The Journal Times Online - Racine, Wisconsin

Loveable oil rig worker Michael Sarver was sent home Thursday night, after his final performance of "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" left the judges scrambling to make a decision on their save.

Joining Michael in the bottom three were Scott MacIntyre (no surprise) and Matt Giraud (huge surprise to me -- and him, it seemed; he looked like he had been punched in the stomach for much of the night).

Simon Cowell said before the loser was announced that the judges would decide on their save based on the final performance. So while Michael performed, Simon and Randy Jackson conferred as Paula Abdul and Kara DioGuardi danced. Shockingly enough, they didn't have a decision when Michael was done. So Simon just declared that he was going home.

I agree with their decision; he had no more than two to three weeks left in the competition anyway. But what a farce the way they made the decision. It's not like it was sprung on them the second before.

The highlight of the night for me was the medley by the one and only Stevie Wonder. Awesome. Love him.

We're back to our regular schedule next week. Anyone catch what the theme is? My DVR cut out because the judges dragged on with their antics ...

After Wednesday's show:

The next time someone scoffs at “American Idol” around me, I’m going to suggest they check out two performances from Wednesday’s Motown Night.

Adam Lambert’s superb, tender, subdued performance of Smokey Robinson’s “Tracks of My Tears” was astonishingly good -- especially after his performance last week left me wincing. And his look so perfectly fit the tone of the song (so much so that I was like, “Who’s that guy?” at first).

So Adam gets done and I rewind his performance twice to hear it again. Then Milwaukee's Danny Gokey is up. I’m excited. I love Danny. And he does pretty well with the Temptations’ “Get Ready.” Has fun with it, dancin’ with the backup singers and everything. It didn’t blow me away, but it was better than others had done before him, so I’m happy.

Then a red-haired 16-year-old girl mopped up the stage with them both -- and everyone else. Allison Iraheta, who was in the Bottom 3 last week because she failed to make an impression on the audience, surely made her mark this week. Her performance of the Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” was flawless and well beyond her years. This girl has some major pipes and she knows how to use them. WOW. This might be my first “Idol” performance download from iTunes ever. I’ve listened to it on the DVR and online four five times already tonight.

So Allison and Adam brought the house down, and Danny delivered, too, for the most part. There were others, early on, who did pretty well, too.

Matt Giraud glided from the piano to his own two feet while wooing us with Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” Very nice. He makes it look and sound effortless, a sign that he’s a true performer. He’s definitely safe and is one of the most consistent contestants so far.

Kris Allen offered up the boppy “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” by Marvin Gaye. Strumming his guitar again, he made it his own and was cute as a button (as usual). Simon Cowell thinks he needs more confidence. Maybe -- but just a little. I like that he’s humble. It’s refreshing.

Then the performances got disappointing. Scott MacIntyre sang the Supremes’ “Can’t Hurry Love,” (which was also done by Phil Collins later, even though Scott seems to think it’s just a Diana Ross song …). They may have just arranged the song really weirdly, but it sounded to me like he messed up the lyrics toward the beginning. It was painful. I agree with Simon: Scott can sing, but his song choices have been horrible. He’s in danger of going home this week, I think.

A flu-free Megan Joy No Last Name used her “different” and “original” voice (according to Smokey’s assessment) to sing Stevie Wonder’s “For Once in My Life.” Ugh. OK, here’s the deal: She does have a unique tone to her voice. But her style of singing has a limited use, I think. She seems to sing mostly from her throat, making her voice kind of thin. It has no depth to it. It can be interesting, yes. But it’s getting annoying to me. I gave her a pass last week ‘cause she had the flu. This week, she’s definitely gotta be in the Bottom 3. (Yes, guys, I agree she’s adorable. Sorry.)

Anoop Desai lifted us up a bit with Smokey’s “Oooo Baby Baby” and built on his comeback from last week. It wasn’t overly exciting (not that I expected it to be), but it was quite well done. I look forward to him upping the tempo next week, though (hopefully).

Michael Sarver gave it his all with the Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.” I wasn’t as turned off by it as the judges were. I thought it was OK -- better than Scott and Megan. But he did have some goofy, spastic dancing goin’ on there that seemed a little awkward to me.

And then there was Lil. Oh, Lil. We so wanted you to really bring it this week. Ms. Rounds sang “Heat Wave” by Martha and the Vandellas. She did well with the song, but it was a disappointing choice. She was at full volume the whole time and, as Kara said, there was little opportunity for her to really show her chops. Lil, we want a “moment”!

So, Scott and Megan are definitely in the Bottom 3, maybe with Michael again, I think.

On Thursday we’ll get performances by Smokey and Joss Stone (cool!), as well as Stevie Wonder and Ruben Studdard.

What do you think? Were you blown away by Adam and Allison, too? Who do you think is going home Thursday? And were you also kind of perplexed by Paula’s tutu?

Bummer.

Alexis Grace, who was one of my faves several weeks ago, was sent home Wednesday night.

I don't think she deserved to go home yet, but I also don't fault the judges for not using their "save" for her this week -- her song choice wasn't so great and her performance Wednesday night was weak (of course, how well would you perform after being told you were voted off?)

With her in the Bottom 3 were Michael Sarver and Allison Iraheta. I was surprised by Allison, but not as much by Michael. He's been lackluster for me the past few weeks. But he also has that great story (singing oil rig dude) ...

Next week is Motown week (yay!) on Wednesday, with results on Thursday (Obama has the airwaves on Tuesday).

After Tuesday's performances:

What on Earth was Adam Lambert thinking?!

I know already that his sitar-laden performance of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” on Grand Ole Opry night is going to be one of those love-it-or-hate-it things. I hated it. I’m with Simon Cowell: I thought it was self-indulgent. And corny, to boot (the goofy screen of flames behind him didn’t help).

But I must be an old fart, ‘cause Randy Jackson deemed it “young, fresh and hot.” Mmmm … OK. I don’t think he’s in any danger of going home yet, but if he keeps that up he’s going to lose some ground to the guys with much broader appeal (Danny, Kris, Anoop and Matt, specifically).

But let's whoop it up for Anoop! Sorry -- kinda felt like I had to do some rhyming thing there. I’ll stop now.

But who knew Anoop (Dogg) Desai would kick some “Idol” butt on Grand Ole Opry night? I always fear country night, and I thought Anoop would be toast this week.

But his tender, controlled version of Willie Nelson’s “Always on My Mind” was the highlight of the night for me. For me, he went from being in the bottom half of the bunch to the top half with that performance.

Well, I guessed one right. Cuties Jorge Garcia and Jasmine Murray were voted off Wednesday night.

I was a little surprised by Jasmine's ouster. I thought there were several performances that were worse than hers. But I think Anoop (Dog) Desai got the tween vote, and that saved him.

The the much-hyped rules change: The judges have a "save" they can use once during the season (until the Top 5). So if an awesome contestant gets voted off "too early" (a la Daughtry, etc., from seasons past), the judges can choose to keep that person around for another week. But if they do that, two people would go home the next week.

I think it's a great idea. It might or might not make a difference, but it adds a little extra wrinkle. And the fact that they can only use it once, and before the Top 5, seems totally fair to me.

Kanye West performed "Heartless" (I'm not such a fan, so I fast-forwarded); and Kelly Clarkson performed "My Life Would Suck Without You." Love her. Love the song. Downloading her new CD tomorrow.

Not sure what next week's theme will be. My usual InterWebs source is a little slow this season. But there's talk of a Motown Week (they do that every year, don't they?) and a Grand Ole Opry Week (ugh, I've never liked country music much ...).

So were you surprised by either of the eliminations? And what do you think about the rules change?

After Tuesday's show:

Get out the glove (just the one) and perfect that moonwalk -- it’s Jacko Week on “American Idol.”

To celebrate on Tuesday night, our delightfully flighty judge Paula Abdul showed up wearing what looked like remnants of her pet cockatoo. Her outfits are getting almost more interesting than some of the performances. How sad is that?

OK, so I missed the last two weeks ‘cause I was on vacation and didn’t do much TV watching. But I see from the blogs that I didn’t miss much. Good to know.

Two people will go home Wednesday night, Simon Cowell tells us. He also promises some kind of “surprise” change to the rules that “involves” the judges. Huh? I don’t know that they want to mess with the formula of the audience choosing -- that’s kind of the point of the show, isn’t it? So I guess we’ll see if this “change” is worth the suspense they’re trying to build up.

To me, there were a fair number of forgettable performances Tuesday night, and many of those were songs gleaned from the Jackson 5 era. They’re good songs, no doubt, but it’s hard to sing them without seeming old-fashioned and kinda karaoke (a word we heard more than once from the judges).

My faves:

Milwaukee dude Danny Gokey was amazing with “PYT.” Yeah, Simon was right that his dancing is a little goofy. But it was endearingly goofy. He was having so much fun and the rest of his performance was so great that the geeky dance moves just added to it. His was the only performance I rewound to watch a second time. I hate to agree with Paula too often, but I also see him in the final.

Allison Iraheta really has some pipes. I don’t even remember seeing her before (obviously missed her in her most recent performance), but she was really good with “Give In To Me” (a song that I don’t think I know?) Her hair is a tad distracting though, the way it completely covers her eyes while she’s performing. I know I sound like an 80-year-old saying that, but, well, there you go.

Adam Lambert really put his heart and soul into “Black and White” and it showed. It was starting to veer toward shouting for me, but I’ve never been really big on that style of singing. That said, it was a very memorable performance that showcased his talent, and I agree that he’s one of the ones to beat in this competition.

Matt Giraud tickled the ivories as he crooned his way through “Human Nature,” and it really worked for him. It wasn’t the best performance of the night, but it will definitely keep him around for another week.

Alexis Grace, who I loved in Week 1, was really good this week, too, with “Dirty Diana.” But the judges are right, she has to be careful not to oversing too much on those big songs.

Who’s going home?

Sad to say, but I think Anoop (Dog) Desai is in trouble. I can’t believe he tried to do “Beat It.” I mean, if you’re going to do an iconic song like that, you almost have to completely change it up to make it your own. Otherwise, you come off just like Anoop did, like a weak imitation. Poor guy. I really like him, too.

I also think this might be it for Jorge Garcia, who I also really liked in Hollywood. He was just boring and didn’t distinguish himself enough with “Never Can Say Goodbye.”

But the worst of all was the lovely Megan Joy Corkery, who unfortunately decided to wear a red dress and sing “Rockin’ Robin.” Really? Ugh. It was a pageant performance at best. I didn’t see her previous performance, but she does seem to have a unique tone to her voice. I’d love to hear more from her. If she survives , I hope she makes better song choices.

The others just bored me or were “eh.”

What did you think? Who did you like? Who made you cringe? And any idea what this “change” will be?