Ready? . . . Set (your DVR) . . . Go!

I hope everyone has programmed their DVRs to run about 10 minutes over for Idol tonight. Or you could just set it to record Fringe right afterwards.

This week's theme is movie songs with special guest judge Quentin Tarantino, indy film director extraordinaire and huge fan of the show. Remember he was on before as a guest judge back in season 3 and he's since been seen at a couple of the finales. Rather than coming in to "mentor" the 7 remaining singers, maybe they should have him mentor the director so the show finishes on time.

Does anyone but me wonder how deep the catalog is the kids get to choose from? There are a lot of songs from movies out there, but if the kids only get to pick from about 5 songs, it's really not fair to pick on singers like Lil for their song choice (like when R-Dawg tried to tell K-Mac she picked the wrong song when in fact it was Clive Davis who screwed her over).

What are the odds that Gokey sings "Stand By Me" because it was in a movie once (or ten times)?

Mrs. High Lord got the burgundy walls in the living room primed tonight. Now we just have to get the old carpet up . . .

There's an Idol reviewer over at MSNBC who believes Adam should/will win while another person thinks he won't. Personally, I think he'll finish in third or fourth place like Chris Daughtry.

How cool is Tarantino that he gets Seacrest's new signature line?

Why is the band out of the balcony? Why are they wasting time talking about how much time they spent talking last week? I have an idea: Let the kids sing longer, get Seacrest to talk less and make the judges keep their comments on the singing, not on each other.

First up is Allison who could return to the bottom 3 from the Dead Man's Spot. What's up with her hair? She needs to borrow some of Lil's extensions. I like that she starts slow and low at the beginning and doesn't give in to the shouting until the end. Allison is like Amanda Overmeyer if Amanda actually had some vocal range. In addition to the director, Idol needs to replace the sound guys; whatever happened at the end was not the her fault. I wasn't blown away and going first might hurt her when it comes to the results show tomorrow. Simon says some uncharacteristically nice things about her.

Our cell phone contract with Sprint runs out at the beginning of June and we're going to switch to another provider. From an informal poll of the people I work with, Verizon and AT&T get generally good reviews as far as service and availability.

Anoop goes AFE on us with that crappy Bryan Adams song from the equally crappy Kevin Costner movie. I'm not predicting good things. Is he supposed to be the next great balladeer? I thought he was much more contemporary and urban than the schlock he's put out on the stage since they took to the big stage. The shame of it is that he's got a good voice, but every time he starts to sing, all he does is bore me to death.

I'm starting to like this only two judges at a time thing.

Keeping the show moving, Seacrest brings us EBA, who's singing some Steppenwolf. He goes back over the top, which is probably a good move. I don't know that he's the next great thing for the pop charts, but he could follow in the lucrative and glorious footsteps of past Idol alums who have done very well for themselves on Broadway. There's not too much screeching, at least until the end. I think Adam peaked three weeks ago with "Tracks of My Tears"; if this were a political show, Bill Schneider would have said he was "catering to his base" this week. I think the people who already love him, lurved it tonight and everyone else just rolled their eyes.

We're halfway through the show and there are four people left to sing. Rather than cut out some filler, Matt gets the random sit-down interview and Seacrest shows us his crappy Quentin Tarantino impression. Is this movie night or Bryan Adams night? Have I mentioned how much I hate this song? Combine that with the fact that I'm not really a Matt fan and things don't look good for him tonight. He makes all of his usual faces, but does fewer of the annoying vocal tricks that bug the dickens out of me . . . at least until "the false" rears its ugly head in a couple of places.

Have you noticed that Kara always seems to mimic whatever Randy says but is just a little more technical? You know, the way Randy used to be before he went ghetto on us.

MWJD just learned how to play the guitar; I guess he traded his glasses for a six-string. Why is he singing "Endless Love" as a solo; it was meant to be a duet. The greatest version, of course, is Joey and Phoebe's. I think he had to trade his razor in with the glasses for the guitar; maybe he got a Les Paul. What's with all the powerballads tonight? The song selections are for the most part safe, if a little boring. Gokey shouts a lot at the end and his hollow, breathy voice annoys me as usual. I give him a big aiiiight. Paula slurps him, as does Simon, even when he says he was bored.

Seacrest sends us to break, even knowing that they're running short on time. Next time, why don't you blather less with the judges and skip the sit-downs with some of the singers.

Next up is Kris with an obscure song from an obscure movie. I just hope he stays out of the mosh pit. Aside from being another boring ballad, Kris also caters to his base. I like that he can sing a song without eyeboinking the camera at every opportunity. The high notes are not pleasant, though. It was a good, minimal performance. Going near the end will help him. Seacrest cuts Kara short because once again, they're short on time.

There's another commercial? WTF?!?!?!?! Someone stop the madness!

Wrapping up the show from the Pimp Spot is Lil. If you're keeping score, there have been six ballads and one song that wasn't a ballad. For me, that's reason enough to call in for Adam. This song lets Lil show off her pipes, but I'm still bored to tears. I have an idea for next week's theme: No ballads allowed. Tonight was a good outing for her; it's too bad I think it was too little, too late. The judges already want her to be the next Mary J. and I can't help but think of her as a LaToya wannabe. Lil will benefit from singing from The Pimp Spot, but I think she needs a lot of help. She also vents her frustration at having been put in a pigeonhole by Simon and Randy.

The Good
no one tonight

The Bad
Adam, "Born to Be Wild"
Kris, "Falling Slowly"
Lil, "The Rose"
Allison, "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"
Danny, "Endless Love"
Matt, "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman"
Anoop, "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)"

The Ugly
no one tonight

Tonight, the seven remaining singers had the opportunity to seize the high ground and the only one who went for it was Adam. Everyone else was meh with their safe, boring selections.

The only question left for me is this: Who is going to get George'd tomorrow?

Who should be in the bottom 3:
Anoop, Danny, Matt

Who will be in the bottom 3:
Allison, Anoop, Lil

I think going first will hurt Allison, but I also think she'll be the first one to be sent to safety.

Who should go home:
Anoop

Who will go home:
Anoop

Those are my picks for tonight's Idol.

DWTS Results and other thoughts

In case you hadn't heard, Fox canned Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Anyone surprised? It looks like they managed to destroy yet another sci-fi show that will follow gloriously in the steps of Firefly, Brimstone, Millenium, Lone Gunmen, et al. Why does Fox seem to want each show to be the next X-Files but then cancel a series after only one (or less) season? This does not bode well for Dollhouse.

I am so glad Ronald Moore went with Sci-fi for BSG instead of the idiots at Fox.

What happened to the dance-off? Maybe people realised it was a sham after last week when DAG brought his score up by six(?) points and still got kicked off.

There are three couples still on the stage: Ty & Chelsie, Chuck & Julianne, and Steve-O & Lacey. I think it will (unfortunately) be Ty & Chelsie. He's a likable guy, but just not a very good dancer. He's also been a good sport about the whole thing since I'm pretty sure it was his wife who talked him into doing the show and then he stuck with it even after she had to withdraw due to injury.

After some fake suspense, Steve-O and Lacey get the boot. I am surprised, but I think everyone knew he would be gone either this week or next. Like Idol, there are three front-runners and then a bunch of people just waiting get get eliminated.

High Lord. Out. Again.