lil rounds

You guys, American Idol is getting serious. That opening with the judges walking out onto the stage and Seacrest lording over all of them? that was intense. It's the Top 13, and we're in the Kodak Theater. It's the big show, guys.

The audience is completely psyched, but Simon quickly brings everyone down in that special way of his by announcing that tomorrow's show is going to be double-elimination. This makes sense, since we have the same number of episodes to find this year's Idol, but we have one extra contestant.

My favorite thing about this episode is that the theme is the music of Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson, as you may recall, is one of those artists that the judges have said should just never be touched. So despite the fact that they have told Kris Allen, among others, that they should not sing Michael Jackson songs, we have an entire night devoted to just that. Sounds like a good idea to me!

This episode went along pretty much as I expected, with most of the people I expected getting through to the top 12. Until the wild card round, that is, when the kids and I were screaming at the TV because of the judges' dismal ineptitude at picking people to come back! But first, let's see what happened up to that point. That's my version of "After the break..."

The show started with the group singing Katy Perry's "Hot and Cold," which was one of my favorite songs until I heard them sing it. But even with the awkward dance moves, they seemed to be having fun, especially Nate, so that's what matters, I guess.

I thought most of them did a good job last night, but I was really blown away by Lil Rounds. Really, just give her the Idol crown right now. I can't imagine that she won't go far in the competition, though she reminds me of LaToya London from a few seasons ago, and she didn't get as far as I had hoped. So we'll see what happens with Lil.

I feel really sorry for this group right off the bat. Not only has it been so long since we've seen them that I've completely forgotten who they are, but we've sat through two weeks and four hours of airtime devoted to 24 people singing, and only about four of them make me not want to kill myself.

The whittling down to the top 12 is always the most tedious time in the competition, and with the performances of the past few weeks still fresh in everyone's mind, these poor contestants are facing an uphill battle. If I'm feeling this cranky about tonight's prospects, I can only imagine what Simon must be feeling right about now. I predict some harsh criticism in the Kodak theater tonight.