Adios Haley Scarnato

Is there a master class curse? First, Tony Bennett gets the flu, and now rumors are circulating that Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony are separating.

While on the topic of Jennifer Lopez, we here at AI HQ have to eat a little crow for all the bad things we said about her running this week's master class. She was impressive. In fact, I'd say she came over as more helpful than Gwen Stefani. And, she was strong both in her performance and her brief Q&A afterwards on Wednesday night, too. Agree?

Unfortunately, Jennifer Lopez's advice didn't translate on the small screen. Tuesday night's show was just not good as it had terrible all around performances (Haley, Phil), disappointing performances by solid contestants who we usually think of as strong (LaKisha, Melinda?), and creepy performances by losers (Sanjaya). Yo no te quiero.

In fact, the only person who exceeded expectations at Idol HQ was Blake, and that was probably he's been so disappointing recently. But you see, give him a song that doesn't test his range, and his solid voice mixed with his performance-ability can make him a very strong contestant.

Maybe the contestants should have spent more time paying attention to J. Lo while they surrounded her on the floor and looked up at her like she was teaching them kindergarten.


Here's my Sanjaya bit for the week:
Who was that loser that needs to show the world that he owns Sanjaya's sister? I mean, you really need to wrap your arm around her to show the world she belongs to you? That family attracts creeps. I wish there was some way to show that guy that Sanjaya's sister is not that his possession.....but how?


Anywhoo, to no one's surprise, Haley got the boot this week. She had one of the worst performances of the week AND she wasn't very strong to begin with, so it really didn't shock anyone, did it?

Poor Brooke Stafford...She gets this week's booby prize for having Haley the highest out of anyone in the pool (she had her 5th). The loss of Haley knocked her down from 3rd to 7th.

Since everyone almost had Haley out already, not much happened this week in the standings. Lisa Wagner still remains atop of the heap with 140 points (298 max). She is one of a few people who is now 5 for 7.

Right on her heels remains Matty Lane who also has 140 points but with a max of 250. With such a low max score, Matty's going to need some bazookas to shoot down the competition ahead of him.

Kendra picks up the slack left by Brooke and moves up a spot to 3rd overall. Kendra, like a lot of people, is also 5 for 7, but can go 5 for 6 next week! She has 131 points and can max out at 298.

Team Zach & Sarah are still hanging around, too. Like Kendra, they have the chance to go 5 for 6 next week. Currently, they have 131 points and can max out at 279. Right now, they're in 4th.

In 5th sits Jane LeBlanc. Jane also has 131 points and can max out at a very respectable 272. Although, really, finishing in 5th place isn't a lot of fun. Bags full of cash is what you want, and that's what you'll get if you finish in 1st or 2nd.

Finally, Chris Serico has shot up the standings and is now sitting in 6th place. How has he been able to do it? Sanjaya. Serico has Sanjaya higher than anyone else in the standings, and he's been riding his coattails as far as that creepy twerp will take him.....Fortunately, Chris has Sanjaya going home next week. We all hope you're right, Chris. Serico is in excellent shape now with 129 total points and a max score of 298.

Wondering who the top 10 are in max points? Here they are (looks a lot like last week):

1. Marybeth - currently 8th - 303 points
2. Missy - currently 12th - 301 points
3. Lisa W. - currently 1st - 298 points
3. Kendra - currently 3rd - 298 points
3. Chris S. - currently 6th - 298 points
6. Will - currently 9th - 295 points
7. Kristin - currently 22nd - 286 points
8. Julie - currently 13th - 283 points
9. Jennie - currently 20th - 282 points
10. Team Zach & Sarah - currently 4th - 279 points
10. Amy Y. - currently 10th - 279 points

Everyone psyched for country week next week? I'm not. I think I'll just sit at home and eat my homemade fritatas.

The Master

Not much moving around....Here are the standings!

Will Latin Week be out of sight?

Halo! I mean Hola!

Say what you will about J. Lo, excuse me (I forgot), Jennifer Lopez's "voice" and her "musical talent" and her "movie choices" (lest we forget "Monster-In-Law" and "Shall We Dance" and "Jersey Girl" AND "Gigli"), this woman will always have a welcome home at AI HQ because she played Karen Sisco in Steven Soderbergh's masterpiece "Out of Sight". Sodebergh is perhaps the only director to draw a genuine performance out of her, and that should earn him praise alone.

For all of you movie fans who have never seen "Out of Sight", I suggest you bump it
up to the top of your Netflix list. Not only does it successfully blend crime, drama, and comedic genres into one (with a great ensemble cast that it seems like only someone like Sodebergh can handle), it also is the signature Soderbergh film from camera work all the way to the editing techniques used. This is the movie where you first see him use audio from one scene to play against the visual of another, the first where you see freeze frame photography, the first where he playfully jumped around in the narative, and the first that looked absolutely incredible (as evidenced in the picture above).

But back to the singing.....Jennifer Lopez? Really? She's the role model for SINGING? She's horrible!

Wikipedia tells us that this week's theme is Latin week (which sounds reasonable for Jennifer Lopez week), and we understand that Latin music is a mucho commercial genre of music, but we also find it hard to believe that every finalist will have no problem picking a Latin themed song out this week.

Which really leads us to believe that Latin themed week might get stretched beyond the realm of absurd. While we're sure we'll hear a ton of Gloria Estefan, I really wonder what other artists are out there that a) count as Latin music, b) the finalists are remotely aware of and c) the viewing public would find a connection with. These factors make us think that Latin Week will be a liberally used label. Yvonne, can you help us out here? Larsen?

Wikipedia is also telling us next week is country week y'all and the week after is God, I mean God, I mean inspiration week. Now, I don't know about you people, but Latin week, Country week, and Inspirational week sound like 3 clunkers to me. It might as well be gregorian chant week, songs about suicide week, and.....um.....country week. I mean, when are we going to get Indie Rock week, Lesbian folk week, and movie musicals from the 2000's that end in -girls and start with dream- week? That's why we watch, right?

And, if the country agrees and starts to tune out a bit, could it mean a little trouble for the show?

Not only are the ratings down this season compared to last, but every episode has been viewed by fewer people that the one before it. Now, some want to blame the poor quality of contestants (coughcoughSanjayacoughcoughHaley'svoicebutnotherlegscoughcough), but the producer's have another theory:

If you ask "Idol" producer Nigel Lythgoe what is causing the problem, he'll blame daylight saving time, which started three weeks earlier this year. Ratings tend to dip every year whenever the time change kicks in. "Even if we lost 50 percent of our audience, we'd still be in the top three shows in the country," Lythgoe said at a press conference on Monday.

Oh, to be Nigel Lythgoe....when asked about a potential problem, first brag about how powerful you are and then come up with a crazy excuse to explain it all away!

Daylight Savings Time? The reason less and less people are tuning in is because they are making sure they are outside at 8PM on Tuesdays every week? And every week they grab a few more of their friends to make sure they're outside too? That's the best you got?

Or is it just that people forgot to move their clocks three weeks ago, and not only do people continue to check in on Fox an hour after the show every week, but they also forget to check in at the right time the next week, AND every single week even more people decide they need to set their clocks BACK to where they were 4 weeks ago so that they'll absent mindidly check in at the wrong time, too. That must be it.



Getting back on subject, Latin week is going to suck this week. I mean, can anyone left decently sing a good Latino song? I have two theories about this week and next (country week). Want to hear them? Tough, you're reading this whether you like it or not.

Theory 1 - Everyone sucks because they don't know anything about Latin and (to a lesser extent) Country music, so the suckiest person will go home (ie - Haley probably this week, and I hope to God Sanjaya next week. What country song could he possible sing?).

Theory 2 - Upsets, Upsets, Upsets. Someone is singing a song so out of their comfort range that they completely bomb. Could LaKisha or, dare we say, even Melinda be vulnerable on Latin week or country week? It's possible.

Let's not forget that last year, Ace Young went out around this time last year, the year before that, Nadia Turner and Anwar Robinson went out right around this time (followed closely by Constantine), and of course, 3 years ago next week was when Jennifer Hudson went home (by the way, did anyone catch the Jennifer Hudson joke in "The Office" last week?).

I'm not saying it's going to happen, but right around this time is when people who are considered the favorites coming out of the top 12 have a tendency to go belly up unexpectedly. Could it be a theme just doesn't fit them (Nadia) or America just tires of them (Anwar & Ace) or America gets over being taken to bed by them (Constantine) or the country decides to go loco for the night (Hudson)?

I don't know, but these next two weeks are generally when it happens, if it does happen....craziness!


OK, let's look at our standings really quickly.

Senorita Lisa Wagner says Sanjaya will say adios this week, and I think I speak for all of America and this pool when I say, "Lisa Wagner, gracias!". I sincerely hope you're right. Lisa will go 5 for 7 if he goes, but she'll also be OK if Haley or Phil goes, too.

In fact, that goes for almost all of you - almost everyone will be OK if Sanjaya, Phil, or Haley goes.

In 2nd place is Matty Lane. Matty has Jordin gone this week, which would be just a little bit of an upset. But I can tell you now that more people would be hurt by Jordin leaving than by her staying, so Matty's picks would be one of the few that would really benefit by her leaving ASAP.

Now, if you're one of those people who are a little bit lower in standings (not like Matty) and have someone who now seems like kind of a favorite going home (like Jordin), I recommend you visit a voodoo doctor ASAP, because that voodoo curse would be like a blessing from God for your picks if it comes true.

Brooke is in third and had Gina leaving this week, so Brooke falls into the "Sanjaya or Phil" category - but not Haley! Brookes still has Legs McGee around.



On a personal note, if Sanjaya doesn't leave soon, we're going to switch shows and next year do a "Happy Boy" pool. Deal?


Buenos Noches!

The Master