Correction/Update

Good news and bad news.

Good news: Joanna Pacitti is out this season. She was cut by producers and replaced with someone so bland I don't even remember her name. Like I said before, I don't have a problem with semi-pros on Idol but this girl has essentially shown over and over again that she doesn't have "it"... make way for someone who hasn't failed repeatedly and let them fail here!

Bad news: I was wrong in my count of favorites that will perform in the first semi-final round next week. Four will be up, not three, and since only three of the 12 will move on to the finals (top boy, top girl and the next top vote getter) one of my favorites is guaranteed to go. It will probably be Jackie, which sucks but won;t be wholly unexpected. I read the following in the Idol Tracker in the LATimes Blog about her today:

As far as demographics go, I'm ready to root for Jackie Tohn to add another schmear of Jewish deliciousness to the always overly Gentile "Idol" banquet.

Boo. Oh well, I guess there's always hope that the rumored return of the wild card round can bring someone back.

I like that they're taking Idol back to its roots this season. This kind of semifinal is much more dramatic and less tedious than three weeks of three nights of Idol. This is really similar to the format they used in Season 2 (remember the wildcard round resurrected Clay Aiken, the world hasn't been the same since...) which I have been missing since. The mix of people they put in for next week's first round of Semis is an interesting mix with more than three stand-out characters. That means I am probably not the only one who will be loosing a favorite this early in the game.

For Tuesday:
Casey Carlson - internet famous for doing a swimwear calendar
Stevie Wright - 16 years old, that's about all that's interesting about her
Alexis Grace - pink haired mommy
Ann Marie Boskovitch - pretty voice - pretty girl
Tatiana Del Toro - dramalicious
Jackie Tohn - Jewish deliciousness
Danny Gokey - guaranteed to go through
Stephen Fowler - absent-minded dude from Beechwood
Anoop Desai - *swoon*
Ricky Braddy - i honestly have no idea who this guy is
Michael Sarver - Andover-friendly roughneck
Brent Keith - hot guy #2