American Idol Top 10 Spoilers

UPDATE: The source we trusted for the spoiler information now reports that most of it was incorrect. Instead of putting any more incorrect material out there, we'll just wait until after the show airs to update you again. Later ...

Here's an advance look at the order of the lineup for tonight's show, as well as what is going to be sung and worn by the contestants. If you don't want to know in advance STOP READING NOW!

Before we give you the rundown, here's the biggest surprise of the evening and a change in the current rules, according to idolforums.com:

The entire 10 performances fit into the full hour of the show. The extra seven minutes are actually for the return of a pretaped segment of recordings by Antonella Barba, Sundance Head, Sabrina Sloan, Jared Cotter, Stephanie Edwards and Brandon Rogers (a capella). Viewers will be able to vote on an 11th phone line for one of these people to join the tour (not return to the show)!!

And although Fox originally released the theme as pop songs, in an interview with ET online, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe said that tonight's theme is songs that have inspired Gwen Stefani:

ET: What theme nights produce better shows? A restrictive theme, such as songs of Diana Ross, or this week's pop-music theme, when the Top 10 could sing just about anything?

Nigel Lythgoe: This week, it couldn't really be anything, because it is artists that inspire Gwen Stefani. Gwen has given us a list of artists, so it is pinned down a little bit. I think for the contestants, it is much better when the genre is open. "British Invasion" turned out much better than we all dreamed, because a good song has the ability of changing and coming up to date. I love the older songs more because there is more melody there and a proper written song. So it has a verse, chorus and a bridge. It just makes it a little more interesting.

On the rating drop this season, Nigel said: Even if we lost 50 percent of our audience, we would still be in the top three shows in the country. I am not that worried. Everybody keeps telling me it has to do with daylight savings. Also, it affects the programs with [the highest ratings the most], obviously. To be honest about it, people are saying that this is not our greatest year for talent. I don't necessarily agree with them. I think we have five or six of the best singers we have ever had. If it is a bad year for talent, we will find out over the next few weeks.

On the advice from the judges: The great thing about this show is it is so subjective. The fun is in disagreeing with what people say. If I was a contestant and listening to everything that has been said over the past six seasons, I wouldn't know what to do from one week to the next. Because they tell you one week, "You're playing it safe." Then the next week, they say, "It is dangerous to do this." Then, "You have chosen the wrong song." It is a tough one. You just have to get out there and sing people's socks off. End of story.

On which contestant has surprised him this year: Jordin continues to surprise me. I am watching her grow week-on-week from this 17-year-old that I saw a number of years ago when she auditioned for "American Juniors." I am watching a young lady come to fruition.

On genres not yet done he'd like to see: I would love to do The Eagles, the music of The Beatles, and there are a number of songwriters -- the lyrics of Hal David, Carole King -- anything that gives the contestants really good melodic songs to sing and a wide choice. I hate pinning them down too much.

On whether he laughed at the "Saturday Night Live" Sanjaya bit: I don't need the thick skin. Sanjaya needs the thick skin. I am old school, so anytime my shows are talked about I am happy in whatever way it is discussed. I will always defend anything on my shows if I feel it is defensible. "SNL" has often had pot shots at us and we have always enjoyed it. Part of our humor here is making fun of ourselves, so it really doesn't worry me that anybody else makes fun of us. (Watch the hilarious SNL bit below. Here are links to SNL videos of Carrie Underwood on the same show singing "Before He Cheats" and "Wasted.")



On whether Taylor Hicks will be on the show this season and what Lythgoe thought of Hicks' CD: Of course [he'll be on the show]. Taylor Hicks is our "Idol" this season. I haven't heard [his CD] it, to be honest.

Is it unusual that he hasn't heard Hicks' CD: No. Kelly Clarkson's I heard. Carrie Underwood's. I haven't heard Fantasia's, Ruben's or Taylor's. I haven't heard an awful lot of the other releases. It is not my type of music, to be frank with you. I like more middle-of-the-road stuff. When they leave us, they go to different genres. I like country, which is why I played Carrie. I wanted to see where Kelly was going because she was our first Idol. I have very little time to listen to outside music. I am constantly listening to the music that we are doing that week, and trying to get everything downloaded to give the kids as wide a choice as I can.

Tonight's performance order, songs, clothing and YouTube.com links (when available):

1. LaKisha Jones - "Love Has a Mind of Its Own" by Donna Summer (very long blue dress, jewlery all over)




2. Blake Lewis - "Love Song" by The Cure (black pants, white dress shirt)



3. Jordin Sparks - "Hey Baby" by No Doubt (pink dress that splits down the legs)



4. Chris Richardson - "Don't Speak" by No Doubt (black shirt, black shorts, bandana)




5. Gina Glocksen - "Just Like a Pill" by Pink (black tank top, white skirt)




6. Phil Stacey - "Every Breath You Take" by The Police (blue shirt, black pants)




7. Haley Scarnato - "True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper (long pink dress)




8. Sanjaya Malakar - "Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5 (tight black pants, puffy blue shirt)



9. Melinda Doolittle - “Sunset People” by Donna Summer (huge gown, bigger then Lakisha’s, red)



10. Chris Sligh - "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" by The Police (brown shirt, black pants)



The Ford Video: "Push" by Matchbox 20, which breaks into "Love Will Save the Day."

We're puzzled as to why Melinda and LaKisha have chosen obscure Donna Summer songs. Although they'll no doubt (ahem) sing the heck out of them, in the case of Idol familiarity seldom breeds contempt -- it usually garners votes. So we think these choices could hurt the two divas.

Listening again to the selections the other contestants have chosen, they all seem voice-appropriate and we are forecasting another good night of music for Idol. We do worry about Haley's pick of "True Colors." Although we love the Cyndi Lauper song, we seem to recall Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" as the Idol Kiss of Death for Nadia in Season 4 (or maybe it was her Mohawk that did it).

We're thrilled to see Sligh in the pimp spot and hope he finally proves to viewers what a great voice he has. We've known it for months, but he didn't really start demonstrating it until he sang "She's Not There" by The Zombies last Tuesday. We also hope the pimp spot means that he's been forgiven by the show's executive producers for his "Hi Dave" Vote for the Worst shout-out last week. It would be horrible if they were to set him up in the pimp spot and then eliminate him the next night (but keep in mind that Idol does love to shock viewers and nothing would be beyond belief at this point -- especially with the change in rules for the tour being initiated tonight). All we can say is "Go Sligh!"

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© 2007

Male TV Critics Support Sanjaya

OK, is it just us, or have all the male TV critics gone on a stop-picking-on-Sanjaya-Malakar campaign? First it was Verne Gay in Newsday who wrote last Tuesday:

"Every season, there is someone from the top 12 who must absorb the body blows from the 'Idol Nation.' This season, it is the burden of one Sanjaya Malakar, 17 years old, from Federal Way, Wash. - he with the hair, and the hula, and the smile so wide and so preternaturally bright. Turn anywhere - to any paper, radio station, Web site or TV channel - and the water is chummed, boiling with sharks. ... So today, something radically different: A fresh appraisal. I'm going to vote for Sanjaya tonight and not because votefortheworst.com told me to. Even if - or when - he butchers his song, I'm going to vote for him because he's got heart - and courage and moxie and class. Whether we're willing to admit it or not, he's got talent, too. I'm going to vote for him because when I was 17, I barely even made it to class, much less subject myself to the abuse of an abuse-happy Idol Nation."

Bleech. Should we seat you next to Ashley Ferl this week? You, she and Argentina can all cry for Sanjaya together. And as if that wasn't enough, on Friday People magazine's Tom Gliatto jumped on the sensitivity bandwagon with this:

"Hey! You! America! Leave the kid alone! If the huge force mobilized against Sanjaya Malakar doesn't back off, I hope he wins the whole competition. I'm sorry to say that, Melinda Doolittle, but when someone on MySpace announces a hunger strike until Sanjaya is voted off, then I say things have gone too far. Note to the MySpace protester: You know what? I might go on a hunger strike until you end yours. [Like anyone cares, Gliatto]. If I have to weigh my own need for nutrition against Sanjaya's need for support and tolerance, there's no question: No carbs for me. I just don't get it. If a polling outfit could take Sanjaya's approval rating it would probably be lower than President Bush's, and yet why the hostility? Why the hysteria, the anger? He's a 17-year-old singing his heart out, and missing and sometimes quashing notes in the process, but he can dance, he can rock a little. And every Wednesday morning the poor guy has to wake up with that hair falling over his eyes and the thought that probably millions of people are gossiping about his performance the night before and wishing he were the one about to be voted out. I can't stop thinking of the last thoughts of the doomed narrator of Camus' The Stranger: 'I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.' Now read it again, only imagine it's Sanjaya talking. There's no need for hate, America. As Diana Ross herself said: 'Sanjaya is love.' "

You see this Gliatto? It's the smallest violin in the world and it's playing the saddest song in the world just for you. Wake up! How melodramatic can you get? Malakar put himself on the line -- tried out numerous times -- in the hopes that millions of people would be gossiping about his performance the next day. Of course, he was hoping it would be good gossip, and if he had done well, they would be saying about him what they're saying about Jordin Sparks, the other 17-year-old in the competition. And you wouldn't be writing your column. As Simon Cowell has said, "This is a talent competition, and some people were very good ... some people were dreadful."

People who try out for Idol know they will be subject to ridicule, whether they are 16 or 28. It's part of the game, and if you don't want to risk it, don't play. No one put a gun to Sanjaya's head to try out, and if his parents felt he was too sensitive to take the criticism or ridicule, they should not have signed a consent agreement to let him appear on the show.

Should humans ridicule others humans? Probably not, but how come you haven't written columns about Don Rickles? He's made a career out of snarky. And when was the last time you chastised Letterman, Leno, Kimmel or Conan for doing the exact same thing in their monologues? Is it better to make fun of the poster children of dysfunction, such as Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan?

And don't forget, all of the Sanjaya ridicule is packaged in tons of teenage adulation. You can't have one without the other. Is it better that a million teens unrealistically tell him he's the best singer in the competition just because their hormones are beginning to kick in? You don't think that's going to let him in for a fall when they don't remember his name a year from now? Where are all your columns on how unfair it is to be a child star and have everyone forget you after your 15 minutes of fame are up? So stop crying for Sanjaya. If he can't take the heat, no one's chained him to the kitchen.

P.S. And you know what? Malakar's ultimately going to make more money off this Idol gig than you two guys are going to earn in your lifetimes -- combined.

... And speaking of voting for Sanjaya, VFTW has partnered with AskMeNow! to bring VFTW updates to your cell phone. People who sign up will receive Sanjaya's phone number as a text message on Tuesday nights in case they can't watch the show. They'll also receive results on Wednesday nights. The service is free, but standard text messaging rates apply.

IDOL BABY PICTURES

Last week AmericanIdol.com posted two baby pictures of each of the 12 finalists, promising they would reveal who was who in a couple of days. They still haven't ID'd the photos. Here are photos (our guesses next to each picture):

Melinda Doolittle
Chris Richardson
Jordin Sparks
Blake Lewis
Phil Stacey
Sanjaya Malakar
Stephanie Edwards

Gina Glocksen
Melinda Doolittle
Chris Sligh
LaKisha Jones
Brandon Rogers
Haley Scarnato
Sanjaya Malakar
Haley Scarnato
Chris Sligh
Phil Stacey
Brandon Rogers
LaKisha Jones
Blake Lewis
Jordin Sparks
Stephanie Edwards
Chris Richardson
Gina Glocksen










MORE COWELL CONTROVERSY

Simon Cowell involved in controversy? It's certainly not a stop the presses moment. Except this time it's in the UK and involves Randy Jackson. Huh? Well, you see, Randy Jackson has been lined up to appear on the British TV talent show "The X Factor," produced by Simon Cowell's company. Jackson is pumped about the opportunity, saying, "I would love to do it. I can't wait to come to London. It will be a fantastic opportunity. I love working with Simon. We're great friends." Jackson is set to replace Irish music mogul and axed panel member Louis Walsh, whose departure from the series was announced earlier this month.

And that's where Simon comes in, or, well rather didn't according to Walsh, who was fired by the producers without a word from Cowell, who also appears as a judge on the series. According to Entertainmentwise.com, Cowell originally admitted he should have talked to Louis Walsh over his sacking as an "X Factor" judge. "I should have called Louis - he has every reason to believe he's been stabbed in the back. At some stage we are going to have a conversation and I’ll see how he feels. But he's got to get off his chest what he wants to get off his chest - he thinks I stabbed him in the back." Cowell was less kind about fellow judge Sharon Osbourne, who accused him of being a "coward," saying "Sharon hasn't called me and she doesn't know the facts. Unless you know the facts then she shouldn't say what she said."

Walsh ultimately landed a role on the forthcoming BBC talent show "Any Dream Will Do," which features young hopefuls auditioning for the lead role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." But the continued negative publicity about the incident seems to be getting to Cowell. According to Contactmusic.com, Cowell is sick of Walsh's claims that Cowell had him axed from the hit show - insisting he fought to save the Irish music manager's job. "What Louis doesn't know is that he had one defender in that room of seven or eight people and that was me. The only one who defended keeping him on. When Louis wants to get over this and call me and actually find out what happened, I'll tell him. I think he wants to believe there was this horrible conspiracy, that I was wielding the axe. It wasn't like that. Louis was told about 12 hours after I was told. All this stuff saying we knew for weeks is complete and utter rubbish."

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© 2007