Tuesday, April 10, 2007

The contestants are divided into a trio of groups of three. One features Blake, Chris and Sanjaya. One features Jordin, Melinda and LaKisha. And the one in the middle has Haley, Phil and Gina. Gee. There's lots of suspense here, isn't there? Sigh. But Ryan has to spin his wheels for 30 minutes, so he sends the Jordin, Melinda and LaKisha group off to safety as the group of top votegetters. That's not surprising. And then he says that Blake, the immortal Sanjaya and Chris are the middle group. Also not surprising.

Unfortunately, while Tony Bennett was featured last night as a mentor, he was too sick to appear tonight, but that doesn't stop Ryan Seacrest from doing a plug for Bennett's Duets album. Mission accomplished, Tony. Now if only any of the contestants had listened to a shred of your somewhat doddering advice last night. Fortunately, Ryan has always enjoyed talking to and about his buddy Michael Buble and he was able to call in a favor. Buble does a bluesy (and boozy?) rendition of "Call Me Irresponsible" and he also gets to plug for an album that won't be released until May and he even makes a funny.

Completely dead-pan, he asks Ryan, "Am I wasting my votes by still voting for Antonella Barba?"

Our fearless host responds, without missing a beat, "Nah, I do the same thing."

Time to send one member of the Bottom Three to safety. The crowd wants Gina sent back, but Phil's actually the man. I'm already getting unhappy about this. Can we mention one more time how admirable and impressive Haley's legs are?

Randy is a bit surprised by both Haley and Gina facing elimination. Paula, teeth set on edge, says that it's tough at this stage and that they should both be proud of themselves. Simon isn't at all surprised.

After the season's highest vote, 33 million votes, Gina is this week's bootee. Haley is confused. The crowd is miserable. Jordin is in tears.

Bottom Line: We'd had a couple of rough weeks in Idol-land, a couple marginally premature eliminations that left some fans shaking their heads. In Stephanie Edwards, the season lost one of its best voices. In Chris Sligh, one of its most distinctive personalities got the boot.

While hardly a contender for the season's big title, Gina is probably the third straight contestant to go home slightly early, but her problem was in presentation. She put herself out there as a rocker, which wasn't where her vocal strength was. But even if she would have been swiftly eliminated on a real rock competition, the judges kept repeating she was supposed to rock. It didn't matter that her rendition of "Smile" was better than several of her more highly praised songs. It wasn't what fans were told they were supposed to want.

Given the time to make it through her entire exit song, Gina does herself proud with a touching and heartfelt encore.

Thoughts on this week's results? Surprised? Sad? Pragmatic?

Ugly Betty: Fake Plastic Snow - 9.30pm

It's Christmas time at Mode, as Betty questions her relationship with Walter and her feelings for Henry, the accountant.

Daniel, on the other hand, is sure of his love for Sofia (Salma Hayek), despite her doubt, and Marc frantically tries to win over Wilhelmina in fear of losing his life.

Meanwhile, Amanda vies for Betty's position as Daniel's new assistant by planning and executing a perfect Mode holiday party that fills the office with Styrofoam snow and holiday wishes.

Quote:"I think it's hilarious when people call Jessica Alba or Eva Longoria curvy. Come on. They're not curvy; they're small. I'm curvy." - America Ferrera