This Week In Tonight In American Idol: 21 February 2007 Edition

Okay, I'm back.

8:00 PM: Let's recap last nite, The guys sucked. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

8:06 PM: Ryan decides to pick a fight with the judges. They were too harsh last nite. Theme of the season. Simon: "Looking back at the performances, I couldn't remember half of the performances."

If you need a recap, your 12 final women are here. And here is my wrap-up of "semifinal 24" nite 1.

8:10 PM: votefortheworst.com, a website started 3 years ago to encourage AI viewers to, duh, "vote for the worst", to keep them around torturing America, have Antonella Barba & Sundance Head on the front page. For what that's worth.

8:15 PM: Finally, we start singing. Up first is Stephanie Edwards. She performed a song with which I was not familiar, but might have been Alicia Keys's Prince's [thanx, Sttaci!!!] "How Come U Don't Call Me". It's an awesome performance. All of the judges called it gutsy [you know, the girl version of ballsy] but good. Randy called it a "little pitchy in spots" but good. Paula called her "a star". Simon called it "a million times better than anything we saw last night". "You looked like you came out and said, 'I want to win American Idol'".

8:24 PM: Melinda Doolittle and Amy Krebs both lie through their teeth and say that the guys on Tuesday did a great job and "set the bar high". For Verne Troyer, perhaps.

8:26 PM: Amy Krebs is up next. She performs "I Can't Make You Love Me" by Bonnie Raitt. Amy also does a great job. The bar is higher tonite. But Randy calls it "boring" and "safe". The audience boos. Paula agrees [with Randy, not with the booing crowd]. Randy says: "she's better than the song she chose". Simon says she has "the personality of a candle". I love candles. I have lots of candles. None of them have personalities other than "Moody", "Relaxing", and "Spiritual". Simon doesn't like her, and he obviously wants her to go.

8:31 PM: Next up is Leslie Hunt. She performs "You Make Me Feel (Like A Natural Woman)" by Aretha Franklin. Very ballsy gutsy. Randy is disappointed. He brings out the "that song was too big for you" criticism again. Paula calls it "great" but also warns on the song choices. Simon says Leslie looks "embarrassed and ungainly" when she performs. Randy calls in Ryan to save Leslie.

8:41 PM: Next up is Sabrina Sloan. Sabrina performs "I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)" by Aretha Franklin. Randy calls it "the one to beat". Paula calls it "hot". Simon calls it "the best performance so far".

8:46 PM: Next up is Antonella Barba, the good singer but mean girl who got Baylie Borwn booted off. She performs butchers yet another Diane Warren song, "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing." Yes, this Oscar-winning piece of shiite was written by Diane Warren. Back to the judges -- Randy "keeps it real" -- "it was pitchy". Paula agrees it wasn't good, but calls Antonella "beautiful". Simon agrees "it didn't work -- it was way, way, WAY too big for you".

Memo to future AI contestants -- DO NOT sing Diane Warren songs if you are not Christina Aguilera, Sara Evans, or Steven Tyler, or maybe Phil Stacey. [See here: last item, "Phil Stacey".]

8:57 PM: Next up is Jordan Sparks. she performs "Give Me One Reason" by Tracy Chapman. Wow, that's a singer whose work doesn't appear on Idol too often, eh? All three judges are a little underwhelmed, but call her poised and comfortable and predict she'll make it through.

9:06 PM: Next up is Nicole Tranquillo. She performs "Stay" by Rufus & Chaka Khan. I think the performance is good, but my theory is that any song I have to Google is not a good choice. Randy doesn't like it either. He calls it "not a good choice". Paula agrees that it was a bad choice but a good performance. Simon makes it unanimous -- bad song choice. "It was not you". Randy adds that it was "too urban", which makes my head explode because "Mr. Dog Pound" is calling something "too urban".

9:16 PM: Next up is Haley Scarnato. Haley performs the craptacular "It's All Coming back To Me Now" by Celine Dion. Randy schizophrenically calls it "a good choice" but says Haley didn't "wow" him. Paula also criticizes the song choice. Simon says she sounded like a hotel singer. He says she has a good voice but sounded "old" on this song.

9:26 PM: Ryan spills the beans that AI3-winner-and-Oscar-nominee-Jennifer-Hudson-hating Fantasia Barrino will perform during tomorrow's results show. My sister said something "big" was in the works. I told her it couldn't be "too big", as it was only the first elimination show. Fantasia -- you tell me.

9:27 PM: Next up is Melinda Doolittle. Melinda performs "Since U You've Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson Aretha Franklin. Randy says she has "the natural gift". Paula calls her "a front-runner". Surprisingly, Simon agrees. He calls her one of the best of the first 2 nites and tells her he hopes she does well.

9:35 PM: Next up is Alaina Alexander. Alaina is a professional singer. Alaina performs "Brass In Pocket" by The Pretenders. I was never a fan of this song when I was a young lad, but I think it's a bad idea to cover Chrissie Hynde. Sorta like covering Whitney or Xtina. Randy says it "was not great". Paula says she didn't make it her own. Simon agrees: it wasn't "special".

Memo to AI contestants -- do not sing Chrissie Hynde. Ever.

In the after-judging-takedown, Ryan asks the judges what Alaina could do to make it through next week. Simon asks Ryan if he's "trying to date her". HA!!!

9:41 PM: Next up is Gina Glocksen. Unless you've been sleeping under a rock for the last few weeks, you know that Gina Glocksen is the most experienced Idol wannabe in this competition. Gina performs "All by Myself" by 100 different performers. Randy was pleasantly surprised. Paula too. Simon thinks she didn't nail it, "Celine Dion-wise", but it was "okay".

Gina Glocksen is the woman to watch.

My sister and I both agree that Gina has a higher bar to cover than the other competitors.

9:49 PM: Last up is LaKisha Jones. LaKisha does the ballsiest gutsiest thing of the first week -- she performs the Oscar-nominated "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" made [recently] famous by AI3 7th-place finisher Jennifer Hudson.

It is the best performance of the nite year.

She not only nails it, she...

Well, she nails it.

All of the judges love it. Simon calls it the best of the 24.

Which means she'll be gone in about a month.

Ladies and Gentleman, please allow me to introduce you to AI Season 6's "Mandisa Hundley"

*****

I agree with the judges and my sister -- the women are much better than the men this year. Let's see how that plays out over the next couple of months.

*****

Put a gun to my head. The bottom four should be: Antonella Barba, Leslie Hunt, Amy Krebs, & Nicole Tranquillo. If I had to pick 2 to go, I would say Antonella & Nicole.

*****

Tune in Thursday nite, and see how I did.