Unkind cut

I guess the key thing about tonight is whoever gets cut doesn't go on the summer tour, since traditionally only the top ten make the circuit. Recap, per usual, is entertaining if misleading.

Then, ugh--Peter is back, to perform. It's not as embarassing as Diana Ross' from last week, but he's still pitchy and looks totally weird, with his random gestures toward the Idols and slightly stoned/botoxed constant glaze. It goes on forever; this is so bizarre, all across America millions of teens are wondering what the hell their parents were thinking, welcoming this invasion.

Back with another hilarious Ford ad, set in a laundromat--and Melinda doing gymnastics?! Gotta be a stunt double, right? Then they embed Brad Garrett in with the Idols, holy selling out Idol. From seating, it looks like it'll be down to Stephanie and Sanjaya.

Phil, Blake and Melinda stand up, and--all three are safe. Chris, LaKisha, and Jordin stand--they're all safe too, of course. Tubby's looking pretty relieved.

Sanjaya, Haley, Gina stand; and these three aren't in the bottom, either. Whoo-hoo. Which means--Chris Richardson and Stephanie are the bottom two; some boos from the audience. They're 15 minutes in, the rest is all padding until the final couple of minutes.

Odd, Ryan takes a few minutes to tell any corporate suits watching how they can sign their company up to be part of the Idol Cares fundraiser. Lulu makes a late entrance onto stage, to sing To Sir With Love, which is one of my favorite songs. Her performance, though, is like sing-by-numbers; no flow, everything is scripted and delivered precisely.

Plus, she's really lost it vocally; so weird, this show is the biggest hit, possibly in tv history, and we're subjected to a C-lister. The contestants are just standing there, bored. I really don't understand why they don't fix these basic flaws with the product.

Well, here we go; Steph and Chris holding hands. And it is, indeed, Stephanie going home. Oh well; she had a good voice, but fell victim to the too-many-good-black-women problem. I hate, by the way, this year's standard going-home music; why not let each contestant choose their own?