Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Unless every Idol watcher on the planet has it wrong, tonight should be Casey James’ swan song on American Idol.

I mean, Idol is infamous for its shocking eliminations.

But after Casey’s tortured rendition of “Blue Skies,” I can’t imagine anyone else going home tonight.

Between the cheesy performance and off-key vocals, I rewarded Casey with a resounding “F.” Only one other performance this year has merited such a low rating — Paige Miles’ week two performance of “Against All Odds.” (Sorry to remind you oo that one, Idol viewers.)

Anyway, Idol historically saves the shocking eliminations for the round of four. That’s when Tamyra Gray (season one), LaToya London (season
three) and Chris Daughtry (season five) got the boot.

I’ll be more interested to see who else lands in the bottom three this week.

Could it be Crystal, for the first time?

Lee would be more deserving of a bottom three finish, given his highly overrated performance last night.

Of course, tonight’s
other highlight will be a performance of “Alejandro” by Lady Gaga.

Please, Idol: Get the sound system working correctly.

It was one thing to screw up with the mikes during last week’s Shakira-Rascal Flatts duet. That was a strange pairing from the get-go, and the less
we heard from the Rascal Flatts portion of the performance, the better.

But this is Lady Gaga.

By the way, having the Idols sing her songbook — even if it is only 20 songs deep or so — would have been a heck of a lot more interesting than last night’s exercise in boredom. Just saying.

Ah, yes, we start off the show with the remaining Idols singing a Sinatra medley. Another wonderful reminder of why Idol should tuck this theme week away in a dark closet and never bring it out again.

Of all the weeks not to have a third guest performer. I would have taken almost anyone from a past season. OK, make that anyone but Nick
Mitchell.

But, hey, the Ford video was sort of cute, as Ford videos (i.e., in-show commercials) go.

Big news: Next week’s theme is songs of the cinema, which means the Idols will likely have a chance to sing something recorded since 1966.
Hooray.

Better news: Jamie Foxx returns as a guest mentor next week. As I recall, he did brilliantly the last time he worked with the Idols.

Now for the results … wow, they’re dragging this out forever, aren’t they.

OK, Lee’s fate … He is safe.

Time for a musical interlude — Lady Gaga, with “Alejandro.”

Well, that might rank as the all-time biggest Idol stage production. But watching Gaga perform always makes me smile. And you can’t help but love the outfits and the pianos, right?

Sinatra Week just keeps getting more and more special. Now we get a second group number, with the remaining Idols singing the songs of Harry Connick Jr. Hey, there’s an hour of air time — minus many, many commercials — to kill.

Of course, we get a song from Harry too. Hmm, it went much like Crystal Bowersox’s dead-on vocal last night. The one Randy called “sleepy.” Go ahead, Randy. Call Harry’s performance “sleepy.” I dare you.

Now Ryan is splitting the contestants into two groups: He has Crystal and Casey standing together on one side of the stage; Michael and Aaron standing together on the other.

Oh, no, don’t tell me Crystal is in the bottom two.

Turns out that’s not the case. Surprise of surprises, Casey and Crystal are safe. Big Mike and Aaron Kelly make up this week’s bottom two.

And the contestant going home tonight is … Pennsylvania’s own Aaron Kelly. The 17-year-old from Sonestown sees his Idol journey end.