Idol Chatter - The Cast is Cut to 8

As I prepared myself for tonight's elimination show, I watched last night's performance show over again with my children. While we watched, my daughter, Ava, asked was if the Idols are judged on how they look--she noticed that a number of the judges comments included critiques about their appearances (Scott and Adam went with terrible '80's do's, Allison's get-up got more attention than her vocals, and Lil Rounds miraculously grew hair). It was definitely a night filled with forgettable clothing and odd hair choices, but I found the singing better than I remembered it when I watched the show the first time.

Having said that, I thought I'd take a stab at ranking the Idols based on last night's performances--and before watching the results of America's vote. So here they are, your Idols and where they would finish if they were to crown a champion tonight:

1. Adam - the most current performer and clear leader of the pack
2. Danny - will make a fine recording artist--probably Christian Rock or Country
3. Kris - a late bloomer who is winning over fans with his artistry
4. Matt - a bit of a stumble last night and in the bottom three last week, but he has talent
5. Allison - the youngest contestant, strong vocals, need to lose the guitar and stylist!
6. Lil - make better song choices, stick with your R&B roots
7. Scott - great musician, not enough vocals to really contend
8. Anoop - likes hip-hop, but a better balladeer
9. Megan - unique sound, but if she survives tonight, she won't next week

And now it's time to find out what America thinks of the last nine Idol wannabes--they must be liking what they hear because Fox tallied over 36 million votes, but was that enough to save your favorite Idol? We'll have to wade through the quicksand that is Idol Elimination night before learning which Idol has sung their last song on the Idol stage.

As is the case on nights like these Ryan asked a series of rather pedestrian (and time sucking) questions of the judges. I don't usually pay much attention to this normal exchange, but I couldn't help but listen as Ryan asked Simon who he thought was in trouble tonight. Much to my surprise, Simon agreed with my assessment from last night's post. Simon picked Anoop, Matt, and Megan although he stopped short of saying which one would be in danger of going home (provided the judges opt to NOT use the coveted Judge's Save).

Another elimination night staple, the group sing, took place next and the Idols lent their lip syncing skills (or lack thereof) to the Journey classic, "Don't Stop Believin'". Things were going well until Scott (standing behind an electric keyboard and appearing to be playing) sang his solo section of the song. Scott sounded good, but unfortunately he was about five feet from the microphone. From that point on the performance pretty much swirled the tank.

Finally, after 17 minutes of wasted time which we will never get back, Ryan asked to have the lights dimmed and began the elimination process. As in year's past, Ryan divided the nine remaining Idols into three groups of three.

• Megan, Matt, and Kris were the first group
• Lil, Allison, and Adam were the second group
• Scott, Danny, and Anoop made up the final group

The question on everyone's mind: which members of these three groups are in the bottom three? In keeping with the Idol tease-a-thon, we won't know who occupies the B3 until we listen to a little live entertainment. First up is Season 7 Idol, David Cook. David took the stage flanked by his bandmates and sang his new single, "Come Back to Me", off of his self-titled, debut album. David sounded even better tonight than he did when he stomped that Archuleta kid last May on the Idol Finale.

After performing his song, Ryan presented David with a shiny, framed record signifying that his album had gone platinum--meaning he sold over 1,000,000 copies of the album. Pretty impressive and well-deserved.

But that's not why we are here, we're here to find out which Idol is going home. So back to the process.

Ryan started with Kris who was safe and sent back to the couch. Next up was Matt who was April Fooled by Ryan and started walking toward the B3 stools before Ryan directed him to the couch. Megan wasn't so lucky--she was sent to the stools where she awaited the other two members of the bottom three.

On to the second group where Lil found out she was safe. Allison wasn't and joined Megan on the stools. So how would Adam fare? No surprise, Adam will be around next week (and likely 'til the end).

In search of the missing member of the B3, Ryan moved over to the final trio of Idols. Danny quickly got the good news and slapped high-fives with the other couchees. That left Anoop and Scott--before sharing the results, Ryan asked Randy for his opinion on who was going to join Megan and Allison. Randy said Anoop and the Dogg agreed--and then Ryan pulled Scott over to the couch and directed Anoop to the stools.

While the B3 sweat it out, Lady Ga Ga was welcomed to the stage to sing her hit "Poker Face"--a peformance which started out quite bizzare with pink lights flooding her plexiglass piano and platinum blonde Wendy O. Williams locks. A closer look revealed a rather questionable facial accessory--a zipper which had been applied to her left eye giving her a very surreal appearance.

After Lady Ga Ga finished her song, Ryan asked Simon whether any of the bottom three were worth saving. Without hesitation he said "one"--and I'm pretty sure he isn't referring to Megan or Anoop.

Back from commercial, Ryan sent Allison to the safety couch and then announced that Megan is going home and Anoop lives to sing another song. So it looks like the Judge's Save is still available--and to confirm it, Simon said the judges weren't even going to evaluate Megan's final performance tonight. And it's a good thing they didn't because it was very awkward watching her move on the mini-stage in front of the judges table and mess up the lyrics a couple of times.

I know there are those in the Idol Chatter world who are going to miss Megan (sorry, Paul), but I'm pretty sure she went about as far as she could go in the contest and has much to look forward to after the show including the Idol the Idol tour this summer and her young son at home, so no tears from this observer of Idol.

Tune in next Tuesday when the Elite 8 perform like trained seals and dine on viewer votes for survival. Until then, I will continue watching TV so you don't have to...

Peace!