Finally, the final 24

So we have our final 24, and since I either can't remember or have never seen about half of them, it's hard to talk about the show tonight in any great detail. I was kind of puzzled how the last two females were Antonella and Marisa Rhodes, considering Antonella had been pretty good throughout and Marisa (had we seen her before?) sounded very good in the clips they showed. Same with the two guys, since it seemed there were quite a few unremarkable vocalists we heard in the new clips of the final performances (the performances we didn't get to hear last night.)

And of course, there were plenty of people who were featured in the audition shows but just kind of disappeared before we even got to tonight's show. Kellie Pickler '07 was never heard from again after making it to round two of Hollywood, and the girl who all the judges said was great--who came in with her two friends dressed in those pink waitress outfits or whatever they were--evaporated too.

A few quick observations on who did make it and the brief snippets of performances we did hear: Melinda Doolittle sounded very good, and fellow backup singer (was he a backup singer) did too. I was glad to see Haley Scarnato make it, since I thought she was pretty good but for some reason Simon dismissed her quickly. Glad to see the very funny Chris Sligh make it, even if his vocals allegedly weren't up to par. The anti-Hung, Paul Kim, says he's going to perform barefoot every week. That's going to get old fast. But forget "Anti-Hung" as a nickname, maybe we should nickname him Tony Franklin, after the Eagles kicker who kicked barefoot for no apparent reason.

Jordin Sparks is the second child of a professional athlete to make the final 24 in the last three years, after Niko Smith two years ago. Of course, Giants defensive back Philippi Sparks isn't a hall of famer like Ozzie Smith, but it's still interesting. That guy A.J.--he's tried out five times? I guess I'm happy that he finally made it, but isn't that kind of creepy?

I thought I recognized Leslie Hunt, and after looking on a message board, I learned that she apparently is the girl that appeared in the commercials in the weeks before the show premiered. Why she was never shown during the 11 hourse of auditions shows other than a brief two second snippet in a montage in the "rest of the best" show is beyond me, but as I say every week, I don't produce the show.

Alaina Alexander is quite cute, but her voice tonight didn't wow me. On the other hand, although we had never seen them before, Nicole Tranquillo and Amy Krebs sounded very good in their clips.

What does it all add up to? Will it be a wide-open competition with lots of talent but no clear standout, like last year? Will it be like seasons 1 and two, with one or two transcendant talents that everyone looks forward to hearing every week but lacking in many other serious contenders? I guess we'll start to find that out next Tuesday.