No real surprises

So I got three out of four correct tonight, and seeing Colton Berry going instead of Luke is not any real surprise. Amy Davis is quite good-looking, but can't sing. In fact, I think she was even worse tonight than last night. And her looks didn't necessarily help her because there's a bunch of other female singers who are just about as attractive. Garrett Haley won't really be missed, and, as someone on the Internet wrote yesterday, they cut Josiah and left this guy in? Joanne Borgella already won one reality show--some show on Oxygen for plus-size models hosted by Mo'Nique, and no, I didn't watch it--and America doesn't allow you to win two, does it? Plus, she just wasn't good, both Tuesday and tonight. And then there was Colton, whom Simon gave great advice too--even if Paula is too much of an idiot to recognize it. He's right, Colton is not going to be a music star.

A few other notes after a grueling five hours of Idol this week: The girls sounded OK, but the guys singing together in the medley was just awful. Unfortunately, with hourlong results shows, we're going to see lots of them for the next three months.

That video of the top 24 as celebrities sought by the paparazzi--I have no words that can possibly describe how loathsome that was.

Paula Abdul's song actually is kind of catchy and not that bad. But that video? It looks like outtakes from the videos from the "Forever Your Girl" album. And watching that video did make me think that Paula Abdul is somewhat remarkable. She was a hugely successful recording artist for about three or four years in the late 80s and early 90s, one of the most famous singers in the world at the time. She pretty much disappeared for most of the 90s, and then amazingly has become probably even more famous than she ever was, at least in the U.S., for something completely different. I'm not sure what it means, but it is sort of incredible.

Is anyone going to buy a Randy Jackson album for his bass playing? Are there guest singers for every song? Does anyone have any information on this?

Finally, apparently Ryan Seacrest has been watching a lot of CNN election coverage. Just like Wolf Blitzer constantly repeats the mantra "the best political team on television"--hoping that repeating it incessantly will make it true, even though it isn't--Ryan is going to keep telling us this is the most "talented top 24 ever," hoping he'll hypnotize us into believing it. Sorry, Ryan, it's not working.