TVSquad

Hollywood Week continues, and the field has narrowed to 54 contestants, all vying for 36 spots in the official Season 8 lineup. But the Idol peeps switched things up by putting the judges in this giant house called "The Judge's Mansion" (???), and forcing contestants to take the long walk through the mansion and face the judges in a European parlor-type room. It's all very Vanity Fair-meets-Dallas. Anyhoo ...

Anoop Desai was first up, and the judges quickly moved him into season 8. "Love that kid," said Paula.

Von Smith addressed Simon's remark about his Hollywood Week song being "self-indulgent nonsense." But the pressure is off, at least for now, because Von made it through to the next round. And his mom couldn't be happier.

(S08E09) Seacrest begins the show with some cold, sexy numbers. We started this season with over 103,000 American Idol hopefuls, and now, going into the last night of Hollywood week, we're down to 72. Now that we're under the century mark, we get to be fancy: the contestants have backup singers, bands, and can play instruments if they want.

The way they're doing this is pretty hardcore: Each singer takes the stage, but receives no feedback afterward. Since this is their last chance, it kind of doesn't matter if Simon makes them cry, or Randy calls them Dawg. Either they're good enough or they're not. After they're finished singing, they have to wait until the end of the day, when the entire group is broken up into two groups: those who are going forward, and those who are not. Or, those who are immediately fading into obscurity and those who will fade more slowly, singing some goofy songs while hamming it up in some sort of Ford vehicle on the way.

It's group night in Hollywood, and frankly, I don't really get it. I mean, when the contestants get to American Idol, they don't perform as groups that often. And when they do, they're coached and have someone else doing all the choreography and such. Is it that important for them to do it at this stage of the game? Because what usually happens is that some contestants with great voices end up going home because of their awful group.

Anyway, there were plenty of tears, drama, and all-night rehearsals, but it's all good for the ratings.

It's Hollywood week! We open up with Seacrest explaining that this is the biggest season of American Idol ever, which is weird, because I could have sworn that last season was the biggest season ever; or maybe it was the season before that; or the season before that one. Huh. So, in this, the biggest season ever, we have 147 hopefuls who have made it to Hollywood.

The contestants are on the stage at the Kodak theater, when Simon comes in and tells them that hands down, this is the most important day of their lives. As someone who just gave birth to another human being, I find this laughable; but at the same time, I like to think that there's at least one person on that stage, who, when faced with the birth of his or her own future child takes one look at the baby and says, "yeah, you're okay-- but you're no first night of Hollywood week."

For this edition of American Idol, the crew traveled to New York City and San Juan, Puerto Rico. One of my favorite things about the auditions is seeing the expressions on the judges' faces – when they're witnessing true talent and also when they're being tortured by the voice of the devil.

Despite the distracting bobbing boat behind the judges (and a guy ON the boat at one point!), I tried to keep focused on the auditions in New York City. Let's get to it:

Adeola Adegoke, 19. She sang "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going," and she's so sure of her singing abilities that she quit her job. Bad move. Simon calls the audition "shockingly bad" and then calls her former boss to try and get her job back. Thank goodness it works. Adeola is going back to her day job instead of flying to Hollywood.

American Idol was in Salt Lake City tonight, home of David Archuleta and The Osmond Brothers (more on that later). It's definitely one of the happier places the judges have been, and even (most of) the contestants who bombed out were amazingly polite and good-natured. Still, with a huge crowd of adoring fans flocking around Simon Cowell as he entered the building, you've gotta wonder what's going on out there in Salt Lake City.

Anyway, let's get to it ...

David Osmond, 28, "Something Within Me"
This cutie is the son of Alan Osmond, the oldest member of the performing Osmonds. Alan had to quit the business because of his multiple sclerosis, and he's utterly emotional as he says how proud he is of David, who also has MS. While David was in a wheelchair for a while, he's on his feet now and says the disease has ups and downs. But being a member of the famous clan doesn't stop the judges from critiquing him. Kara doesn't like his runs, and Paula wishes he would have picked a song from a solo artist instead of a group. Still, David gets that Golden Ticket to Hollywood.

The first 20 seconds of this show have already freaked me out. Ryan and Simon are in the back of a limo and they're just flirting. They're smiling and giggling, and it feels like I'm looking in on a first date. Moving on ...

American Idol continues to try to make this my favorite season ever by reminding America that Randy used to play with Journey. Not only did he tell America "Don't stop believin'," but he did so while wearing a large amount of spandex. And for that reason, he will always be my favorite judge.

This episode just gets weirder when we see that the limo Ryan and Simon are in has a police escort. There are literally half a dozen sheriff's vehicles surrounding them as they are driven to the audition site. Now, I used to live in Florida and I still have family there, so I visit quite often. Let me tell you: Florida police have way bigger things going on that could use their attention. This does not strike me as a clever use of resources.

American Idol went to Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, to find the best of the best in The Bluegrass State. Let's see if I've got the pronunciation correct: Loo-a-vulle. Is that it? You Southerners chime in here.

Let's see who stood in front of the judges tonight:

Tiffany Shedd, 18. This girl strolls in with all the confidence in the world, which is a dead tip-off that she's going to suck. And she doesn't disappoint. She sucks bad. And with her platinum blonde hair and weird powder-blue eyeshadow, she looks like a tranny. I'm still wondering, actually. Anyway, she tries singing Mariah Carey's "Hero," and Simon says she's like a donkey in a crowd of 22 horses. Needless to say, she doesn't get a golden ticket. She leaves, muttering, "They're not looking for talent. They're looking for nerds and freaks."

Joanna Pacitti, 23. Kara recognizes Joanna, because she had a record deal with A&M Records. But it didn't work out for whatever reason. A little bit country, a little bit rock-and-roll, Joanna sings Pat Benatar's "We Belong." Paula immediately proclaims her "worthy." Joanna bursts into tears as she grabs that golden ticket to Hollywood.

(S08E02) Kona kicked off TV Squad's American Idol coverage last night, and the auditions are now in full swing. This episode found Ryan Seacrest and the judges in Kansas City, home of last year's American Idol winner David Cook. In fact, Ryan talked to David Cook's parents, who just happened to be walking down the street! Ok, not really, but they made it seem that way, which was kind of funny.

Also, included in the crowd of 11,000 people was Michael Castro, Jason Castro's brother. More on that later.

After the jump, the auditions...

(S08E01) it's that time of year again: American Idol auditions. It's the good, bad and tone-deaf all vying for their chance to be the next Taylor Hicks! Or... you know, someone else. So let's get started:

We open up with a really weird slow-motion retrospective of notable past auditions to "It's a Wonderful World." I always forget how skinny and young Clay was. Seacrest has changed a lot too-- and informs us that "THIS is American Idol" from what looks to be a perch on the edge of the Grand Canyon.

Oh my God. They're showing that amazing video of those little girls completely losing it over David Archuleta not winning last season. I am laughing so hard right now. This is officially the best episode of American Idol ever.

(S07E42) Forty-two episodes later we're finally ready to find out who is going to take home the crown of the next American Idol. Look at all those faces up there, and now it's all come down to the Davids. The lingering question is if they're going to be Idols the likes of Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson; sales in the millions with mantles full of awards; or will they find mainstream success more of a challenge, like Taylor Hicks or Justin Guarini (I know he came in second but let's face it, at this point first and second are almost interchangeable as far as getting a shot at a career)? The show's an hour early and an hour longer, clocking in from 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Eastern Time. That means you have two hours to chat live right here with your friends and frenemies about which David should win and how stupid they are for disagreeing with you.

You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.

(S07E40) Tonight, it's wall-to-wall David as Cook and Archuleta face-off in the penultimate episode of what was once proclaimed to be the most talented and greatest season of American Idol to date. And yet, for some reason it hasn't worked out that way. Nevertheless, the Davids are both talented and in such different ways. Archie has a pure and beautiful voice but his performance technique is severely lacking. Meanwhile, Cookie is a consummate performer, but doesn't have nearly the vocal depth of his nemesis.

Tonight, expect them to sing the "Idol Songwriting Competition" winning song which should be a horribly saccharine song about "Gosh, I can't believe where I'm at and isn't this amazing," or if we're especially lucky we'll get two different songs like that. Other than that, we should get three songs from each, one possibly an encore of their favorite performance and the third ... well, who knows. Join us in our weekly live chat and we can speculate together.

You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.

(S07E40) This is it, the penultimate episode and possibly the most tense and contested results of the whole season. Based just on the comments here, fans of each contestant are passionate, so you can expect the world to erupt in chaos tonight, especially if David goes home. Syesha has been the comeback queen, but I don't know if she has what it takes to break through into the Finals, and after last night's performances I certainly don't think she did enough there. Join us here for our live chat and live out the excitement with billions (give or take billions) of other Idol fans and see who's going to vie for the title of American Idol in next week's finale!

You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.

(S07E39) It only took until the Final Three, but finally the contestants are going to be able to sing at least one song that is entirely their own choice. No themes, no specific artists just whatever their little hearts content. Expect David Cook to do a rock song, Syesha to do a Whitney song and David Archuleta to do a ballad he's been singing his whole life. After that, the judges get to select a song for each and the producers get to do the same. Traditionally these Top 3 episodes have featured some pretty amazing performances, as the songs are better suited for the kind of vocalists we have left. Now, this may not be your favorite Top 3 (it's certainly not mine), but stop by anyway in our live chat during the episode and talk about how they're doing.

You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.

(S07E38) Tonight, Maroon 5 joins in the fun as we narrow down the remaining finalists to the Top 3. Where did Brooke's voting constituents go? If they went to Jason Castro then maybe he can pull of a huge upset and supplant a David or Syesha. If they went Syesha's way, it may be the end of the road for Jason Castro. If they all swung my way, who knows what will happen because Ryan forgot to give out my numbers ... again! Chime in through the show and critique the amazing Ford commercials, sound off on the amazing live viewer call-in feature (*cough*crap*cough*) and let us know who you think is going home.

You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.