Idol chatter

So Kates I just cut through about four hours of TV in two hours. Last night’s two-hour “American Idol,” tonight’s drawn-out elimination affair and then tonight's “Lost” (yowsers!) -- because I couldn’t bare going to bed tonight without seeing it.

God bless the wonders of DVR.

As for "A.I." ... Say what you will about the cheese factor, but I'm a sucker for the group performances. There’s something I love about watching young people performing and having fun, and the gang’s performance of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” was sending chills up and down my spine.

Also enjoyed the segment about Idol’s new Disney studio. Pretty cool … Even cooler was seeing all seven Idol winners together, and the clip of Kansas City boy David Cook performing with Carrie Underwood. Nice! … Good to see Carly Smithson and Michael Johns together again, too.

But let’s cut to the chase. Seriously, was there any doubt Alexis and Danny were going to make it through? ... In a season that's given us few people worth getting attached to, Kates and I picked out Alexis and Danny as our favorites in the first moments we saw them. Megan Corkrey, who we'll get to see next week, falls in with them.

Yeah. By the end of tonight's show I was totally watching for a Tatiana breakdown.

Here's the notes I jotted on last night's performances ...

Jackie Tohn started things off doing “Little Less Conversation.” ... Eh. I didn’t know what to think of her. … I kind of agreed with Simon’s description of it being gimmicky. Her bouncing around the stage took away from her vocals.

Alexis Grace sang “Never Loved a Man” by Aretha Franklin. She done worked it out all right. It's worth saying again: I’ve liked her from the beginning, she’s one of the contestants I’m keeping my eyes on and I loved her gutsy, soulful take on Aretha.

Stevie Wright … Awful. I remember really liking her during her audition. But her take on Taylor Swift? An awful train wreck.

Anoop Desai, another guy we were sort of keeping our eyes on. He sang Monica’s “Angel of Mine.” Great song. But so not for Anoop. I wasn't surprised he was ousted. (Every time anyone said his name I broke out into this little song: “Anoop shoop, doop doop do woop. Anoop shoop, doop doop do woop …”)

Casey Carlson sang “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.” One of my all-time favorite songs … and she absolutely killed it. Plus, her stage presence was scary. Karaoke, atrocious -- the judges nailed every word. (I love it when the performance is so bad, and everybody knows it’s bad, and Randy stumbles over his words trying come up with something to say.) No surprise that she’s gone.

Ann Marie Boskovich sang “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” Totally disagreed with the judges. For me, sort of a safe, easy song choice. And I really liked it. I thought she was in.

And the moment I was waiting for all night: Tatiana Del Toro. What dramatics would she pull out Tuesday night?. … The moment she said she was singing “Saving All My Love For You,” I said, She’s gone. Whitney Houston songs are a curse on Idol. … All right, it was ok. But I echoed Randy -- she had some moments.

Danny Gokey, of course, sang Mariah Carey’s “Hero.” Not the song choice I expected from him, but then again, there was no doubt in our minds he would nail it. And he did … But as Kates noted, every song he’s performed so far has been a tribute-style song. Sure, the kid’s got a touching back story, but if he keeps singing those types of songs, it’s going to get David-Archuleta-style old.

Ricky Braddy, Brent Keith, Michael Sarver, Stephen Fowler … Um, no. Didn’t make an impression on me. Didn’t care.