We finally found out the big surprise twist tonight: the "Judges' Save." In order to prevent somebody from going home too early, the judges now have the option of using a one-time opportunity to rescue someone who would otherwise be eliminated, and they have to agree to do it unanimously. There will be no elimination that week and there will be a double elimination the week after. I don't know how I feel about this—yes, Simon was right in that it doesn't interfere with America's voting process, but that's kind of the only thing that makes the show at this stage worth watching—when a Michael Johns or Chris Daughtry gets sent home, you can finally FEEL like a HUMAN BEING: "Yes, I'm so glad that prick got sent home, ha ha you could tell he had no idea it was coming by the look on his stupid jerk face" or "No! I'm totally not watching anymore now that he's gone." And it was kind of anticlimactic to roll it out tonight: of course the judges aren't going to use this option during the first, second, probably even third or fourth week of the competition. Oh well.
We opened the show with Randy really obnoxiously booing Simon. The camera showed Kara's neat leather jacket, which was completely upstaged by Paula's boobs. Nicely done, Paula.
We saw where the contestants will be staying, a mansion that for the first time in reality TV history made me think "That looks cool" as opposed to "That looks cheap and tacky." I would like an indoor pool, and my own screening room. You could go for a swim and then watch a movie in your pajamas. That would be nice.
I'm pretty convinced that the producers have the singers using backing tracks for the group performances. It just sounds a little too clear, crisp and full. The performance was pretty cringe-inducing, starting off with a super-cool high-five and ending with Danny getting a solo dance. At the end I felt like the group was going to yell "Don't do drugs!"
Then Ryan asked Michael Sarver some bullshit question that led Michael to mention the Ford commercial they shot which they just happened to have ready to roll. All I could think about is what they're going to do with Scott during these things and they avoided that issue by having everyone pretty much avoid the car except at the very end, when they crouched outside it. It was pretty bad.
So we had the first elimination of two tonight. I was glad that Allison was safe because when I looked at DialIdol's prediction earlier today they had her in the bottom. It was Megan vs. Jasmine and I wasn't surprised to see that Megan was safe out of those two. Jasmine sang again, wearing a medallion that looked like it was made of pigeon feathers. The judges opted not to save her (the losers get sent home to a Carrie Underwood song called "Home Sweet Home").
Then Kanye West, dressed like a rather uptight gay plumber, did "Heartless." He is on some post-apocalyptic trip apparently, based on the robot costumes he had for his band and musicians. Kanye doesn't perform that great live and tonight was no exception but I still love the little bastard, a lot.
With group two we found out that Scott was safe (I think we all know that the night he gets sent home he won't be sitting on the top tier of the seats and I don’t mean that meanly, just in a common-sense way) and Danny kind of hooted and hollered when he found out he was safe too. I wish I had a screenshot of all the different pairs of glasses he's worn so far this season so we can keep track. Poor Anoop started walking to the stage before Ryan even told him to. Adam was safe, and then between Lil and Jorge, Jorge was put on the chopping block. I don't believe too much in Idol race-wars but it was kind of gross to see that Jasmine, Anoop and Jorge made up the bottom four tonight (with Megan). Guess we won't have that problem next week! Since Jorge was sent home.
Before this was announced though Ryan told us that each week a former Idol would be coming back. Kelly Clarkson performed and it wasnice to see what a big deal she was to the audience. I don't get how she styles herself but I like Kelly. Her new song is no "Since U Been Gone" but it suits her and her voice.
Poor Jorge and Jasmine. It must suck to go through all that and make it into that house only have to leave again. But there's no time for mercy and looking back: we must roll forward!
Grade: B
—"Give me back that filet-o-fish, give me that fish." Now that's good advertising.