Idol Chatter & Voice Views

So, I guess the secret to making the finals on Idol in 2009 isn’t all about how well you perform your semifinal song.

Being a judges’ favorite helps. Just ask Anoop Desai and Matt Giraud.

Being a drama queen helps even more. Just ask Tatiana Del Toro.

All three are among the eight wild card contestants the judges unveiled Wednesday night.

Now, look, voters have made some silly decisions on Idol over the years. Remember how long Sanjaya Malakar stuck around in season six.

But when the decision is left to the judges, entirely to the judges, I expect them to do a better job than they did picking their wild card contestants. I’d rate their performance 50-50, four good, four bad, with the three aforementioned selections the most offensive.

Check back tomorrow night for song-by-song live blogging during the wild card show. It’s only an hour long, so it’s sure to be more action-packed than the typical Idol performance show.

Here’s the wild card list.

Tatiana Del Toro: The judges said they love her passion. What they love is her crazy. They want to milk it for another show. Judging from the tears that flowed when her name was announced, Tatiana is ready to deliver. If I’m one of about a half dozen other female contestants, I’m feeling incredibly cheated by this selection.

Jasmine Murray: A much better choice. Attractive. Personable. And sounded very good in earlier performances before falling flat in round two.

Megan Corkrey: An even better choice. One of the most appealing contestants this season, because she’s a great singer and didn’t enter the competition with the long musical resume many of the others brought to Idol.

Jesse Langseth: Perhaps more surprising than the selection of Tatiana, because that pick makes sense from a commercial standpoint. Jesse’s rendition of “Bette Davis Eyes” was mediocre. And she should have been much better given that she has all the experience Megan lacks.

Meanwhile, her selection means more deserving contestants like Kristen McNamara and Taylor Vaifanua were passed over. Heck, even Kendall Beard would have added more variety to the competition.

Von Smith: I wasn’t wowed by his overblown performance Tuesday night, but he got decent reviews from the judges. I’m just worried that this year’s contestant pool includes too many similar performers. I would have preferred a Brent Keith in this spot.

Ricky Braddy: Besides Megan, the most deserving choice. He got virtually no air time prior to the semifinals. And he turned in the best male vocal in week one. That’s right. Even better than the very overrated performance from Danny Gokey.

Anoop Desai: You just knew this guy was coming back. Despite his less than angelic performance of “Angel of Mine.” Hey, the voters weren’t fooled. They put through Michael Sarver and Danny that night. But Anoop apparently fooled the judges.

Matt Giraud: Every bit as ridiculous as the selection of Anoop. The guy has tons of experience, no excuse for bombing in the semifinals, but did just that with a poor performance of “Viva la Vida.” He sang a song with high notes he couldn’t begin to sing. His reward: A second chance. Ju’Not Joyner must be wondering what he did wrong.

So, anyway, that’s my take. Four good picks. Four very suspect selections.

You have to figure two of the four gals will make the finals; and one of the four guys.

At this point, six guys are headed to the finals and only three females.

I doubt the judges are going to want a ratio of eight males to four females in the finals.

It was that sort of overload (eight girls to four guys) back in season three that prompted Idol to change its semifinal format to force a six-six split in recent years.

My picks for the finals:

Megan and Jasmine among the gals; Von among the guys.