"American Idol": Duke Judge Tries to Usher Out Anoop!

Guest blogger Claire Meyerhoff sorts it all out:

This is the best season of American Idol!!!

Let me clarify that; this is the best season for Ryan Seacrest, who has “aged” nicely and is wearing some very spiffy suits. Also, his handsomeness is helped by the fact that he’s not doing any trendy things with his hair, like frosted spiky bits or swooshy swooshes. Ryan looks quite handsome in his expensive suit and mod banker hair.

Now, onto the show…

Our own Anoop Dog batted first. Did you feel the jealous heat from Kara? Blue Devil Kara got up in Anoop’s Tarheel face and said “you look like the frat guys dared you to get up and sing an Usher song.” Kara…are you ticked off Duke didn’t make it to the Final Four and you’re taking it out on Chapel Hill’s newest mascot? Couldn’t you find a ram to kidnap?

Megan was next and she was pitiful, bless her heart.

Danny Gokey, sporting one of his trendsetting pairs of groovy eyeglasses was great, but I still think he’s really Robert Downey, Jr. pulling a prank or doing research for a movie.

The 16-year old Red Hot Red Head Allison played guitar and sang a No Doubt song, and while she’s got some great pipes, she didn’t bring down the house like she did with last week’s “Papa was a Rolling Stone.”

For weeks, the judges have been asking Scott to get out from behind the piano. Well, how much more “behind the piano” can you get than singing a Billy Joel song? He did “Just the Way you Are,” which to me, seemed pandering, considering Scott has a disability. But the judges bought it and even Simon said it was his best performance. So much for “getting out from behind the piano.”

The guy who sort of looks like JT sang some tedious song.

At this point, I need to admit something. I don’t know the theme for tonight. I DVR the show, sail through most of the blabber and get right to the singing. I think the theme is either “Any Song you Want to Sing,” or “Sing a Song from Any Songwriter you Like.”

Lil Rounds must have thought the theme was “Sing a Song that’s Not Right for You.” She did hit some massive notes at the end, though.

I think it might be R&B night. Not sure.

Adam. What can I say about Adam? He’s growing on me. Last week I called him a “poseur” and “Zac Ephron-like.” But he sang a wild arrangement of “Play that Funky Music, White Boy,” and it was really entertaining. Did anyone else note the irony of a song about white boys in a season without a single black guy in the top 12? Aren’t there any African-American male singers worthy of Idol? My personal theory is that after Kelly-Ruben-Fantasia-Carrie they started to stack the deck with white guys in order to get a white guy winner (and they were rewarded with Taylor Hicks.)

The last white guy of the night was Kris who played keyboards and sang “Ain’t no Sunshine” and looked VERY GOOD while doing it all. He’s adorable.

But…the most adorable moment of the night was when Randy hugged one of Lil Rounds little girls. Seriously, it was a sweet moment.

Here are my picks for the Jetson stools; JT, Megan and because the sky isn’t always Carolina Blue...Anoop.