OK, I'm still digesting the news that Jermain Sellers knows he won't be cut from "American Idol" because: "I know God; that's my homeboy."
It doesn't seem fair to line up influential homies. Will someone else counter with Mother Teresa or Jim Morrison? Is that fair to the guy who only has a couple of aunts and his music teacher?
Then I realized this is an iffy thing: Last season, four of the final 12 had church-music backgrounds. They couldn't all win. So Michael Sarver was 10th, Lil Rounds was 7th, Danny Gokey was third and Kris Allen was 1st.
Still, think about it: Kris first, Adam Lambert second, Danny third -- two votes for the godly, only one for Satan. Maybe it is a factor.
As for tonight, here are my comments; please add yours:
1) Sure, the switch was disappointing, putting guys tonight and women on Wednesday. Still, that gives us something to look forward to. The guys have been so-so; the women have been great.
2) The show is back to its old style of Randy Jackson always first, Simon Cowell always last. That holds our interest to the end. Also, "Idol" finally has someone (Ellen Degeneres) who will, on occasion, disagree with what Randy just said.
3) There was much to argue about tonight. I thought the judges were too hard on Jermaine, who gave a fresh and interesting take to "What's Going On?" And I agreed with half the judges, the ones who thought Casey James' howling guitars left us not quite noticing that his vocals were so-so.
4) Michael Lynche had let us believe he's a sort of good-natured teddy bear who wandered into the contest by mistake. Now we learn he's a theater veteran who can perform with real pizazz. His show-opening number was terrific.
5) My next-favorie was Lee Dewyze, at the end. He has a Chris Daughtry kind of voice.
6) Some others were good (Aaron Kelly, for instance) and some weren't. Tim Urban said he prayed just before last week's performance; that might not have helped, because he was bad that week. I'm guessing that prayer alone won't suffice; just as a fallback, Jermaine should also work on his performance.