Wednesday Night TV Roundup

OK!'s Elizabeth Herr breaks down your fave show of the night: American Idol!

American Idol: "Top 24 time, whoo! I missed most of the early auditions, so I don’t have strong opinions about a lot of these folks yet. Also, several of those put through had little to no airtime on Tuesday, which isn’t fair to them or to me as a viewer. But I can certainly tell who the Idol judges/producers want me to like: Carly Smithson and Michael Johns. They both made it in, which they should have, but hot Aussie Michael did himself no favors by busting out “Bohemian Rhapsody.” I still associate it with smarmy Constantine Maroulis, and that was a performance I did not need to be reminded of, thank you very much. Michael has a good voice, but he’ll need to step it up a notch or five for me to care about him beyond how gorgeous he is.

Of the newly crowned 24, I have four early favorites. David Archuleta! Did anyone not think he’d make it through? He had vocal paralysis, people! Viewers eat that stuff up. (Remember Anthony Federov’s trach scar?) Brooke White is a bit strange (no R-rated movies ever?) and yet she’s quite talented and very likable. Love David Hernandez and think he’s better vocally than Michael, so I was pretty shocked the judges weren’t unanimous on him, and even more shocked Simon was the one who didn’t want to put him through. I’m also thrilled for Syesha Mercado. Anyone who sings that well when she’s that sick has my undying devotion.

In closing, a few words about little Josiah Leming. I don’t usually go for emo types, but he had me from his first note on Tuesday. I love his voice and that raw, kinda shaky thing he does. The judges “didn’t get” his “Stand By Me,” but, for me, the performance was so effed up it was perfect – I mean truly awesome, not Sanjaya-screams-a-Kinks-song awesome. Josiah and I were both devastated when the judges kicked him to the curb, though I wasn’t a big crybaby about it (but geez, he’s 18 and lives in his car – he’s earned those tears). Will he ultimately be better off making music far away from this show? Undoubtedly, but I was really looking forward to seeing him on my screen every week." – Elizabeth