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Last night the field was pared to 44.  Tonight twenty were sent home, leaving us with the final twelve female, and final twelve male contestants. 

There were lots of contestants on tonight's show who were either fleetingly or never featured on the show up to this point.  It is always fun to "discover" these new faces once the studio shows start up.  I do feel for a number of the contestants who had come this far, but were basically unable to "crack" the show.

It also seems that a lot of the more buzzworthy contestants skated through Hollywood without much "face time" on TV.  Some of that can be attributed to the production staff prudently holding back some individuals.  This can also be attributed to the push to televise some ignominious "flame outs" while the contestants are still available. 

Sadly (for our entertainment value), the Brittenum twins found their way off the show.  It would be interesting to see what they'd pull before the public's antipathy would send them away.

In the end, season five looks to have a really strong field.  Lots of really pretty and talented girls, along with handsome andseemingly talented guys. 

Finally -before listing the finalists- I would like to "toot my own horn" a bit, as I had correctly predicted nine of the twenty four finalists without an error.  Of course, that's not saying much, as most of the shoo-ins were prominently featured as such.  We'll see how well my odds for the final twelve go.  (Didn't I pick Anthony to win last year?  I'll have to look back.)  -My biggest embarassment of this year's picks was my referring to Taylor as "Travis".  Darn!

The Twelve Female Finalists (in no particular order) ("??" Indicate an unknown quantity.)

1. Katherine McPhee- Cute
2. Mandisa Hundley- Simon apologized
3. Melissa McGhee- ??
4. Lisa Tucker- ??
5. Brenna Gethers- Is she likable enough to get the votes?  I doubt it.
6. Stevie Scott- ??
7. Ayla Brown- Did Simon hurt her chances by referring to her as "not an underdog"?
8. Rebecca O'Donohue- Will women vote for her?  I hope that she stays on my TV...
9. Heather Cox- ??
10. Paris Bennett- Probable top-three finalist.  Almost as obvious as Fantasia was.
11. Kellie Pickler- Where has she been?  America will love her.  She'll last longer than she should.
12. Kinnik Sky- ??

The Twelve Male Finalists (in no particular order) ("??" Indicate an unknown quantity.)

1. Ace Young- reminds me of Mark Slaughter
2. Robert Bennett- ??
3. David Radford- Crooner style.
4. Sway Penala- Is he cute enough?
5. Elliot Yamin- My favorite "dark horse" pick.
6. Gedeon McKinney- ??
7. Chris Daughtry- Female fan-favorite.
8. William "Bucky" Covington- ??
9. Patrick Hall- ??
10. Kevin Covais- Young.  Will he wrap up the pre-teen vote?
11. Taylor Hicks- My favorite.  He's so cool, and he can sing like Ray Charles! Probable top-five.
12. William Makar- The young women may love him more than Kevin.

That's all for this week!  Let's see what next week's studio and results' shows have in store for us.