American Idol Viewer's Guide - Final 3!

Group Song!

Thank you Idol Gods, this is the week we get to reap the sweet rewards of being a season-long Idol Fan. For those of us who have grimaced through weeks such as 'Disco' week, and cringed their way through 'Grand Ol Oprey' week, Tuesday night should be both a surprising and interesting breath of contestant fresh air. With their new found freedom in place, my expectations for great song choice is set awfully high this week.

What's less captivating to me is the fact that we're left with three white males with the loss of the young (the judges never failed to remind us that she's 'only 16') and talented Allison last week. Could the terrible outfits and bad haircut and color finally have caught up with her? Though, in fairness, I'm not sure that Adam can be given much more credit in the fashion department and somehow he remains untouchable this season. In fact, his color is (apparently) so interesting to America, that there are instructions on how to achieve his locks of glory here.

Fashion aside, this is the week when contestants can show their true colors and just how clever they are understanding demographics and personal image branding. Let us all pray that Adam, Danny and Kris are spending all their time googling voting break-downs by contestant and dreaming up a song that will thrill the pants off voters and judges alike. Speaking of judges, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the eternal "is she or isn't she on drugs" debate surrounding (once again) our girl, Paula. Here's the article where she claims to have been addicted to painkillers. And here's the article where she claims the magazine got it all wrong.

One thing I know that makes her statement a whole lot less credible is her comment that she 'has never been drunk in her whole life'. Hmmm, maybe we should let 64 million American Idol viewers be the judge of that:


Onto our three amigos, errr, contestants this week:


Adam, the seeming 'it' boy of Idol this year has gotten himself a cover on Entertainment Weekly, in which he seems oddly uncomfortable standing there smiling for a photo shoot for a guy who sure isn't uncomfortable on stage in front of millions of people each week:

Adam should focus on what works for him this week: embracing the musical theatre side of his personality, eye liner galore and odd hair styles included. What Adam needs to watch out for is his tendency to cross over into the land of scary and odd stage antics that is usually prefaced by his loud shrilling. I'm a firm believer that this is no one's favorite Adam, and I think we have all earned the right to request that we get the last three performances from 'Gentle Adam'. We think Boy George's 'Do you really want to hurt me' would be ace for him this week. No doubt 'George' is a role model in fashion flamboyance for our Adam. Extra bonus points if he tears up at any point during the song.

Pretty-boy Kris needs to take Simon's early-season suggestion of denouncing his wife and tell America he got divorced over the weekend, is happily healed from this event, and is actively single. No doubt this will stoke the flames of love in millions of 15 year old girls who have been barely able to make it out of bed since David Archeluta lost the finals last year. This sad posse can be found commiserating here. Kidding aside, Kris needs to get the bongos and guitar out and sing himself a little Dave Matthews or John Mayer. We think a bongo-infused version of Mayer's 'Your Body is a Wonderland' will make the ladies weep, and reach for their cell phones to vote.

All-American Danny might still have an advantage in the hearts of American because of the tragic loss of his wife. It's an unfortunate route to the sympathy vote, but he's going to need a bag of tricks to get into the finals without the tweeny-boppers' vote behind him. We are thinking a funkier version (is that even possible?) of Lionel Richie's 'All Night Long' would be a grand choice for Danny. Not only can he do something with a church choir in the background to fill up the stage (and who doesn't love a church choir?), but he can attempt to "work da party all night long" and dance in his goofy and endearing way that America seems to so love. I'm beginning to think this is the face of Danny's vote and I think she might just like his choice of Lionel this week.

In summary, I can hardly wait for this week's performances from our remaining three contestants. I'd be lying if I didn't admit I'm secretly hoping that the stress of this week's reports on Paula's drug use might just make her hit the bottle/pills/insert drug form of choice a little harder than normal which is sure to make for great TV. I live for the day she wobbles right off that chair she precariously balances on each week and onto a poor unsuspecting audience member. That would be a show to remember.....

IT'S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN