GuessWho

So... who is the first "Idol" to return as a mentor??!!??

Next week's mentor is...

freshticles

Where the hell does Lee go when all these guys get their weekly vocal lessons? I'm still waiting for the guy to figure out what pitch is...He's the worst thing I've heard on this show in years. Even Tim is a better technical singer than that douche.

Patman

*Grumble*

Heat

Wow, interesting finish.

Aaron Kelly, Andrew Garcia, and Michael Lynche were in the bottom 3. Michael Lynche was the bottom vote getter and the judges used their save, so all 9 will return next week and two will go home next week (and no more judges saves).

I don't agree with that, and it looks like the end of the road for Teflon Tim Urban next week.

zuffy

What a waste of a save.

Shinobi

As if I couldn't hate this season more. I agree, what a waste.

dino88

That all seemed very badly staged.

Iron_Giant

Did not see the that coming, but the DVDTALK voting in this forum did pick the bottom three.

Charlie Goose

Is this the first time ever that AI did not finish 1 and 2?

Deftones

I think they kind of had to. Since they can't use it after they are at 5 left, it had to be used the next few weeks. I wonder if they are hoping that Tim and Andrew will have such horrible weeks, they will get bumped, keeping Mike around for a bit longer.

mwbmis

Honestly, I hope they get burned, and Crystal goes home b/c they don't have a save left. That would be both funny and appropriate.

I still remember Kara and Paula pleading with Simon to save that awful blind guy last year. In retrospect, the save should have been used on Alexis Grace, but that couldn't have known that at the time. I would have preferred this year save to have been used on Lilly Scott to get her in the top 12.

big whoppa

They like Michael so I thought the judges might use the save on him. He is a total cheeseball and only a mediocre singer. And he may be big but he could lose some fat. Those pecs he wants to fight with Simon are on the moob side.

starman9000

Hopefully he get's humbled from that. Not that I like his style at all anyway. I agree with Deftones that they basically had to use it. Kara's 'acting' during the whole thing was more lame than usual.

sportsfan64

So according to my math, they'll kick off 2 next week. The following week is Idol Gives Back, and they don't usually kick off anyone. Then the week of April 28, they'll eliminate another two. Does that sound about right?

marty888

Why assume that? He wasn't even in the bottom 3 this week.

Heat

Exactly. Some people won't vote for him this week because they'll assume he's safe, others will vote for their other favorites more strongly.

My prediction is that Teflon Tim will leave next week, and that Michael Lynche will not be in the bottom 3. I'll go ahead and predict that Andrew Garcia will be the second person to go home.

Burgundy LaRue

They're setting up Tim to take a Sanjaya-like fall. Sanjaya was in the B3 for weeks, then he gave a solid performance with Besame Mucho, was praised by the the judges, and was safe. The following week--just before the first ever Idol Gives Back show--Sanjaya gets the boot. The same will likely happen to Tim.

The question is who will leave with him. The judges clearly didn't want to see another girl leave this week--hence the praise Katie got--but I imagine she'll be back in danger next week. They're probably hoping for Andrew's departure, though.

If for some reason Tim doesn't go next week--then watch all chaos break loose after IGB.

They mapped this out exactly the way they wanted. Have three guys who hadn't been in the B3 before to land there. Have the one guy in the B3 who's been consistently solid to be the bottom votegetter. Use the judges' save to rescue him. Now Mike's fans will go into overdrive to keep him around and likely get him in the Top 3/4. And hope that a couple of the weaker guys leave next week.

They had to save Mike. Whether you like him or not, he's one of the few that has perfomed decently throughout and doesn't seem out of place on stage. Yeah, he can cut down on the cheesy dance moves. But he's a pretty good singer with personality and they sorely need to keep him around. And they didn't want to hold on to the save as long as they did last year.

What will be interesting to see is if a couple of girls will fall before we get to the Top 5 (a real possibility) and whether Lee or Casey will go home soon because they're splitting votes (what I suspect). And since the judges have used the save already, they can't bail out anyone else--so if Lee, Casey, or Crystal fall, they're just out of luck.

They're trying to juice up the season as best they can. Let's see if it works.

zuffy

I would have taken the risk and save it for Crystal in case she is gone. It's not like the others are worth saving anyway.

Deftones

i don't think Crystal is going to ever be in the bottom three. she's pretty much got a free pass to the final 3.

HUG-H

Oh--nice song, though.
I should have stressed that I meant Leno's Tonight Show before the whole fiasco with switching with Conan was still funny then.

HUG-H

Thanks for the correction. I don't think a diggery-doo would have helped him out, though.

Charlie Goose

If she is eliminated in a surprise, the outrage alone will get her a recording contract within days. Her career is pretty much set, and doesn't even need to win.

HUG-H

I agree with the last point. In my opinion, they wasted this save. BTW, is anyone even aware that what Big Mike was singing is a song by Kate Bush?
But I hope that Crystal doesn't get eliminated. If that happens, I'm done with Idol forever. However, I think they should stop forcing these people to stay under the stupid contract with 19 Entertainment (If that's the company they are bound to) when they get eliminated so they can go make a decent record and not some popped-up "radio-friendly" garbage that everybody has to wait a year to hear. Most of the time, people are done with these guys when the show goes off and then there's this CD that comes out 8 months after the fact (Taylor Hicks, anybody?).

big whoppa

I believe that the show has first dibs with a recording contract. They aren't obligated though.

Heat

Very good analysis, and I agree completly.

As far as Bowersox goes, I think that she will be in the bottom three twice - when they are down to three people, then the final two.