Dirty Dancing: Idol Nights

Where's Brenna when you need her? Let's dance.. the last dance... Oh, right. This is Fox's SINGING competition. With all of Taylor's hip shaking and Katherine's crawling around on the floor like an extra from Showgirls I got confused for a second. That is why it was so apro po of me to use Dirth Dancing as my final movie parody of the Idol season.

May I present the reviews...

Here she is... Miss Amer- I keep forgetting this isn't a pageant. Shoot. So Katharine was up first because she lost the coin toss. The pimp spot is obviously much coveted. The first song she chose to do was Black Horse and the Cherry Tree. Okay. That was really cool the first time, but not so sure lightning strikes the cherry tree twice Baby. So naive. It wasn't horrific, but that was like getting the 'Rachel haircut' after Friends ended. Revolutionary the first time. Not as much the second time. Daddy liked it, but he would approve if Baby started nuclear warfare. So we can't go by that. The judges don't think it was quite good enough. (Just an FYI I really don't mean to disrespect Kat because I actually do like her, but I harbor strong bitterness because of Chris. It's sad really.)

Let's see what they think of the charismatic Jonny Castle. He has chosen to go with Living For The City. He's a maaaaaniac.. maaaaniac.. on the floor. And he's dancin' like he's never danced before. I'm waiting for Taylor to grab a chair and pull a string releasing buckets of water. Right. Wrong movie. It fit though. Yes, yes Taylor does not have the chops of Celine Dion, but we can't compare him to Miss Dion. Mr. Hicks is unlike anything we have ever witnessed on Idol (could be good or bad depending on if you're a fan). Round One: Jonny.

It's Baby's turn again. She is singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow. It brings tears to Daddy's eyes. My personal opinion was that it wasn't QUITE as good as the first time. The lustre wears off on such things especially since she sang it JUST LAST WEEK. And I swear to God I cringed on her pronunciation of "heard". Was that necessary? NO. Is it necessary for me to strip down to my underwear and dance wildly to "Pour Some Sugar On Me" when I'm home alone? No, but dang it I enjoy it. So if its okay for me I guess its okay for Kat too. Except she does the Def Leppard thing in public. KIDDING. I'm evil for making jokes at other people's expense. Daddy McPhee says, "Simon nobody puts Katharine in a corner!!"

Round 2 for Taylor. He went with Levon which I had felt was one of his Top 3 performances on the show. It honestly didn't go as well the second time. He got more into it towards the end there, but it didn't come off with quite as much passion. Still good though. Unfortunately this Round goes to Baby.

Speaking of which, it is time for her final performance -- her first single. Will she be able to leap above Jonny or will she fall flat on her face? This is the big one. Okay. First of all. Crappy, crappy song. I have written better songs than this in 15 minutes time. It was also a song that would make people who are bitter about her being in the finale instead of Chris despise her even more. "Oh its my destiny that I am here instead of that bald haired guy that screams all the tiiiiiiiime..." PLEASE spare me. She was flat most of the song and given the fact that the song was horrible it didn't help her case. This does not spell good news for Baby.

Time for Jonny to make his last big push. He also gets stuck with a bad song, though not quite as bad as Kat's. I was truly worried at first. He started off a little shaky, but once he got into it, he worked it out. Its not easy singing a bad song. I've sung along with the likes of Rico Suave and The Right Stuff. I still get nightmares. But as Simon said -- Taylor solidified the win with that one. I would be outright astonished if he didn't win.

It surely was an interesting season, one with a lot of talent, but few outstanding performances outside of Taylor, Elliott and Chris. And even THEY underachieved.

I will continue writing in my blog even though Idol is over. But I do thank those of you who checked it out. Until then, keep it classy San Diego. :)

A Cold Day In Hell

I really didn't want it to be over, but it was. The Amazing Race has reached its conclusion and almost inevitably BJ and Tyler prevailed. I know there are going to be cries of conspiracy given the fact that the hippies happened to finish last on both non elimination legs AND they traveled to Japan on the final stretch (Tyler speaks fluent Japanese) BUT... I could have predicted they would win a long time ago because they are well traveled, friendly and they respect all cultures which the locals appreciate. They had the skills. They won the prize. End of story.

TEAM MR ROBOTO
Many congratulations to BJ and Tyler. They had their problems, but they always got themselves back in the game. I'm sure they felt they completely had it in the bag once they heard they were going to Japan and interestingly enough they didn't gain much of an advantage here. In fact, Eric and Jeremy were ahead for most of the time after that until they got to the flags. This was one of those things where whoever finished it first was going to win. The hippies finished it first.

TEAM DRIVEN
I had all the confidence in the world in you guys the whole time. You didn't make a single mistake coming down the stretch. All you had to do was complete that Roadblock and you had it. But it was a tough Roadblock. I could not have done it personally. I would have been there for hours. So don't feel bad. And you have to remember - you had so many huge leads that were erased because places weren't open or you had to wait for flights. Nothing can be done about that. You're still winners in my book though.

TEAM TOLL BOOTH
Sometimes Ray and Yolanda just can't catch a break can they? They made a lot of mistakes going down the stretch and when you do that you're going to lose. Every time. I'm glad though that they got to experience that time together and get to know each other. I would think it would really show you where your breaking point is with that other person. So if that's all the worse that Ray and Yolanda fight - they should be alright. I liked them and they should be proud of themselves to get that far.

Well, its all over, but I should hope to have a couple of interviews soon. Something interesting to spice up my blog. Until then, I'm out.

The Mighty Keep Falling...

So the latest casualty of Hurricane Kat is Elliott Yamin. Kat has picked up some steam as of late and just keeps knocking the strong ones out left and right. Not that I was overly surprised to hear of El's demise. He has the voice of an angel, but the stage presence of an oak tree. I didn't mind, but apparently a lot of other people did.

I always liked to compare Elliott to Clay Aiken as many have. The thing that Clay has, however, that Elliott does not is confidence on stage. If El even had an ounce of that - Kat would be the one gone now.

I am now rooting for Taylor to win and I believe that he will. Why? There has never been anyone like Taylor. You can't compare him to any previous Idol contestant. Jon Peter Lewis is the closest one for me, but JPL was the minor league version of Taylor.

Now don't get me wrong, I think Katharine is talented and beautiful and all of those things. She is just very disconnected when she sings and when she oversings she sounds like Kellie Pickler on a good day. Not a compliment.

Tuesday should be an interesting one.

Taylor Hicks and the Sorcerer's Stone

Welcome all to my Daughtry-less recap. It just won't be the same. By the way - saw him on the Ellen show. He sang 'Dead Or Alive' and played his guitar. He's too good for Idol. The boot was a blessing in disguise. I don't want to imagine him singing a song like 'Inside Your Heaven' or some other crap. I want to know who writes these songs really. I can write better songs than that. Anyways.. on with the opinioncap.

Elliott drew the one spot. In the Harry Potter realm, El would most definitely be Ron Weasley. His lack of confidence does him in more than anything. Elliott has basically been on top vocally this whole competition. If his stage presence were always as good as his vocals, he would be right up there with Taylor. It's like my new conclusion goes. It's not all about the personality/performance, but its not all about the voice either. You have to have a happy medium. Tonight Elliott didn't quite have it although its not all his fault. CRAPPY SONG CHOICES. So Clive Davis picks Open Arms for him. Are you freaking kidding me? I absolutely love the song but it is way overdone and I didn't think it really suited Elliott. He did a pretty darn good job with it except for the chorus, but it wasn't enough. Next, Paula Abdul chose What You Won't Do For Love'. On paper, it looked like a good fit and El sang the hell out of the song. Just for me, it wouldn't have been my choice. I can think of many more songs he could have done more with. And last, for Elliott's choice he went with some Ray Charles. His vocals were golden, but that song wasn't really a performance song and El didn't take it to the next level. On any other night I would have said E-Dawg did fantastic, but this is the final three and great vocals alone probably aren't going to do it.

Coming out of gate number two is Kat McPhee who of course would be Hermione Granger. I told myself that Katharine had to have 'a night' tonight and hope that Elliott had a bad one to make it to the finals. This was not El's BEST night. She's caught a small break already. Now its up to her. Clive Davis showed his lack of intelligence in song choices by choosing I Believe I Can Fly. I cringe listening to R Kelly himself sing that song let alone anyone else. Everytime I hear it I picture Bugs Bunny playing basketball with Michael Jordan. It's horrible. Heck - Anwar Robinson sang that song last year and it wasn't good. ANWAR. If you heard him sing 'Whats Goin On' you'd think he could sing anything. True to form, I didn't like Katharine singing this. She wasn't Kellie Pickler horrid, but she'd better be glad she has two songs. The second song being Simon Cowell's choice for her - Over The Rainbow. I had mixed emotions before I saw the performance. It's the kind of song you have to nail or it will suck completely. Well, Kat nailed it. It wasn't the perfect 'moment' thing that the judges were babbling about, but it was the best of the night up to that point. That may have been just enough to carry her to the finals. Maybe. Her last song choice was one that she can take all the credit for - I Ain't Got Nothin But The Blues. I loved it aside from the fact that I didn't believe she really had the blues. Blue people don't smile. They just don't. These are great songs for Kat to do because this performance reminded me a lot of Since I Fell For You. Fun, flirty and signature McPhee.

Ahhh and finally Taylor Hicks - the chosen one. He Who Shall Not Be Named tried to end Hicks' Idol life before it even started, but Professor Randy and Professor Paula helped him on his way. Now the Soul Patrol is a force to the reckoned with. I think Clive Davis has been drinking whatever Paula drinks. It's not that he chose a Springsteen song for Taylor. It's that he chose Dancing In The Dark. I mean there are so many others -- 'Im On Fire', 'Born In The USA'.... Anyways, Taylor does a pretty good job with what he was given. I liked the added touch of him dancing with Paula. Gotta love homages to Courtney Cox. For song number two, Randy chose to go with a Joe Cocker song (go figure) You Are So Beautiful. I wondered what Taylor would do with such a tender little song, but I thought it was great. It was enough to win my mom over and she was vehemently anti-Hicks before last night. The best would be yet to come however. I, along with many others, have been drooling to hear Taylor sing Try A Little Tenderness. It was for a reason. Best of the night. This is Taylor's to lose. I mean, you almost want to hate him because he's SO popular and its just not cool to be mainstream, but after a performance like that, all bad feelings melt away. My point with Taylor always has been that he is the only one of the three left and the only other person besides Chris throughout the whole thing that has that happy medium. Great vocals. Great performances. Consistently. Not to say Taylor has never had an off week, but as with Chris I think its had to do with song choice more than anything else.

Taylor is in the finals for sure. The question will be - who joins him? Kat had a better single performance in Over The Rainbow, but generally she still disconnects with songs and oversings. Elliott has been better with consistency and he has the best voice since Clay Aiken, but his confidence problems and lack of stage presence have killed him. It's sad, but because of Rainbow and Rainbow alone I think Kat will go to the finals, however it should be El and I wish that it would be. It's just not looking good.

But we all know Taylor is going to win anyways, right?

No More Monkeying Around

It sure it getting down to the wire. Finale coming up real quick here. No more eliminations. No more Pit Stops. All or nothing. And who will be the three teams racing to the finish line? Why the three teams I picked all along. I was iffy on Ray and Yolanda for a while but due to logical deduction and editing, I figured they'd be here.

Let's see how everyone stacked up this week.

TEAM CRICKET
You seriously have got to hand it to BJ and Tyler. I don't think I've ever seen a team finish last in TWO non-elimination legs and live to tell the tale. And I must say that THIS Fast Forward has got to be the worst one I've possibly ever seen. It wasn't necessarily the fact that they had to eat bugs. It was how much they had to eat. I honestly think if it weren't for the fact that it was SUCH a big azz bowl Ray and Yolanda would have done it. So hats off to the hippies for doing something that would have had me running back to the Roadblock right away. I like their chances in the finale. They'll probably be neck and neck with the frats. Good stuff.

TEAM SPANK THE MONKEY
Why don't they let you guys compete in every Race? Seriously. There's high entertainment value there. I'm glad Eric has realized that Monica is about as much fun as eating crickets so the flirtation died down. It's a good trick though if you're just playing head games. This week y'all had monkeys to play with. I mean, not that I blame the monkeys for being all over you. I would be too. Of course I have a lot less hair and I smell nice so that's a different situation. I had an encounter with monkeys once. They tried to tear off the side mirror on my car. I was not pleased. You guys ran a good leg. Now run an even better one this time because this one really counts.

TEAM SLOW AND STEADY
Yeah so Ray and Yolanda lost their lead a little bit. It wasn't too bad since the Roadblock was only 2 miles away form the Fast Forward so they might as well have tried to go for it. I know the Philanator is excited that Yoyo is still around. I can't blame him. She's a fit and attractive woman. But that also means Ray is still around and he's eye candy himself. I still don't think this team is as hungry to win as the hippies or the frats but I commend them for getting this far and for finally getting rid of MoJo.

TEAM BROKEBACK THAILAND
I really can't figure MoJo out sometimes. They don't trust that their cab driver knows where he's going. Then immediately after they are so quick to trust that the people at the bus station know what time the first bus leaves. They just really don't question that or check it out. Given that they had some time to do so - I would have. They get through the monkey thing alright and then they get to the Detour. First of all, if you choose one Detour task and you see the other two teams are doing that too - you might as well stick with it unless you know its something you can't do. What's worse is MoJo probably wouldn't have come in last if Monica had been able to keep at least 7 more pots on her board on that second trip. I mean, she had a ton of pots the first time and had no problem with that. Yes Monica, Joseph really was your rock. And now you are the weakest link. Goodbye.

Well, it has been a very entertaining race. I'm looking forward to the finale and for the first time I think I'll be happy with any of the teams winning although I am largely biased towards Eric and Jeremy. At least they made the finals and that's what I wanted so I'll just cross my fingers and hope for the best. Viva la frat boys!

Dr. Doom Has Crushed My Beating Heart...

This Idol recap is going to sound slightly odd mainly because its the first one I've written in which I know who got the boot already. Not happy. So very much unhappy. On with the recap before I start breathing fire or something.

I had to come up with a new movie theme this week and since there were only four contestants remaining the most logical film that came to mind was The Fantastic Four. And they are all fantastic because I picked all of them to come this far. Apparently America and I share similar tastes. (Except for this week.. GRRRRRR)

The first performer was "The Thing" Taylor Hicks. Can't you picture Taylor coming out and saying 'its clobberin time'. I totally can. I honestly figured that this theme would suit Taylor very well and it did. His first song was Jailhouse Rock which honestly isn't my favorite Elvis song. It was a classic Taylor performance though, natch. Plenty of energy, but it wasn't the best vocal I've ever heard. Simon's bashing was unwarranted however. It was not a horrible Elvis impersonation. Taylor does those things ALL THE TIME.

T-Dawg came back stronger though with his second song In The Ghetto. I thought it was just awesome. Taylor's not as fun when he's not bouncing around like a monkey on a sugar high, but I can appreciate a good voice. Seriously though, I can't help but picture Eric Cartman from South Park every time I hear this song. Some associations can not be broken.

So next... *breaks out into uncontrollable tears* 'Its not fair dammit! Why, God, why? How could you take him from me? Its not faaaaaaaaiiiiiir.' Alright - now that I got that out. Chris was the next to perform. Chris is of course Johnny Storm - hot, young, smokin'... yep that's him. Flame on! (This is especially funny since Chris Evans plays the character in the movie) Chris' first song was Suspicious Minds. Probably my personal favorite Elvis song. I thought it was really good. Anyone who didn't was smoking crack. I'll bet Simon felt really bad about being indifferent about the performance when Chris got eliminated. The second song he chose to do was A Little Less Conversation. As a Chris fan I am ashamed to say that up until the end of the song, I agreed with Nigel that Jon Peter Lewis did a better job on this song. Go on. Throw things at me.

But Chris will still be a star even if I have to wait until his album comes out. So no worries. But the show will not be the same now.

Third up was Elliott Yamin - Mr. Fantastic. El really fits that role. His vocals lead the pack, but everyone else seems to get more attention than he does. Poor Elliott just works his butt off every week to make us like him and I do -- I really, really like him. In A Dream was a song that I actually didn't know. He would have blown me away either way. He really might be the best male vocalist ever on AI. Maybe. When I heard El would be singing Trouble I didn't know how to feel because Carrie Underwood sang it last year and did a heck of a job with it. You know what though? He made it his own and it was HOT. Because they took my Chris away, I am 100% backing Elliott. Consider me one of the Yaminions.

Last but should have been least - okay, I didn't really mean that. Not that Kat is a bad singer by any means, but she deserved to go. I'm trying not to be bitter. It really wasn't her fault. The Invisible Woman pulled out all the stops to stay in the game. Actually on her first little medley song she forgot some words and on 'Cant Help Falling In Love' she went flat in places but gosh darnit she tried. I can't help but think that after that wardrobe malfunction every Maxim subscriber in America was putting their hands to better use and voting like mad for Kat. You never know when these malfunctions will happen or how often. I just keep grasping for reasons why this awful thing happened as you can see.

Well no more. I'm on the El Train now.

Three Way Pit Stop

Boy, we sure had an exciting one this time. And who would have thunk that Ray and Yolanda would have been the one team NOT involved in the footrace at the end? Actually I kind of had a feeling from the editing that this might happen. Let's take a closer look, shall we?

TEAM SLOW AND STEADY
How did Ray and Yolanda move into first place this week? They stayed away from the drama. They kept cool heads, did what they had to do and stayed free and clear from any and all drama involving beating up hippies or sleeping with other people's girlfriends. Sometimes the best way to complete a task is to focus on it and it alone. Props to them. They have a lead now and as long as they don't get lost or argue they're good. Unless of course everyone gets on the same airplane flight or they have to go to a place that isn't open right then. Which has happened an awful lot lately.

TEAM MEGA FLIRTS
You kind of had to know that once Dani and Danielle left this would happen. Eric, I'd watch it. Joseph is pretty unstable although I still think you can take him. And Jeremy, you're going to have to fight Phil for Yolanda if Ray ever breaks up with her. The Philinator kind of has the hots for her. I can't blame you for choosing to do the 'Wet' detour. On paper it looked like the better option and I think those tribal dudes were easy on everyone with the note they had to play. Who knew that you'd have to play Indiana Jones? Great job catching up to the hippies though. Oh and now we also know that you can beat them in a footrace too. Things are looking up. And I think you're both amazing no matter what happens. We SO have to kick it if you guys ever come up to visit Casa Sanchez. Am I biased? No, not at all. By the way, sheer genuis cancelling the cabs even though somehow your cab decided not to show up too. Okay, karma had its way with you. Now its all business.

TEAM MINDGAMES
Sometimes it just isn't the hippies day. It really was MoJo that forced BJ and Tyler to start getting all dastardly. And they aren't even being as vindictive as they should be. The cab incident didn't set them back because they eventually got back in it, but damn that spider river! Again, if I were them I would have chosen that too, but what can you do? So now they will be starting another leg with no money. It could not happen to a better team. This should not hurt them a bit. They're hippies! You just watch. And SO glad they yielded MoJo. Unfortunately MoJo was unphased.

TEAM WHINERS
Actually Monica is a whiner and Joseph is a weiner, but they're pretty close to the same thing. They thought they were clever this leg. Cancelling cabs - didn't work. Offering kisses to airport workers -- didn't work. Joseph keeping his woman in check -- didn't work. Beating the hippies to the mat -- DID work, but I swear Monica acted like she just made head cheerleader or something. Okay. You weren't last. SHUT UP. Honestly, I'm sure Monica and Joseph are lovely people in real life. But their portrayals on TV -- awful. I guess someone has to be the villian. Hey maybe next week Eric will just steal Monica away so Joseph will have to forfeit. Oh and I know they weren't last but they're last in my recap.

Next week, MoJo breaks down. I sure do hope its the kind of breakdown where the mechanics look at your car and say you're screwed. I was speaking figuratively of course, but you know what I mean. And the frats have fun with monkeys. I hate monkeys. They just can't behave.

The competition will only get more intense now. Fake sign in sheets and cancelled cabs are a thing of the past.

A REVIEW FROM FAR, FAR AWAY...

*trumpets playing* This is CJ, your tour guide for the Idol edition of Far, Far Away. You may recognize this place from the movie Shrek. On the DVD, there was a special bonus American Idol feature on there which I always loved so I thought I would take that and incorporate it into my review this week.

As many of you know, Kellie Pickler is gone. Much of my mocking was directed towards her and now it is gone. I will try my best to still be funny while not dumping unnecessary hate on other people. It will be hard, but I will try. Be strong. Be strong.

And so it begins... rushing through the performances because goshdarnit there isn't enough time.

The El-Train is up first and of course, he is Shrek. Not to say he hasn't been looking quite scrumptious lately because he has, but most people would agree he will never grace the cover of GQ. Elliot was born in 1978 and he has always had those big, beautiful eyes. Perhaps they will help him On Broadway. I questioned the song choice at first because above all I prefer El to sing soulful, bluesy songs. That's his thang. However, I thought he did a fine job on this and way to have some confidence!

Next we have P-Bennett. Hey - Diddy did it why not her? I have dubbed Paris Gingy aka the Gingerbread Man, or Girl. Why is this? Well, because she's sweet and she's one tough little cookie. Tonight she is an X-rated cookie because she is singing Kiss by Prince. *gets jiggy with it* "You don't need to talk dirty momma.." This is a song by a man who has songs titled Cream, Peach and Erotic City. And has lyrics like 'lets get to ramming' and 'all the jockeys that were there before me'. I felt like I was watching the movie Thirteen or Lolita. Wrong. Just wrong. The singing itself wasn't all that horrific - its just not a singer's song. I will file that performance under 'never watch again'.

*faints* Its Prince Charming Chris Daughtry! Although Chris is reportedly MUCH sweeter than Charming and I believe it. People can bash him and complain that he gets unfair treatment and pimping. But the dude has real talent, mass appeal and is a heck of a nice guy and a family man. Hate the producers. Not Chris. Tonight his first ditty will be Styx's Renegade. I about fainted when I heard that he was singing this. I only wish he had been able to do more of the song. It was excellent - ALMOST as good as Hemorrage was. I am convinced nothing will top it. I don't think he was 'a million' times better than Elliot and Paris but the general praise was deserved.

We go from charming to lovely with Katharine aka Princess Fiona. Her performance of Against All Odds demonstrated exactly why I relate her to the aforementioned Shrek character. Sometimes Kat is elegant, sexy and her voice is pitch perfect. On rare occasions, nights much like tonight, she turns into an ogre. It wasn't AS bas as I've heard some people say it was (aka Simon Cowell) but it was still bad. It's my fault really. I wanted her to sing this song. I got my wish and it didn't work out. She still looked great though. Crap. I'm starting to sound like Paula. This is not good.

The last contender in Round One is Taylor Hicks. And who else could Taylor be, but the Shrek character with abounding energy - Donkey! Not being mean to Taylor. Donkey is my favorite character. Mr. Hicks has chosen the ultimate karaoke song - 'Play That Funky Music' by Wild Cherry. I could hear Simon's comments before he even said them. However, I didn't echo his sentiments. I thought it was fun, energetic and very unkaraokeish. Falling on the floor was a bit over the top, but what about Taylor isn't over the top really?

*we now pause for a brief commercial break*

And we're back with Shrek again. He has opted to go with a Michael Buble song about going home. Seriously, I know these things are really meaningless but it is not wise to send subliminal messages to the voting public. I don't care HOW good you can sing. I'm not crazy about the song and I was really hoping he might sing Rascal Flatts, but it wasn't to be. His voice sounded beautiful, but the whole performance didn't get me excited. I hope the Yaminions did their job and voted their little butts off.

Paris has her second chance to wow us enough to decide she's worthy of staying another week. Don't get me wrong - I love the girl. I just think she could stand to take time to just be a girl before she hits the big time. Princess P is tackling the great Mary J and doing a pretty good job. There were a couple of pitch things, but overall it was quite a bit better than her firts performance. I still think she's toast, but I thought Kellie Pickler was toast about 523 different times before she actually did leave. So you just never know.

Roll out the carpet and summon the trumpters - it's Prince Daughtry again. This time he will sing a rock song.. oh wait.. the last one was a rock song too. And the one before that. Aw, screw it - its what he does best. His song was 'I Dare You' by Shinedown. What does he dare me to do? Make out with him in the closet? Chris, its not a dare if its something the person WANTS to do. Read the truth or dare rulebook again. Geez. I will admit that yes it was obvious his voice was straining big time during the screaming parts at the end of the song. I'll forgive him though. It wasn't really painful to listen to. Remember - I listen to bands like this ALL the time. It doesn't matter. He's as safe as banging your head off of the wall in a padded room.

Now let's see if we can turn Katharine back into a princess. I don't care for the ogre side of her. She has chosen that really catchy KT Tunstall song and she has chosen to sing it on her knees. Interesting. Should someone bring the pole out left over from Paris's first song? Just a thought. Unfortunately I have heard KT's version of this song so I can tell you Kat's was not as good. That said, it was still an excellent performance. She was back to being that Kat that I and many other people love. No more Phil Collins. Please.

We wrap up the show with Donkey singing a Beatles song. Yes TECHNICALLY that song is on the current Top Ten charts, but Taylor did kind of get away with one there. It's honestly about time because somehow he gets screwed over a lot with song choices. Last week comes to mind. I am not the only person who would have rather seen him sing 'Try A Little Tenderness' I can tell you that much. This is a slower song and Mr. Hicks is not usually as good on anything where he can't jump around like a grasshopper. I thought it was really good. A solid night for Taylor. He needed it.

To me, Chris and Taylor have nothing to worry about tonight. The other three - not so much. In a perfect world, Elliot does not deserve to go because he sang well despite the fact that I didn't like his song choices. It's likely that Paris will be gone, but Kat's poor performance on her first song could be enough to send her packing.

Stay tuned next week for the young and the talentless...

Kidding. I just had to say that.