So last night’s “American Idol” brought us back to Hollywood week again, and Ryan Seacrest announced that there were 107 remaining contestants. Hmmm. The night before, he said there 104 left. Did the judges feel bad and bring three of them back? Or did they not count correctly? Regardless, it was time for group competition, something that polarizes the hopefuls of this competition like nothing else–you either shine brightly, or your ego gets in the way and creates enough drama to make the producers of the show start foaming at the mouth.

Such drama was prominent in three of the groups they focused on for the first half of the show. Remember Tatiana from the San Francisco auditions? The psycho with the annoying laugh? Well, watching her try to play nice in a group was just painful. She quit her group, joined another one and then went back to her original group, pissing off everyone along the way but then trying to act like she’s not the crazy one. There was also the group that included Rose and Katrina, a.k.a. “Bikini Girl,” a group that had exactly one singer worthy of advancing, but more on that later. Finally there was the group Tatiana was part of for five minutes….the one with Nancy, Kristin and Nathaniel, who called themselves The Divas. Yep, pretty much.

Well, Katrina was tired from her high heels, and tried to catch a few hours of sleep while her group was trying to rehearse. Then she even told her group she was quitting the competition, and naturally had second thoughts and returned.

Before everyone took the stage, Simon Cowell told them that if they forget the lyrics, it’s automatic dismissal. Yikes. Personally I don’t think that’s fair, because your nerves are already poking out of your skin at this point of Hollywood week, but I’m not a judge on the show.

Then it was on to the show. The group White Chocolate went first, and they were awesome. All four made it through–India, Justin, Chris and Matt……the next group was, as Simon pointed out, “a mess,” but two of them, Jorge and Nick, made it through to the next round….Action Squad was next, and while I thought they were all pretty bad, two of them made it–Alex and Marie, while Ryan and Emily were sent home, Ryan saying Paula Abdul had an evil glare in her eyes while telling them the news.

They then showed how Simon was on the warpath, using words to describe performances such as “excruciating,” “dreadful,” and again, “a mess.” Dude was in rare form for sure.

And then the best performance of the night–Jamar, Danny, Taylor (I don’t remember the fourth) sang Queen’s “Somebody To Love.” It was amazing…all four of them were great singing solo, but they also did some nice backing vocal work. All four went through….they then showed a medley of a few groups singing “Some Kinda Wonderful,” most of them continuing on….and a surprise was peppered in when they sent David Osmond packing.

Then it was the dysfunctional groups’ time to perform. Rose’s group was not as bad as you might have expected, but Rose, Katrina and Lauren were all going home, while Jasmine made them all look like total amateurs. Keep your eyes and ears on Jasmine, I’m telling you now….amazingly, Tatiana’s group all made it to the next round…..finally, The Divas were up. They all huddled in prayer before hitting the stage, with Nathaniel offering this beauty: “God, I know we haven’t been the best of friends, but….”….anyway, Nancy was just awful, and when the judges sent her home while letting Nathaniel and Kristin through, Nancy was very bitter, letting everyone know it on the way out.

In all, 75 made it to the next round, and Seacrest said that after next week we will be down to the final 36. I’m not sure if that means the semi-final round has been expanded from 24 to 36, but if it does, I have mixed feelings. It’s good because more contestants have a chance for America to keep them around, but bad because it waters down that part of the competition, and makes me have to take more notes. Cue the violins!

Anyway, this thing is heating up….and by the way, where is Jason Castro’s brother? Thanks for reading and let’s do this again next week…