My parents were into the Oak Ridge Boys too. One of their albums was probably the first one I listened to over and over, when I was about 5. Definitely part of the reason I still like (some) country music, and any music that features cool, multi-part vocal harmonies.

Conspiracy or not, I do think the judges ended up with the top 5 they've wanted all along (or at least since the first few episodes when it became clear that Megan and Lil weren't going to live up to their hopes/expectations). They were probably a little nervous when Alison was in the bottom 2, but ultimately the…

Am I the only one who was stunned when they introduced KC and a white guy came out? I'm 30 for chrissakes! How did I never learn that?

I think you just hit on why I've never really liked Gokey. When they praise him he nods his head as if to say, "yes, that's true. I DID do a very good job tonight." He even gets a smug look on his face before the judges start talking: "I just nailed that song and now I'm going to listen to you tell me that I just…

On the one hand it's not that surprising because they would have had to use it either this week or next, so now it adds some drama next week because TWO people will be eliminated. Also, it would have been kind of pointless if they had hyped this big new rule then not used it.

Good point, Claire - what is the maximum number of words you can announce that you have for someone and still have it work as an effective emphatic device? I'm going with three. Even four starts to sound a little forced. Clearly she had to think it out and count the words before arriving at six. Maybe that's the…

I can't believe no one else has commented on this. She followed that up by saying something like "I just have six words for you: one of the best performances of the night!". First of all, that's like 8 words. Second, why act like you're about to make a big, bold statement, then make it underwhelmng by qualifying it…

My DVR cut off too. My crappy Comast DVR doesn't give the option to extend the recording, except for certain sports events. I would have had to manually set it to record whatever comes on after Idol, but I didn't think of it - hadn't been necessary so far. I guess I'll have to do so in the future just in case.

Duke
I agree that Duke sucks, but I don't think it's because they rejected Melo. Sure he led Syracuse to a title, but Duke just doesn't go for the one-year-wonder types.

Totally agree with this. I would have rather seen Ju'Not one more time rather than the two forgettable white guys. I only remember Ricky Braddy's name because it sounds like Ricky Bobby. I don't remember the other guy's name at all. It seems like the judges are trying to force their predetermined best singers (in…

That is a great point, LIRM. Josh Blue was funny (compared to the average guy on the street) but not THAT funny. Scott is a good singer (compared to the average guy on the street) but not THAT good. If either were judged purely on performance and not on backstory/hardship, neither would have so much as sniffed…

I actually thought…
…this was easily the best of the three shows, at least in terms of quality of singing. Mainly because there was only one trainwreck (Alex), while the rest of the singers were at least competent. I think we averaged at least 3-4 trainwrecks per show the previous two weeks. A lot of the singers…

My theory is that, in these difficult economic times, voters considered who needs it most. Single mom? Yes! Blue collar worker? Yes! Church music direct? Yes! (how much can that job pay? And he has a sob story to boot!). As for Anoop, people figured he is a grad student and he's probably really good at math, so…