubay (You Don't Have to Say You Love Me). This performance may have just plopped her at the top of my favorites list. Proving that ballads don't always have to bore, Ramiele grabbed my attention and never lost it. Excellent.

And here I didn't think the girls could be any worse than the guys. They weren't worse, certainly, but they weren't a whole lot better either.

So who leaves? With any luck, we will be waving bye to Amy Davis and Kristy Lee Cook. But, my money will be on Amy and Joanne, since Kristy needs to buy back her horse.

So, who leaves tonight? I will be simulblogging the results, so, if you want to join - or want to be spoiled - stop by and dish with me.