Idol Thoughts - The First Cast Off

Happy St. Patrick's Day and welcome to the first of what will amount to eleven eliminations as we search for the next American Idol.

Before the voting results were revealed, we had to endure an awkward exchange between Ryan and Simon regarding what Simon termed Ryan's "agressive eye balling" last night--not sure if he meant during the show or after, but the way they were going at it, you could flip a coin and still not be sure.

Simon also took a moment to explain that the "Judge's Save" is in effect again this year. For those of you unfamiliar with this move, here's a quick explanation: if the judges decide that America voted the wrong guy/girl off in a particular week, the judges can "save" that contestant and no one gets eliminated that week. But here's the catch: the judges have to be unanimous in their decision to save the eliminated Idol, they can only use the save until the Top 5, and if they use the "save", the next week becomes a double-elimination event. Got it? Good!

Now let's check out Elimination Night #1...

To kick things off, Idol invited back Season 7 winner, David Cook, who hit the stage with his band and threw down a nice little "Jumpin' Jack Flash". When he was finished, he chatted a bit with Ryan plugging his upcoming album and a trip to Africa in support of "Idol Gives Back".

After a four minute commerical break and the return of the lame Ford commercials starring the Idols (sans Casey who was battling the flu), it was time to start the eliminations.

Paige was the first to learn her fate. You may recall I predicted she would be in the B3...I was right! One for one on the young season. As she made the long walk to the other side of the stage, Ryan asked Lee to stand up and reminded him of the judge's comments from last night which included Simon's charge to gain some confidence. Lee said he has not choice, but to figure out how to calm the nerves and he is going to have to since he is safe. Sioban was next on the chopping block and Ryan told her to sit back down because she too is safe. Young Aaron rose to his feet and found that he will live to sing another song. The final two Idols on the top level were Andrew and Tim--both of whom I thought would be in trouble...I was only half right as Tim was sent to join Paige and in danger. So now I'm batting .667...in case you keeping track at home.

Before learning who the final member of the B3 is, I'm going to try to redeem myself and predict that Lacey Brown will fill out the B3 trio.

The only thing standing in the way of finding out if I am back on the mark or not is a performance by Orianthi--the guitar playing girl from Down Under who made such a splash on Michael Jackson's "This is It" rehersal movie.

At the 34 minute mark, Ryan recapped what has happened so far with the top row of the Idols and then he started torturing the bottom row.

First up was Didi who heard the glowing remarks from the judges and then sat down relieved with the knowledge she is still in the game. Crystal Bowersox had a chat with Ryan about her performance the previous night--first about her dad and then about the perception that she has the Idol crown "in the bag"...she denied thinking that way and then Ryan gave her the good news--she's safe.

Katie was asked to stand up and them address the judges about the mis-leading direction they have given her over the past few weeks--Kara said Katie's biggest struggle is with pitch and that she should focus more on R&B/pop, but Simon interjected that she should do Country...so she's still confused, but she's also safe.

Back to the results...and Big Mike who defended his awkward dance moves from last night and then sat back down while Casey and Lacey stood up. One of these two is going to be in the B3 and that person is Lacey...meaning I'm back in business! So if you count my mulligan (good Irish term on this awesome St. Patty's Day), I'm back up to 75%!

Ryan gathered the B3 to center stage, asked Ellen if the "save" is worth using tonight (she couldn't say), so Simon said "yes, one of them is worth saving". And then Ryan sent Tim back to the safety of the Idol couches. WHAT!?!?! Are you kidding me?! How many lives does this kid have? I guess the "vote for the worst" folks have made their mark already.

So with Paige and Lacey still in Idol limbo, Ryan introduced Kesha to the stage who "performed" (a loose use of the term) some crazy song complete with dancing TV sets.

Instead of putting myself through the pain of watching Kesha, I opted to fast-forwarded through the song so I could learn who is the first to go...which turned out to be Lacey Brown meaning Paige is safe and Lacey is forced to sing for her life. She chose to sing "The Story" while the judges pretended to debate the merits of using their "save". After the song, Simon made it very clear that they were unanimous in their decision to not use the save and thus we said good-bye to Lacey.

BTW: In case you are keeping track, this year's elimination song is "Leave Right Now" by Will Young.

Tune in next Tuesday night when the remaining 11 Idols sing for your votes. Until then I will continue watching TV so you don't have to.

Charlie