American Idol -- Top 9 Results

It's time for one of our top 9 to go home and the producers have told Ryan that the results will be shocking. Nothing would really shock me at this point, but let's see what they got.

First, Idol Gives Back is back. I thought the judges were joking about those auction items but after checking out the website -- Idol Gives Back Online Auction -- it appears that those are the exact items available.


I think there should be a law against turning Beatles' songs into a medley. That said, it was certainly not the worst group number of the season.

I don't usually comment on the Ford music video (because it's a commercial), but I noticed very quickly that what Ryan called "a lot of fun" was really just all of them standing in one place handing a kaleidoscope to each other. This is a talented bunch, isn't it?

When he started with having all three girls come down to center stage, I thought Ryan was going to do his three groups of three thing. I was really glad when all three of them were safe. I don't love Katie, but it's time for a guy to go home.

Katie should read the American Idol website. If she did, she would have known that Adam Lambert was coming to mentor before Ryan announced it.

I had no idea who Jason DeRulo was before the show, but I have to say that I was somewhat impressed. I wasn't big on the beginning, but once he got into it a bit so did I.

I was never an Archuleta fan, but didn't he just put 90 percent of this group to shame with those vocals. I think he is especially bad for Aaron Kelly, who is essentially walking in Archie's way-too-big for-him shoes. However, I've said this before and it bears repeating. Archuleta had a moment with Imagine in the semifinals of season seven mostly because it was so surprising that someone so young could deliver a believable version of that song. They need to stop acting like he's essentially stolen it from John Lennon.

As soon as Ryan said they were forming two groups, I knew which group Tim Urban was going to join. He didn't seem to have any idea what was going on. From the moment Ryan told him to join Casey and Lee he looked like he didn't have a clue. Every step of the way he kept giving Ryan these stunned looks of disbelief.

Sorry, I keep trying but I still don't get Rhianna.

I know several people were shocked (maybe to the point of anger) that Mike was in the bottom three, but let me break it down for you. I try to follow several different Idol websites to see what the trends are. Almost universally, Crystal, Siobhan and Lee account for roughly 90 percent of the fan support. That leaves 10 percent to be split among the other six contestants. The latest (non-scientific) poll I saw had Casey with 3, Tim with 2 and the others with one each. The reason Tim has been sticking around isn't so much that a ton of people are voting for him, but more that virtually no one is voting for anyone other than those top three. Throw the other six names in a hat and pick them out one by one. That's as good a prediction of how they will be going home as any other method.

Mike did the judges a huge favor by picking Woman's Work as his sing-for-your-life song. They absolutely had to save him (because with regard to talent, he's light years better than Aaron and Tim), but it would have been a tough sell if he had been up there singing Eleanor Rigby.

I'm not a fan of Mike, so I wouldn't have been crushed if they had let him go home (for the reason I talked about in the paragraph before last). But, the judges' save -- which I don't really like -- has two things recommending its use:

1. After they saved Matt Giraud last year, every contestant that got voted off after that talked about how great that week that no one went home was. I think sometimes we forget how much stress these kids (and most of them are kids) are under. They are away from their families and friends and thrown together with each other. I used to think some of the tears on results night were a little contrived, but I've come to realize that these people cling to each other because they are all in the same boat. No one can understand what any one of them is feeling except someone that is going through it (or has gone through it) themselves. So, it's like the best perk of the entire season when they get to go back one Wednesday night and they don't have to say goodbye to one of their friends.

2. What's going to happen now is that the people that like Mike but never vote are going to start dialing next week. Every time they have (even for reasons other than the judges' save) spared someone, that person has survived the next week. In season two when they kicked Corey Clark off the show they spared both Trenyce and Carmen Rasmusen (who were in the bottom two). The next week, both of them were safe and someone completely different went home. Last year, same thing. The week after Matt Giraud got saved, Anoop Desai and Lil Rounds went home. Mike needing to be saved this week has all but ensured that two of that gang of three (Aaron, Tim and Andrew) will be saying goodbye next week.

Finally, my thought(s) about Adam Lambert mentoring. It's about time they brought someone from the show back to mentor. As I just stated, no one understands like someone that's gone through it. He will offer advice and insight that these kids almost never get. I'm a little irritated by the selection though. I'm sure Kelly Clarkson wouldn't be interested (unless she had an album or tour to promote), but Carrie Underwood, David Cook and Chris Daughtry have been extremely loyal to this show since they were on it and all three have sold way more records than Adam Lambert at this point. It would have been nice if one of them had been the first former Idol to come back and mentor. To be clear, this is not a slam at Adam. You don't (and shouldn't) say no to that kind of opportunity. I just think the producers are not showing enough respect to some of the people that have shown up for them over and over.

Anyone have any thoughts on this week's show?