Remarkable run: half of Idol's remaining eight guys are North Texans

Idol's North Texas 4 will take the stage again next week. Pictured are Tim Urban (front row left); Casey James (front row center); Alex Lambert (back row center); Todrick Hall (back row right). Fox photo
By ED BARK
Todrick Hall survived another undue burst of bullets from judges while Casey James remained in play despite a clawing from The Cougar.

They join fellow North Texans Alex Lambert and Tim Urban among the final eight males on Fox's American Idol, which in Season 9 is still prime-time's most-watched weekly series.

That's an amazing show of force for a region, let alone a state. It's also a local angle gold mine for Dallas-based Fox4, which may end up having to send its entire late night reporting team to Idol "watch parties" next week.

Hall, 24, is from Arlington, while James, 27, calls Fort Worth home. Lambert, the youngest of the quartet at 19, is from North Richland Hills. Urban, 20, is from Duncanville.

Hall's improvisational song stylings took another lashing on Tuesday night's performance edition while James was found wanting by judge Kara DioGuardi, who had been swooning in his presence. But Thursday night's viewer votes said otherwise. Lambert and Urban, virtually condemned to death by judges in the previous week, received much kinder assessments from an unlikely source -- Simon Cowell.

Two women with Texas ties also are still among Idol's living. Lacey Brown, 24, is from Amarillo and Florida-born Paige Miles, 24, currently lives in Houston.

Voted off Thursday night were John Park, Haeley Vaughn, Jermaine Sellers and Michelle Delamor.