I'm not positive, but I think Taylor does. And one of the girls do. I don't remember who, but one of them played on the video they play before they sing.

I think Bucky's a good singer, but he's in the wrong competition. My wife and I almost threw a party when Kevin was voted off. I hate to hear anyone do a mediocre version of one of my favorite Nat King Cole songs of all time. I'd like to see Ms. Pickler go for several reasons. When she was asked in the audition phase why she should be the next American Idol, she replied that she "deserved" it. I think she handles country music all right but not much of anything else. She plays the "dumb country girl" thing to the max. When Simon called her "ballsy", she replied "huh, what does that mean?" Nobody in this day and time could possibly be that "backwoods". I'm sorry that Daddy's in the pen, but he's not the only one that is. Too much playing the "poor me" sympathy card. Try to make it on your own talent, and not on your life's misfortunes. Go feed the animals, out by the cement pond. I like Taylor Hicks. I like his style. I'd buy a record by the guy. But I don't think he's American Idol material either. I think a lot of Katherine McPhee. A pretty young lady with a great voice. I can't stand Ace Young. He's a pretty boy, and a limp noodle on singing. You can't falsetto your way through everything. I see it coming down between Chris and Mandisa. They both have what it takes as far as talent.

Chris, Mandisa, and Taylor will all have record deals for sure.. And I'd buy them!

I can see Kevin doing "Chicken Little 2", or at least selling out on an old folk's home tour. He always just sounded like he was "impersonating" and not singing. And it was never believable! Ballads from Charlie Brown? c'mon.. at least now its interesting.

I think America will "Pick Pickler" to go next.

What is up with this poor Lisa? She has a great voice, somewhere, but it never shows up! The shame of it is that she'll probably get voted off tomorrow night - it must be the perils of poor song choices entirely. It brought to mind the whole business of singing somebody else's songs up there and doing it significantly like the person they are venerating (?) did it. I stopped listening to Lisa at some point tonight and got all bogged up thinking of Kelly Clarkson (a songstress, I might add, who rarely crosses my mind ). Same with Katherine. I was blown away NOT with her but with Christina Aguilera distractions (and those thoughts, rest assured, don't settle well since Aguilera makes me need Pepto-Bismol). Then along comes one of my faves, Mandisa, and all I could think of was any one of those women in "Sister Act". Even Chris didn't get me into Chris last night - he sounded like a general blend of about 20 otherwise well-known and often heard rockers. Just an off night, I reckon, either for them or for me, but I certainly got a bite on that "make the stage your own" business. Personally, I don't think it's fair to compare them to others but I just couldn't help it. Two of the contestants did, in my opinion, pull out every individual punch that they had in 'em: Taylor and Elliott. But, a lot of that is because they picked songs I really really like. "Trouble"? I'd almost settle for a bad version of that [which Taylor did not give at all - his version was awesome indeed]. But that I'm a fan of a certain song or singer of it shouldn't sway me so much, darn it! But it does. This contest is just not fair that way ! Oh, one last thing: Bucky got to be Bucky again last night. I'd forgotten how much I missed him for the past two shows...

I wasn't impressed with much last night. Usually at least 2 of the performances blow me away, but our family agreed at the end of the show that if every week was like last night, we probably wouldn't be watching it. I don't know what it was about the performances, but there were problems with all of them. I agree, gats, Bucky seemed to be more comfortable last night, but I think the judges' point about his words not being clear was a valid one.
So, do you think that at this point everyone has their favorites that they vote for and it doesn't really matter how anyone does on a given week? Of course you have the people who had backed the ones voted off the previous week - I guess you have to impress them to get their vote now.

Basically, last night was what they said.. a chance to see what kind of album they'd make. I LOVED Taylor's performance. I think the rest of them missed the boat. Alhough, I agree with gatsby- Elliot was fantastic as well.

I am a huge fan of Chris.. but my husband said it best when her saw his song choice "like the world needs another one of those."

We voted for Taylor.

ps- Is it me, or is Ace trying to flirt his way into votes with his eyes at the end of each song. Its a singing contest, not a competition to be the next Teen Beat Centerfold.

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ps- Is it me, or is Ace trying to flirt his way into votes with his eyes at the end of each song. Its a singing contest, not a competition to be the next Teen Beat Centerfold.

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Hey, it worked for Leif Garrett!

Er, maybe not...

I'm backing Mandisa (or Mandiva as Ryan likes to call her ). She has by far the most talent to me.
I like Chris a lot too, but I can't figure out if he doesn't really have any range, or if he's just playing it safe. If so, he'd better break out of that rut soon, or he will be going bye-bye no matter how well he sings. This contest is about busting out and taking chances, at least as far as the judges are concerned. Me too. I don't really want to see a Johnny One-Note every week.

Then when you make it big, you can sing whatever the heck you want.

Now there was a funky bottom three indeed! One I expected to be there, one I hoped would be there and the other I don't think deserved to be there at all!

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Hey, it worked for Leif Garrett!

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LOL ! Ain't it scary that Ace isn't even a Leif Garrett?

But really, though, Ms. McPhee shouldn't have gotten so few votes! I don't like Christina Aguilera songs either, as mentioned, but let's not crucify the messenger in this case . Katharine sings very nicely. And, after all, everything I read Wednesday AM called Tuesday night's "Idol" telecast the worst in memory. Surely McPhee wasn't a bottom feeder in the midst of all that...

I was very surprised to see Catherine in the bottom 3. I thought it would be Bucky instead of her. I really liked Lisa and I also like Bucky but he is no American Idol

I liked Lisa a lot, but her last few performances were not that great, so I'm not surprised. I suspect she'll go far though - remember she's only 16.

I know I'm alone here, but I was glad to see Katherine on the bottom three. The more I see of her, and hear her, the less I like her.

I really hate the fact that I don't have a clear favorite by now. Usually by now I know exactly who I want to win. I am now leaning toward Taylor. I didn't like him at all at first....but he has really grown on me.

I think Katherine's biggest concern is that she has no identity. She's a good singer, but where would you place her? Her song choices could really do her in- and she wasn't spared from the bottom three- Ace was. Katherine had the 2nd least amount of votes.

It's getting interesting. It will really come down to song choice.

Ok. My top five predictions:

(In no particular order)...

Chris
Mandisa
Taylor
Paris
Elliot

However, my #1 pony would probably be Chris at this point in time.

Despite my own particular discomfort with Paris, I'd call that a very likely (and appropriate) Top 5 !

Argh . I'm with Simon - I'm not too much into (per se) "country music" but I think I'm now liking the genre a little bit less! Taylor!? What happened there, kiddo? In my opinion he's never done what I'd call badly before but he came pretty close to it on Tuesday night. Mandisa was so far out of her element, too, that it was somewhat painful (both performances need to be weighed up against the "theme" discomfort, I think). Strangely enough I thought Paris and Ace were the most listenable - and am quick to say that I'm no fan, overall, of either one. Does 'listenable' = 'awesome talent', though? I'm not sure there. I found myself being hyper-picky with the ones having the home team advantage, too. Pickler I just can't handle, any theme or any night. Bucky? Unfortunately, a likely bottom 3 showing again. The voice was right there but, as someone observed earlier, I could not understand ¾ of the lyrics. Not a wise approach when singing an unfamiliar song that tells a story.
I was reading somewhere a few minutes ago where early numbers indicate (how the person who wrote this could know such data is a mystery, but...) Paris has the fewest votes with Ace and Bucky just ahead of her. If that's true it surely proves how my tastes compare with the popular view of things...

What about Paula Abdul last night? She could only keep her head up with one of her hands and she mumbled a lot. Ryan even pointed it out. He made two coments.

One was, "What's really in your cup?"

and another was, "I think the judges have a flask up there."

A Related news article on Paula's behavior

It was an odd night to watch them, let alone the hard to follow theme.

I predict our dear old Bucky will be leaving us. Kenny Rodgers said to announciate... and then he didn't.

Horrors ! Two of my favorites in the bottom three? Let me say it first: never put any weight on my opinions regarding "Idol" . Maybe I'm not your typical viewer but I look at the "whole" package (which includes past performances, how the singer conquers the blasted theme, what they might have in store for later, etc.). Clearly this is a false concept that I alone carry? They say they are based on their 'last song' and that's that (good thing nobody ever told Rod Stewart that...but that's another issue altogether). I, personally, think that there are/were maybe three singers competing that we may still be hearing from 10 or 15 years from now. Mandisa was definitely one of them. Being voted off does not mean it's the end of the road for her, of course, but it certainly [and loudly] reflects a lot about what is in vogue now vs. what will still be here later.
And America had better get nicer to Elliott starting now LOL. Not confident enough on stage? Okay, maybe. Nobody accused, or dared to, Mandisa for having that problem, though, and let's have a quick look at what happened to her! Not a rhyme, reason or whisker in a windstorm in terms of what the voters are looking for sounds like my present conclusion. But, again, my opinion doesn't reflect mass appeal. Darn it all.

ManDIVA gone, and we can't get rid of that blasted Kellie Pickler!!!

GRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The bottom 3 were the ones who struggled the most with this theme. They have all had fabulous weeks previously. Yet Pickler, who can't sing a lick, has had some of the worst weeks EVER, wasn't bottom 3? *cusses and kicks something*

That was a grave injustice getting rid of Mandisa. But picking a horrible Shania Twain song to do, didn't help matters. If Kellie Pickler is chosen as the next American Idol, I will never watch the show again.

I'm very disappointed.

The problem as I see it is that the majority of the people spending their (or their parents') hard earned money to vote are the youngsters who vote a popularity contest, not a singing contest. (I'll vote for things that have online voting for free. But pay? Nah...not that important.) When it's crunch time and a winner has to be chosen, they seem to get it generally right. But by that time they've usually weeded out the best talent.
I've resigned myself to never seeing my favorites at or near the top. Well, except for Fantasia.

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It's a toll free number to vote. We call from our house line. It costs nothing.

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Ah, yeah, I was thinking of text messaging.

Next week is Queen. I can only imagine Mandisa would have really had an amazing time with that theme considering Freddie's amazing vocal range. Now we'll never know!

I wonder how Kellie will pull this one out. She frustrates me so much!!