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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Luke never seemed completely comfortable commanding the stage. And I noted week after week that his vocals never seemed quite strong enough. His voice carried itself a bit whiny and weak for my tastes. But, if you watch him performing with his a cappella group Chapter 6, you can see how much better a performer he is when working and singing in tandem with a group.

Not surprisingly, in AOL's interview with Luke Menard, he indicated an interest in pursuing television work or maybe a stint on Broadway now. However, few contestants have managed to parlay a stint on American Idol into any sort of career in acting. Mikalah Gordon and Tamyra Gray dabbled a bit in television, and of course Jennifer Hudson nabbed Oscar gold for a singing/acting gig, but those are still some pretty steep odds.

As you know, when American Idol is on the air, the whole world obsesses over every aspect of the show. The gossip. The scandals. What Paula's drinking. What contestants did in their pasts. And now ... which celebrities various Idol contestants look like. AOL has put together a gallery of American Idol celebrity look-alikes.

It's a pretty fun diversion, with some stunning similarities discovered. Aside from the ones that have already been brought up (Luke Menard/Orlando Bloom, Colton Berry/Ellen DeGeneres, Garret Haley/Peter Frampton), there were some particularly startling ones in there as well. Chikezie and Mekhi Phifer could be twins almost! I didn't see the Corey Clark comparison coming, though *grin*. All in all they did a pretty good job, but Jasmine Trias/Mulan? Really? No real Asian women she resembles available? Can you think of any others?

(S07E19) Thank god it's the end of three-times-a-week Idol. Tonight, we lost four more contestants to the ether and said hello to our Top 12. It's been a long road coming, and while I can't say I agree 100% with the Top 12, I will agree that most of the contestants in it deserve to be there.

Honestly, I think the Idol team accomplished their goal of creating the most talented Top 12 in Idol history. Say what you want about their professional pedigree and the lack of true amateurs in this group because in the end it won't really matter. What they will bring is a better more consistent product to the screen. Sure there's early favorites, but who can honestly predict the winner at this point (I know some of you are very certain you know who it will be)? Can you even predict the Top 12?

(S07E17) This is it, folks! After these next two weeks, we'll have our Top 12. Which two of those smiling faces doesn't deserve to be there? Well, I had a pretty good idea going into tonight's episode and after it, I'm even more certain. I hope you all get it right. The boys were more comfortable this week and it showed in their performances. I think a lot of it had to do with the theme: '80s songs. Finally, songs they may actually be familiar with and possibly even have a personal connection to.

(S07E14) Tonight was a weird night for me as the boys who blew me away last week...well, kind of didn't. And the guys who barely squeaked by upped their game tremendously. It was like a mix-and-match of who was good and bad from last week and it made my brain hurt. Now I'm all kinds of confused and don't know who should go home anymore. There's still some easy fat to trim, but now I don't think it's nearly as obvious which six of these ten should make the Top 12. Good for them, but hard for us.

(S07E11) The continuing efforts by the Idol folks to make me happy are really appreciated, I want you guys to know that. Not only did they acknowledge that certain of tonight's contestants have had very little to no screen time thus far, but they went so far as to show us some early audition footage for them.

It may not seem like much, but that little bit shows us the contestant singing a couple different songs, maybe in differing styles. This gives us a more well-rounded basis on which to assess their performance here. Everyone has an off-week from time to time and it would be horrible for someone to have a bad night on the only night we see him/her if his/her other auditions were amazing.

Apparently, American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe was pretty upset about my disdain at the lack of screen time his show has given to finalists Jason, Jason, Garrett and Luke so far because he's come out with an explanation of why some finalists don't get any screen time prior to the voting portion of the show.

His explanations include editorial "story" concerns and licensing issues with the songs contestants choose to sing. I have only two things to say to that: First, you can feel free to talk to me Nigel. You don't have to go through Reality TV Magazine. Call me, baby. We can work this out. Second, your explanation is complete crap and I don't buy it for an instant.

So are you, like me, pissed that we have no idea who Jasons Castro and Yeager are? Upset that we've never seen Luke Menard before we saw that he was in the Top 12. Well, if you're reading this then you're online. And if you're online, then you can run on over to AmericanIdol.com and see introductory videos of the entire Top 24, as well as a clip of the photo shoot that brought you our fantastic Top 24 gallery.

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Now that we know who they are we can see how they've been cleaned up by FOX and photographed. And that crazy Top 24 promo photo featuring the contestants hiding behind Simon masks has been replaced with the above photo, minus the masks. Oh those wacky kids over at FOX. They're so creative!

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(S07E10) Looks like Idol's getting an early start with the cheesy blatant endorsements. They opened this episode with an incredibly corny Jumper intro featuring Hayden Christensen and Ryan Seacrest. But tonight is all about about the chair and final judgment for the contestants. No more singing; no more chances to prove themselves. It's simply a matter of sitting down and hearing if they're in the Top 24 or headed home.

"Joe's Place" broke the story last week and there are plenty of sites who ran with it, so now the question becomes: how accurate is it? We're still a few weeks away from the official unveiling of the American Idol Top 24, but apparently the final selections were made this past week, and then Joe blabbed about it to the whole world. Did he get it right?

Considering there are names that no one would know unless they were on the inside; they are from auditions yet to air, it seems very possible that his list is at least partially accurate. I'm going to do two separate posts for boys and girls as I'm gathering up available online video, some pics and what we can find so far about these possible contestants. !SPOILER WARNING! after the jump. If you don't want to know, then don't go.

[UPDATE - Now updated and with additional audition video! - j/h]