Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Sometimes, American Idol can be oh, so frustrating.

We’re served up bloated two-hour episodes all the time. We have to sit through 55 minutes of nonsense to get the results on Thursday nights.

Then Thursday night, Idol needed a two-hour show.

They gave us one. And, even then, they couldn’t do us a simple favor like introduce the 40 contestants who made it to Vegas.

OK, to answer your most pressing question: Who made it?

UPDATE:  American Idol posted photos of its Top 40 on its p.r. site this morning. And it appears all the names below are correct. Congrats, contestants.

I recognized 14 guys as follows: Johnny Keyser, Mathenee Treco, Lazaro Arbos, Chris Watson, Charlie Askew, Jimmy Smith, Josh “Jada” Davila, Curtis Finch, Gurpreet Singh Sarin, Cortez Shaw, Josh Holiday, Devin Velez, Kevin Harris, Vincent Powell.

According to spoiler sites, you can add to that list: Nick Boddington, Bryant Tadeo, Burnell Taylor, David Willis, Elijah Liu and Paul Jolley.

Is that perfectly correct? I can’t guarantee it.

But follow the links attached to those names and you’ll find a profile and, in nearly every case, three videos of them performing/singing.

Among the ladies advancing, I recognized these faces: Rachel Hale, Aubrey Cleland, Breanna Steer, Zoanette Johnson (boo!), Kree Harrison, Isabelle, Jenny Beth Willis, Candice Glover, Angela Miller, Amber Holcombe, Brandy Hotard, Melinda Ademi, Tenna Torres, Shuhba Vedula, Janelle Arthur, Jett Hermano.

That’s 16 of 20. According to spoiler sites, you can add: Cristabel Clack, Juliana Chahayed, Kamaria Ousley and Adriana Latonio.

I haven’t gotten around to posting full profiles of the ladies because the Hollywood shows didn’t start until last night. But I will be posting those.

In the meantime, the links attached to the advancing gals will take you to a brief bio and, in most cases, at least one video of them performing.

At some point, I imagine Idol will release the list of the top 40. But probably not until much later tonight. As in after the show airs on the West Coast at 11 p.m. (EST).

But how difficult would it have been for Idol to scroll the names across the screen at the end of the show?

I mean, avid Idol fans just sat through six hours of watching Hollywood Week footage. And they leave uncertain as to whether or not certain contestants moved on.

Just absurd.

My other major complaint about last night is that the Idol gals got short-changed.

The show spent a full hour showing footage from the guys’ final solo day in Hollywood. We saw clips from 15 guys performing in that round.

The ladies got 38 minutes. We saw clips of 10 of them singing, some so short it was difficult to draw a conclusion about how well they had done.

If the list above is correct, who is Adriana Latonio? Have we ever heard her sing? I remember Amber Holcombe from last year, not because of any airtime she got in Hollywood. How about Aubrey Cleland? Jenny Beth Willis? I would  love to have heard them sing again.

All I can say is, stay tuned.

As soon as Idol releases an official Vegas list, I’ll share the news.