The Journal Times Online - Racine, Wisconsin

Tuesday's "American Idol" was bizarre in so many ways.

First, they were determined to fit 10 performances (two each from the Top 5) into an hour (and, actually, I'm grateful for that). But, as a result, everything was rushed and the judging set-up was just weird. Then there were the performances, but we'll get to that in a moment.

The weird judging set-up brought what ended up being the highlight of the evening for me: a glimpse into Paula Abdul's parallel universe.

They rushed through the first five performances, with Ryan Seacrest informing us that the judges will only judge after the whole bunch in the first round.

So they line up the Top 5 on stage, and Randy Jackson quickly goes down the line, giving a one-sentence take on each performance.

Then we get to Paula, who starts out flustered by having to, you know, speak coherently and quickly and read from her notes. She tells Jason Castro his first performance was fine but that his second performance lacked his usual charm. Huh?! You mean the second performance he hasn't given yet? The audience starts tittering, Randy and Simon Cowell look at her like she's a martian and Randy informs her that it's only the first performance.

Paula is dumbfounded that there's only been one performance from each, Randy is trying to explain it to her while Simon tells her to just pick her favorite. Seriously, it was as if she just dropped in from a stop at the bar or something. And the whole ordeal kinda saved the show for me, 'cause it's all really started to bore me.

It's Neil Diamond week, which means, of course, he has a new album coming out (what? they couldn't get Madonna?).

So, yeah, there were performances.

David Cook was "in his zone" as Randy said on both of his performances, "I'm Alive" and "All I Really Need is You," two lesser-known Diamond songs. He's really standing out week after week, and I really think he has a good chance to win this whole thing.

David Archuleta, who will almost definitely be in the Top 2, almost did the same thing he does every week. He sang "Sweet Caroline," showing a little more pep than he has in weeks, and "America," taking a page from the Kristy Lee Cook book of song choice (patriotic song = another week guaranteed). He did OK with "America," but he lacks the "meat" in his voice to really sell it. It just sounded a little sanitized from him, I guess.

Syesha Mercado was awesome with "Hello Again," and a little less awesome with "Thank the Lord for the Nighttime." Sadly, it doesn't really matter what I or anyone thinks at this point, because I think she's going home this week.

Brooke White was downright awkward trying to do another happy, guitar-strumming song with "I'm a Believer." She redeemed herself with "I Am, I Said" at the piano. It was quite nicely done, especially considering it's a difficult song.

Jason Castro just needs to go home now. He was OK on "Forever in Blue Jeans" but very weak on "September Morn." He really doesn't look like he wants to be there anymore, which makes watching his performances just painful to watch.

But Jason will likely still get enough votes to be safe. I think Syesha and Brooke will be in the Bottom 2, with Syesha going home. But I was oh-so-wrong last week, so who knows?

What did you think?