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Tonight's episode of "American Idol" is over. The final four contestants tried their best to entertain us with songs from the disco era. I was happy about that. I like disco. It is fun at parties!
The judging was done a little differently tonight. Simon went first. It was a good twist because we are finally able to hear his complete point before the crowd starts to "boo" if he says something critical.
THE CONTESTANTS:
1. Jasmine Trias: Whether she goes on or ends here, she will be known as the prettiest lady in the competition. She's awfully cute. (My wife likened her as: "an Asian Jennifer Aniston." I thought that was a good characterization. Maybe she'll have a future in situation comedies...)
Jasmine's two songs tonight weren't fantastic. The judges didn't seem to like what she sang either. I didn't really believe her singing the disco-type songs either. Don't know why...
I think that the judges' negativity, plus her crying may end up earning her a lot of votes. I don't think that she'll have enough votes to keep her in the competition for next week however. (Grade: C-)
*If I were in the competition (which I am not) I would never in a million years sing a song that Clay Aiken sang. Last year Clay sang "Everlasting Love." Jasmine's version wasn't as good as Clay's
2. LaToya London: LaToys's first song was sung well, but pretty boring. Her second song was terrific. The judges really seem to like her too. (Grade: B+)
I am a bit concerned (for LaToya's sake) that America still hasn't "fallen in love" with her. Out of the four contestants, I think that LaToya is the least able to connect with the audience when she sings. The other side of that coin is that she is definitely the best singer.
3. Fantasia Barrino: Fantasia sang two of the livlier songs of the night. The judges liked her first one, but didn't really love her second one.
During Fantasia's second performance, I found myself getting tired of her act. The biggest problem with Fantasia is that a little bit of her goes a long way. I don't think that I'd like to watch a one-hour "Fantasia Show," but I suppose that I wouldn't change the channel if one of her music videos came on. (Grade 
I am pretty confident that Jasmine will be eliminated this week. I have a really strong feeling that Fantasia will be the next to go after Jas. Oh well, third-place isn't bad. Kimberly Locke seems to be making a name for herself. Fantasia is more marketable than K.L.
4. Diana DeGarmo: Tonight was Diana's night. Her songs were excellent, and the judges liked her performances. Over the past few weeks I have begun to remember why I liked her so much coming out of the audition round. I think that she is the most marketable of the remaining four singers.
To top off all of the good news for D.D.: she also had good choices of wardrobe tonight. In last week's show, I found her outfit to be a bit too revealing. She looked really pretty in her clothes this week. (Grade: A)
TONIGHT'S BEST AND WORST:
In my house, we both agreed that Diana was the best performer tonight.
Jasmine, sadly had the weakest performance of the night. (Since I like her so much however, there will be no presentation of the "John Stevens Award" this week. Although if I were to present it, Jasmine would be the recipient.)