Before the writers strike shut down the set of Bones, the cast and crew completed an episode titled "The Wannabe in the Weeds." If you recall, in mid-December, I told you that former American Idol contestants Brandon Rogers and Ace Young would guest star in this American Idol-themed episode. Finally, months after the episode was completed, we will get to see the two Idol finalist perform both on and off the stage on Bones.

Hello and welcome to a new weekly feature here on TV Squad. As this is the year in which American Idol is focusing more on current and past contestants, I thought we should do no less. So each week, as one more Idol hopeful is eliminated from the competition, we'll take a look back at contestants past who were eliminated in the same week. We'll examine how they did on the show and what they've been up to since their elimination.

This week: 12th place finishers, featuring Vanessa Olivarez (Season 2), Leah LaBelle (Season 3), Lindsey Cardinale (Season 4), Melissa McGhee (Season 5) and Brandon Rogers (Season 6). Season 1 broke at the Top 10 so we don't have 11th and 12th place finishers to examine.

As we reported in our November 11 edition of Spoilers Anonymous, an upcoming episode of FOX's Bones will have an American Idol-theme. Who better than some real Idol contestants to play the guest roles of, wait for it, contestants taking part in a singing competition? That's exactly what the casting crew behind the show thought!

At least two American Idol contestants, one from season 5 and the other from season 6, will guest star in an episode titled "The Wannabe in the Weeds" (as you can guess, the dead character will surely be a contestant and the body will be found in... weeds). The episode, slated to air in March according to some sources, is the last episode of the series completed before production was shut down due to the writers' strike.

American Idol's season six winner Jordin Sparks and first runner-up Blake Lewis are hitting the studios to record their individual debut albums. With possible release dates as early as Thanksgiving, America will learn soon enough if the latest batch of Idols are "turkeys" or not.

Jordin said, "I'm trying to mix everything together. I'm loving all the songs I'm recording, so hopefully that will come off the album when you listen to it and you'll be able to feel the emotion."

(S06E21) There's no big surprise tonight. As predicted by AOL's latest poll, it was time for Brandon's journey to end. You know, when it goes the way you expect it to go, it's kind of anti-climatic. How anti-climatic was it? Even Brandon said he "expected" to be going home.

Did America get it right this week? Oddly, the judges didn't say. In fact, they didn't say much tonight. Like I said, we all expected Brandon to go. But still, didn't you expect Paula to weep, and offer him final words of inspiration?

(S06E14) After last week's boring first impression, the guys needed to step it up this week and show us something big. Did they succeed?

Well, overall the guys were definitely better this week, but nobody even came close to Lakisha's show-stopping performance last Wednesday. In my mind, the ladies remain ahead, and this is still their race. However, at least the guys picked better songs, and showed a little personality tonight.

So who's going home?

(S06E11) Tonight we moved past the horrible auditions and the Hollywood meltdowns into the part of the competition that many of Idol's critics call "Karaoke Time." I think it's a given that all of the semifinalists are talented singers, having beat out thousands of others, and holding their own during Hollywood Hell Week in order to get to the Top 24. But staying in the competition is going to be tough. They're going to have to go beyond lame or even "safe" Karaoke renditions. They really need to kick some butt big time and shine.

Now that we have a complete list of American Idol's Top 24, it's time to try to predict who will make the Top 12. I'll admit it's a bit early to make educated predictions. After all, how do we judge contestants we've never seen sing?

Honestly, this initial list is really just a compilation based on "gut feelings" or "first impressions." Let's face it, we're totally judging books by their covers.