The top 10 performed three numbers: A "hits" medley, Pat Benetar's We
Belong, and Michael Buble's Home. All three were sung awful, with
exception of the parts sung by the youth choir from Africa.

The good: Sarah and Rob. This is not surpising, I guess, considering
their age and experience.

The bad: Brandon, Chad, and Steffi. Brandon's vocals were an
embarrassment to the top 10. So was Chad's to a lesser extent. I love
Steffi D to death but she should never sing Macy Gray ever again.

The rest were somewhere in the middle. Eva just looked worn and beaten
by the entire thing. Craig brought the usual Craig. The duet
performance was a clunker. It lacked chemistry and the harmonizing
seemed a bit off, probably because both singers sing in the same vocal
range. Craig, who has almost no lower register, sang higher than Eva
did at times.

The guest performances by Nelly and Melissa O'Neil were fun. They did
their job in not upstaging the Idols too much. At least, vocally.

Overall, it was not a great show, but it was still fun seeing old
faces. I'm glad I watched it on tape, instead of having to sit through
the whole thing with commercials.

The season, overall, gets a grade of "B-" from me. A significant
improvement over last season because of the better singing, bigger
celebrity guests and weekly themes that weren't too specific or simply
out-of-touch (like Elvis or Lionel Richie week).

For next season, I wish they would dump the piano and have a live band
for the semi-final rounds. A band is more accommodating to many styles
of music (especially today's music). Not just slow ballads or oldie
bar songs most contestants seem to fallback on with the piano. Other
than the brief appearances of Keith MacPherson, Greg Neufeld and Nancy
Silverman, the semi-final round was a dud. They need to spice it up a bit.

Also, arrange some hearing exams for the judges because some of the
singers they let through were embarrassingly bad, in retrospect.