American Idol Season 8Top 36 Group 2 Results

The next three Season 8 finalists are:

Allison Iraheta
Kris Allen
Adam Lambert



Ryan Seacrest tells us there were 25 million votes this week. Next week they'll be lucky if there are 25 viewers. Alexis Grace, Danny Gokey and Michael Sarver are sitting on their silver "finalist stools" with three empty ones behind them. Who will fill them? Well, like last week, everyone knows with dead certainty who the top boy and top girl are. The only remaining question is who came in third.

The group number this week is Ne-Yo's "Closer." The singing isn't as painful as last week's group number, but the dancing might be worse. Even some of the girls (Allison Iraheta are you listening?) can't dance. Nick Mitchell is told to decides to show up as Nick Mitchell. But we know in his heart of hearts Normund Gentle is dying to pop out. He looks about as uncomfortable as a contestant can look during the dance number. Barely dances and even looks like he only knows some of the words.

Watch video of the Group 2 dance number to "Closer" by Ne-Yo

It's time for a commercial break, but not before Ryan warns us to stay tuned because a previously "unseen audition" from Season 8 will be hidden within the break. It's a mediocre audition -- nothing outrageously bad or good -- of someone we've never seen before and will never see again. They don't even ID the person. Nobody is going to fall for this pitiful producers' ploy a second time. Ha!

After the break, we sit through the inevitable recap of Group 2's performances. Then it's time to dim the lights and find out who tonight's first finalist is. Seacrest calls Allison Iraheta down from the bleachers, goes over her judges' remarks then tells her to step to the side. Next Jesse Langseth goes through the same process and finally Matt Breitzke. Knowing there was no way that Mishavonna got a finalist spot, we are hoping that perhaps Jesse had made the finals. Our hopes are dashed when Jesse is put in Allison's group. Allison is named Season 8's fourth finalist and reprises "Alone." It might even be better than her performance the night before.

Watch video of Allison Iraheta becoming a finalist and singing "Alone"

Next, Ryan calls Megan Corkrey and Kris Allen down to the stage. Hmmm, the two contestants who were less than stellar on Wednesday, but whom Simon Cowell was trying to get viewers to vote for. But wait! Ryan also calls down Matt Giraud and Jeanine Vailes, then says one of these four will join the Top 12. Well, it's a no-brainer that it's not Jeanine, and Ryan cuts her loose first. But an intriguing group is left. It has to include that elusive third-place finisher. According to DialIdol, the three remaining onstage most likely finished (given the margin of error), third (Matt G.), sixth (Kris) and seventh (Megan). (DialIdol had Jesse placing fourth and Matt B. finishing fifth, but they're already eliminated.) So, who will it be? Matt G. is cut first. We're back to Megan and Kris. And *Kris* gets the coveted fifth finalist's stool. That comes as somewhat of a surprise. He sings "Man in the Mirror" and it's still less than stellar, maybe even worse than Wednesday.

Watch video of Kris Allen becoming a finalist and singing "Man in the Mirror"

A lovely looking Brooke White returns to the "Idol" stage to sing her first single, which coincidentally was released Thursday on iTunes. She co-wrote the tune, called "Hold Up My Heart," and accompanies herself on piano. We nostalgically recall her Carole King-ish voice as she begins to sing, and think how not one of these contestants can hold a candle to last season's fourth-place finisher. We like the song. It won't be a power hit, but has a nice shot at charting.

Watch video of Brooke White singing "Hold Up My Heart"

Ryan tells us there are five contestants, one finialist seat -- and no drama -- left. Mishavonna Henson, Kai Kalama, Nick Mitchell, Adam Lambert and Jasmine Murray are called to the stage. Ryan goes over the judges' critiques with Mishavonna, Kai and Jasmine and they are quickly dispatched back to the bleachers.

Watch video of Mishavonna Henson, Kai Kalama and Jasmine Murray being eliminated

So, it's down to Nick and Adam. Does anyone in the entire world really believe that Nick will live to sing "And I Am Telling You" another time? Especially after the judges nearly peed their pants over Adam's performance on Wednesday? Drum roll. Yes, Adam the poseur gets the sixth Top 12 seat, but not before an annoying reprise of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." As Simon said Wednesday, it is a love it or hate it performance. We choose the latter.

Watch video of Adam Lambert becoming a finalist and singing "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"

Ryan then introduces the taped dance clip of the final 12 contestants, Group 3: Arianna Afsar, Ju'Not Joyner, Kristen McNamara, Nathaniel Marshall, Lil Rounds, Jorge Nuñez, Kendall Beard, Scott MacIntyre, Felicia Barton, Von Smith, Taylor Vaifanua, Alex Wagner-Trugman

Watch video of Group 3 dance

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American Idol Season 8Top 36 Group 2

We learned long ago never to say "Things can't get any worse," but we didn't think it would ever apply to "American Idol." Yet, just when we thought Season 8 couldn't get any worse, along comes semifinalist Group 2. They make Group 1 look like consummate professionals ... and, as a whole, Group 1 sucked. Ugh!

We don't understand some things. Such as:

• How could "music industry pros" Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Kara DioGuardi choose such a lousy group of 36 semifinalists out the over 100,000 who auditioned?


• How much were this season's earlier shows edited to make these contestants previously sound as if they could actually carry a tune in a bucket?


• And if the judges' decisions were so lousy (for the most part, even they don't like what they're hearing), why are they getting to choose the three Wild Card finalists instead of us? (Not that the public did any better by placing Michael Sarver instead of, say, Anoop Desai, in the finals.)

If we were king of "Idol" world, we'd fire all four judges for their lousy choices. But first we'd fire the producers for turning Season 8 into a hot mess by seemingly making it up as they go along. Everything this year is so scattershot that rather than looking like the No. 1 TV series it is, "Idol" comes off looking like a new series that is changing and experimenting week-by-week in order to grow audience and garner ratings. To wit:

• Who needed a fourth judge? Nothing personal against Kara, but has she really added anything to the show thus far?


• Why do they keep changing the seating order of the judges? This week the judges were back to what we're accustomed to, with (from the TV audience perspective) Randy on the left and Simon on the right. Why was it the reversed last week?


• Why did the order of the judges' critiques change? Randy began the review for the first contestant, Kara for the second, Paula for the third and Simon for the fourth. This is not as satisfying as hearing all the other judges then waiting for Simon's thumb up or thumb down opinion. Plus, as the night progressed, there was absolutely no sense of order as to who critiqued first.


• Why did the post-performance interview setup change? Last week, Ryan Seacrest did the contestant interview (usually with their parents) in the upstairs holding room. This week, interviews were conducted onstage and parents were restricted to the audience (which was better anyway).

Changes earlier this season were just as bad, such as having sing-offs (bad) in the gimmicky "judges mansion" (worse); removing Joanna Pacitti from the Top 36 after telling her she made it (bad), then replacing her with someone who was totally eliminated (Felicia Barton), instead of someone who lost the sing-off and theoretically was being still being considered as a semifinalist (worse).

And no one yet knows what next week's Wild Card round is going to look like. It changes by the hour. USA Today quoted Simon as saying that the wild-card picks wouldn't necessarily even come from the Top 36, while MTV News is saying that, according to an "Idol" spokesperson, each judge can pick two contestants from the Top 36, and those eight (or possibly nine) singers will perform on the one-hour March 5 show, with three advancing into the top 12.

Producers, stop acting like corporate America. A ratings drop after eight years was inevitable. Cease and desist with changing (and destroying) the core product in order to win more viewers and make more money. You're not only not getting more viewers, you're losing the people who put you on the top to begin with and still want to believe in the show -- but you're making it real hard for us.

So what has changed? We hate to admit it, as we always called him the master manipulator, but "Idol" is badly in need of the return of Nigel Lythgoe. He might be manipulative, but he also has an equisite sense of what works for the show and what doesn't. Simon Fuller, Ken Warwick and Cecile Frot-Coutaz would be wise to give Lythgoe anything he wants to entice him to return.

Jasmine Murray led off the performances with Sara Bareilles' "Love Song." Did she do that because Kara told Anne Marie Boskovich last week that she should sing a young, fun song such as that? Whatever the reason, it was wrong, wrong, wrong for Jasmine. We previously had high hopes for her, but the beginning of the song was awful (she has no low range) and the rest was off-key. A terrible disappointment from someone we thought was a shoo-in for the Top 12.

Watch video of Jasmine Murray singing "Love Song"

Although we weren't crazy about his audition, Matt Giraud started growing on us during Hollywood Week, especially after we he saw his rendition of Ray Charles' "Georgia." So we didn't know what to think when we heard he was singing Coldplay's "Viva La Vida." After all, he's no Chris Martin and their personal styles are at such odds. It didn't work ... at all. Matt's voice sounded too high and had too much vibrato (and we won't even go into the off-pitch parts). He needs to stick to bluesy numbers. When the judges tried to point that out to him -- Randy told him that Chris Martin wouldn't be singing Ray Charles, but Matt can and that he slayed "Georgia" -- he said "This is where I want to be as an artist. I want to do that type of music." Wrong answer, dude. As Simon said, making a motion to his mouth, "You should zip it."

Watch video of Matt Giraud singing "Viva La Vida"

But the worst was yet to come, in the form of Jeanine Vailes. Perhaps overreaching her skills because she's received absolutely no face time on the show (she wasn't even shown making the Top 36 until tonight's intro clip), she went with Maroon 5's "This Love." Now this is a song we love. We can love it even when it's not being sung by Adam Levine. For instance, we loved the Blake Lewis version of the song. But Jeanine? Uh-uh. Since we haven't seen her sing previously, it's hard to tell if she's always this bad. Off-key, pitchy, just stinko. Thank goodness she wore hot pants, because Jeanine has great long, shapely legs. It was the one positive thing the judges could find to say about her. The only thing.

Watch video of Jeanine Vailes singing "This Love"

If we're being honest, we wanted to turn off the TV when we heard that Nick Mitchell was up next. Hadn't we already been tortured enough? Our only hope was that maybe he'd actually sing. Not a chance. Not only did he come out in his Normund Gentle persona, we again had to hear "And I Am Telling You." Talk about a one-trick pony. It was somewhat funny at his audition, less so during Hollywood Week, but not at all during the semifinals. (During her critique, Kara even pointed out that Nick, like Simon, even wears the same shirt every week.) Perhaps he's incapable of memorizing the words of another song. Let's face it, at best, Mitchell is a cabaret act and that's not what "Idol" is. Sadly, we all know from the few brief moments we heard of "Amazing Grace," during his audition, that Mitchell can sing. But in his heart he's a clown. And we're not laughing anymore.

Watch video of Nick Mitchell singing "And I Am Telling You"

Allison Iraheta, like Jeanine, is also pretty much an unknown quantity, so we weren't expecting much, especially after her less-than-scintillating pre-performance interview where she had trouble stringing together enough words to form a sentence. But her rendition of Heart's "Alone" was actually pretty decent, even though she's not going to make anyone forget Carrie Underwood's version of it. Allison has a raw, raspy quality to her voice that is vaguely reminscent of Amanda Overmyer, yet it's slightly refined and controlled. It's the rough rock edge that Gina Glocksen always strived for, but never quite attained. In any event, the judges went overboard with praise, perhaps because it was the first acceptable performance of the evening. Any other year, it would have been deemed good, but not great. But this isn't any other year. It's the year of the talentless semifinalists.

Watch video of Allison Iraheta singing "Alone"

Though he had little exposure prior to this week, we still had great expectations for Kris Allen. We like his voice though previously we had heard only mere seconds of it. He's also cute, so we thought he'd be a favorite of the teen set. We weren't sure what to think of his choice of Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror." Choosing a Michael Jackson number is usually the kiss of death, and though a hit, it certainly wasn't one of Jackson's best. However, that might have worked in Kris' favor, as it is not as imprinted in people's minds as a song such as "Thriller" or "Beat It." No doubt, it started rough and Kris never quite shook out his nerves until very near the end of the song. Plus his bobbing while singing got us a bit seasick. But he had some nice notes on the back end and might do a lot better with a more thoughtful song choice. But will he get the chance? Not unless he makes it to the Wild Card round.

Watch video of Kris Allen singing "Man in the Mirror"

Though Kris' bobbing made us seasick, Megan Corkrey's strange body movements while singing we found just plain weird (it reminded us a teeny bit of Casey Carlson. What is it with these pretty girls?). We imagine if you merged the genes of Brooke White and Carly Smithson you'd get Megan. Pretty, sweet and blonde like Brooke, she also has a hippie vibe, yet her right arm looks to have even more tats than Carly's does. It's a somewhat unsettling contrast. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a voice as good as either. The judges, who love her, call her interesting, hip, cool, relevant and current. For the most part, they love her version of Corinne Baily Rae's "Put Your Records On." Us? Not so much. She had some nice moments, but some pitchy off-key ones as well. But we did get glimpses of what Randy called the smoky jazz tone of her voice. Yet when Kara said "You're what we call a 'package artist,'" we really got turned off. Kara continued, "You're very pretty, you stand out, you're unique, and with the right song, you could be a breakout hit artist on the radio." Notice DioGuardi never said anything about having a good voice or "mad skillz." And we think that's why there are so many bad semifinalists this year. Because the judges are focusing more on the package and less on singing ability.

Two final notes: We object to the way that Simon exhorted viewers to vote for Megan even though he wasn't pleased with her singing. This is the same way that Michael Sarver became a finalist last week. We hope the American public realizes how foolish they were to listen to Simon then and ignores him now. And, did Megan look pregnant to you, too (and we're not just talking about the dress style, but what appeared to be under it, as well)? Freeze the end of the video when there are only 48 seconds left.

Watch video of Megan Corkrey singing "Put Your Records On"

Next up was welder Matt Breitzke, who sang Tonic's "If You Can Only See." Again, we found ourselves at odds with the judges. Though they all seem to like Matt as a person, they all came down on him for a boring performance. Could it have been a bit stronger? Probably. But we heard true talent in his voice (not off-key or pitchy) that leads us to believe that he could be a recording artist whose releases we'd buy. He is one of our favorites, but is probably now roadkill after his less-than-enthusiastic reviews. We'd much rather listen to him than Michael Sarver. And not for the first time in this competition, we admired him for sticking to his guns about his song choice. After Simon totally trashed him about it, Matt said to him, "I appreciate that, I just disagree." And when Ryan later asked him if Simon would have tried to talk him out of singing that song would he have done it anyway, he answered, "Yeah, I probably would have done it anyway." Good for you, Matt. The judges know nada this season, anyway.

Watch video of Matt Breitzke singing "If You Can Only See"

Though she doesn't have the best voice in this competition (or even in her group, for that matter), there is something about Jesse Langseth that we find very appealing. She didn't hit a homerun (probably just a double) with her version of Kim Carnes' "Bette Davis Eyes," but we liked it nonetheless. And there is a fearless and open honesty about her that most other contestants don't have. When Randy gave her a vague, slightly negative critique, Jesse asked him for a clarification. And, surprisingly, she got one. Jackson told her, "Here's the deal. Vocally, I wanna see you stretch yourself. I want to see where the range can go. I don't want to see a cool performance that's a five-note range. ... It's cool, but it's like OK, what can she do? Does it show me who you are?" Now why couldn't he have told her that in the first place? And frankly, we think Jesse's vibe is more current and relevant than Megan's is. We're just saying ...

Watch video of Jesse Langseth singing "Bette Davis Eyes"

We were so rooting for Kai Kalama. We loved his audition, his look, just everything from his initial Season 8 appearances. But when we heard he was singing Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted?" we knew he was dead meat. Not because it's not a good song. It is. And not because he didn't sing it well. He did. But we knew with certainty that Simon was going to bash him and call it old-fashioned, especially after Kai sang "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" at his audition. Well, Simon didn't have to bash him. Kara did it first. First she told him he had some pitch issues, then said, "I think the song was a little old-fashioned for me. I'd like to see what you could do that's more contemporary ... because we really haven't seen that." Simon, of course, added, "It was very old-fashioned, I thought the performance was corny and I thought it was the kind of thing you would hear at a wedding or in a hotel. ... There was nothing distinct, nothing original and nothing really memorable about the performance, to be honest. It was sort of capable." Then the final kiss of death: "I think you'll be a very good backup singer." Oy.

Watch video of Kai Kalama singing "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted"

Next up was our -- not America's -- favorite performer of the evening, and it came as a surprise, because Mishavonna Henson is another contestant who was among the missing, on video at least, during the early rounds. When we heard she was singing Train's "Drops of Jupiter," all we could think is, "I hope she's better than Ace Young was." And OMG was she. She not only displayed great vocals, she finessed the song to her own style. She is one of a handful of the female contestants possessing any talent. We were awaiting the kudos from the judges. We still are. Sigh. You know you're in trouble when the critiques start with Paula and she's not even in your corner. Abdul told her she sang it well, but it just didn't excite her (well, it's not a vibrator). Simon also tells her she's a good singer, but she's too serious and something left him really cold about the performance. Then he asked her age. She says 18, and Simon tells her she acts like a 50-year-old. Huh? He wants her to be younger and a bit more fun. Obviously, Mishavonna's problem is she has more talent than package. Oy.

Watch video of Mishavonna Henson singing "Drops of Jupiter"

Somehow Adam Lambert in the pimp spot seemed so appropriate, but not because of his performance of The Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." Lambert is full of himself (are you listening Danny Gokey?) and, worse yet, so theatrical, that nothing rings true about him as a singer. He was strutting and posturing, but not in an authentic Mick Jagger way. Adam, whose background is musical theater, is a poseur. He is acting the rock star as a role. He isn't really one. Everything is facade. Of course, the judges went crazy over him. They could barely contain themselves. When Paula gave him a standing O, we did a Simon Cowell eye roll. Obviously the judges (read: producers) are conspiring to construct dreaming about an ultimate face-off between Danny and Adam. We're gonna be hating the finale if that's the case.

Watch video of Adam Lambert singing "(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction"

Tonight, the three more contestants are chosen as finalists. We predict they will be:
Adam *shock* Lambert
Allison Iraheta
Jesse Langseth

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American Idol Season 8Hollywood Week Day 4

Hollywood Week Day 4, and its time to trim the troupe even further after a solo performance by each remaining contestant. But this time they can be accompanied by a backing band, backing vocals and even play an intrument of their choice. Their song choices are once again limited to a list provided by the producers. Too many of the choices are songs made famous by former "Idol" contestants, and, well, they just sound wrong -- or worse yet -- bad, sung by other people. Whether this is yet another attempt to further promote the careers of former contestants that 19 Entertainment still manages is unclear. Yet there it is.

After the solos the contestants will be split into four groups and wait for hours in holding rooms outside the Kodak Theater where Hollywood Week has been held, while Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi decide their fates and whittle the remaining singers from 72 down to 50. All the wannabe stars will be trying to figure out whether or not they've been placed in a "safe" room by scanning who has been placed in there with them. But it could either way.

And as we watch the judges place pictures in "yes," "no" and "maybe" piles and then switch them around and around until they've reach what they feel is the perfect mix, we realize how arbitrary it can be whether or not you make it to the next round. In fact, at one point during the evening, we are shown footage of annoying drama queen Tatiana Del Toro being taken from one room and placed in another. The others in the room she is moved to are a bit stunned when she enters and now figure their chances of getting through have dropped considerably. Of course, we had hope this means that Tatiana is being cut (does anybody in the world feel differently about that?), until we scan and see the rest of the group includes Brent Keith and Matt Breitzke, two contestants we were fairly confident would be selected. On the other hand, there are a lot on unfamiliar faces in the room that we haven't, as yet, seen during the season. And, uh-oh, there's Nick "Normund Gentle" Mitchell. So which way will this room, designated Room 4, go? We're thinking cut.

But before we go through the drama of who will stay and who will go, we see and hear some of the solos. Performance order is determined randomly, by drawing numbers. "And drawing lucky No. 1," says Ryan Seacrest, "was Adam Lambert." Adam tells the judges he wants to be on the show to take a song "we've heard a million times and twist it." Er, where have we heard that before? Hmmm, could it be David Cook or Chris Daughtry? Adam's background is musical theater and he is still playing the role, complete with guy liner. He is a cute guy, but to this point we've found his voice, though good, to be too high for our taste. Will he change our minds when he changes up Cher's "Believe"? No. He does fine, but he still does nothing for us.

Watch video of Adam Lambert singing "Believe"

Dueling piano player Matt Giraud does a nice bluesy version of Ray Charles' "Georgia," accompanying himself on keyboard. He wasn't a favorite of ours when he auditioned, but has begun to grow on us the more we've seen him perform during Hollywood Week. His group, White Chocolate, did a great rap-sing version of "I Want You Back," and now this. We put him in our "yes" pile. The other contestants and judges love him, too. Randy, Paula and Kara give him a standing O. Simon? we don't think he stands for anyone, with the exception of the season finale.

Watch video of Matt Giraud singing "Georgia"

They came together from Milwaukee to Kansas City. Mo., to audition, roomed together in Hollywood, performed together in the same group on Group Day, and have seemed inseparable since the "Idol" Season 8 process began. So it makes sense that we'd see bartender Jamar Rogers and music teacher Danny Gokey perform one right after another on Day 4 (though we don't believe they actually picked consecutive numbers, this was just some creative editing). Jamar was up first, singing the Plain White Ts "Hey There Delilah." It's pleasant, but we're going to like a later version we hear better. The judges, particularly Kara, who screams "Wooooo" as he finishes, really seem to like him. But as he goes backstage, Jamar tells Danny he thinks he could have done better. Danny tells him, "What? Are you kidding me?" Now it's Danny's turn, and he sings Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance." We really like this song and have never heard a guy sing it, but Danny pulls it off with aplomb. He changes it up in a much better way that Adam changed up "Believe." Paula loves it so much, so looks like she's going to explode as he sings. Score! Will Danny and Jamar wind up in the same holding room? Will they be safe?

Watch video of Jamar Rogers singing "Hey There Delilah" and Danny Gokey singing "I Hope You Dance"

One of this season's favorites, Anoop Desai, takes on Bobby Brown's "My Perogative." He gives it a nice R&B sound, but when he starts pounding his chest as if he's from the 'hood, well we're just not buying it. He's way to innocent looking for that. Anoop is followed by Jorge Nunez doing "Closer" by Ne-Yo, and we like the tiny little snippet they show us from it. Paula is standing and dancing. Apparently she liked it as well. Anoop and Jorge have been given so much face time to date, it's hard to believe they're anything but safe.

Watch video of Anoop Desai singing "My Perogative" and Jorge Nunez singing "Closer"

Scott McIntyre, who is nearly blind, has also received a lot of face time during Season 8. He gets some more accompanying himself on the keyboard for Daughtry's "Home." Though we're sure that Scott will make the 36 semi-finalist cut -- if for no other reason than the producers will love the mileage they can get out of having a blind contestant -- we probably wouldn't place him there. Yes, we know, Scott has already recorded a gazillion records, but his voice is just so bland and undistinctive to us that we can't picture ever running out to buy, or even listen to, anything he records. It's like that easy listening background music they play in the dentist's office. It'll relax you when you hear it, but you won't recall it 5 minutes later. And, sorry, his version of "Home" was lame. Scott tells us after his performance that although he couldn't see it, he heard that Paula gave him a standing O and that means he had absolutely the greatest time of his life up there. No disrespect intended, but from what we viewed, the standing O looked as if it was given more out of respect for everything he's achieved in spite of his physical limitations, rather than for a "wow" performance. And make no mistake, most unlimited people -- including us -- haven't achieved anywhere near what Scott has, and we admire and respect him for that. But that alone is not enough reason, for us any way, to make it to the semis.

Watch video of Scott McIntyre singing "Home"

Next we get a taste of blond Texan Kendall Beard (Beard is such a not good last name for a girl) singing Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats." It's an object lesson in why contestants shouldn't sing songs recorded by former "Idol" contestants. Kendall may be able to sing, but she can neither get close to Underwood's clear beautiful voice nor Carrie's version of this song. All Beard demonstrates is how limited she is by comparison. At best, we'd put her in our "maybe" pile. But she is pretty and blond and, along with drama, that seems to be what the judges producers are looking for this year. Great voice optional.

Watch video of Kendall Beard singing "Before He Cheats"

We get about 16 seconds each of Stevie Wright singing Colbie Caillat's "Bubbly" and Lil Rounds, redeeming herself from earlier Hollywood Week shouting with Alicia Keys "I Ain't Got You." We want to hear more from both of these ladies and put them on our "yes" pile.

Watch video of Stevie Wright singing "Bubbly" and Lil Rounds singing "I Ain't Got You"

Ditzy drama queen Kristen McNamara is up next. But before she also proves our earlier point by singing Kelly Clarkson's "Because of You," Ryan decides to have a little fun with her. He asks Kristen why she never let fellow group member Nancy Wilson get to her. Kristen, who makes Kellie Pickler look like a brain trust, answers, "My mom always told me that loose lips sink ships," in a total misuse of the WWII catchphrase. Duh! Next, Ryan asks Kristen what she would say he told her that Nancy was sitting right behind them and wanted to apologize to Kristen. As you may recall, Nancy told Kristen "fuck you" after Wilson was eliminated on group day, blaming her woes on the drama caused by hysterical Nate Marshall and Kristin "I have to take a break and rest my voice" McNamara. Startled, Kristen swings around in her seat to see no Nancy sitting there. She turns back to Ryan and says, "That was a lie. My heart stopped," and hitting Ryan on the shoulder, "Ryaaaan." Kristen has a big 'ol voice, but she also has a distractingly big 'ol mouth, reminiscent of Steven Tyler. But in every way she lives up to "Blondie" appellation Simon bestowed on her on group day, so we figure that she's also probably safe as well.

Watch video of Kristen McNamara singing "Because of You"

To date, we barely seen more than a peek of Mishavonna Henson, who we find out auditioned and made it to Hollywood last season, where she was eliminated on Day 2. She tells us she's back this year with a vengeance. We weren't that impressed by her rendition of Michael Buble's "Everything." Some parts sounded good, others off. Vocally, it feels like Kristy Lee Cook all over again, though she looks more like Gina Glocksen with long hair. We'd put her in the "no" pile. But will the judges feel the same way?

Watch video of Mishavonna Henson singing "Everything"

Definitely in our "no" pile, in fact on the top and in first place, is pain in the ass drama queen and general all-around psycho Tatiana Del Toro, who again gets more face time than almost any other contestant. We'll be shocked if she makes and shocked if she doesn't. Please America, make a vow, now. If Tatiana gets through to the semifinals, DO NOT VOTE FOR HER. She would no doubt be the sweetheart of Vote for the Worst, but she must be obliterated ASAP. The producers subject us to nearly a minute review of how the judges have hated her from the beginning, leading to the question: Why the hell is she still here? At this point, there is no question in our mind that this is intentional and totally scripted. In a real competition the psycho would have been long gone. Are the producers trying to ensure that Tatiana will be the next contestant committing suicide outside of Paula's house? With her arrogance intact, she takes on Whitney Houston's "I'm Your Baby Tonight," including some of the backing vocals. The beginning is shaky, but the last notes are superb. Doing some weird twirling around backstage, she tells us, "I think I did awesome." We're being played by the producers, readers. Vote no, no, no, no, to infinity.

Watch video of Tatiana Del Toro singing "I'm Your Baby Tonight"

In stark contrast to Tatiana's 1 min. and 38 sec. showcase, a mere 35 seconds are given over to spotlighting Alexis Grace, Kenny Haufpouer AND Jasmine Murray. Hmmmm, that averages less than 12 seconds each. Alexis sounds slightly better than Kendall did on "Before He Cheats"; Kenny sounds interesting on his few seconds of Jason Mraz' "I'm Yours"; and Jasmine sounds off key on Jordin Spark's "Tattoo." Yet, at the beginning of the clip, Ryan says, "Three others who should also be happy with their performances ..." so we take that to mean all three wound up on the judges' "yes" pile. Alexis would have gotten a "maybe" from us, the other two a "yes," but for Jasmine it would have been based on prior performances, not on what we heard here.

Watch video of Alexis Grace singing "Before He Cheats," Kenny Haufpouer singing "I'm Yours" and Jasmine Murray singing "Tattoo"

In so many ways, Rihanna's "Disturbia" was the perfect song for drama queen Nate Marshall. He also gets too much face time so we can review his group histrionics intercut with his accompanying himself on guitar for "Disturbia." Frankly, we've never been much impressed -- actually more distressed -- by Nate. Therefore, he jumps over to our "no" list to keep Tatiana company. 'Nuff said.

Watch video of Nate Marshall singing "Disturbia"

Joanna Pacitti, a favorite of ours, has a disastrous solo, totally forgetting the words of "I Ain't Got You." We take our former "yes" vote and move her to the "maybe" pile. And elfin-faced Casey Carlson suffers the same fate taking on "Tattoo." She scuttles over to our "no" pile. If these ladies can't handle the pressure of Hollywood Week, how are they going to fare when they have to perform for all of America?

Watch video of Joanna Pacitti singing "I Ain't Got You" and Casey Carlson singing "Tattoo"

And the lyric fumbles don't end there. Stephen Fowler thought that the words would be the last of his problems for David Cook's "Time of My Life." Though he tells us the song isn't wordy or lyrically tongue-twisting, he forgot it still takes a memory, which temporarily seems to abandon him at the keyboards. He asks to begin again. Simon shrugs. Fowler screws up again and leaves the stage. Paula says, "Too bad." There's a voice there waiting to be heard, but we'll have to say "no" to Stephen this year.

Watch video of Stephen Fowler singing "Time of My Life"

Though we think there is a real voice hiding inside of Nick Mitchell, we've only been treated to the stylings of his alter ego, "Normund Gentle." Ryan tells us that Nick tried to be himself on group day, but wasn't taken seriously. Simon termed the group "atrocious" and said that Nick tried to influence the group to be a joke. Perhaps figuring he had nothing to lose at this point, it was the persona of Normund who took the stage and had the judges (well some of them, anyway) in stitches with his performance of "Georgia." But "Idol" isn't a sketch comedy or variety show, it's the search for the best pop singer. So what's up? Besides, Nick is a visual performer. How could he ever sell CDs? We put him on our "no" list, but are convinced that the producers will keep him, if only for the buzz and resulting ratings he'll generate.

Watch video of Nick "Normund Gentle" Mitchell singing "Georgia"

Anne Marie Boskovich also sings "I Hope You'll Dance," from what Ryan tells us, a very popular choice of the contestants. Though she's a bit off pitch in places, we like Anne Marie in the same way we like Brooke White, so we put her in our "yes" pile.

Watch video of Anne Marie Boskovich singing "I Hope You'll Dance"

As the hour begins to wind down, we hear JuNot Joyner, who made crashed and burned in Hollywood last year, singing the night's better version of "Hey There Delilah." There's something very engaging about JuNot and we think his voice could potentially prove to be gangbusters, so we put him on our "yes" pile.

Watch video of JuNot Joyner singing "Hey There Delilah"

In the same holding room are Kaylan Lloyd, who is concerned about her performance of "I Ain't Got You" and Leneshe Young, who sang Sara Bareilles' "Love Song." Though it wasn't a horrible audition, Simon ends Kaylan's performance early. It doesn't look promising and Kaylan tears up backstage and in the holding area. On the other hand, Leneshe sparkled on "Love Song." She's got a great voice, great personality and is adorable. Is Kaylan safe or is Leneshe inexplicably in trouble? We put Kaylan on the "maybe" pile and Leneshe on the "yes" pile.

Watch video of Kaylan Lloyd singing "I Ain't Got You" and Leneshe Young singing "Love Song"

In spite of adoring Kai Kalama's audition, this is the first time we've seen him during Hollywood Week and his voice is shot when he takes on Stevie Wonder's "Part Time Lover." We love him, but he goes on the "no" pile. In the holding room with Kai is oil roughneck Michael Sarver whose Hollywood Week has been smooth as glass. He has no trouble with O Town's "All or Nothing." Hmmm, is this good news for Kai? We move Kai to our "maybe" list and Michael to the "yes" list.

Watch video of Kai Kalama singing "Part Time Lover" and Michael Sarver singing "All or Nothing"

Last up is adorable India Morrison who, according to Ryan has "a trying audition." We are shown a few scant seconds and can't even decipher what song she is singing. But again, she's placed in Leneshe Young's holding room. Good for India, or really bad news for Leneshe?

Watch video of India Morrison

The judges have finished making their selections. Simon takes off for a flight London (oh, please), while Kara, Randy and Paula visit each room with their verdicts. First up is Room 2, whose occupants -- including Nate Marshall, Casey Carlson, Joanna Pacitti, Stephen Fowler, Alex Wagner-Trugman, Arianna Afsar, Kai Kalama, Alexis Grace, Michael Sarver, Jasmine Murray, Kenny Haufpouer, Von Smith, Ricky Braddy and Shera Lawrence -- rejoice when they learn they are safe!

Watch video of the verdict for Room 2

The occupants of Room 3 -- including including Michael Castro, India Morrison, Kaylan Lloyd, Leneshe Young, Ryan Johnson and Justin Williams -- are unnerved by the screams of happiness they hear, knowing their odds have just gotten a bit worse. And yes, worse they were. The room is cut.

Watch video of the verdict for Room 3

On to Room 1, which has been waiting the longest. But we are fairly sure that these are the safest of the safe, probably all garnering definite "yes" votes, as its occupants include Danny Gokey, Jamar Rogers, Kendall Beard, Kristen McNamara, Anoop Desai, Mishavonna Henson, Jackie Tohn, John Twiford, Taylor Vaifanua, Adam Lambert, Lil Rounds, Scott Macintyre, Stevie Wright, Jeanine Vailes, Ariana Asfar and Meghan Corkrey. And we are right. They are all safe.

Watch video of the verdict for Room 1

So what about Room 4? It's the biggest question mark of all. It includes Ann Marie Boskovich, Cody Sheldon, Tatiana Del Toro, Brent Keith, Jenn Korbee, Matt Breitzke, Jackie Midkiff, JuNot Joyner, Nick Mitchell, Felicia Barton, T.K. Hash, Devon Baldwin, Chris Chatman and Jesse Langseth. After hearing cheering in two other rooms, there is widespread uncertainly and gloom, nearing despair and almost wailing in Tatiana case (cut, cut, cut please). The room contains some seemingly definite yesses, but also some seemingly definite nos. Plus, there are a whole bunch we've never even seen perform this season. Fortunately, we didn't have to put money on it, 'cause we would have bet wrong. They also are safe! Only Room 3 cut.

Watch video of the verdict for Room 4

Tonight the judges narrow the field to the 36 semifinalists who begin performing for our votes next week. You won't want to miss it. Be there.

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