TVSquad

We scoured the earth (and the archives at various record companies for failed projects that showed vocal promise) to create the greatest assemblage of singing talent American Idol has ever seen! So what happened? After last year's virtual snooze-fest, how did a season that truly did give us perhaps the greatest depth of talent we've ever seen (an argument could be made for Season Five) give us such lackluster shows?

After Sanjaya-gate last year, the biggest controversy to come out this year was that finalist David Hernandez used to be a stripper and David Archuleta's dad might be a Mr. Meany-Pants. And we got to be pissed that Kristy Lee Cook outlasted the likes of Michael Johns. Not until we got to the finale of Davids did things get really intense.

She came onto American Idol like a whirlwind of joy. Her little squeal of delight in Hollywood when Simon loved one of her performances remains a highlight of this season for me. That moment spoke volumes for her good-natured essence. So when Joanne Borgella's AOL interview came after her elimination, it's no surprise that she had nothing but positive things to say.

So when she says she was just happy to have made the Top 24, I actually believe her. Unfortunately, nerves or illness appeared to really overwhelm Joanne so that by the time she got her first chance to impress America, she wasn't able to "bring it," as Randy would say. Oh, and for you overly sensitive types, the dialogue in the pic has to do with her comparative height to Ryan and the expression on her face, not her "plus-size."

(S07E13) Take a last look at that picture because a year from now you won't even remember four of their names. But which four? Tonight was the first viewer-voted elimination and we had to say goodbye to the bottom two boys and the bottom two girls. It's also the first really live show as the previous two were pre-recorded for time considerations.

Do I have to say SPOILER WARNING after the jump?

(S07E12) I have to say tonight's show was a mixed bag for me. There were a lot of surprises for me with the girls' performances, some good and some bad. I went into the show with a few clear favorites and a few that I didn't have high hopes for and it all got turned around on me. There wasn't as much of a "Wow!" factor with any of the girls and actually none of them earned the patented DOUBLEPLAY, but that's not to say there weren't some great performances.

I give Idol a lot of crap, and most of it is pretty well deserved, but one thing they've been hyping is absolutely true. This Top 24 has the deepest pool of talent, and if we (that means you and me) can truly get rid of the twelve weakest singers we're going to have the most amazing Top 12 we've ever seen. If that happens, I guarantee you the ratings questions about Idol being down this year will disappear as those ratings shoot right through the roof.

So are you, like me, pissed that we have no idea who Jasons Castro and Yeager are? Upset that we've never seen Luke Menard before we saw that he was in the Top 12. Well, if you're reading this then you're online. And if you're online, then you can run on over to AmericanIdol.com and see introductory videos of the entire Top 24, as well as a clip of the photo shoot that brought you our fantastic Top 24 gallery.

Now that we know who they are we can see how they've been cleaned up by FOX and photographed. And that crazy Top 24 promo photo featuring the contestants hiding behind Simon masks has been replaced with the above photo, minus the masks. Oh those wacky kids over at FOX. They're so creative!

(S07E10) Looks like Idol's getting an early start with the cheesy blatant endorsements. They opened this episode with an incredibly corny Jumper intro featuring Hayden Christensen and Ryan Seacrest. But tonight is all about about the chair and final judgment for the contestants. No more singing; no more chances to prove themselves. It's simply a matter of sitting down and hearing if they're in the Top 24 or headed home.

A couple of days ago, the purported list of the Top 24 contestants spilled across the Internet. Monday, I took you through the list of Top 12 Boys, so now we're going to look into the Top 12 Girls. And let me tell you, after researching these 24 (whether they're the accurate Top 24 or not is still up for debate), I can tell you that American Idol is definitely NOT about finding great undiscovered talent this year.

After the lackluster response to last year, they were determined to get better singers on the air, so it makes sense to look for people who've already had major record deals and have already been signed by major labels and stars, but whose big debuts just kind of fizzled. You know they've got talent because they were already signed once, they're just not signed now. So it's "Unsigned Talent" that's more important than "Undiscovered Talent." I just wish they'd be more honest about it on-screen instead of pretending these people just walked in off the farm.

[UPDATE - Now updated and with additional audition video! - j/h]