Last night’s “American Idol” was, as expected, a grueling one hour results show. And I was surprised by a couple of the contestants who were kicked off, but in the end, not really all that surprised.

First, they did some video montage to once again familiarize us with the final 24, because they kind of short-changed us in Hollywood week. I mean, there are at least five or six of these singers that I don’t remember from the initial auditions. What’s more, I don’t know how they got here because there were a ton of mediocre performances. But I digress.

Then there was the sixties medley group performance, and as always it was pretty ridiculous. Some of these kids dance about as good as me, which is saying absolutely nothing. I mean, I’m a slight notch above Elaine from “Seinfeld.” But I digress again.

After a replay of Tuesday’s guys’ performances, Ryan Seacrest invited Garrett Haley to join him on stage, and promptly booted him off the show. This kid showed almost no emotion, and on Tuesday had said he only auditioned because he was vacationing in San Diego with his family and was looking for something to do. But the weird thing is, this little Peter Frampton look alike can actually sing. I seem him fronting a rock band, like tomorrow.

Then the ladies were recapped, and Ryan asked Kristy Lee Cook to join him. We all knew she wasn’t really going home, so it was no surprise that Ryan declared her safe. Then he did the same with Amy Davis, and booted her off. America clearly got this one right, because Amy was horrible on Wednesday. It was even painful to watch Amy sing her way out.

Then came the video premiere of Paula Abdul’s new song, “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow.” Good for Paula that she is making a comeback, but my favorite part was watching Randy Jackson play bass behind her. That dude is so talented and I think we all tend to forget that.

Back to the results. Ryan invited JoAnne and Amanda up front, and declared the rest of the girls safe.
Well, I had a feeling JoAnne didn’t do enough on Wednesday night, but Amanda? Clearly she had to have had the MOST votes, unless America doesn’t like girls who rock.

Then Chikezie and Colton were asked to join Ryan up front, and Chikezie threw up his hands in disgust. That dude has developed a really bad attitude all of a sudden, but it was Colton who was sent home. Let me say this…Colton should not have made it in to the finals, and Randy and Paula absolutely blew it by not letting Simon have his way on that decision. But America knew better.
What’s worse though, is that Simon took a parting shot, telling Colton to “get a real job and do singing on the side.” I mean, there was no reason for that.

So there you go. We should be weeding out more of the mediocrity next week, and then things will really get interesting. And remember people…..TiVo is your friend when watching these extremely long shows laced with too many commercials and too much fluff. See you on Wednesday!