American Idol cuts to 5

Ryan says it's the end of the road for one of our "cast". And we thought it was a reality show!

38 million votes, Simon takes a sip of Coke before Ryan kisses the top of his head--relax, it didn't mean anything, says Ryan. Group sing is All I Ask of You, with Andrew Lloyd Weber playing the piano.

For some reason all the boys sing together, then all women. They're slightly out of synch, so it sounds fuzzy, when this song demands sharpness. It's totally forgettable, and no fun to sit through; he's trying to smile through it all.

The recap is as pointless as ever, enlivened only by Weber's comments. He comes out and chats with Ryan, talks about the difficulty of balancing singing for the judges, viewers and live audience. Ryan says Brooke's starting/stopping was the first time it's ever happened on Idol, Webber says she's very talented, was flawless in the dress rehearsals. Says Castro's song choice was the most curious one he's ever seen in his career; he wanted to do it, that's that. Ryan asks him to write a song for Simon/Paula, he comes up with How Can I Say I Miss You if You Never Go Away.

Back with a taped message from President and Mrs. Bush, thanks us for more than $65 million in donations. It's very stilted, and lightly political as she talks about their trip to Africa and he thanks us for our compassion.

Hmmm, the bottom two this week. David Cook and David Archuleta come up to huge screams, they're both gonna be safe. Ryan asks Simon to comment on Archuleta, he's caught eating 'a sweet', Ryan says just watch the show while we're doing it. And both are safe--awesome, Neil Diamond next week.

Some segment on Idol contestants who have gone on to Broadway. Whoah, Clay Aiken's hair is totally ridiculous now, like an old teacher; I guess he's in character or something. Refers to himself as 'us', he's really odd.

Leona Lewis performs next, in conjunction with the release of something or other I'm sure, sings Bleeding Love. She's got a great look; and the song is totally dramatic. One on one right now for glamor, she blows away any of Idol's past winners, except maybe Kelly Clarkson. And there's no Idol this year that will ever reach this level. It's interesting that Wikipedia says she wants to marry her longtime electrician boyfriend, who she's known since she was 10. Her performance isn't that compelling vocally, but it's hard not to keep watching her. The lights, the choreography, the fire boxes on stage, it all makes it feel like a big event.

Syesha Mercado and Brooke White are the next two, I'm assuming Brooke's going away tonight but who knows. Brooke looks terrified, actually and is holding on to Syesha for dear life; Syesha's got a big smile on her face and is so relaxed. Weirdly Brooke says she's in the past had a habit of interrupting the judges, and apologizes for it. And she's safe, and looks totally stunned; that means Syesha's in the bottom two. Wowzer, I guess all of Kelly Lee's votes had to go somewhere.

Finally, Carly and Jason come out, he looks doomed, she looks confident. She says she's been choosing songs to showcase her singing ability, but going forward will pick songs that she can have fun with. Oh my, and Jason's safe, Carly isn't.

Now this is horrible. You've got two clearly inferior performers who are being picked ahead of two clearly superior contestants. Simon tells Brooke she made herself human, tells Jason he was bad but charming. Suddenly Carly's got to sing, then Syesha. She gets the crowd into it; man, I hope she isn't voted off right when I'm starting to like her performances. Man, she totally rocks the stage, if she goes out on this, it'll really be a travesty.

Syesha follows with another fun performance, goes out into the crowd and takes it over. I don't think there have ever been such good 'bad' performances on this show.

Randy says he's shocked, chalks it up to a popularity week. One of the roomies is gonna go... and it's--Carly. Wow, what a horrible outcome. I think she waited too long to pick the songs she really wanted to do, instead of the songs that she thought would impress us. I think she just wanted it too much, hard to be at your best when so much rides on mere minutes. I'm glad she had her Weber moment, it was her at her best.

Ryan says you and Simon should have your last moment together, he says you can leave with your head held high. I feel cheated, was looking forward to seeing this new side of her.

Oh well; on to Neil Diamond next week.