I think Elliott definitely benefited from last week's glimpse into his backstory. It's the first time that I recall seeing much about his life and I told my wife then that he would pick up a lot of votes. Especially after he cried.

Elliott was so uncharismatic that I think I fell asleep watching his perfo-- zzzzzz -- oh sorry, I nodded off just typing that sentence about him. Great voice, but his stage prese--zzzzzzzzzz

Katharine was off. I love the song, and she was better than most, but they overpraised her. Paris was too. Both of their vocals are incredible, but they're missing notes each week. I guess it's hard for the judges to hear that live. Chris was great and will probably be hurt by leading the show.

As always, the Standards episode is the best of the season, reminding the audience how much today's music is shit.

das

Ace and Kellie - bad, bad, bad.

I dislike taylor and kellie. Please let anyone but these two fake fake people win.

If Elliot ever has a daughter, he should name her Edie.

Edie Yamin. Hee, hee.

my top3..

chris
kat
paris.

bottom
ace
kellie
elliot

middle taylor

jadzia needs sleep!! edie

How do the phone lines work? At the end, Ryan says the lines are open and will be for the next 2 hours. I assume the show airs on the West Coast later but can they also vote after the initial East Coast airing without really watching the show? Ok, I know some are probably picking it up off the satellite. So here the lines would be open from 8 p.m. to 10 -- then again from 11 - 1 a.m.???

Chris - Eh, it was pretty bland and forgettable, I thank him for not finding a Creed or Silverchair version of the song to perform, but that aside it was only okay and seemed better than it really was, just because we are glad he didn't scream it.

Paris - Her best vocal performance in weeks, but again she does not seem to have that spark of emotion needed to really ignite the songs.

Ace - Actually a good week by Ace standards, which means it's only nearly the worst performance of the week instead of the clearly obvious worst.

Taylor - Sorry but the first two thirds of the song where pretty damn souless and vanilla, then for about 15-20 seconds he seemed to be spot on before he went way over the top, to end the song.

Elliott - Elliot always seems to be in the middle of the pack. Never good enough to be remembered and never really bad enough to be remembered. I have honestly already forgotten what he even sounded like tonight.

Kellie - Really really bad, a monotonous droning substituting for singing. Worst of the week.

Katherine - Aside from the awkward close-ups, she was pretty good. Best of the week

Paula (to Kellie): "I really can't wait for you to begin your acting career."

Uhhh, it already did, sweets, months ago.

Kellie's performance was laughably horrendous, and at first I thought it was kind of refreshing to hear her go off on her self deprecating rant. Then I realized that it is likely just more phony crap she pulled to get sympathy from people. As if she needed any help. She is nice to look at, but her act just sickens me, and the fact that she is constantly in the top 2 or 3 every week when she has had more lousy performances than the people getting booted makes me want to just stop watching the show.

Ace has always bothered me, too, but I will say I thought his performance tonight was pretty good. By far his best yet, IMO. I have a hunch he bought himself at least another week tonight. I am going to predict Elliott goes bye bye tomorrow.

Looks to me like Kellie might make the bottom 3 tomorrow.

Something to remember about American Idol is the several voting phenomena.

#1) Simon bashes mediocre contestant, fans rally to vote. Simon praises mediocre contestant, contestant goes home (see Kevin Covais, for one)

#2) Popular contestant has a bad week, fans freak out and vote as much as possible to keep them in the competition. Look at dialidol - she had a ton of support tonight.

There are plenty others, like time zone voting (Jasmine) and too many people from the same area (like this year with NC).

All of this is the long way of saying that Kellie won't be in the bottom three this week, although on merit, she absolutely deserves to be.

Current Dial Idol Results:

I liked Elliot this week, I thought it was the best he has ever been. I also think his makeover has been amazing, he actually looks pretty good.

I was happy with his performance. And he was helped by a mediocre review from Simon, all his fans will rally. The charisma thing on stage is way overrated at this point, he just has to sing the hell out of these songs from here on out, and he looked more comfortable this week than any week so far.

I've been a Taylor fan from the start, but it certainly seems like he has been castrated by the show, that being said, this was one of his better performances in recent weeks.

Kellie as always is great entertainment, love her or hate her, act or not, for her to say that she butchered the song took major balls. That alone will win her some votes.

Paris still seems like an imitator than an originator to me, and those extreme closeups of mcPhee were bizarre.

I was expecting a bit of a train wreck from these songs, but the songs carried the singers through, overall a pretty good night.

I think Elliott is a goner. Yes, his appearance has improved but, when compared with the rest of the singers, he just doesn't fit in.

It was still the best show of the season.

Ditto on all counts.... although shades of Martha Stewart's Appentice!

"I'm just a little verklempt. A little emotional, little verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you a topic. Rod Stewart is neither American nor an idol. Discuss."

When I vote for someone, I'm not just voting for the performance of that night. I like to vote base on my impression of the person from all his/her past performances combined. If people vote before they see the show, I'm guessing they are doing the same. Voting on their older performances instead of just the latest one.

I loathe Ace with every fiber of my being but, other than the obvious "nasally" section Simon commented on, that was probably his best performance; if we're going solely on performance, it has to be Pickler, who started off surprisingly well, but then tanked by the end. Of course, I'm no idiot--she's not going anywhere, so tonight's vote-off is anyone's game...

By the way, is it completely out of place to say I want to have a lot of sex with Katherine McPhee? I mean a lot...

Based on performance, Pickler should go, but she always seems to save herself in the end. I dont even think she will be in the bottom 3. I think its either going to be Elliot or Ace who goes this week, and wouldnt be surprised if Taylor is in the bottom 3. But I think the bottom 3 this week will be Ace, Elliot, and Katherine.

AGREED! The band competes with the singers every week, sometimes drowning them out so badly you have to strain to hear the singers sometimes. They have been just awful, and I believe contribute to the downfall of some of these performers.

Agree on all acoounts. Randy got it right...Ace's Falsetto is flawless, and I'm impressed with the way he goes back and forth between the falsetto and full voice. However, I believe he is gone today.

I don't get why Elliot is still here. He is okay, but not an "Idol." IMHO

I was a lil bored with Taylor's (my fav) performance until the end. Loved his interpretation!

Just watched.

Rank
Paris - just in another league. Not perfect, but when she was on, she was out of this world.
Taylor - he was just Taylor, and I don't really like him that much, and I don't consider the song a "standard" either, but it's a classic. If Sinatra, Fitzgerald, Bennett or Torme didn't sing it, it's not a standard.
Elliot - pretty derivative and didn't do anything too special, but good.
Katherine - not very good, IMO. The judges comments were way over the top.
Chris - weak voice when he's not screaming. Just because he showed a different style doesn't mean he did it well.
Ace - should go. I hate nasally singers. Randy is right, he should sing falsetto the whole way through.
Picker - really botched it, but deserves to stay based on Ace sucking for weeks. Really liked how she admitted her gaffes.

And I think it was the best show too. Just the performances are being over-praised by most.

Oh, and BTW, by the Blood of Christ, Gedeon would've whipped ass tonight.

I was telling my wife this same thing. I mean his singing isn't that good, but I know damn sure if it was on the radio i'd switch over to something more exciting (like perhaps Weird Al). I picked him to get the boot moreso because i'm just tired (literally) of seeing/hearing him than he actually had a bad performance.

There's been a lot of hate for Pickler in these idol threads and if her dumb blond hick routine is an act then perhaps at least some of the hate is deserved. However, most weeks she sings very well and ends up doing or saying something really amusing (intentional or not). Last night she messed up and literally gave a much more critical assessment of her performance than the judges did. I have never, ever heard a contestant do that on this show (al least not that I can recall). I was impressed and I believe a lot of voters were as well. All in all, she has earned the fan base she has.

That said, I don't know that someone who aspires to be professional singer and doesn't know what the term "lyrics" means deserves to win this competition...