After last night’s episode of “American Idol” from Hollywood week whittled the contestants down from 100 to 50, it’s safe to say things are really heating up. I’m guessing that the live portion of the show will begin on March 2, unless it begins next Thursday, February 24. Either way, I, along with all of you I’m sure , am ready for the real competition to begin. Here is a brief run-down of last night…

Basically, the first 50 minutes or so of the episode showed the contestants singing, by themselves, one more time for the judges. Ashley Sullivan, who almost quit during the group round and is, well, a bit of a basket case, sang Michael Buble’s “Everything” to her boyfriend, but she forgot most of the words and melted down right there on stage. Yikes.

Stefano, the dude who survived a horrible car accident a few years back; Jovanny Baretto, the young Marc Anthony; and Jacee Badeaux, the loveable pudgy 15 year old, all performed. So did Scotty McCreery, but the dude finally had to learn a different song than that, “Baby, turn the lights down low…” one. He and Taynisha Wilson, who both auditioned in Milwaukee originally, sang LeeAnn Womack’s “I Hope You Dance,” but neither impressed me, or, so it seemed, the judges.

Chelsee Oaks lost her “best friend,” Jacqueline, to some sort of flu that made the latter have to bail from the competition. Really, best friend after meeting like five days ago? Chelsee was finally all alone after her ex-boyfriend Rob Bolin was also sent packing on Tuesday night. And she sounded pretty awful.

So as they always do this time of year, the judges had the singers break into four rooms, with two of them being “staying” and two being “leaving.” In Room 1, there was Jacee and Ashley, but also a few that I knew were too good to go home–including Casey, the Seth Rogen lookalike; Robbie Rosen, the Andy Pettitte lookalike; and Lauren Alaina, the incredible 15 year old from Georgia. Sure enough, they were all staying, including little Jacee, who again, Simon Cowell would have never even allowed to Hollywood. And Ashley, who quite honestly, should have gone home last night, but she must be a ratings booster.

In Room 2, they showed two people I did not honestly remember at all–Brielle and Corey. Okay. Adios.

In Room 3, were Mark Gutierrez and Chelsee. That’s all folks for those two and others in the room I didn’t recognize.

So Room 4 was good news, and that one included the likes of Carson Higgins, the surfer kid from Malibu who is annoying and fun to watch at the same time; Julie Zorrilla, the girl whose family bolted from Colombia; and Scotty McCreery, who is probably being kept around for one more week to have the country fans watch. Because seriously, were there any Carrie Underwood or Bucky Covington types in this batch? I don’t think so.

So next week, these 50 contestants have to sing Beatles songs before the judges decide who will reach the semi-finals. After that, I’m pretty sure America will start the voting process. Okay, then….bring it on already!