American Idol

At the end of last season’s American Idol I swore I wouldn’t watch any more of it—too much Ryan for my stomach to take, too many waving arms, too many “Yo, Dawg”s from Randy. But I got hooked again for the performances of the top 12, and after this week they’ll be down to seven. After last night’s show with the top eight performing, I have to eat my words and grant Idol some well-earned praise. This season, they’ve gone nearly overboard with expensive sets and wardrobe for the singers. And the eight performances last Tuesday were all better than almost any from the first ten seasons. I can’t get over how professional they all are. Then there’s the odd voting. For most of the seasons, someone far superior to most of the others gets voted off. The voting demographics probably account for that. Of the viewers who vote, at least a fourth are 11- to 13-year-olds, most of whom are girls with a crush on one male or another. And they all vote about a bazillion times each week. Thus, Pia Toscano gets voted out and heart-throb Scotty remains. Not that Scotty isn’t good, he’s very good. But he’s also a one-trick country pony. I’m guessing that probably the best musician, Casey Abrams, will be the next to go. Thank heavens, he finally got the message and had his hair cut and styled, his beard trimmed. This week he decided to go against his advisors and sing Nat King Cole’s old chestnut, “Nature Boy,” giving it a jazzy samba treatment, playing a white bass accompanied by jazz piano, with even a tiny bit of scat to go with the bass. It was excellent. But will the tiny tots think so? No. So long, Casey. Probably the two weakest left in the running are Scotty and Lauren, and they’ll probably be the last two standing on the final show. Lots of people don’t care for Jacob Lusk, but he’s Luther Vandross reincarnated. He’s very good but won’t last much longer. And James Durbin is probably the second best musician, but he too will be one of the next three to go. Well, at least the voters got it right this week, sending Paul McDonald packing, he of the world’s whitest teeth Again, though, let me say that this season’s show is much more professional and less cheesy than in the past. No more waving arms in the first several rows. Even Randy has decided to dress up a bit, even a tie last week. And JLo is probably the best judge they’ve ever had, making cogent comments after each performance. And she’s a knockout to look at. I can even finally stand Steven Tyler whereas when I first saw him on Two-And-a-Half Men and the start of Idol I hated him. But he’s nearly as pretty as JLo.