In the interest of accountability, I'll admit I was wrong about Amanda Overmeyer going home tonight on "American Idol." The VFTW gang must have been speed-dialing like crazy to keep her hopes alive.
Now that Ryan Seacrest has announced that the show has gotten permission from Sony/ATV to use songs from the Lennon-McCartney catalog, I hope Amanda makes it into the Top 12, so we can see her and Danny Noriega butcher Beatles classics. I can root for the good later -- for the moment, I'm rooting for the bad, and they're it.
One prediction I'll stick by, though: unless David Archuleta succumbs to the wiley backstage charms of Miss Paula Abdul -- or Randy Jackson, on video -- he's a lock to win "Idol" this season. Last year, Melinda Doolittle (whatever happened to her?) seemed like a lock, but then the youth vote carried Jordin Sparks to victory. This year, Archuleta will get that youth vote, or at least the female youth vote, which is the one that matters in choosing the next "American Idol."
One last note. Roger Taub e-mails to ask, "Did I hear correctly last night? After one of the contestants sang 'Magic Man' by Heart, did Simon Cowell say he's never heard that song? How is that possible?" It's possible because Simon has lived his life in the pop music world, not in the rock and roll world. His ears are attuned to songs that have been a hit on Top 40 and Adult Contemporary radio stations in the last two decades, not on what were once called AOR stations, now known as simply rock (or classic rock) stations. Although Heart made it into the top ten with the song in 1976, the only way Simon would have known "Magic Man" was if Mariah Carey had covered it in 2006.Labels: television