Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Eddie Island and Margie Mays wait to hear their fate on American Idol. (ABC Photo)

The setting has changed; it’s Hawaii this time around.

But it’s still the “final judgment” show, and Idol faithful know what that means.

We’ll see snippets of lots of performances. But the focus will be Idol placing the Top 40 in a holding room and calling them — one by one — to appear before judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie to learn their fate.

Only 20 advance to the next round.

Among the heavy favorites to make the Top 20: Alejandro Aranda and Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon among the guys, Madison VanDenburg and Laci Kaye Booth among the ladies. They’ve gotten tons of screen time. And proven over and over again that they’re Top 20 worthy.

Among the familiar faces from Season 16 likely to move on: Laine Hardy and Alyssa Raghu, both of whom have received praise from the judge on the improvement they’ve shown after Top 24 finishes a year ago.

Assuming they advance, that would leave 14 spots — and not a lot of room for error — for 34 talented singers.

Oh, and near the end of the episode, as the Top 20 begin to fill up, Idol will take some singers into the final judgment room two at a time for a little extra drama.

Judges from photos already released from the pre-taped episodes, those contestants will include talented eccentrics Eddie Island and Margie Mays and county guys Laine Hardy and Tyler Mitchell.

Tyler fans had better hope this is one of those rare occasions when Idol springs a surprise and both singers advance.

The fun starts at 8 p.m. with Idol’s Top 20 performance shows set to begin Monday at the same time.

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