This Week In Tonight In American Idol: 1 March 2007 Edition

8:00 PM: We're back for elimination nite!

Ryan's rocking his "ooh, look, I didn't shave today" look!

8:07 PM: After the recaps, our 20 remaining wannabes perform "Joy To The World" as their group number. I realize there's "no pressure" on the contestants now, but if they would perform their competition songs with the same enthusiasm and abandon with which they perform these group numbers, they could really shake up the results.

8:13 PM: Whack time! The guys are up first. Phil Stacey: safe.

8:13 PM: Chris Sligh: safe.

8:14 PM: Sundance Head: safe.

8:14 PM: Blake Lewis: safe.

8:15 PM: Jared Cotter -- uh oh, Ryan makes him "join me" on the stage. Safe!

8:15 PM: Nicholas "Nick" Pedro: going home!

DialIdol had Nick at #9. Score one for DialIdol! I had Nick at either #7 or #8. Score none for me!

8:17 PM: Nick performs "Fever" one more time. I liked it better than his Tuesday nite performance.

8:19 PM: Hey, look -- Paula is dancing!!! Has that ever happened before???

8:20 PM: Jennifer Love Hewitt is shilling for Hanes. This commercial is for some comfy-fit bras or something. DHMBIB heartily approves of commercials featuring Jennifer Love Hewitt modeling bras.

8:23 PM: Okay, it's the women's turn. Stephanie Edwards: safe.

8:24 PM: Gina Glocksen: safe.

8:25 PM: Sabrina Sloan: safe.

8:25 PM: Melinda Doolittle: safe.

8:26 PM: Alaina Alexander: going home!

DialIdol had Alaina at #5. Score none for DialIdol. I had Alaina at #9. Score one for me!

DialIdol was way off, as I had hoped would be the case. There is hope for AI7 voters after all.

Later, I'll explain how DialIdol could have been so far off.

8:27 PM: Alaina is very unhappy. Time for Alaina to sing "Not Ready To Make Nice". Alaina immediately chokes up. She can't do it. The band keeps playing, and the rest of the women join her onstage and give her some backing vocal support and lots of hugs. Alaina struggles to continue, and mercifully the song comes to an end.

I'll cut Alaina some slack and not "critique" the performance.

8:34 PM: The American Idol Challenge thingy. "Which of these Idols had a big nite at the Grammys this year?" a) Taylor Hicks; b) Carrie Underwood; c) Ruben Studdard. Gee, i have no idea what the answer is.

Notice that voting in this contest is done *only* by SMS. This is the future of American Idol voting. I'll come back to this theme in my DialIdol breakdown.

8:35 PM: It's the return of Kellie Pickler!!! She looks to have gained a few pounds. And a set of twins. If you catch my drift. Cut to Simon -- whispering to Paula -- gee, did he catch this too?

8:36 PM: Ryan: "Have you spent any of the money on anything?"
Kellie: "I bought some shoes." Camera cuts to shoes as Kellie twirls to...model them???
Ryan: "Is that all?"
Kellie: "Yeah!"

Ryan is not so gay that he doesn't notice the twin 800-pound gorillas about to pop out of that blue dress.

8:37 PM: Kellie sings a new song called "Priceless" "I Wonder". It's not bad. She seems to have had a great deal of vocal training.

8:45 PM: Back to the whacking of the men, so-to-speak [whoa! -- Ed.]. Chris Richardson: safe.

8:45 PM: Brandon Rogers: safe.

8:46 PM: Only Sanjaya and A.J. remain. A.J. Tabaldo: going home! Sanjaya Malakar: safe. A.J. pronounces himself "shocked"!

DialIdol had A.J. At #7. Score none for DialIdol! I didn't rank the men, but A.J. was not in my "bottom four". Score none for me!

8:47 PM: All of the judges are shocked by this result, as A.J. performed well on Tuesday.

8:48 PM: A.J. performs "Feelin' Good" for, we can only hope, the last time for any contestant for the rest of the season. It's a good performance. And it shows why he should have stayed and Sanjaya should be gone.

8:53 PM: Back to the women. Lakisha Jones: safe.

8:54 PM: Haley Scarnato: safe.

8:54 PM: Antonella, Leslie, and Jordin remain. Ryan asks them to join him. Antonella Barba: safe.

8:55 PM: Leslie Hunt: going home. Jordin Sparks: safe. Leslie breaks down but is able to compose herself.

DialIdol had Leslie at #8. Score none for DialIdol! I had Leslie at #7. Score none for me!

Our final score -- it's a tie: DialIdol, 1 point [of 4]; DHMBIB, 1 point [of 4].

8:56 PM: Ryan speaks to the judges in American Idol-ese. "Did the right people get sent home tonite"? Simon can't contain himself, he laughs so hard. The judges and Ryan engage in their coded AI speak ["It's American Idol -- anything can happen"..."America, you have to vote for your favorite"...].

8:57 PM: Daughtry tells our evictees to go "Home".

8:59 PM: Leslie closes the show with yet another shitty version of "Feelin' Good". Sigh. But at least she still has a sense of humor -- instead of the "scat" from Wednesday, she scats "why did I decide to scat?". Good one.