Judges Save

Save the rocker. Save the diva. Save 'Idol.' Save the world?

'Idol' is notorious for its "shocking" results shows, but some contestants just plain go home too soon. Each season, one talented front-runner has failed to advance as far as the judges predicted, and the Judges' Save -- which allows for the 'Idol' judges to keep one eliminated contestant in the competition, despite America's having voted him or her off -- was created to solve that very problem.

Last season, it was used for pianist Matt Giraud, who ultimately placed fifth; last week, it came in handy for Michael Lynche, who must now try to avoid the dreaded double-elimination.

The rule was only introduced in season 8, but it would have been useful on 'Idol' during most prior seasons. Read on to see who we think the judges would have saved had the rule been in place from the start.

When Ryan Seacrest did the results from the voting last night on American Idol and put Adam Lambert in the bottom three, my reaction was like Kara's. It was a jaw-dropper. How was it possible that Adam, who's been flying through week after week and has been wowing the judges, was suddenly on the short end of the votes? Being just a tad suspicious, my first thought was that the producers had manipulated the votes or something to make it more dramatic.

And it was! Not only was Adam in the bottom group, so was Kris and Matt. I expected Matt to be there because he's been hanging by a thread for weeks, ever since the judges used their new rule -- the Judges' Save -- to keep him in the competition. So, Matt made sense. Kris was quickly moved to the top group, so sweating over him wasn't in the cards.

Last night at 8:56 PM, EST, I was watching American Idol. Host Ryan Seacrest went to a commercial, saying that coming up next would be Adam Lambert, the last performer of the night. Again, I looked at the time. How on earth was Fox going to get this show done by 9:01 as planned?

Well, the answer is that they didn't. In fact, people recording American Idol on DVRs are ticked off this morning.

For those who relied on the DVR and missed those last six minutes, you missed a lot. Kona, who's no Adam Lambert fan, was even impressed with his performance of Tears for Fears' "Mad World."