American Idol: And then there were... Eight.

It looked to be a hands-down, no doubt about it kind of situation.  And then... exactly what I expected not to happen (but secretly hoped would happen) happened!  The entire nation, I'm sure, was shocked.  But I doubt I was the only one to be happy about the results, although a great number of people were "Shocked. Angry.  Had no idea what just happened."  Wanna know what I'm talking about?  That's right.  You guessed it.  American Idol.

Last week on American Idol, the theme was Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame, and every contestant pretty much rocked the house, with the exception of Jacob Lusk, who annoys me every time he opens his big mouth, and Pia Toscano, who bores me to the point of sleep even before she gets on stage.  The night was full of random rock-n-roll singers such as Constantine Maroulis and Iggy Pop, both of which failed to even remotely interest me.  Thank goodness for DVR and the fast-forward button.

Ryan Secrest cracked his usual jokes, most of which were rather funny, and delivered the results in a 3 by 3 fashion.  There were nine contestants; three groups of three with each group containing one bottom-three-er made perfect sense.  After all was said and done, Pia Toscano, Jacob Lusk, and Stefano Langone made up the bottom three. 

Although I have no further complaint about Pia other than she is boring, I was surprised to see her in the bottom three.  Don't get me wrong.  I wanted her to go, but the chances of that seemed rather slim at this point in the game.  Apparently, America is getting sick of hearing a ballad every week.  Jacob, after his egotistic comment in which he made some remark about the only reason he would be in the bottom three is because America can't "look themselves in the mirror," was no surprise.  He deserved to be in the bottom three, not only because he said that, but because he's a church choir singer.  Not a mainstream artist.  Stefano... is a good singer.  He's got rhythm, style, and plenty of class.  He's like another Bruno Mars, who, needless to say, is a very successful artist.  I think Stefano will do well even after he gets kicked off of Idol.  Most of us have pretty much been expecting Stefano to go for the last three or four weeks, but every week he hangs on, probably by the skin of his teeth.

So... fast forward to the very end of the show, where the bottom three turns into the bottom two.  Jacob Lusk, unfortunately, was safe.  Then they were down to Pia and Stefano.  *Refer to first paragraph.*  At that point, I'll admit, I was pretty much expecting Stefano to go, simply because Pia is a great singer.  I didn't think there was any way she would go this soon.  But lo and behold, Ryan announced that Pia was going home!!!

I whooped.  I hollered.  I screamed.  I yelled.  I was excited, obviously.  Although I am not a huge fan of Stefano, I was happy that Pia was leaving.  She's so dull, and when all of the other contestants get excited, she just smiles.  She's completely void of all emotion.  It's annoying and not entertaining.  Afterall, we watch TV to be entertained, right?

Then, I was irritated.  The judges, Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, and Steven Tyler, proceeded to exclaim how awful it was that Pia was the one leaving and she shouldn't have been the one to go.  Basically, they were telling Stefano that they expected him to leave... right to his face.  Rude much?  I'm sure Stefano felt awful about the whole situation.  Jennifer made remarks such as "I'm shocked.  I'm angry.  I have no idea what just happened." Yes, it was a little bit of a surprise that Pia was leaving, but it wasn't worth all the hoopla they gave it, and Stefano probably left the stage feeling like crap.  Well, for their information, Stefano stayed on the show again this week, so he's not as awful as the judges made him out to be, obviously.

Some say that Pia got voted off because mostly girls watch the show and girls aren't going to vote for Pia.  It's not just about who watches the show and that Pia got voted off because girls aren't going to vote for her.  It's about what America likes as a whole.  And let me tell you, Pia was nothing special.  Yes, the girl could sing.  But at this point in the game, can't they all?  Yes.  And every other contestant on the show right now is just as good as Pia.  Stefano said it on this week's show:  it's all about performing, because everybody left on the show can sing.  America wants a star.  They want someone who is going to entertain them.  Pia almost never had anything exciting to say or did anything special.  Her stage presence consisted of a two foot by two foot invisible box on the stage.  She never wavered from it.  It was B-O-R-I-N-G.  Nobody wants boring.  Bottom line.