TVSquad

The show has fully hit its stride and rhythm by this, its third week. It also appears that it may have found its ratings level, hovering between five and six million viewers a night. Those aren't great numbers, but considering how much cheaper it is to produce than Heroes, which isn't doing much better, NBC would consider it a win if it stays there.

The problem with that, as I'm seeing it, is too many of the recurring segments just aren't working as well. An entire segment each night is devoted to these comedy correspondents, and eleven episodes in, they're more miss than hit.

Tonight, Owen Benjamin (The House Bunny) brought in a video of himself traipsing around LA offering to write jingles for smaller businesses. As with every other video segment they've done, it just went on and on and on. Even worse, none of the songs were funny.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned before that it's been a couple of years since I've seriously watched American Idol. I've caught episodes here and there, but haven't sat down with a full season in a while. I bring this up because I'm not sure if it's just that I've been away from it a while or if this year's group of finalists is especially good. We're still not even to the Top 10, and no one's performance was a complete disaster. Sure, I had my favorites, but nobody embarrassed themselves, which seems new to me.

What I love/hate about the results show is how, even if the contestants manage to get through the performance show embarrassment-free, that inevitably comes to an end the next night. Between the Ford commercial and the group sing, I have never watched a results show without spending a good portion cringing.

Speaking of cringing, tonight's result is kind of surprising, and I think it's going to polarize a lot of people. Someone who I thought would make it pretty far in the competition got the lowest number of votes. But does that mean he or she is going home?