American Idol Scandal

American Idol last night was a slow-motion multi-car pileup. Bo and Vonzell sang well, but Bo isn't really an amateur singer (he's secretly about 50 years old). Carrie won't get voted out, because she is the floor model at the American Idol Contestant Factory, but she needs to redeem herself after a performance that seemed like a carefully crafted indictment of the entire genre of country music. (On the AI website they ask her what her biggest obstacle has been in life, and she answers that she hasn't had one yet. Maybe she should have said, "My lack of singing ability.") [Yes, I'm cranky because my fave, Nadia Turner, got voted off.] Anthony, Constantine and Scott committed ritual artistic suicide, revealing, on national television, in front of tens of millions of people, that they are future trivia answers. Everyone last night seemed edgy and off-kilter: Maybe they're all rattled by the prospect of next week's ABC expose, not to mention the Paula rumors. (We don't truck in rumors on this blog, particularly ones based on a tabloid article that was based on an unpublished BOOK PROPOSAL from a former contestant. I'll leave that sort of stuff to alternative media, such as the print version of the Post). Paula was unusually negative last night; even she noticed that the contestants were singing randomly, as though making up the song as they went (when in doubt, screech a high note and contort your face as though undergoing a painful medical examination). It was pretty good TV if your favorite genre is Horror. Tonight I'll be watching the basketball game.