Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Well, if the girls outsang the guys in their first Idol performances, it wasn’t by much.

Through the halfway point, Wednesday’s show could be summed up with one word: disappointing.

The good news: Three of the last four singers salvaged the show, and were so good someone might actually download their performances through Idol’s new deal with iTunes.

Here’s the rundown, from this viewer’s perspective.

Best of the bunch:

Asia’h Epperson did Janis Joplin proud with a rousing rendition of “Piece of My Heart,” and Syesha Mercado positively rocked on “Tobacco Road.” But the best performance of the night came from tiny Ramiele Malubay, who also picked one of the most challenging songs to sing.

Deserve to go home:

Joanne Borgella made an absolute mess of her time on stage. Rocker-nurse Amanda Overmyer proved you really can sing a song and make nearly every word unintelligible.

Please keep them:

Brooke White’s not a bad singer and seems way to sweet not to make the final 12. Amy Davis turned in a wholely forgettable performance, but she appears to be the only country crooner in this year’s final 24. And the show that produced Carrie Underwood badly needs a country crooner.

Please send her home:

Kady Malloy started her performance in promising fashion, faded into oblivion and then seemed to spend the rest of the evening pouting about the judges’ critiques.

Early favorite among the girls:

“Tobacco Road” didn’t exactly give Syesha a chance to show off her vocal talents, but she displayed enough self-confidence and showmanship that she should sail through to the final 12.

Tonight, two girls and two guys head home. Which means next week’s shows should, thankfully, be an hour in length.

Two-hour episodes of Idol, with too many commercials and too little singing, quickly grow tiresome.