Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Oh, my. The Idol judges get just one save per season.

And they used it tonight on Michael Lynche.

A wise decision?

Personally, I didn’t like it.

For starters, Michael put himself in danger of being eliminated with a subpar performance Tuesday night.

Given the history of this show, who knows when a front-runner will find himself or herself in the same situation, singing for their Idol life, for no good reason?

And using the save now robs the next three weeks of that extra element of suspense the judges’ save provides at the end of the show.

The way Idol’s ratings are going, the show needs all the suspense it can muster.

I will give Big Mike this. Forced to sing to avoid elimination, he turned in a splendid version of “Women’s Work,” the song that reduced Kara to tears during the semifinals.

Well, Ryan promised “surprising” results Wednesday night.

Idol delivered.

On with the results show recap.

Deserved his fate: Actually, Andrew Garcia deserved an even worse fate Wednesday night. He should have been the one singing for his Idol fate. In which case I’m pretty sure the judges would still have their save to use at a later date. But Mr. Mediocre finally landed in the bottom three, which shows his support on the show might be waning. It’s about time.

Very, very lucky: Katie Stevens won’t be returning to Pomperaug High School as soon as I thought. I call her lucky not because I think she should have been on the verge of elimination Wednesday night, but rather because I thought she might be based on past results and that fact that a female has been voted off every week. With two contestants being eliminated next week, Katie better be at the top of her game.

Stock rising: Well, Tim Urban’s stock among Idol critics couldn’t have dipped much lower after the first three weeks of the finals. But he finally came through with a decent performance this week and, for the first time, avoided the final three. Does that mean his support is growing?

The guy whose stock should be soaring is Casey James. He’s been consistently good since the live shows started. He was very good last week. He was great this week. Watch out, Crystal Bowersox. Her stock, by the way, remains incredibly high.

Stock sinking: Aaron Kelly found himself in the bottom three this week, and deservingly so. His performances have ranged from boring to bland. He can’t begin to match the vocals of David Archuleta, the contestant he’s being groomed in the image of. He’s in dire need of one of those magical Idol moments.

On the bubble: Andrew Garcia, Katie Stevens and Aaron Kelly are the three contestants who should be most worried heading into week five of the finals. I expect Big Mike to bounce back in a big way, and his fans to vote with renewed fervor after Wednesday’s near elimination.