People sure take American Idol seriously! 25 million voted last night, choosing the next three singers to advance to the top 12, joining Alexis Grace, Danny Gokey, and Michael Sarver. Based on the chosen three tonight, this is gearing up to be a great competition. So far, everyone can sing and there really aren't any Sanjayas in the group yet. Yes, Nick Mitchell/Norman Gentle is a novelty act. but he can sing and he's really entertaining.

But before we got to learn which three went through, the producers tortured us with yet another group number, with the Idols awkwardly dancing and singing Neo's "Closer." I'm not a big fan of the group numbers, and the singers don't look like they're having that much fun either.

Confession time: I was scared when the call came from on high to help cover American Idol this year. Yes, I've watched it from the beginning and got wrapped up with the whole Kelly/Justin thing like the rest of the country, and unlike the rest of the country, I actually saw From Justin to Kelly (thank you, $5 WalMart DVD bin). After the first few seasons, however, I started to lose interest.

I was right there when Ruben and Carrie won, but was in no way a member of "The Soul Patrol." I didn't really care which David took the crown, and I didn't exactly rush out to see Fantasia on Broadway. After seven seasons, all of the contestants started to look the same to me. Everyone ran together, and no one stood out. I know that Daughtry has gone on to have a decent career, but I couldn't for the life of me tell you which season he was on. It was all white noise.

That is, until Nick Mitchell came on the scene.

I love Simon Cowell for many reasons: He's almost always right, and while he can be a bit too harsh at times, he doesn't drown the contestants in useless platitudes either. When Seacrest asks the judges to give this second group of 12 advice for tonight, Kara blah blahs on about "bringing it," and "doing their best," while Simon tells them that it's too late for advice-- because it kind of is.

They've already chosen their songs, which is one of the most important, if not the most important factor in how well they'll do tonight. All you can really tell them at this point is "don't suck." Let's see how many of this twelve actually don't suck-- I'm sincerely hoping it will be more than last week, because if not, it's going to be a long two hours.

For this edition of American Idol, the crew traveled to New York City and San Juan, Puerto Rico. One of my favorite things about the auditions is seeing the expressions on the judges' faces – when they're witnessing true talent and also when they're being tortured by the voice of the devil.

Despite the distracting bobbing boat behind the judges (and a guy ON the boat at one point!), I tried to keep focused on the auditions in New York City. Let's get to it:

Adeola Adegoke, 19. She sang "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going," and she's so sure of her singing abilities that she quit her job. Bad move. Simon calls the audition "shockingly bad" and then calls her former boss to try and get her job back. Thank goodness it works. Adeola is going back to her day job instead of flying to Hollywood.