I wasn’t too impressed with any of the contestants, Blake and Melinda were aiight, and then lump the rest together.  Even Simon had tepid praise for Sanjaya, so it seems the judges are resigned to seeing him continue.

Dial Idol has everyone in the bottom-three tonight, which means for DI there is no standout contestant.  Since there are some VFTWers that use DI software to dial for them, that even may skew the number for the Sanjizzle.  So there is some hope of redeeming the year with a surprise boot.  But the lowest DI score was Lakisha.  If Lakisha goes, then that raises Melinda’s value.  If Blake can tred water until Chris R. leaves then it is fairly clear that Melinda and Blake will be in the finals.  Unless there is a Haley wardrobe malfunction — then all bets are off.

yah.. i know, I’m teh suck. No recap again, and I still missed last week. So instead of recapping .. (you know where to go for that) I’ll do some theorizing commentaritizing stuff.

First off, the rest of this assumes that you are at least caught up through ‘Man from Tallahasse’, if not, stop go away and come back when you have been properly initiated. I’m not pausing of stuffing this in the more section. Deal.

Points:

Ben plays Locke like a big bass drum. Seriously, all Ben needs to keep a lock (heh) on his power is to tell Locke to do things, and Locke will end up talking himself into it. Think back, Ben is the one that put the seeds of doubt in Locke regarding pushing the button that exploded the hatch. Put his distrust of computers and all things Dharma, that made him discover and destroy the Flame station, reserving a chunk of C4 for any other opportunity to blow things up. Then when he finds Ben, Ben convinces him that blowing the sub is not what Ben wants, when it is exactly what Ben wants. Locke striding out of the jungle is as helpful to Ben as Jack falling from the sky. Which leads to…

The Big Magic Box (not the goracle’s lock box, or so we hope). This is where the island seemingly gives people what they most desire, kinda like Jack Sparrow’s compass. And it is fairly reliable, and a recurring theme that explains many of the manifestations. Locke walks again because he wants it. A bear appears because Walt imagines it. Jack’s dad plays the white rabbit, because Jack is mourning. Kate is reminicing and a horse appears. Eko feels guilt about his brother, and he appears. Yadda Yadda, but it along with seemingly miraculous things appearing, there is also a long string of coincidences that bring this magic box to fruition. Ending up with the revelation that Locke’s dad is on the island, and in Ben’s custody. Is he the ‘Man from Tallahasse?

Speaking of Dads, doesn’t just about EVERYONE on the plane have Daddy Issues? Jack does, Locke does, Charlie does, Claire does, Kate does, Sun does, Jin does (though his Dad doesn’t seem as bad as the others, he just a lowly fisherman, which Jin doesn’t want to inherit, but kinda wishes he does now). Obviously Walt did, and Michael is on the reverse side. Just once I’d like to see a dysfunctional mother, just for a tad bit of fairness.

My theory on Pappa Locke getting to the island is that he is somehow wrapped up with Julia’s appearance on the island, and will be related to Richard (the guy that convinced her to come) along with Ethan. Also there will be some twist to involve the other Tallahasseans Sawyer and Kate into the six degreeness that is another recurring theme. (speaking of 6 degrees it returns Friday… I see nothing about The Nin3… sorry deboobily.)

Also my working theory on Paulo/Nikki is they are so going to be exposed as others, and the Paulo/Nikki backstory ep (Expose – there is supposed to be a swirly thingy on the last e) comes next week. The producers were pumping up the intrigue on this one in there weekly podcast, so that butresses my theory that this will be in island centric backstory, that will reveal how NP infiltrated the group, and the beachies are totally screwed.

Thinking forward, for my local peeps, last night I didn’t get to watch this til like Midnight, because of the AI party at my house (buh bye Stephanie, we hardly knew ya. Sanjay, we wish we never knew you) I’m thinking it would be fun to plot out a season ending Lost party, any interest?

My personal pick is Sanjizzle, but since its early, and VFTW love can help push him further and the sweet sweet love of his incredible moldable hair will have sheeple calling for hours just wanting to see what type of floomable wonder will appear next week, he’s probably safe.  Unfortunately the first week on the big stage had many stalwarts fall into the ‘meh’ category so there are a lot of forgettable performances.  Haley crying her eyes out may get her a sympathy vote, that and the potential for a future wardrobe malfunction may keep her safe.  Sligh may have made a big oopsie in re-arranging and old standard, a brave move, that may prove his undoing.  This was the week to try something weird like that, because their were  A LOT of marginal singing, but hacking up Endless Love… hmm.  Who’s gonna go?  I think it will be a boy, and either Brandon or Phil, though I wouldn’t be surprised if a shocker puts Sligh on the slide home.

Now, looking at Dial Idol, they have Melissa and Kiki as safe, along with Sanjizzle.  Putting everyone else in the ‘unsafe’ category, due to the huge Margin of Error.   The MOE has Brandon and Jordin as possible for third place, which puts the other seven in the ‘Danger Will Robinson’ category.  Using that data, I still think Phil is in danger, because no one like being yelled at.  For our top two heroines, a early Stephanie exit might be a good thing, and since she is in the same demo as Mel and Kiki, she might not get the votes to continue.  But really this thing in up in the air, which may prove to be a ‘shocker’ this week.

Most Tuesday’s I’m very idle, so why not just list my rankings, no commentary

1. Lakesia – Kiki
2. Melinda
3. Blake
4. Jordin
5. Gina
6. Phil
7. Chris S.
8. Brandon
9. Stephanie
10. Haley
11. Chris R.
17. Sanjaya

I may have ranked Sanjaya too high.

Lost post is coming, but lets get the preliminaries out of the way.

Jericho – Hawkins escaped being double crossed, Jake had a truck fall on him and lived (is it just me, or couldn’t someone use that big old truck bed as a lever, and have gotten Jake out sooner?) Ma and Pa get juiced then save our heroes. *yawn* *snork* wha? Yeah, Jericho, you could have been great.

American Idol – The girls are simply in another league. Melinda and Lakisha are from another planet. The boys sang to a virtual tie on DialIdol, the bad news is the Sligh and Sanjaya are both in danger of staying and or leaving. My votes for who goes, Sundance and Sanjaya. Though Phil was pretty darn bad on Tuesday. My pick for the girls leaving Antonella and Haley (I think that is her name), though Antonella may have one more week in her, due to the VFTW effect, and Sabrina may go home, I hope they don’t send Gina home, she at least will bring something different each week, instead of the big three diva-ing it up each week.

Update: called two of the four for leaving, but mentioned all 6 of the bottom 6, so kudos to me. Lets all NOT vote for Sanjaya next week, m’kay?

Watched the boys last night, and they all improved. Even poor Sanjaya, sadly he didn’t improve near enough for me to care, but he’s riding a wave of popularity the likes that would make Chicken Little blush. I hear Michael Jackson has wild popularity, so whudda thunk. He’ll make the final 12. Which means the spots are down to five that will make it. The other red-shirts might include Sundance riding the cresting wave of VFTW and a cute baby that has hit puberty a bit early. Which means there are only four slots left for boys that can sing, just like Randy said last week. Those, I think will be the two Chris’, Blake and one other, for which I really don’t have a care who is in it, so long as they outlast Sundance and Sanjaya.

The girls are starting, and Simon’s advice is to make sure that the contestants create an image for themselves. Was that Antonella that just hid behind the stanchion in the balcony, because she’s certainly made an image, but it has NOTHING to do with singing. No links from me, but google is really all you need. First up is Gina, who does a rocking rendition of Heart’s Alone. She needs to lose the red streak in her hair, but her pipes work well. I’m time-shifting live blogging, so I’ll hit the other girls as we go.
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Best episode yet. Got some juicy backstory on HRG, aka Mr. Bennet. Didn’t follow all the rest of the characters, just Matt, Ted, HRG, Claire and family, but that doesn’t mean that some other connections weren’t made. Stop reading here, unless you’ve seen last night’s episode.

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Post Idolness ensues.  DVR only recorded Friday Night Lights, so I had to watch Jericho and Lost via other means, thank goodness for Verizon FiOS and TVTorrents.com

Lets review from best to worst:

Friday Night Lights – I Think We Should Have Sex

Great episode.  The main plot point being QB Matt Saracen being seduced by Coach’s daughter Julie to have sex.  Coach’s wife, Tami, sees Matt at the store buying condoms, and being the school counselor puts 1 and 1 together correctly and has a confrontation with straying daughter (who has been unduly influenced in past epis by the town sleaze with a heart of gold, Tyra, who’s status is not going to rise in the eyes of Ms. Taylor with Julie’s recent decision).  Post talk, Julie confronts Matt and they decide to press on with the unmentionables, in spite of mother/daughter bonding moment, and set the date and location (Matt has a bachelor pad).  Night of the tryst, Coach Taylor is looking for asprin in the bathroom, and runs across thong panties that Tyra induced Julie to buy, and asks his wife, wth?  Wife says, ummm, yeah, we should probably talk about this.  Coach goes ballistic, saying, “If he touches on hair on her head, she be in a nunnery…” and basically lays a big ol’ guilt trip on Tami that they should have had this conversation before their daughter goes missing.  Later, the coaches make up  by admitting that neither one of them went to parenting a teenage hormone bag school, so don’t know what the proper procedure is for hooking their offspring up with a chastity belt, but agree that dialog with said hormonal female is probably the best tack.  Back at the secluded boudoir, Matt and Julie talk it out and decide leg wrestling is a lot more fun than the exchange of bodily fluids and fore go the sex thing, but in the post-wrestling rest period, they sleep through the alarm and get Julie back waaaaaay past curfew.  Ma and Pa Coach are waiting, and Julie assures them that her virtual chastity is still intact, and mom and daughter hug, while coach sends his eye darts needling into the back of both of their heads.  One has to wonder how long a grounding will be bestowed upon young Julie.  Excellent jobs by all parties, the format of FNL is such that the candid expressions on the actors faces tell more story than pages of Shonda dialog could ever do, and Chandler and Britton play this format sooooooo good.

Other plotlines has Buddy Garrity doing a real good job of completely screwing up his life, his family life, his business and Tyra’s mother (both literally and figuratively).  Tim Riggins realizes that his daddy isn’t gonna change, and slips back inside the bottle.  Jason gets a taste of life outside of Austin, tries out for the national paralympics and gets a Sanscrit tattoo in his search for ‘peace’.

Jericho – The Day Before

Jericho comes roaring back and actually provides some back story, 36 action packed hours of back story on Jake and Hawkins.  They do a good job of answering some questions, asking more, and basically confusing just about all of the audience that live in the real world on how both Hawkins and Jake get from either coast to the middle of the country in automobiles in roughly 8-12 hours.  *waves hands* this is not the continuity you are looking for *waves hands*

At the end, we’re back where we started, out of town survivors including Emily’s estranged fiance arrive in downtown Jericho.  Also with them is Hawking girlfriend (revealed in the backstory) that will now add another love triangle into the shaky relationships of Wisteria lane.

Backstory:  Jake is an out of work pilot that did some contracting work for the government in Afghanistan and Iraq.  He’s somewhat on the line between legit and outlaw, but has a good enough heart to want to stay on the legit side.  He loses a friend to Ravenwood (the merc group that Jake has met up with since the bombs fell) and comes to Jericho to escape and get some money (the money thing fell through, but the value of a dollar at the moment is questionable)

Hawkins and his girlfriend were in on the plot to blow up the bombs in various cities.  He gets his marching orders and the Ryder truck with a thermonuclear bomb in the back, and has orders to head to Columbus, Ohio.  on his way out of D.C. he stops by the ex’s place to pick up the kids and their mother (kidnap?) and bring them safely out of D.C.  His girlfriend gets kidnapped and used for leverage to ensure that Hawkins delivers his device to the appropriate target.  It is unclear is Hawkins is working for CTU, or even if he knows who Jack Bauer is, but we do know that he’s buried his bomb in his basement, and that the terrorist group that planned the whole thing has Hawkins in their sights.

My hate-love-hate relationship with Jericho continues.

Lost – Stranger in a Strange Land

Not willing to recap, so go read Mac’s post (always more entertaining than mine).  Some comments.  This episode was less than “meh” for me.  The backstory on Jack is tapped out, and I could care less about his tattoo, or his time in Phuket.  The only good point I can say for the episode is that at least we are all off Alcatraz now, and Locke’s army won’t have to launch an amphibious assault on the south shore of Alcatraz.  They can plan for a full on siege of Othersville that is somewhere on the main Island.  Kate and Sawyer really don’t mix well.  Sawyer continues to be a non-team player, and Kate resists being restrained by anyone, I dunno, maybe the bear cage monkey sex was unsatisfying to Kate.  We have a new other to hate *yawn* the Sherrif Isabel.  We get no contact with the main body of Losties, but thankfully that means no Nikki and Paulo either.  Cindy and the kids from the tail are safe, wearing, figuratively, Izod red shirts.  Though they show signs of being fully assimilated.  Jack and Julie get closer bound in their alliance against Henry’s Rotu tribe.

A marking time episode with no real ‘reveals’, just more hints and nudges.  Hopefully this is just a bump in the road after the last two really good episodes.  Sadly, this one probably won’t do well in the ratings either, and with the last couple weeks of sagging, and now ABC’s totally looney marketing department that promised promises that the script just couldn’t pay.  We may see more viewers banking towards the hard deck, and turning off the TV after the latest Idol contestant has a bad day.

Just a little shout out for Simon: I wish people would let him finish. I think he really is trying to help the contestants with constructive comments, or to help them understand how their perceived by the audience. But predictably, he gets about 10 words out of his mouth before Randy or Paula open their traps and tell him his wrong. That is my number one problem with the format, is that Randy and Paula don’t give Simon the same courtesy that he regularly grants them, the time to state their thoughts without interruption. okay, enough ranting.

Melinda, Jordin, Stephanie and Sabrina rocked, ’nuff said.

Leslie and Amy were alright, I agree with Simon’s comments: Haley was uncomfortable (and has a really low range, which is awkward for a majority of the songs they’ll cover) and Amy was forgetable.

Jersey Girl Antonella is out of her element, should have stayed at the mall. She’ll be gone.

Nicole has pipes, but needs to control it, a bit over the top, but if she tempers it she can be a top shelf competitor. (Simon’s comments are spot on)
Haley‘s lyrics felt rushed, and her timing seemed off, good voice, but eh performance.

Alaina struggled, they should strike Chrisse Hynde songs from the playlist, it wasn’t the best performance.

Gina is one that for some reason I’m rooting for, I like the people that keep banging their heads against the wall.  She takes on Celine, that usually get a frown from the judges, and I think she has the voice to do it.

Lakisha wraps the show up.  Big and I mean BIG voice.  I see a bit of Jennifer Hudson in her as she sung that, eyes wide and just letting it rip.  Top shelf.
Okay, sorta wish that four guys could go, because frankly the girls kicked their ass.  I think that Antonella and Alaina have sung their last song on American Idol.

Boys, get on the stick, or you’ll be wiped out in the final twelve.  I think debily may have called a two girl final two.

12 sing, 2 will go home Thursday.  I’ll keep it short, because really… we don’t have much to go on with these guys.  My top two:

Chris Sligh – total geek, to know enough about Simon to string together El Divo and the Teletubbies in a off-the-cuff remark back to Simon, too funny.  plus he sang well too, his odd mix of John Popper/Jack Osborne looks will keep him interesting too.

Blake Lewis – though I was put off with the beat-boxing as nothing but a gimmick, I was impressed with his singing last night, and picking a Travis song to cover, bold move that paid off with the judges.  I’m gonna go against Randy and say, the beat-boxing should not be his ‘thang’.. don’t make that part of your normal act kid, just sing.  Keep it in your back pocket and play it when it counts.

Two people that should be going home:

Sundance Head – all we know is that his first audition in front of the panel rocked.  After that its been a downhill slide, and Simon’s comment about Dad singing at a wedding – – – OUCH.  He’ll get offed because people resent that he got to the final 24 because of his one audition.

The second one is a bit more tough to gauge.  Idol has now become a popularity contest, and not pure talent, and though I’d love to see Chris (keep me because I look like Justin, without the talent) Richardson and Sanjaya Malakar be given the ‘bad day’ bus ticket home.  I, like Jen, fear the teeny-bopper demographic, so instead we’ll probably see a middle of the road performer that has potential but no flair get the boot.  My pick, for no particular reason, Jared Cotter.