Tonight is the third part of American Idol’s season 9 Hollywood Week auditions. We’ll get to see the last individual performances before we find out tomorrow who makes the Top 24.
Do you have any favorites yet? Any predictions on who you think is going through?
The Olympics are also on tonight, and I will confess that I’d rather be watching that. But I don’t have TiVo so it’s Idol when it’s on, or not at all.
What’s been your favorite Olympic moment so far? I have two: watching Seth Westcott win the snowboarding cross yesterday and watching Alexander Bilodeau win Canada’s first gold on home soil.
But back to Idol. I’ll see you here tonight!
Olympic update: NBC’s Brian Williams gave a “programming update” to let viewers know USA’s Evan Lysecek will be skating late in the program. That’s code for, “Hey you Idol viewers, you’re not missing the good stuff!” I think that’s because they spread out the coverage until midnight. (Here’s the men’s figure skating schedule.) But just in case, switch over to the Olympics right after Idol ends so you don’t miss anything good.
So here we go!

I’ve seen a rumored list of the Top 24 and shared it with you, but let’s face it: we don’t know for sure. Although Joe’s Place blog has been spot on most of the time.
The format for this episode always bugs me. We start at the end and go backwards, iwth sneak peeks back at auditions, rather than watching a bunch of auditions and results. Instead, we see the contestants broken up into three groups. Group 1 includes Casey James, Andrew Garcia, Todrick Hall, and Tim Urban. Group 2 includes Kia Johnson, Mary Powers, and Hope Johnson. Group 3 includes Haeley Vaughn and Angela Martin.
There are some rumored top 24 in all three groups, so this will be interesting.
The peek at Angela Martin is great, really jazzy. Jermaine Purifoy sings “Brick House,” and Casey sings “Bubbly” … is that the name of the song? Either way, they’re all great. Jermaine is in Goom 2. Casey is in Group 1. Angela is in Group 3.
Hmm. This is tricky, tricky, tricky. But if you read the Top 24 rumored list, you already know which group is heading home. We’ll probably find out a few tonight, and then be left hanging for tomorrow.
Let’s take a look at some of the contestants in Group 1: Tori Kelly, Casey James, Andrew Garcia, Tim Urban, Alex Lambert (who Mary Powers called the weakest link during the group auditions), Mike Lynch, Todrick Hall, Lilly Scott, Siobhan Mangus, Jermaine Sellers (who pulls a diva move, blaming the band for a screw up), Thaddeus Johnson (self proclaimed Mama’s boy who handles his band snafu with humor and a little more grace), Tyler Grady, Chris Golightly, and Michelle Delamor. Some great singers, although if I’m being honest, I’d put Jermaine Sellers in another room. That “Man in the Mirror” was stinky.
And on to contestants in Group 2, which includes: Charity Vance, Tasha Layton (I love her; I hope she doesn’t go home), Mary Powers (who sings well but has big ego but I think made a bad song choice with the Katy Perry “Hot and Cold”; Simon says she’s interesting because she’s old), Lloyd Thomas, Brian Walker (the “Singing Police Officer”), Tisha Holland, Hope Johnson (who may have chosen a song that’s too big for her in her final audition), and Jermaine Purifory.
Here’s the thing: there are some good singers in Group 2, but there are also some weak ones. This has to be the group that gets the boot.
Because the contestants in Group 3 include: Shelby Dressel, Aaron Kelly (who forgets his lyrics but belts out what he knows very well), Ashely Rodriguez, Haeley Vaughn (who maybe didn’t pull out her best performance), Lee Dweyze (I love this guy), Joe Munoz (who is he?), Janell Wheeler (she having trouble with her voice and had a lot of nerves working against her so put on a bit of a boring performance), DiDi Benami, Jessica Furneyl, John Park, and Lacey Brown.
So here’s what I think is going to happen after the break: they’ll tell us Group 1 is through and Group 2 goes home.
My thoughts on a top 24: The girls have this season, hand’s down. Crystal Bowersox, DiDi Benami, Siobhan Mangus, Lilly Scott, Lacey Brown, and even Tasha Layton, who I think is going home.
I forget – tomorrow do the groups sing again and then they cut down to 24? We won’t have 24 after tonight, right?
Ryan explains that the judges had tough time putting the contestants into the who stays and who goes groups.
Here we go: Group 1 gets the news first that they’re going through. Ellen gives them the news with her characteristic humor. That was a no brainer.
Totally off the subject: I love this McDonald’s commercial – “Give me back that filet of fish, give me that fish …” I think the guy who wrote it is from Rochester.
And the wait is over. Simon gives the bad news to Group 2, with Simon saying that most of the contestants were better than they thought they’d be, but it’s bad news. As expected, they’re going home. And there are tears and handshakes and hugs.
Randy delivers the good news to Group 3, telling them this year was the best talent they’ve ever had, and there were some good days and bad days, before Kara finally gives them the good news.
Tomorrow we see the final 24.
WAIT!! OH NO!!! The next episode is NOW??? Like, RIGHT NOW???? Oh man. It is.
There are 46 contestants left in the competition, and we’re going to find out right now who’s staying. One by one, the contestants will go into the theater and meet the judges to find out their fate. I don’t think we find out all 24 tonight. Tomorrow night Hollywood Week concludes, so they’ll save some for then.
First up, new father Michael Lynch, who’s through. He hugs all the judges, and Ellen says “Don’t pick me up again” and he does anyway.
After the break, more results. Quick, switch over to NBC for the women’s snowboard cross qualifiers!
Up next is DiDi Benami, who earlier in the week sang an obscure song written by Kara DioGuardi. DiDi lost her best friend Rebecca and is singing with her in mind. Simon says that she’s not consistent, and when she’s good, she’s very good, and she’s through to the final 12 girls.
Next is Katelyn Epperly. I think she’s through … Ellen does her typical delaying with goofing around about not wanting to delay … and she’s through.
Shelby Dressel finds out. If I hadn’t seen the rumored list, I would still say Shelby isn’t through. And Shelby didn’t make it but maybe she’ll be back to Idol again. She handled the results very well.
Quick peek at the women’s snowboard cross: Lindsey Jacobellis goes off course and is out! She gave up the gold in Torino after having huge lead and throwing in a trick at the last jump, wobbling and endind up with the silver.
Back to Idol. Casey James is up next. I hated his first auditionl, when Kara convinced him to take off his shirt. He needs a little work on the hair but he’ll be through. Clearly Kara has a huge crush on the guy. Barf. He’s not that good looking, Kara. Casey is through, as expected. When Kara hugs him, she throws in a little foot lift.
Aaron Kelly is up next. He’s a little bit young (only 16) and he’s had ups and downs during the week. But he’s good, and Ellen gives him the news that he’s through.
Lee Dewyze is up next. I think he’s got a great voice, even though Simon doesn’t love him. Kara tells him he has a great big voice but he needs more confidence. Lee feels like he’s confident and that he can do good things in music. Kara says the judges didn’t agree until five minutes before he walked in, but he’s through. Lee’s overwhelmed with emotion.
I can’t believe Fox is making us miss the men’s free skate!! Ugh, I’m tempted to just bag tomorrow night so I can watch the long program. Grrrr. Idol or Olympics????
We’re back. Montage of making friends, having fun, goofing around. Up next is Todrick Hall. Todrick was fun in Dallas with is little ditty about the Idol judges and he has a great background with The Color Purple (and some unhappy parents with his own stage production of the Wizard of Oz.). But he’s through.
Jessica Furney is up next. She made it through to Hollywood in Season 8 and her tenacity got her back this season. She sings well, but I don’t think she’s good for Idol. A little cocky. And she didn’t make it through this season. And she goes into begging hyperdrive meltdown. Ugh. Jessica, Jessica, Jessica, don’t make a scene. You’re embarrassing yourself. In fact, you’re proving why you were sent home. Again.
So we know 7 of the top 24:
GUYS
1. Michael Lynch
2. Casey James
3. Lee Dewyze
4. Aaron Kelly
5. Todrick Hall
GIRLS
1. Didi Benami
2. Katelyn Epperly
Now hurry up! The men’s short program is on! Oooo …. did you see Stefane Lambiel just skate? ….
See you tomorrow!
AMERICAN IDOL POSTS:
American Idol contestant Justin Williams was also a Season 8 contestant
Boston Auditions – blogging live play-by-play
Boston Auditions – recap
Atlanta audtions – Blogging live play-by-play
Auditions Recap – Vanessa Wolf, Jermaine Sellers, Holly Harden, Miriam Lemnouni, Noel Reese, and Pants on the Ground
Chicago auditions – Blogging live
American Idol Season 9 Chicago auditions recap – Angela Martin, Charity Vance, Katelyn Epperly, John Park and boob boxing
American Idol Season 9 Los Angeles auditions – Blogging live!
American Idol Season 9 Dallas auditions – Blogging live!
American Idol Season 9 Spoiler Alert: Is this the Top 24?
American Idol: so how do those auditions really work, anyway?
American Idol Season 9 “Road to Hollywood” auditions – Blogging live
American Idol Season 9 Christian artists
American Idol Season 9 Denver auditions: Blogging live (& the scoop on Nicci Nix)
American Idol contestant Angela Brown’s mother missing
Will Howard Stern take over for Simon Cowell on American Idol Season 10?
American Idol Season 9 Hollywood Week – Blogging live!
American Idol Season 9 Hollywood Week group auditions – Blogging live