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The pool of contestants on American Idol stands at 44 following tonight's show. Tomorrow night (in somewhat of a change in format) the judges will review past performances, and interview contestants in order to trim 20 more contestants, to bring the final number to 24 for the phone-in voting part of the competition.
Tonight's contestants were split into four rooms, each room's story told as a retrospective of the contestants' day. In the end, rooms 2 and 4 made it to the next round, while rooms 1 and 3 were sent home.
It seems that the contestants were seperated into rooms under somewhat of a thematic pretense. Here's what I came up with:
Room One "On the bubble": The contestants in this room seemed to be nearly talented enough to make it, but for some reason weren't what the judges were looking for. There were a few surprises in this room, but sometimes it comes to the point where everyone can't win.
Featured performers from group one included Shunta (missed the bus) Warthen, Angel (vocal coach) Higgs, Rashida (lost her voice) Johnson, Sean (the bald youth minister) McNeil, and Sharon Galvez (whom I had been thinking about recently. I was wondering whether they were going to put her on TV again.)
Room 2 "Superior Talents": Once the contestants from room two were shown, there was no doubt that they'd make it to the next round. It makes sense to put all of the obvious picks together in order to spread the suspense through the more "in doubt" rooms.
This group includes such shoe-ins as: Mario Vazquez, Carrie Underwood, Constantine Maroulis, Anwar Robinson, David Brown, and Vonzell Solomon. It will be interesting how many of these will find themselves in the "final six" of the competition. (Possibly challenging these members for spots in the final six stand: Jaclyn Crum, Anthony Federov, Mikalah Gordon, or Scott Savol.) -I have just highlighted this section for future reference. It could be labelled my "tentative top-ten."
Group 3 "Something's missing": The members of this group seemed to be in need of some sort of "tweak" in image. (They weren't -as a group- on television long enough this season to judge their singing, so viewers are likely to go on their brief first-or second- impression.)
Featured in this group were: Dezmond (dancing guy) Meeks, Jennifer (makeover candidate/ good singer) Todd, Carrie (fought with Elizabeth, but had a really cute shirt on tonight) Zaruba, Ross (red-headed crooner) Williams, and A'ashia (??) Jackson.
It was reasonably obvious from what was shown on tonight's show that these contestants wouldn't make it.
Group 4 "At least memorable images": The singers in this group, although possibly not as stong as those in group one, have unique images on which to "hang their hats." A lot of them of course have the talent to back it up, but they can be most vividly remembered by their appearance/ personality. This will be the most interesting group to watch as this is where a lot of the surprises will come from.
Featured in this group were: Anthony (has the teenage girl vote wrapped-up) Federov, Jaclyn (they have to stop showing her cry on TV before it turns people off) Crum, Scott (good singer/ lacking cuteness) Savol, Mikalah (looked like Barbara Streisand tonight) Gordon, John Zisa, Bo Bice, Lindsey (looks like Elizabeth Letendre) Cardinale, Amanda (Treasure Island) Avila, and J.P. (from New Orleans.) -Come to think of it: Amanda Avila may fit into my tentative top-ten as well...Add Nadia Turner, and you'll have all twelve!
Tonight's show was a fun one. I am looking forward to tomorrow night, when we'll know who the final 24 are. After that, I may post "unofficial odds" just like I did last year (link). Here's a question for you out there: Is Ozzie Smith Jr. still in it?