American Idol – The contestants aren’t the only ones fighting on Idol

Everybody – everybody – did well last evening. Well … mostly.

All three guys stepped it up and performed swimmingly. And that’s exactly what they’re supposed to do; after all, they are aiming for the crowning achievement of Season 9 of American Idol — The Top Spot.

I still can’t get over the shrill, screechy, whiny, screamy all-over-the-placeness of Adam Lambert. But it is what it is. And was it just me or did he look like a demented elf from the Lord Of The Rings last night, especially during his first performance? I froze his mug on my television set mid-shriek at one point and the result was a possessed Adam staring back at me. Hackles rose at the back of my neck. And then, during his second performance, I swear he was the embodiment of the life-sized toy replica of Santa in The Santa Clause 2. He had that sheeny plastic look and evil smile of the faux Santa in the movie. *brrrrrrrrrr*

But the real fun last night was off stage at the judge’s table. ( It seems there’s always a party there of late.) Last eve, however, it was an arena for a grudge match.

I fully expected the gloves to come off ‘tween Simon Cowell and Kara DioGuardi. I tried looking around the corners of my TV to see if there were Idol roadies pulling out an Ultimate Fighting Championship Octagon cage so the two of them could go at it. I half expected Michael Buffer to come out and yell his signature “Let’s get ready to rumble!” after the commercial break.

The fracas broke out when Kara ragged on Kris Allen for not performing One Republic’s “Apologize” to her haughty standards. This was the judge’s song she and Randy Jackson hand-picked for Kris to perform. The result of Kara’s rant was summed up by Simon who blasted her critique later: “Kara, it’s a cop out what you said: You can’t choose a song for him and then blame him for doing the song.” That’s when the sniping and monkey business between the two started. I’m sure it’ll be on YouTube at some point shortly. (Oh .. and Kara? If you’re going to use a sport analogy, “Swingin’ it out of the park” isn’t one that will garner you any kudos. It just makes our heads turn sideways and our brows scrunch all wrinkly in confusion at what you mean.)

(Kris Allen Side Note: Nice nod to our little peapod Paula, Kris, for singing this tune. To me, it sounded as if “… there was no need to Pauler-gize” instead of “apologize.” *snort*)

This is a tough, tough call trying to get a grasp on who might be heading off the Idol stage this week. Each of the three deserves to advance. (Yes … even Adam.) Me thinks there might be some surprise fireworks in the mix ….

Clacked by Michael Noble
on May 13, 2009 @ 17:30 EST5EDT