American Idol Final 11

This week, American Idol paid tribute to our Coalition of the Willing allies, Great Britain, featuring music from the "British Invasion" of the 1960s. I wonder how many people were wondering when they would get to hear a Beatles' song. It's probably impossible to get the rights to play those songs on television of course.

As for last week, it pretty much played out as I expected with Sanjaya's friends from the Vote for the Worst website and the Howard Stern show saving him and sending Brandon Rogers home.

This week was a little bit more difficult for me to rank 1-11. A lot of the contestants were pretty much bunch togethered in my view. Some I thought were worse than the judges though while others I thought were better. Due to a television transmission glitch of some sort, I really have no idea what the judges thought of LaKisha. But overall, as of this week, there is probably a definite front-runner.

Here I how I have them ranked this week:

1. Melinda Doolittle
2. Jordin Sparks
3. Chris Sligh
4. Stephanie Edwards
5. LaKisha Jones
6. Gina Glocksen
7. Chris Richardson
8. Phil Stacey
9. Haley Scarnato
10. Blake Lewis
11. Sanjaya Malakar

Needless to say, Sanjaya should once again be the one to be eliminated, but you know, I just have a hard time imagining it happening now. He has become too much of a cultural icon. If Sanjaya makes it through this one cut, he is going on tour this summer. I can almost hear the screams in the arena now! There could be multiple reasons for those screams of course. But hey, if you would have put the tv on mute and squinted during his performance this week, you would have sworn that was Mick Jagger prancing around on stage.

So, if it is not Sanjaya going home, it might very well be Phil Stacey, but I am going to go out on a limb (much like what Heather Mills will be doing on Dancing With the Stars) and say that Haley Scarnato will be sent home this week.

For one thing, the judges were too nice to her, and she seems to generate the most votes when she gets insulted and is made to get emotional. More significantly though, she had to perform first during a two hour show. That is never good news for any of the contestants. By the end of the evening, that first performance is hard to remember. A conspiracy theorist would say the producers want her to be eliminated this week and not have to be one of the singers to go on the Idols Live Tour. Haley may have realized that and it could have been something to help determine her choice of wardrobe.

Finally, poor little Ashley may wind up having very high therapy bills. I can sense a lawsuit brewing.