I cannot say tonight’s Grand Ole Opry-themed edition of American Idol gave us the kind of magical, "whoa mama I just saw a star up thar!" performance that we’d seen multiple times (think "Daydream" or "Hello" or "Imagine" or "Love Is a Battlefield" or "Crazy on You") by this point in season 7. But that’s not to say I’m not excited by the take-home message of tonight’s two-hour telecast.
The judges have been (not so subtly) driving home the idea that season 8 was a two-way, or at best a three- or four-way race. But while Lil Rounds, Adam Lambert, and Danny Gokey all performed well enough that they shouldn’t have any problem making the Idol tour, four or five key rivals tonight served notice that they are (as Randy Jackson likes to say) "in it to win it, Dawgs!" And, as an Idoloonie who gets a little sour and cranky when by mid-March, you pretty much know which contestants will be the last two standing, I’ve got to give a seal-clapping, not-entirely-steady standing O to said singers. Place your bets, ladies and gents, we’ve got ourselves a horse race!
On that note, I am off to write my full TV Watch recap, which will post here on EW.com early tomorrow morning. In the meantime, don’t forget to sign up for EW.com’s Idol Prediction Challenge. Even if you got crushed in last week’s standings, or forgot to sign up, you still have a shot to sit atop the Week Two leaderboard, where you can point and jeer at your fellow players, including yours truly, plus season 6 supahstar Melinda Doolittle, and my Idolatry cohorts Kristen Baldwin, Missy Schwartz, Annie Barrett, and Jessica Shaw. So before you post on the message boards, go forth and prognosticate. Yay!
More on ‘American Idol’
‘American Idol’: What should the Top 11 sing for Grand Ole Opry Night?
‘American Idol’ Power List: Who’s hot (and not) going into top 11 performance night?
‘American Idol’ recap: Two Birds, One Show
‘American Idol’: Why are you afraid of being gay? (When you already are.)
‘American Idol’ recap: This Is Thriller Night!
‘American Idol’: Our Advice for the Top 13
‘American Idol’: On the scene at the Top 13 results show
Jorge Nunez Q&A: ‘Nothing to Be Sad About’
Jasmine Murray Q&A: ‘I Know Now That This Is What I Want to Do’
‘American Idol’: Tracking the Top 13 Finalists with our Idol Tote Board
EW’s ‘Idol’ Headquarters
I agree with Michael — the field opened up — Lord help me but my favorites were Adam, Matt and Megan!
Alexis oversang like a banshee!
I can’t remember a single word Kris sang… but I do remember his lips.
I never thought I’d say this but Lil ROunds was UNDERpraised! I absolutely hate it when the RnB divas can’t sing a country song unless it was covered by WHitney, so props to her.
Scott has to go, no one wants to hear his a.m. radio lite rock outside of an elevator.
My rankings:
Kris
Anoop
Danny
The rest are a blur to me. Kris was awesome!
Kris was smart, my favorite of the night.
Matt G!!!!!!
Country. Yawn. Danny was especially irritating. Megan was especially awful. Kara was especially stupid (seriously?? Telling Alexis to do Carrie Underwood?? Lil to do I Will Always Love You?? Seriously??). And Scott was especially boring.
Loved Matt, Alison, Adam and Anoop. Danny needs to leave my TV. Now. And he can take Megan and Kara with him.
Scott has to go or wear sunglasses…his eyes are creeping me out. and yes i’m going to hell.
OMG are you all insane. Thank God for TiVo. I couldn’t even watch Adam’s performance. It just skeeved me out, I had to fast forward through it. What on earth is so good about destroying a perfectly good Johnny Cash song??
Adam was crazy. In a good way. He is so love it or hate it, but I’m happy to say I fall on the “love” side. Also liked Anoop, Kris, and Matt.
So happy for Anoop.
He killed it tonight! I can’t wait to buy it on itunes tomorrow.
KRIS WAS JUST WONDERFUL TONIGHT … AND DREAMY!!!
Annop and Kris were a-freakin-mazing.
Matt was the best of the night. Lil proved tonight that she is nothing special at all.
First off- the only one who saved the night was Adam. It was so odd, that we had to watch it again. And again. And again. I actually picked him to sing Ring Of Fire- the rock version- I had no idea that he could pull that one out of his hat. Kris and Matt and Danny were great too.
I forgot Anoop- way to step it up!
Allison was AMAZINGGGGGG!!!!! That girl can SINNNGGGG!! Holy smokes! By far and away, my favorite of the night. “Dope”, my favorite Randy-ism of the season so far, doesn’t begin to cut it.
Adam? Never mind rolling over in his grave, Johnny Cash is probably trying to dig his way out to wring Adam’s neck. What a FREAK SHOW!!!! Go join La Cage aux Folles or something dude. Idol is NOT the right venue for you!