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Idol Watch: When Harry Met Idol

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FOX

Quick spoilers for last night’s American Idol elimination coming up after the jump:

Last night, teenage country crooner and Rachel Maddow lookalike Aaron Kelly said goodbye to American Idol. I had begun to think we were going to see Aaron stick around to the final three if not the final, but it seemed the right call.

As usual, you were better off watching the results show in fast-forward on your DVR, but the more interesting bits of the full show were the non-contestant parts. Lady Gaga came out to perform “Alejandro”—her “La Isla Bonita”—in a fishnet body suit that revealed (among many things) that while she may have Madonna’s sense of theatrics, she does not have Madge’s muscle tone. Harry Connick Jr., meanwhile, was a cutup in a clip reel of outtakes from his mentoring sessions and regaled Ryan Seacrest with a story about Frank Sinatra—maybe he should have a talk show of his own.

As for the actual competition: sigh, is it over yet? Even Crystal was a dull as lint this week, and while it looks like Lee DeWyze can give her real competition—he may actually be the favorite—it was not particularly out of any growth on his part.

Even a familiar Idol ritual, bringing out one contestant (this time Lee), telling them they’re safe and asking them to guess which group of the others is also safe, was boring this year; Ryan couldn’t even bring himself to try to pressure Lee to pick. The problem is, there’s no surprise: contestants now know that the way to play this is to sit down on stage and refuse to pick.

The only solution would be to send a surge of electricity through the stage floor, save for the two circles the grouped contestants stand on, forcing the man in the middle to pick one in order to escape the jolts of excruciating pain. “Choose, Lee DeWyze! Choose or die!”

Hey, if you have a better idea to make this season interesting, I’m all ears.