Top 8 Results Night Recap

The show opened with the usual amount of banter between Ryan and the judges. In keeping with the theme of "Year You Were Born," for the song choices this week, Ryan asks Paula if she had brought another baby picture, and she said she did. The video monitor showed a cheesy cut-and-paste of Simon and Paula's heads on a sepia print circa the early 1900s.

Ryan introduced the song that was #1 the year Simon was born (1959) and video footage of Frankie Avalon singing "Venus" rolled. Then, the video screen parted to reveal Frankie Avalon singing live on the stage. Frankie looks good and his voice is still like buttah.

The group performance was Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head," a song that was #1 in the year American Idol was born (2002). The group didn't do a great job with the song--but then, they haven't on at least half of the group numbers so far.

A behind-the-scenes video of the making of this week's Ford commercial was much more interesting than the resulting commercial.

Ryan started his usual warmup banter with the contestants, starting with Adam. Adam was appreciative of the "standing ovation," that Simon gave him when time didn't permit a full set of comments from the judges. The mayor of Kalamazoo, Michigan was in the audience, and Matt pointed out that the mayor had always been a loyal fan, even when nobody else came to see Matt perform (did you really need to admit that, Matty boy???)

Then, it was time to start building the Bottom Three. Adam, Kris, and Anoop were asked to stand up. After the rehash of Simon's comment, Adam was told to sit down, because he was safe. Then, Ryan ran down the comments for Kris and Anoop. Anoop was in the Bottom Three again, and Kris was safe.

After a commercial break and a red-hot performance from Flo Rida, the next set of results were announced. Danny is safe, Matt is safe, and Scott is in the Bottom Three.

Alison and Lil were asked to stand up together. Ryan drags it out with the rundown of the judges's comments, then points out that Allison had been in the Bottom Three at least a couple of times and Lil had never been. Ryan then tells Allison she will have to deal with the stress of being back next week, and that Lil is in the Bottom Three.

So, the Bottom Three this week are:


Anoop Desai


Scott MacIntyre


Lil Rounds

I predicted Matt, Scott, and Lil, but I said that it wouldn't be a shock if Anoop ended up being there instead of Matt.

With the Bottom Three being revealed, Ryan asks the obvious next question about the Judges' Save. Simon comments that this is the first week that the save would possibly matter, and that there are two people--and for sure one person who would be worthy of the Save.

After a commercial break and a completely wretched live performance by Idol-alum Kellie "Cow-la-maw-ree" Pickler (I'm glad she's working, but she obviously benefits from pitch correction in the studio), Ryan began narrowing down the Bottom Three. Lil is safe (skin of her teeth, no doubt), leaving Anoop and Scott. After 34 million votes (the numbers keep going down!), the two are only separated by 30,000 votes. Anoop is safe, and Scott faces elimination.

Scott's "sing for his life" performance is markedly better than Tuesday night (not that the bar was too high there), but he still kills the high note toward the end. The judges are split evenly on stay/go, which according to the rules means there is no save, yet they drag out the discussion (not sure why, because the show is running long) to see if anybody is going to change. Kara mentions that Scott's performance had deteriorated from last week. Simon mentions that it's not that Scott lacks talent, but that others might have more talent--implying that they want to wait for the possibility that somebody like Adam or possibly Kris could be the victim of bad voting results.

 Simon asks if he can make the decision for the group, and after they agree to that, he says that it's the end of the road for Scott. Scott's "goodbye" video rolls (the goodbye videos are jam-packed with too many positive comments from the judges this season). Coming back from the video, Paula makes some final comments, praising Scott for his bravery and for being so inspiring as the credits roll with no final music.

It's my hope that Scott does get an offer once Idol has finished its run this season. It's also my hope that he gets a producer who can convince him that he can't be the rock star he wants to be with his particular kind of voice. I will also say that I'm completely distraught that this now means we won't be treated to weekly looks at his smokin' hot brother, but I'll get over it...