By: Mary Cavaliere

I don’t know who arranged the opening song on tonight’s Idol elimination show but I wonder if Mariah Carey was cringing as much as I was. You’ve got seven different voices trying to blend and it just wasn’t happening. It didn’t happen for me when they all sang Seasons Of Love on Idol Gives Back last week and it didn’t happen for me tonight either.

American Idol redeemed itself, however, by bringing in not only Mariah Carey to perform tonight but also another one of my Idol favorites, Elliott Yamin. He just rocks doesn’t he? My heart went out to him when he told us that this was his first performance without his Mom in the audience (she just passed away). I could relate because I performed in live theater for over twenty years and my Mom never missed a performance. When she passed away in 1996 I lost not only my best friend but the one person I knew truly believed in me and my passion for performing. I’m sure Elliott feels the same exact way.

I loved the “break free” puppet commercial by Ford. I wish American Idol would put me in as an extra on one of these commercials so I can be on the set and have the fun I know these kids are having filming these clips.

The best question of the night from viewers was addressed to Paula wanting to know which of her songs best describes Simon. He of course quickly responded with “Straight Up” which cracked me up. But Paula’s response was “Opposites Attract” and told Simon she would not be “Forever Your Girl”.

Did anyone notice the commercial for Don’t Forget The Lyrics? This happens to be another show I watch regularly because I love love love Wayne Brady. Well tomorrow night Kimberly Locke, one of my Idol favorites, will be playing for charity and there’s no doubt in my mind she will not only do well, but it will be enjoyable to listen to her sing for a full hour.

I hated the way they did the bottom three tonight. Out of all the contestants did they really think David would choose one side? The bottom three were Syesha Mercado, Brooke White, and FINALLY Kristy Lee Cook. No big surprises here but I did think Carly would be joining Syesha and Kristy, not Brooke. The last time I remember a contestant lasting longer than they should was Season 3 with Diana Degarmo. I just didn’t feel she was up to par with the rest of the contestants but week after week she lasted through the elimination frustrating the heck out of me just like Kristy has. I’m not totally heartless, and I feel bad that Kristy was crying and that she lost her favorite horse to be able to compete in Idol, but she made it far enough that I’m sure it was worth it to her.

So now we are down to the final six – David Archuleta, David Cook, Jason Castro, Brooke White, Syesha Mercado, and Carly Smithson.

Just a note of thanks to Robert who posted the first comment to my blog on the Reality Wanted website. I appreciate the feedback as well as the correction on Jason’s song choice and the real author of Without You.

You can read more of Mary’s television blogs at www.myspace.com/italiangirl57

Find additional American Idol links on sirlinksalot.net