Wow, tonight’s episode was kind of a waste of time if you don’t like to watch the bad auditions. Oliver Highman was supposed to be the first singer of the night, but his wife decided to go into labor, so we spent quite a bit of tonight’s show watching them try to find the hospital and wait to have a baby. Unfortunately, when he finally made it back as the last singer of the night, we didn’t see him make it to Hollywood. Personally, I didn’t think he was all that bad. I thought, given the fact that he’d just been at the hospital with his wife having a baby, that perhaps he was worth a second listen.

So, instead of watching the first person make it through, we saw a series of odd, weird and just plain bad auditions. Even the ones who made it through were a bit weird. Take Michelle and Jefferey Lampkin, for example. I know we’ve seen people audition as couples before, and the brother and sister were okay, but their audition was a bit strange. I think the judges were right that the brother was better than the sister, but they sent them both through.

Then there was Amy Flynn. Amy seems like a sweet girl, and I thought her performance of “Reflection” was pretty good, especially compared to the rest of what South Carolina had to offer. But before we got to hear her sing, we got to hear her abstinence speech— not that I have a problem with abstinence speeches, especially by 16 year olds, but on American Idol? Really? Was that necessary? And apparently Simon’s new catch phrase that guarantees you’re going to make it through is “you’re not as good as you think you are”. I believe this is the third time this season he has said that to someone who he then sent through.

London Weidberg was the next to make it through, singing “Good Morning Heartache”. She also was good but not great. I really wanted to be wowed by her. I just wasn’t.

So, that was it. Out of twenty-three people who made it through, we saw four. FOUR. For those of you counting, that’s one every 15 minutes of an hour long show. So, for those who like the bad auditions, I guess tonight was great. For the rest of us, I only hope things get better from here.

By the way, since there were so few people shown tonight, I’m just going to add them to the poll already in progress. I’ll lose some results, but you can just vote again if you already voted.