Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Idol offered a night full of drama Wednesday.

But most of it was reserved for the announcement of the contestants who would get a second shot at making the finals through tonight’s wild card round.

As for the results from Tuesday’s show, those weren’t very surprising.

Disappointing, in my mind, but not surprising.

Check back with Idol Chatter tomorrow.

In the late afternoon, I’ll have information from interviews with the latest three finalists, Lil Rounds, Scott MacIntyre and Jorge Nunez-Mendez.

And in the evening, I’ll be blogging live during the wild card show, providing song by song grades as the last eight singers perform for coveted spots in the finals.

Meanwhile, here’s the breakdown on last night’s results show:

Deserving: First one listed here, Lil Rounds. Look, I didnt’ think she picked the best song to show off her voice Tuesday night. But there’s no denying, that voice is amazing — clearly the best among this year’s group of females. She’s heading to the finals, where she belongs.

Jorge Nunez-Mendez sang his heart out Tuesday. Song selection will be the key for him when the finals begin. But he’s so humble and gracious. I can see this guy growing on the audience, especially if he continues to turn in performances like the one Tuesday night.

Better get better: That would be Scott MacIntyre, who matched Michael Sarver for worst semifinal performance rewarded with a spot in the finals. That said, I truly expect better performances from Scott once he gets back in his comfort zone, which is behind a set of keyboards. But he’ll have to pick songs that match his voice better than “Mandolin Rain” did.

ROBBED: That capitalization is not a mistake. Kristen McNamara and Ju’Not Joyner should be calling the Idol police, dialing up the Idol SWAT team and demanding that an Idol grand jury convene. What the heck?

This year was filled with mediocre performances from female singers. So Kristen does an excellent job with a Tracy Chapman song Tuesday and doesn’t even make the wild card round? But Tatiana does? That makes any sense?

If Ju’Not Joyner didn’t turn in the best male vocal Tuesday night, he was in the top two. And he doesn’t get a second look either. Instead, wild card spots go to Anoop Desai and Matt Giraud, who stunk up the stage during the semifinals. Kara, Paula, Randy, Simon — you owe these two singers an apology.

Very, very lucky: Given the Tatiana pick for the wild card show, I’m surprised the spot Von Smith got didn’t instead go to Nick Mitchell or Nathaniel Marshall. After all, the judges seem to be looking for drama as much as singing ability in 2009. Von’s going to need a heck of a performance and a lot of luck tonight, because Anoop and Matt are clearly judges’ favorites.

Where they belong: There was a clear divide between those who performed well and those who didn’t Tuesday night. On the wrong side of that equation were Nathaniel, Arianna Afsar, Alex Wagner-Trugman and Kendall Beard. I had high hopes for Kendall. I think she’s better than she showed. The problem is this one-song-and-gone semifinal format. Unless you’re a judges’ favorite.

They were worth another look: As noted before, the performances from the females were lackluster at best during the semifinals. I thought the gals in round three were easily the best. Yet only one is headed to the finals. None made the wild card show. Had the judges picked the correct wild card contestants, the group would have included Kristen, Megan Corkrey, Felicia Barton and Taylor Vaifanua. Felicia and Taylor were every bit as good as Allison Iraheta, who made the finals in week two; Kristen was just plain better.