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Tonight's show was really interesting. Three weeks following their last performance, the judges met to determine the fates of the final 44 Idol contestants. Out of the final 44, 24 would be sent on to the next round. Beginning next week, we'll have the chance to vote for our favorites among the final twelve men, and the final twelve women.

The Twelve Male Finalists:

1. David Brown- Obvious pick.

2. Nikko Smith- A good decision was made to drop reference to his baseball Hall-of-Fame dad (regardless of the unmistakeable resemblance.) I was wondering whether he was still even in it.

3. Anthony Federov- Obvious pick.

4. Judd Harris- Handsome young man. Hasn't been on TV much yet.

5. Joseph Murena- Another nice-looking young man. Reminds me of Colin from 90210.

6. Anwar Robinson- Obvious pick.

7. Mario Vazquez- Obvious pick.

8. Bo Bice- Mild surprise, but he showed off good personality in the "inquisition room."

9. Jared Yates- Hitherto persona-non-grata. Let's see what he can do.

10. Constantine Maroulis- Obvious pick. I want to hear him sing some Led Zeppelin.

11. Scott Savol- Obvious pick. Extremely unique. Kind-looking and scary at the same time.

12. Travis Tucker- Not on TV so much, but he appears to be capable.

The Twelve Female Finalists:

1. Jessica Sierra- Don't know much about her so far.

2. Aloha Mischeaux- See Jessica. Aloha has two unique names.

3. Mikalah Gordon- Not only does she look like Barbara Streisand, she acts like her as well. At first I was turned-off by Mikalah, but guess what: She's growing on me.

4. Nadia Turner- Cool look, good voice.

5. Vonzell Solomon- In my opinion, the strongest woman contestant in the competition. I hope that she rids herself of the dayglo clothes and accessories. She's pretty enough to stand out without a fashion gimmick.

6. Carrie Underwood- Obvious choice. The "bumpkin" angle is beginning to wear a bit thin, isn't it?

7. Sarah Mather- Made it. Not on TV much.

8. Celena Rae- She's REALLY pretty. I wonder why she hasn't been on TV up to now?

9. Janay Castine- Yet another one of the ladies who made it, yet hasn't seen much TV time.

10. Lindsey Cardinale- I like Lindsey. Possibly the second- or third- strongest woman in the competition.  (My biggest question at this point is whether I spelled her first name correctly.  Isn't it usually Lindsay?)

11. Melinda Lira- She made it.

12. Amanda Avila- Amanda made it. Yay! Prettiest girl in the competition. Let's see how she does.

Following everything, there were only two cuts that took me mildly by surprise.: The first one being Jaclyn Crum. She had a lot of TV time, and seemed to be able to perform well. I am not sure however that America is ready to take a ride on her emotional rollercoaster. (It didn't help her image in that every time she was on television, she was crying. It sometimes seemed like the production staff wanted to portray her in a less-than-positive light. On the other hand, maybe she was always in tears. Who knows for sure...)

The second surprise cut was "nice guy" J.P. Koehler. I was rooting for Jamie (for more reasons than the fact that we share the same first-name.) He seemed like an awfully fun young guy. (Reminds me a bit of Dom DeLuise.) My wife made me laugh when she noted that, "maybe he'll come back if someone gets arrested." Cheers to Kazuko for having "the line of the night" at my house!

Check back in a few days when I plan to have written an unofficial "betting line" posted about who I think stands the best chance to win. After discussing it in my house, we both agreed that Constantine is the strongest going in, followed by Anwar. ( I am pulling-for Constantine this year like I was pulling-for Clay Aiken two years ago. Last year nobody really caught my imagination like Constantine has this year and Clay did two years ago.)