Everyone, even the judges, seems a bit blow away by the results of the show last night - lets recap…

First, the non-elimination stuff. The Top 20 did the group song thing - and it was in no way memorable. Seacrest announced that on March 11th the contestants would be singing songs from The Beatles song book. I don’t know how I feel about that (big Beatles fan here) - but I’ll watch.

Idol Gives Back is also returning in April.

The four singers that were eliminated are:

Jason Yeager

Alexandrea Lushington

Alaina Whitaker

Robbie Carrico

I can’t say I was terribly surprised to see any of them go, although they might not have been my first choices.

What did you think?

The flu bug hit the girl’s dressing room on American Idol this week, and it showed in last night’s performances. That’s really unfortunate because it means that we didn’t really get to hear what these women can do to the fullest of their abilities, but 2 of them are still going to be sent home. I have to say that I didn’t come out of this with a personal favorite - primarily because there wasn’t one “OMG” moment in the entire show for me. Again, I think that the flu bug may be a contributing factor to that, and that’s really a shame.

Here’s a run down of the girls and what they sang:

Kristy Lee Cook (24, Selma, OR) - “Rescue Me,” Fontella Bass

Joanne Borgella (25, Hoboken, NJ) - “I Say a Little Prayer,” Dionne Warwick

Alaina Whitaker (16, Tulsa, OK) - “More Today Than Yesterday,” Spiral Starecase

Amanda Overmyer (23, Mulberry, IN) - “Baby, Please Don’t Go,” Big Joe Williams

Amy Davis (25, Lowell, IN) - “Where the Boys Are,” Connie Francis

Brooke White (24, Mesa, AZ) - “Happy Together,” The Turtles

Alexandrea Lushington (17, Douglasville, GA) - “Spinning Wheel,” David Clayton-Thomas Combine / Blood, Sweat & Tears

Kady Malloy (18, Houston, TX) - “A Groovy Kind of Love,” Diane & Annita

Asia’h Epperson (19, Joplin, MO) - “Piece of My Heart,” Erma Franklin

Ramiele Malubay (20, Miramar, FL) - “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” Dusty Springfield

Syesha Mercado (21, Sarasota, FL) - “Tobacco Road,” John D. Loudermilk

Carly Smithson (24, San Diego, CA) - “The Shadow of Your Smile,” Tony Bennett (The Sandpiper)

Thankfully, tonight some of the contestants who we haven’t really seen got a chance for us to get to know them a little better, including seeing some early audition footage of them. It may not be much, but it does give us a chance to head them sing a few different kinds of songs, and gives us the impression that they actually have a chance to be in this competition.

American Idol also started theme nights right off the bat this season, with tonight’s theme being “the 60’s”.

Tonight’s performances included:

David Hernandez (24, Glendale, AZ) - “In the Midnight Hour,” Wilson Pickett

Chikezie (22, Englewood, CA) - “More Today Than Yesterday,” Spiral Starecase

David Cook (25, Blue Springs, MO) - “Happy Together,” The Turtles

Jason Yeager (28, Grand Prairie, TX) - “Moon River,” Audrey Hepburn (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)

Robbie Carrico (26, Melbourne, FL) - “One,” Harry Nilsson

David Archuleta (17, Murray, UT) - “Shop Around,” Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

Danny Noriega (18, Azusa, CA) - “Jailhouse Rock,” Elvis Presley

Luke Menard (29, Crawfordsville, IN) - “Everybody’s Talkin’,” Harry Nilsson

Colton Berry (18, Staunton, VA) - “Suspicious Minds,” Elvis Presley

Garrett Haley (17. Elida, OH) - “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” Neil Sedaka

Jason Castro (20, Rockwall, TX) - “What a Day for a Daydream,” Lovin’ Spoonful

Michael Johns (29, Buckhead, GA) - “Light My Fire,” The Doors

For my money Michael Johns was the strongest performer of the night, but there were a lot of really great performances here.

The formula of this show is an odd mix of crazy visions and standard law show. I think the series wants to be a bit more whimsical than it is - but mixing Boston Legal with the sci-fi channel isn’t really working for me.

Plus, so far these cases have been kind of odd. The first episode was going after pharmaceutical companies for making inoculations, and this one seems to give off the message that its ok to lie to the government if you want to come home from the war.

Now, I’m not going to get off on a rant here about being either pro or anti war - that’s not what I’m talking about. The fact that there is a war is irrelevant to whether or not its ok to lie to the government (or anyone else for that matter) to get out of a commitment that you don’t want to be in any longer.

That’s an odd choice for a show that is supposed to have a lawyer/prophet guy as a the star. To me, it comes off as irresponsible writing from someone who I can only assume is against the idea of war, and thus thinks its ok to abandon your commitments when you don’t think you’re being treated fairly.

Like I said, I hate to get off into a rant on this thing, because I can see an argument from both sides - especially if your “commitment” is extended without your approval, and in a way that you were mislead from the start.

I get that - I just don’t care much for the way this show jumps so quickly into the solution. Honestly, I don’t care much for Eli Stone. I want to - I like the lead, and I would love to have another new show to watch, but this one is just not worth the time.

Wow…so…um. hmmm…where to start.

You know, I am a huge fan of Superman. By that regard, I have been a huge fan of Smallville - but as this show grows older and older it seems like things just get more and more absurd with it. First off - Tom Welling is older than the guy who played SuperMAN in the last movie. With pretty much the entire DC Universe already having shown up in the series, you would think by now that he’d be in the tights with the big red “S”on his chest….but no…anyway, I’m rambling…

In this episode we’re treating to a trip through the mind of Lex Luthor after he’s shot in the head (which apparently you can fully recover from in one episode), and we also get caught up with the amnesia infested Kara in Detroit - whom Lex had been stalking…but so had another random dude…anyway…

We see the good Lex and we see the bad Lex in his brain. Thankfully, we see very little of Lana, but Chloe does come in to play the standard role of pot device. Again they are trying to convince us that Chloe is toast - but I think at this point they’ve cried wolf one too many times on Chloe, and I seriously doubt the character will ever be killed off.

All in all, not the greatest episode - or season for that matter.

While our good buddy Drew is out of pocket today, I’ll be filling in with the “Lost’ report. Drew loves the show, while I am only “in like” with it - but last nights episode was engaging and interesting. I am more interested in Lost than I have been in a very long time, and its episodes like this that keep me tuning in.

This episode focused on Sayid - and by the way SPOILERS AHEAD - who joins Hurley, Jack, and Kate as members of the “Oceanic Six”. While everyone else was arguing over the revelation that the “rescue team” was looking for Ben, Sayid noticed that the recently deceased Naomi was wearing a bracelet that read “I’ll always be with you. R.G.”.

Meanwhile, in the future, Sayid has become an assassin, killing people that are on a list made by his employer.

Back on the island Sayid heads up a group consisting of Kate and Miles to go rescue Charlotte from Locke’s team. If they do Jeff Fayhe agrees to take Sayid and two others to his ship.

It is also discovered throughout the episode that there is a 31 minute time gap between the outside world and the island.

To keep this recap brief, Sayid makes contact with Locke’s team, and reaches and agreement, trading Miles for Charlotte and returns to the location of the helicopter. Kate decides to stay behind with Locke’s team.

In the future, Sayid has fallen in love with a woman he is supposed to be using to get to another person on the list. It goes bad, and he discovers he’s been dupped, and she is not the innocent woman he thought she was. She shoots him in the arm, and he responds by shooting her in the chest - twice.

He looks at her as she dies, and grabs her wrist, looking at the same bracelet that Naomi had on earlier in the episode (or the same kind, anyway).

On the island, Sayid and Desmond, along with Naomi’s body, load up on the helicopter and head out to the ship. The last thing we see here is Sayid staring out at the water as they leave the island.

Back in the future, Sayid goes to a Veterinarian to get his gunshot would fixed. We see that he is talking to his boss - a man you may be familiar with - his name is Ben. He reminds Sayid that killing the people on this list is helping his friends. Just which friends we don’t know….

Very good stuff. i can’t wait to see what happens next.

The auditions are (finally) over, and now its time to get down to business. The final 24 were announced on this week’s show. Of course, they were announced online a while ago through a leak online list - but just in case you missed it, here are the final 24 contestants:
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Writer’s strike be damned, The (A) Daily Show continues to trek on - and really doesn’t seem to be missing a beat. In fact, the show doesn’t seem ANY less scripted than it does when they DO have writers.

John Stewart’s identical twin was apparently in attendance (he doesn’t actually have twin - there was a guy who just happened to look exactly like him).

John’s headlines touched on the recent Bill Clinton attacks on Barak Obama. Including a bit with the “forced to work” John Oliver. (for those that don’t know - John Oliver is here in the US on a Visa, and if he refuses to work he’ll be deported) Then on McCain’s victory in the most recent Republican primary - even including a written and drawn Garfield parody comic strip (how is that NOT a violation of the WGA rules?)

The guest tonight was Editor of Newsweek John Meacham. They opened the conversation by talking about Hilary Clinton and basically taking different shots at her. Then moved on to discussing the way that the narrative of “making a president” is shaped by the media - and how voter’s don’t really care. The conversation moves into how the news media is in the storytelling business, and how the main bias in the media is “conflict” - and how the media is completely driven by it.

All in all, a very interesting interview - and an interesting perspective from the Editor of a major news magazine.

Hey did you miss the 34th Annual People’s Choice Awards last night on CBS? Me too!

Here are the results in the television categories

Favorite Female TV Star: Katherine Heigl
Favorite Male TV Star: Patrick Dempsey
Favorite Talk Show Host: Ellen DeGeneres
Favorite Scene Stealing Star: Chandra Wilson, “Grey’s Anatomy”
Favorite TV Drama: “House”
Favorite TV Comedy: “Two and a Half Men”
Favorite Competition/Reality Show: “Dancing with the Stars”
Favorite Game Show: “Deal or No Deal”
Favorite Sci-fi Show: “Stargate Atlantis”
Favorite Animated Comedy: “The Simpsons”

As usual, I have discovered I am not one of “the people” because there is no way in the world I can envision “Two and a Half Men” being the Favorite TV comedy. If that show is your favorite comedy on television, I’m sorry, but we can’t be friends.

..and “Doctor Who” should have won best Sci-Fi show.

So there.

Tonight Jeff Chapman and Adonis Lockett were the male competitors tonight, and they started things off in the Gauntlet. There was some controversy when Gladiator Justice held Adonis down after he passed through Justice’s scoring zone. After a dispute with the ref, Adonis was awarded the 2 addition points he would have scored if Justice hadn’t pinned him down.

Christie Philips and Siene Silva were the female competitors and also started things off in the Gauntlet.

The men next competed in The Wall, where Jeff came back, scored 10 points, and Adonis was shut out after being pulled off the wall.

The women then competed in the Joust, where Christie was knocked off the platform in 15 seconds, Siene didn’t fare much better, lasting 20 seconds after Gladiator Crush mercilessly smacked her in the head over and over again.

After that the men competed in Earthquake. Jeff “Big Country” Chapman continued to reinforce Southern stereotypes by talking about mud wrestling contests back home, however, when it was over “Big Country” scored another 10 points after knocking the Gladiator off the platform. Of course, after that was over, he then made a “hog wrestling” comment. Yee-Haw.

Adonis again failed to score any points, after trying to pants Gladiator Militia and falling off the platform.

The women then took on Gladiator Venom in Hang Tough. Christie got shut out again, but Siene, a former gymnast, made quick work of the rings and scored 10 points.

In the final event before the Eliminator, the men took their chances in Hang Tough as well. Adonis was up first, taking on Gladiator Wolf, and he finally gets back on the score board, making it to the platform and getting 10 points. “Big Country” didn’t fair as well, getting tossed into the water just inches away from the platform.

The women’s events were wrapped with Assualt, which still feels “off” to me with the contenders having to load and find the ammo during the event. Christie was quickly shot, scoring only 1 point. Siena didn’t do much better, only scoring 2 points before being taken out.

In the Eliminator, “Big Country” lost his commanding lead after a few hiccups during the obstacle course. It all came down to Adonis and Jeff on the Travelator. Neither man could get up the incline (and I really think this part of the Eliminator needs to be changed - it’s just terrible to watch, and seriously anti-climactic). Adonis eventually gets his footing a few seconds before Big Country, and taking the win.

It should be no surprise that Siene cleared the Eliminator very quickly - making the thing look easy.

So there is only one slot left for the semi-finals.
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