Idol Chatter & Voice Views

You know, if The X Factor is trying to be different than American Idol, last night’s show was a huge step in the wrong direction.

First, we have — surprise! — a theme night.

Now why in the world do we need theme nights on singing shows?

And what sense does it make when the creator behind the show, Sir Simon, is going to bend the rules anyway by allowing Melanie Amaro to sing a Michael Jackson song from a concert film?

Then, just like a segment out of an Idol episode, the finalists were off to the red carpet for the premiere of the new Adam Sandler comedy, “Jack and Jill.”

Hey, X Factor, if you want to send the finalists off to the movies for the night, go for it.

That doesn’t mean we need to be subjected to an in-show commercial for a film that looks more stupid than funny. In fact, it could be a classic, and we still don’t need another in-show commercial.

Speaking of which, isn’t it time to cut these performance episodes down to an hour and a half, maybe even an hour.

I mean, each singer performs for 2 minutes. Next week, that will mean 20 minutes of music and 100 minutes of something else if the show sticks to this two-hour format.

That’s a pretty horrendous ratio of entertainment to filler. For crying out loud, if the show must be that long, let the contestants sing a complete song.

Well, we’ve had the obligatory group number, performances by Willow and Jessie. Now we can finally get down to some results, one-half hour into tonight’s show …

* Stacy Francis makes it through to next week. So much for the singing first jinx.

* Astro makes it through.  Well-deserved, as much as I hate to say it.

* Melanie Amaro makes it through.  The best from last night.

* Marcus Canty makes it through.  I thought there was an outside chance he could be in trouble.

* LeRoy Bell makes it through.  Way to go X Factor voters.

* Rachel Crow survives to sing again.  No way she was getting eliminated after last night’s performance.

* Josh Krajcik makes it through.  Of course.

* Drew, the barefoot one, survives for another week.  Of course.

* Chris Rene makes it through.

Guess what? Another group is going home this week.

Not shocking.  I predicted Lakoda Rayne, Stereo Hogzz and Stacy Francis were the three who had better worry tonight.

Lakoda Rayne: The four gals that X Factor threw together will sing first.  And the country-pop group is going to cover Jordin Sparks’ “No Air.”  The opening was really shaky.  It got much better once Paige Ogle started singing.  But I’m not sure this is the song I would have picked with survival on the line. Grade: C.

Stereo Hogzz: They’re singing, or trying to sing, “You Are Not Alone.”  OK, I think it’s time to say goodbye to the Stereo Hogzz. I haven’t really enjoyed one of their performances yet in the finals. And they’ve now had five chances.  Someone was very off key when those harmonies started. Grade: C-.

And now the judges get to send someone home.

L.A. Reid votes to send home Stereo Hogzz.

Nicole votes to send home  Stereo Hogzz.

Paula votes to send home Lakoda Rayne, but only to give them a chance to stay.

Simon votes to send home Stereo Hogzz.

Lakoda Rayne stays.  The Stereo Hogzz head home.

Well, we just had our first Paula moment on The X Factor.

With the vote 2-0 against the Stereo Hogzz, Steve Jones asked Paula to decide who she wanted to send home.

On the verge of tears, she refused to chose, saying she wasn’t going “to do this again.”  If you recall, two of her groups had their fate in her hands last week, too.

She appeared on the verge of abstaining, which would have automatically sent the Stereo Hogzz home.

After Simon quietly explained that to her, she voted for The Stereo Hogzz, just to give them a shot at survival.

So much for the shot.  Moments later, Simon cast the deciding vote — correctly — against the Stereo Hogzz.

Wow, shouldn’t the judges know how this works before its time to cast their votes.