Final Four Dust off their Disco Ball on ‘American Idol’

Tuesday night was Disco night on American Idol and guest mentor, Barry Gibb from the Bee Gees, showed the final four contestants how to dust off their disco ball and get down with it.

While I think its great that we now get to hear two songs from each contestant, I think it’s silly that each contestants have two voting numbers.  Did Fox pay for these phone numbers and feel the need to use them to get their money’s worth?  Keep it simple — one contestant, one voting number.  Now on with the show.

Melinda Doolittle led off the show with “Love You Inside and Out” and rounded out her night with “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.”   The former background singer continues to amaze me.  She has beautiful vocals that she uses to tell a story through song.  My favorite to win, Doolittle had a strong night and remains a contender.

In a beautiful rebound from last week’s rock disaster, Jordin Sparks shines again.  Both her song choices “To Love Somebody” and “Woman in Love” showcased her lovely voice.  But I have to agree with Simon, she didn’t bring any of her youthfulness to either song.  However, her strong vocals will keep Sparks in the running.

The only male contestant left, Blake Lewis continues to dare to be different, right down to the streaked hair.  However, his uniqueness only batted .500 for Lewis tonight.  The beat box thing really didn’t work well for Lewis on “You Should Be Dancing.”  But he came back with a hip, customized version of “This is Where I Came In” that sounded fresh and contemporary.  Although, I personally didn’t love it, I think the song worked for him and brought a little modernization to a week that was clearly stuck in the past.

On the other hand, customization didn’t quite work for LaKisha Jones.  She tried to personalize her rendition of “Staying Alive” by slowing it down, but it came across a little shaky.  However, her second choice, “Run to Me” was a much better fit for Jones.  Will it be enough to keep her alive?  We’ll have to wait until Wednesday night to find out.

Now we are left to ponder how they are going to fill the full hour in the results show.

A Glimmer of Satisfaction for ‘Drive’ Fans

Disappointed Drive fans everywhere get a slight reprieve after the new Fox show was canceled after four episodes.  The final two unaired episodes will air on July 4th.

While I’m glad that we get to see these two episodes, I think Fox added insult to injury with this move.  Not only did it cancel the series after a mere four episodes, but now it’s going to air the last two episodes on one of the few days of the year when nobody’s watching TV.

Of course, we won’t get any closure with these episodes — who expects to wrap up a series after just six episodes?  But I’ll take anything I can get at this point in time.  I’ll be setting my DVR for July 4th.