A blog about television by TIME’s TV critic James Poniewozik.

American Idol Predix Thread

Because the commemorative-postage-stamp format of our American Idol reviews (scroll down for them) does not lend itself to general thoughts or predictions, here are mine: 

* The guest. I love Smokey Robinson the singer. I love Smokey Robinson the songwriter. I'm sure Smokey Robinson the person is delightful. Smokey Robinson the mentor / color commentator? Not so much. Perhaps he was more helpful to the contestants than what we saw on camera. But his comments elucidating the song choices—well, let's just say that there's a reason some genius songwriters write beautiful music instead of talk about it. "Ain't To Proud to Beg," it turns out, is a song about a man who is begging his lover. Because he ain't too proud. And the inspiration for "Tracks of My Tears"? What if a man cried so much that, when you took a good look at his face, you could see the tracks of his tears? Ah, well, the guy is a musical genius. We can't expect Miracles. 

* So who's going home? Interesting question this week. (I have not peeked at dialidol.com, though I will the second I post this, and the wrongness of my predictions will probably serve as proof.) On the merits the bottom three should be Scott, Megan and Michael. And I'll make them my prediction. The trick is: these are the three singers who have proved to have loyal fan bases willing to vote them through even when they've had off nights. (Megan directly referenced her legions of fans and more or less asked them to give her a mulligan.) So the question is—whose fan base is weakest? I'm going to guess Michael finally goes home, but I'm not so confident of any of these picks, given how many people had iffy-to-awful performances.

[Update: By the way, assuming it's Michael on the bottom this week, no drama in the save, yes? The judges told him he wasn't worth saving last week, and he hasn't gotten any better, has he?]

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  • 1

    my pick is that Michael goes (please let it be Michael). and although i'd pick Megan and Scott to round out the bottom three i think maybe Kris might slip in there instead of Scott (but really who knows).
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    i loved Adam, he really is the only person that brings the 'artistry' of which Kara speaks and can really sing...
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    the only other two people who i can even picture as recording artists at this point are Allison and Megan but that's not to say i think they will go all the way, Megan's days are obviously numbered... Lil could obviously be made into a recording artist, but i'm just not seeing it for some of the other faves like Gokey...

  • 2

    Michael, Megan, and Kris for the bottom three.
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    Michael is out, and he should be. Another non save for the judges.

  • 3

    Michael or Megan should go home, with Scott rounding out the bottom three.

  • 4

    While I personally think Megan had the weakest performance (I literally had to leave the room after the first 20 seconds), I'm betting on Michael going home tonight. The 7-3 split means a lot more guys are competing for the vote pool, plus to me Michael just didn't seem as motivated (yeah, he'd been sick, but so had Megan.) He's made it into the Top 10 so he's guaranteed a spot on the tour with the paycheck and exposure that'll bring for the next few months ... and the judges have made it crystal clear they don't expect him to crack the Top 5 ... so why not get on back home and spend some time with the family, who are obviously missing him.
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    I figure the judges will hold onto their save unless there's an Adam, Danny, Anoop, Lil, or Matt shocker. They might also use it if Megan isn't on the bottom next week. Barring that, I bet they wait until the last possible round and give Kris, Scott or Allison a second chance. I can't see them -not- using it at some point, since they made such a big deal about it.

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