Guest blogger: Angela on this week's American Idol

American Idol – “The Final Judgment”

Want to turn an episode of American Idol into a drinking game? Try taking a sip every time Ryan Seacrest uses the phrase “the final judgment” during these last episodes of Hollywood week. You’ll be passed out on the floor by the end of the night! Luckily I did not participate in said drinking game Tuesday or I wouldn’t be able to type this entry. Without even trying, I noticed the phrase at least half a dozen times in the course of the 2-hour episode, including 3 times during one 15-minute interval. Ryan, I love you dude, but you (or whoever writes your scripts) have to work on your phrasing. You talk for a living; surely you can come up with something less redundant.

Anyhoo, on to the competition and the moment we’ve all been waiting for: the revelation of this season’s top 24! As all American Idol fans know, the road to superstardom passes through one of three stark holding rooms in Hollywood. Every season when the contestants are split up into the infamously ominous waiting rooms, we all try to guess which ones are safe (for now) and which one is going home. I didn’t need to see yet another Hollywood week recap to predict what was going to happen next. This year it was obvious that room 1 was the “definite yes” group with the likes of my early favorites Casey James, Todrick Hall, Tyler Grady, Andrew Garcia, Katie Stevens, Jermaine Sellers, Crystal Bowersox, Michael Lynche, and Katelyn Epperly. When room 2 was first announced, I didn’t see any of my personal “auditioners to watch” in the bunch, so I assumed (correctly) that was the “definite no” group. I later realized that Tasha Layton and Bryan Walker, two of my faves from LA and Atlanta, respectively, were in room 2 and were unfortunately eliminated, but the overrated and overconfident Mary Powers (rocker mom) and Hope Johnson (mature-sounding 16 year old) were thankfully gone as well. Room 3, then, was the “maybe/yes” group featuring audition standouts Haeley Vaughn, Jessica Furney, Didi Benami, and Janell Wheeler as well as several singers who had performed inconsistently throughout Hollywood week. I was happy to see that not only had I correctly predicted which room would be sent home, but also that many of my favorite singers had survived the almost-“final judgment” and were still in the competition.

But even after the room results were announced, that still left 46 contestants in the quest to become the next American Idol. That’s 22 too many for the semi-finals which begin next week. Hence the next phase of the competition: the judges deliberate yet again to whittle the field down to the top 24, the actual “final judgment.” It’s odd that the producers decided to announce a few of the finalists Tuesday rather than announcing them all in one episode. The “room” results could have easily been one episode and the top 24 announcement could have been another, but who am I to question why the Fox executives do anything? At any rate, we now know the fate of 9 of the final 46; 7 are going to the semi-finals and 2 are going home. I correctly predicted 5 of the 7 semi-finalists, assuming that Michael Lynche (who adorably tossed munchkin Seacrest in the air), Didi Benami, Casey James, Todrick Hall and Katelyn Epperly would easily make the top 24. They have been some of my faves since their first auditions and I think they can all go far in the competition. I did not, however, predict that Aaron Kelly and Lee Dewyze would make it through. Neither of them was featured until this week, and the clips we saw were mediocre at best. Both Aaron and Lee have an uphill battle ahead of them since the contestants who have been more heavily featured in the early episodes already have growing fan bases. Then again, Kris Allen won American Idol 8 without getting much early exposure last season. Anything is possible in Idol land!

We’ll learn the rest of the top 24 on Wednesday. I think Andrew Garcia, Katie Stevens, Ashley Rodriguez, and Crystal Bowersox are shoe-ins. I suspect Haeley Vaughn, Janell Wheeler, Jermaine Sellers, and Tyler Grady have a good shot of making it too. Based on the small glimpses we got of them during Hollywood week, I’d love to see Thaddeus Johnson and/or Alex Lambert continue in the competition, but without hearing more of their performances I’m not sure how consistent they really are. Nevertheless, the speculating will be over in just a few hours when “the final judgment” is finally complete and the top 24 is officially announced. Then starting next week the power is in the dialing and texting hands of the viewers, which will eventually lead to the real “final judgment” when the winner of American Idol 9 is crowned.

So in keeping with the drinking game theme, cheers to the new crop of AI contestants! May you endure every phase of your “final judgment” with humility and dignity, and may you inspire Ryan Seacrest to find some new phrases to describe your American Idol journey by season’s end.

- Angela Pasquinelli

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