And right off the bat, what does she do? She gives an even better answer than mine to the “How are you qualified to judge Idol?” question. No, she has no real music experience, but she does know how it feels to get on a stage every day and have to please an entire crowd. Good answer, Ellen. And then she told Ryan she was ignoring him, and asked Simon if she should come on to him. Perfecto.

Line 1:
Katie Stevens – I still don’t really like her. She’s not terrible. But I dunno.

Skiiboski – He’s not as good as I remember him in the audition. Before, the voice made up for the weirdness.

Verdict: Katie’s in, Skiiboski’s out.

Line 2:
Andrew Garcia – Hmm…this is quite good. Wow. Okay, I predict he will be in the Top 12. This is awesome. I kinda wanna download this. I think that was the best Hollywood solo audition I’ve ever seen. Excellent. Ugh…Kara just compared him to Adam. Don’t do that.

Vanessa Wolfe – Wow…she is still awful. Like, really really awful. Maybe worse than she was before.

Verdict: Andrew is in, Vanessa is out (woo!)

Janell Wheeler – Good I guess. I got a little bored. But she did sound like a real singer.

Line 3:
Haeley Vaughn – She sounds very young. Oh yeah, she sang a Carrie song before.

Mary Powers – I stand by what (I think) I said before…she’s good, but the rocker chick never makes it far.

Verdict: Both through.

At the end of Day 1, 46 contestants made it through.

Day 2:

Line 1:
Jay Stone – Aww…he blew it. You gotta let them hear you sing regular too. Darn.

Lilly Scott – Hmm…she sounds like she’s in the 40s. I feel like I’m watching some old movie where they’re listening to the radio. I don’t generally like that style, but I really enjoyed that performance.

Verdict: Lilly’s in, Jay’s out.

Mike Lynche – Well, he’s fabulous. But I kinda wish he would go be with his wife while she has their first child. But he was great.

Line 2:
Tim Urban – He has a very nice voice. I’m not sure I’m thrilled with the song choice. David Cook has a much deeper voice. I feel like this guy should have done something a little higher.

Justin Williams – He picks really awful songs. He’s so much better when he tones it down than when he starts belting.

Verdict: Tim’s in, Justin’s out.

Line 3:
Maddy Curtis – Nope. Not good. Sounds way older than 16. Very very old fashioned.

Casey James – Pretty good. A lot better than the original audition. I’m not sure how he’d do on the show though – with the theme weeks and such.

Verdict: Casey’s in, Maddy’s out.

Last Line of the Day:
Didi Benami – Hmm…I don’t think I liked her in the audition. But this is REALLY good. I think I have a thing for the people who play guitar. Very very good.

Crystal Bowersox – I don’t like her quite as much as the other guitarists, eeek…I wasn’t a fan of the high note either. But not terrible.

Verdict: Both through.

95 total are through from round one. I was actually quite pleased with the performances tonight. It’s not often in Hollywood that I can actually picture hearing the performance on the radio. It happened 3 or 4 times tonight. My favorite by far was Andrew. Right now, based on my extremely limited exposure (I’m mad that they only really showed people from before…no one new), he’s my pick to win it all.

Tomorrow…GROUP ROUND!!! Yessss. Let’s see if anyone can outdo Kimberley Locke and Frenchie Davis. I doubt it. Best group performance ever. Blake and company gave them a run for their money. But no one rocked it like K-Lo and Frenchie. But…some of these people seem pretttty good. We’ll see.

Until then…

Seriously though. There’s 4 judges. A couple producers and a “singer”/songwriter. Do we really need to have a (real) singer too? I mean, how many people complained about Paula? She was a singer. I believe it’s actually harder for the singer to critique because they know how difficult it is to sing live (we’ve seen how poorly some of the icons have done as guests on the Idol stage…ahem, Diana Ross). Think about it. As you sit on the couch watching Idol every Tuesday, do you just sit idley (hehe) by and listen with no opinions? NO! I would bet that you get totally into it. You’re bashing people, praising people, commenting on attire and hair. You are being a judge. What do you know about music? I’ll tell you what you know. You know whether or not you like it. THAT’S ALL THAT’S IMPORTANT. Why shouldn’t there be a fan on that panel? And not just any fan…a SUPER fan. I think Ellen is going to be fantastic. Besides, wouldn’t you like to hear a judge say something that you as a fan might be thinking instead of having to sit through another season asking yourself, “What does artistry mean? Who was pitchy, dawg? What does that analogy even mean?” I thought so. Bring it on, Ellen.

Until then…

Well…yes and no. I think the show is winding down, and I don’t expect them to go beyond 10 seasons – though I would like to see a 10th…perhaps the Idol All-Stars I’ve been dreaming about for years? But I don’t think it has anything to do with Paula leaving or Ellen arriving. I think it has everything to do with Kara arriving. No, that’s not even true. All good things must come to an end. And to be honest, for as popular as it has been, Idol hasn’t really done its job. Kelly and Carrie. That’s it. In 8 seasons, it produced TWO superstars. Sure, Ruben sold a lot of albums, but how did that second album do? Being a superstar means having staying power. Kelly has 5 (?) albums, Carrie has 3. Between them they have about 3 zillion awards and have sold about 10 zillion albums. Ruben, Fantasia, Taylor…no one even knows who they are anymore. Even Clay. Even I don’t like Clay anymore. Jordin had a little success after a horrible beginning, but seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. David played at the MLB Home Run Derby and Carrie’s Christmas Specacular (which was anything but). And Kris? Well…he has the dubious honor of selling fewer albums in his first week than any other previous Idol winner. No one talks about Adam since his first week insanity. Daughtry’s doing okay.

Two superstars, a bunch of flavors of the week, a few complete bombs, and a couple of hard-working rockers. Not so good. And ratings are dropping (to an ABYSMAL 28 million viewers). So it’s probably time to start thinking about packing it up. I’m sure Simon will bring X-Factor to the States and then I’ll have something new to obsess about.

Until then…