If you tuned in to watch the first part -- day one -- of Whitney Houston's interview with Oprah Winfrey yesterday, you weren't alone. The overnight ratings were gangbusters for The Oprah Winfrey Show, the best premiere in three years, which is just what Oprah had in mind when her producers booked Whitney on her comeback trail.

And Whitney benefited, too. Her new CD debuted at number one on the Billboard chart, a fact confirmed at the end of the second half that was broadcast today. So Whitney won and Oprah won and Clive Davis was happy and smiling, probably because he had orchestrated the whole thing behind the scenes.

If you just watched the crowd while Whitney Houston performed in Central Park on Good Morning, America today, you might have thought that Whitney was doing great. However, if you had the volume on, you know better.

Sadly, Whitney Houston's GMA appearance was sad. Her voice cracked and she seemed to be struggling to sing one of her biggest hits, "I'm Every Woman," which ironically was used as the theme for The Oprah Winfrey Show for years. I say ironically because Whitney explained to the fans at one point that her voice was a wreck because she had talked too much during her appearance on Oprah earlier in the week. Ouch!

The entire appearance was enough to make you cringe. At one point, Whitney called her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, out to the stage to sing with her. Bobbi has grown into a beautiful young woman from the teenager she was on Being Bobby Brown, the infamous Bravo reality show starring Whitney and then hubby Bobby.

We scoured the earth (and the archives at various record companies for failed projects that showed vocal promise) to create the greatest assemblage of singing talent American Idol has ever seen! So what happened? After last year's virtual snooze-fest, how did a season that truly did give us perhaps the greatest depth of talent we've ever seen (an argument could be made for Season Five) give us such lackluster shows?

After Sanjaya-gate last year, the biggest controversy to come out this year was that finalist David Hernandez used to be a stripper and David Archuleta's dad might be a Mr. Meany-Pants. And we got to be pissed that Kristy Lee Cook outlasted the likes of Michael Johns. Not until we got to the finale of Davids did things get really intense.

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Kelly Clarkson has held the title of the "most successful American Idol recording artist" for a very long time. But things aren't going so well for Kelly who has cancelled her summer tour due to poor ticket sales.

Kelly posted the following statement on her website: "In the craziness of the music business, performing is what I look forward to doing the most, so it is really disappointing to me to have to tell you that I won't be coming out to tour this summer ... But I promise you that we're going to get back out there as soon as is humanly possible to give you a show that will be even better."

Each week the performances vary by such enormous degrees that I'm having trouble figuring out who I like the least, or, "best." What I've realized is that while Carrie, Bo and Vonzell are all very talented individuals, they suffer simply by being on the show. When Simon chewed out the band last week, he really pointed out the biggest handicap to becoming an American Idol: if the band doesn't back you up with enthusiasm, you're lost. Which is why Bo chose to go solo on his performance of "In a Dream," although it didn't work out too well, in my opinion.

This is a tough one to call. Carrie gave me chills when she did Roy Orbison's "Crying," and she gave solid performances on Air Supply's "Making Love" and Shania Twain's "Man, I Feel Like a Woman." (By the way, was she wearing hair extensions?) But solid is as solid does: it doesn't necessarily make an Idol.