Deja Vu All Over Again

Now we all know that the way the announce the semi-finalists has nothing to do with the way they choose them. So, for example, when Sundance and Jimmy were sitting there as the last two eligible guys, it doesn't mean that Sundance was number 12 and Jimmy was number 13. They just do that for dramatic appeal.

However, I'd have to think that if the judges had it to do over again, they would gladly trade both their 12s for the 13s that got left behind. Sundance was awful and so was Antonella, and I'd really like to know what Jimmy and Marissa would have done in the finals.

Both would give the competition a bit more of what it needs. The guys side has too many so-so white guys, and based on the performances of the the one black man and five black women in the competition, a little more color could sure help the guys.

And Marissa might would have given the girls side what it needed, a cute white girl who can sing.

The women were head and shoulders above the men. That's for sure. But that's not to say they were great.

Let's start at the bottom with Antonella. Man was she awful. Great looking, but awful. Boring, flat, just plain bad. But did  I mention she was great looking? I did, and so did all the judges. I don't think that's gonna help though. Last year, Becky was spectacular looking and sang better than Antonella and she was the first one booted. Antonella and her friend struck me as a little bitchy throughout, so I can't see her getting a lot of female votes.

Then there's Leslie Hope(less). When I watched her, I didn't think she was that terrible. Simon called her ungainly, but I actually found that endearing about her. She came across very real, which made Natural Woman a good song choice. Until two women with real voices came on and sang the hell out of a couple of Aretha songs.

Then there's a group I'll call the "other white girls." To me all these girls were pretty in a generic way and I'd have a hard time picking them out of a

line-up. A couple of them sang okay, Nicole and Haley. Nicole might have the best voice of the four, but I thought she was screaming at points and I agree with Randy, the urban feel she was going for seemed forced. Haley went the other way. I was thinking beauty pageant through her song and Simon said broadway. Either way, it's not distinctive and not going to do well at Idol.

The other two, Amy and Alaina chose bad songs and sung them poorly. Simon said that Alaina had only her looks to go on, but from where I was

sitting, she wasn't all that great looking. I thought there too she kind of fit in the middle with Amy and Nicole and Haley.

Then we have the six girls who sang reasonably well. Of those, only one, Gina, is white. Gina's always had a lot of personality, but to me, it's not always the best personality. She does have a big voice and she did well with All By Myself, but I may agree with Simon that she may not have nailed that one big note. Wasn't that the song LaToya London sang in the first week of the semi's that tore the roof off? I think it was, and if it was,

Gina didn't touch it.

I do see Gina going far though.

Then we have the Five Black Women Who Can Sing. And we all know that spells trouble. Think, season three when the three best singers were black women and on week six, they shockingly comprised the bottom three. Poor Jennifer Hudson went home that week and hasn't been heard from since. I hear she's trying to get into movies now.

You just know that at least one of these ladies isn't going to make it into the finals. Maybe two. And maybe one won't even make it to the second week. If that happens, I think the prime candidate would be Stephanie. She sang first, and everybody loved her, but so much came after her, she could be forgotten. They showed her an hour later when Simon called Melinda the best yet and Stephanie didn't look happy. Of course Melinda didn't hold onto that title long either. Of the five, I thought Jordin was the weakest, but she's 17, the youngest girl in the competition and I see her having a big young
following.

I think Sabrina is great. She is from my home town of Studio City, she's totally hot and she looks Jewish. And she can sing. Actually, I'm assuming she's black, but I hadn't thought she was previous to last night. I'm thinking it because they showed a woman in the audience who I assumed to be her mother. Maybe I'm wrong. I hope she's Jewish. We need a follow-up to Elliott.

Melinda can be in trouble too. She topped Stephanie, but then Lakisha topped her. However, she's more memorable than Stephanie and she sang later. Of the three Aretha songs, she sang my favorite, Since You've Been Gone and she did it great. I think Katherine McPhee sang that her first week too and really impressed me. In fact in the early weeks she twice sang R&B songs and I thought it was a mistake that she didn't sing more of them later.

Melinda was great, but ultimately the night belonged to Lakisha. Earlier, Ryan tried to start some fake controversy over the fact that the judges say

take risks and then put singers down for singing a song that's too risky. Which is definitely not the case. Judges fault a singer for taking on a song that they know they can do well, bringing nothing new to it and ending up with a performance that is competant but not memorable. They fault other singers for taking on challenges that are beyond their abilities. They want singers to go past their comfort zone, but not to fail there. It doesn't seem to be too much to ask somebody who has beaten out so many people and is now being watched by so many.

Lakisha was a case in point in taking risks. You know she can sing that song and she knows she can sing it. She's probably sung it a hundred times. But, singing such a big song that was such a tour de force for Jennifer Holiday that few people (if any) have ever attempted on Idol, and then singing it after Jennifer Hudson from Idol took it to another level in the movie and singing it on that stage on the week that Hudson just might win an Oscar for it, took guts. It's not a song that really fits well into a 90 second version and she could have been damn good and still fallen short of the other versions. But she didn't. As the Dawg himself used to say, she worked it out. And then some. I didn't find myself thinking about anybody else during the performance and I don't know about the rest of you, but I got goosebumps.

Almost made Tuesday and last week worth watching.

So tonight... I'm sending home Rudy, Nick, Stephanie and Antonella. Not who I want to send home, but who I think will go.

Anybody else have a guess?