phil stacey

(S06E27) We are slowly inching our way closer to the grand finale, which means that another finalist has to go home tonight. I know, it's sad, but this is the only way we'll get closer to crowning a new American Idol.

Tonight, the finalists are separated into three different groups of three on stage. One group is the Best Three, one is the Middle Three, and one is the Bottom Three. And looking at the breakdown, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to guess which group is which.

The self-proclaimed "King of All Media," Howard Stern, wants to "kill" American Idol, and Eric the Midget isn't happy about that at all. When Stern first joined Vote for the Worst to support Sanjaya, I really thought it was a one-time bit. But Stern seems committed to disrupting Idol's game and destroying the show's credibility. How far will Sanjaya get? I'm thinking Top 5. If Stern continues to rally his fans, Sanjaya could go all the way.

American Idol wins FAVORITE TV SHOW! At the Nickelodeon's annual Kids' Choice Awards. Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul showed up this weekend to accept the award, but Simon Cowell was a no-show. Too bad, if ever anyone needed to get slimed . . .

According to the Nielsens, the Kids' Choice Awards show was watched by more 6-to-11-year-olds than American Idol. Who says kids today watch too much TV?

(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.