let's twist again like we did last year...

Gratitude goes to the producers who abbreviated the dreaded eliminations, ditched the songs and just got to the [broken] heart of the matter.  No big surprises in last night's results show.  No one with any sense believed that Joe, Aloha and Celena were bound for the finals.  And David proved Monday that the promise he showed in the audition round was not going to pan out when the stage was his.

The softened and shortened show was a blessing too for the kids, all of whom, except Joe, took the bad news gracefully.  Joe just had to play the Melinda card, blaming, again, lack of airtime leading up to the semis.  Hey Joe.  Grow up.  You had about as much airtime as Bo and Jessica, but, unlike them, you didn't grab your chance to make us want to call for you.  You had two chances.  You proved nothing to us except for the fact that you sound like Cher.  Stop whining.  The fault was yours.

Looks as though Janay is this year's Camile, riding her way through the semi-finals on the strength of a legion of young fans who think she's pretty.  But like John Stevens last year, she is not ready for this level of competition.  The child looks like a deer caught in the headlights.  It is, and will continue to be, painful to watch her struggle on stage, only to be torn to shreds by Randy and Simon and damned with Paula's faint praise. 

Oh the price of being pretty.

My initial fears of this gender equity quota system have been realized.  We have remaining, eight men, all of whom deserve to continue.  We have eight women, only four of which should.  If we have to watch two very talented guys leave while less-talented girls remain, it will not only be heartbreaking, but unfair.  And all in the name of balance?

I don't recall a bombastic revolt last season when the women outnumbered the men 8-4.  And only one of the four men even had a realistic shot of making the finale.  I understand that the producers were hoping for a better gender balance to appeal to the wider audience, but at the expense of talent?

Surely, if the producers can listen to the fans, read the message boards and get it through their heads that last week's bloodbath was universally abhorred and change the format accordingly, they can recognize this potential travesty and right the wrong before the wrong is even committed.

Idol loves its twists.  How about a twist next week.  Eight sing Monday.  Eight sing Tuesday.  And the voters vote Tuesday for their favorite of the sweet sixteen.  We can even desegregate them at this point, because come finals time, they're going to be thrown from their box anyway.

Eschewing the quota system at this point would assure the voters that the best 12 (or the most popular, as the case may be) will be entertaining us through May.  That would be a nice change to Idol too.  Twelve finalists, all of whom have a realistic chance. 

Now that's what I call a twist.