Didi Benami
Siobahn Magnus
Paige Miles
Casey James
Tim Urban
Lee Dewyze

In the “intermission”, Matt Giraud and Scott MacIntyre played “Tell Her About It”. Matt was one of my favorites from last season. Too bad he couldn’t have played with Billy Joel. Or just by himself. I mean, Scott’s okay, but I just found him distracting tonight.

That left us the final six:

Crystal Bowersox
Michael Lynche
Lacey Brown
Aaron Kelly
Andrew Garcia
Katie Stevens

I know a lot of people are really disappointed about these results. Two out of three of my favorites are still in it, so I can’t complain TOO much. How about you?

Lee– safe
Aaron– safe
Alex– safe

That brought it down to Andrew and Jermaine.

Andrew was safe!! Yea!! I like Jermaine, but I wasn’t crazy about his singing. I thought his attitude was GREAT, though.

Danny Gokey sang. Of course, now he’s a country singer. Who knew?

Lilly– safe
Paige– safe
Katie– safe

It came down to Didi and Michelle.

Didi– safe
Michelle– going home

Katelyn– safe
Crystal– safe
Siobahn– safe

Which meant Haeley and Lacey were up for elimination and that I wouldn’t really care which goes home. I really thought Lacey would probably go home. But, no…

Haeley went home. She seems like an incredibly sweet girl, but she was a little grating.

DAVID COOK!!

I’ll try to write more on the finale tomorrow night, assuming I don’t have a baby tonight.

Fantasia performed, and her red hair and wild dancing were about the most exciting part of the evening. We could sure have used some of her energy and animation this season.

There were home visits. David Archuleta visited Murray City, Utah and was overwhelmed by the response. Syesha returned home to Sarasota, Florida and was overwhelmed by the response. David Cook visited Kansas City and Blue Springs Missouri and was overwhelmd by the response. We did find out that David Cook originally didn’t even plan to audition– he just went to the auditions to support his younger brother.

Finally, the final two were revealed. Again, it was no surprise. The finale next week will be between the two Davids, as has been expected for weeks. It could be an interesting show. Or it could be another fairly predictable, somewhat boring week.

What do you think of the final two?

Having said that, let’s talk results. There wasn’t much to tonight’s show. No real drama. I mean, you know who went home, right? Without even seeing the show.

Thats’ right. Jason Castro.

I really like Jason. I wish him all the best in the future, but I don’t think or anyone else was surprised that his time had run out. I think he may have been ready to go a couple of weeks ago. If there’s one thing he needs to do, in my opinion, it’s to expand his musical knowledge. I was dismayed at how few songs he actually knew. But with a bit more experience and a lot of hard work, I think he could really be a fine performer.

Next week the top 3 do their home visits and sing songs custom picked for them.

Jason Castro– safe
David Archuleta– safe
David Cook– safe
Syesha Mercado– safe
Brooke White– going home

By the way, Dial Idol was wrong about the results tonight, or the results are rigged, or it wasn’t really a bottom 2 tonight. Dial Idol showed David Cook and Syesha in the 1-2 position, with the other three in jeapordy. Of course, I don’t recall that they actually said it was a “bottom 2″ tonight, so perhaps she really was in the 1-2 slot.

I liked Brooke a lot, but I think she’d taken American Idol about as far as she could. I wish her the best of luck in the future and hope she really has quite a successful career.

Then the eliminations started. The Davids were called out, and both were safe.

There was a package on Idol performers on Broadway, featuring Tamyra Gray, who is currently appearing in Rent, and Clay Aiken, who is currently appearing in Spamalot.

Leona Lewis (X Factor winner) performed.

Syesha and Brooke were called out, and Brooke was safe.

Tonight there was only a bottom 2, so Jason and Carly were called out to determine who would fill out the bottom 2. Carly joined Syesha in the bottom 2 and was, ultimately, sent home.

So, what do you think? Were you disappointed? Did Carly deserve to go home?

Next week will be Neil Diamond week, and I think the question burning in all our minds is– will David Archuleta sing “Heartlight”?

So, after the initial group medley, Jason Castro was sent left, David Cook right. Carly, left. Kristy Lee, right.

Then there was a commercial break, followed by the Ford commercial, which included the song “I Want to Break Free”. Then, despite the recent death of his mother, Elliott Yamin performed.

Syesha was sent to the left, Brooke to the right.

Then it was my “favorite” time of the night– phone calls from viewers. The most interesting information gleaned from tonight’s calls was the guy who bought Kristy Lee Cook’s horse refuses to sell it back (shame on you, sir) and David Cook is single. There were some interesting questions for the judges, which they pretty much refused to answer. My favorite was a caller who asked Simon to clarify the difference between “karaoke”, “theme park”, and “piano bar” performances. He just answered that they were all horrible.

Mariah Carey performed “Bye, Bye”. Then it was back to eliminations with poor little David Archuleta declared safe and asked to join the group he thought was safe. But first Ryan switched David Cook and Syesha. David Archuleta took a page from past years and sat in the middle of the floor. Even when Ryan tried to coax him left, he wouldn’t budge. Finally, Ryan declared David C., Jason and Carly safe by having them join David A. in the middle of the floor.

That left Brooke, Kristy Lee and Syesha in the bottom three. Syesha was immediately declared safe. After much theatrics, Kristy Lee Cook was eliminated. It’s funny. Out of all the weeks I thought she should and would go– this wasn’t one of them. Perhaps if she pursues a country career, things will work out for her. All the best, Kristy Lee. Hope you get your horse back.

But let’s talk about the important piece of information from tonight. Michael Johns was eliminated!! I did NOT see that coming. I don’t know that I saw him winning, but I definitely didn’t think he was a candidate to go home this week. And I thought the reverse fake out of last year, making it sound like “Hey, buddy, maybe we’re not sending you home… Yeah, we’re sending you home” was kind of mean. The only thing that I can think of that may have worked against him was that he did seem to have a hard time picking songs that really set him apart from the crowd. I wish he’d picked a bluesy song for this week. I know he liked the song he sang and its message, but picking a song for American Idol needs to be about more than just liking the song.

So, what was your reaction? Were you as shocked as I was?

Ryan called out the first three individually: Michael Johns– safe; David Archuleta– safe; Carly Smithson– safe.

Then we had questions from callers, none of which were all that interesting. It was kind of funny to hear Michael Johns and David Cook facetiously talking about singing a duet of “Islands in the Stream”. Hey, if they can dance a “mango” on “Dancing With The Stars”, I suppose anything is possible.

Then they had The Clark Brothers on. I LOVE The Clark Brothers!! I used to rave about Ashley (the lead singer) when he was Carrie Underwood’s fiddler. And Austin, the brother who plays the weird looking guitar (called a dobro), was on with Kellie Pickler a couple of weeks ago. I just adore them and can’t wait for an album.

Next up was the Ford commercial, featuring “It’s Tricky”, which for some reason I found to be really funny.

Then it was back to the main event. David Cook was out. Ryan talked to him about his visit to the hospital, which turned out to be for high blood pressure. Thank goodness it was nothing more serious. Anyway, David was safe. Ramiele Malubay and Kristy Lee Cook came out (individually) and were both sent to the bottom three. Ramiele looked like a kicked puppy, and Kristy Lee could not have been less surprised.

There was a brief segment catching up with Idol contestants that have moved to Nashville: Bucky Covington, Phil Stacey, and Bo Bice.

Syesha came out next and was safe (which was surprising to me), leaving Brooke White and Jason Castro to fight it out for the final position in the bottom three. I assumed it would be Jason since he was in the bottom three last week, but NO– it was sweet, angelic Brooke. Shame on you America!

They left the three girls waiting FOREVER while they did an Idol Gives Back promo (coming up next week, you know) and Dolly Parton sang “Jesus and Gravity”. Finally, Brooke was declared safe, before Ramiele was sent home. I think that was the right decision, although there are several others I could have gone for just as easily.

What do you think? Justice served? Or is it a total travesty?