American Idol: Semi-finals, week two (results)

Last night, I blew off primetime to go with a friend to a screening of "I Love You, Man" -- only the company massively over-issued passes, so my friend Steve and I were told "better luck next time" when we were eight spots from the front. Instead, we saw "Taken" (aka the greatest Father's Day movie ever), and I'll be slowly working my way through Thursday night's TV as the day goes along. First up is the "American Idol" results show, which of course I can watch in under five minutes. Spoilers ho (though I suppose the picture's a bit of a giveaway)...

Okay, so the next trio to advance consists of Adam (no big shock to advance), Allison (ditto) and Kris (who?). My only theory on Kris going forward after his forgettable "Man in the Mirror" is that the 'tween girls found him cute, and also that no one else Wednesday night was all that good.

Unfortunately, Nick/Normund's run has come to an end, and there's no way he makes it to the wildcard. I think the producers thought he'd be briefly entertaining, but they have to be terrified of him actually getting to the finals, where there'd be the usual indignation and where he would feel in no way beholden to play ball. (He'd know the show knows he's a joke, and has no real interest in his future, and so he could do whatever he wanted, in the same way Sanjaya started acting once it became clear the show hated him.) What's annoying/silly is that, for two weeks in a row, they've climaxed the show by pairing the joke contestant (first Tatiana, now Nick) with the most obvious person to advance, creating absolutely no suspense. If Nick had been put up with Kris, or Tatiana with Michael Sarver, the show can at least create the illusion that the freakshows have a chance. The way they're doing it makes the fakeout even more of a waste of time than usual.

Now, the final's so far is two-thirds male, which bodes well for someone like Megan (I'd call her as close to a lock for a wildcard as there is), but not so much for someone like Anoop (who basically has no shot if two guys go through next week, given the show's obsession with gender balance even in years when one gender stinks).

So for those who watched the full show, anything notable happen while I was fast-forwarding? And how did Nanny Brooke's song sound?