Pick just three: Idol dashes dreams, punishes posers in bigger doses this season
02/18/09 10:59 AM
By ED BARK
American Idol's new elimination format will drop all but three of Tuesday night's 12 singers via Season 8's first round of viewer voting.
That's a significant change from last season, when 24 semi-finalists were split by gender into groups of 12. Viewers then eliminated two from each group until one-by-one vote-offs began after the field was winnowed to 12.
Season 8 separates a larger field of 36 semi-finalists into three weeks of competition. Wednesday's results show will knock out three-quarters of the first dozen. So who will survive? Here are my picks:
1. Alexis Grace -- wowed the judges and seems like a no-brainer
2. Danny Gokey -- closed the show with another judge-pleasing performance, save for Simon Cowell's cool-ish reaction
3. Michael Sarver -- Jasper, TX oil-rigger and married father of two is easy to like and has a good shot to squeeze through after a mixed reaction from judges.
Other male contenders from Tuesday's sing-off are the likewise likeable Anoop Desai and solid-singing Ricky Braddy. Drama queen Tatiana Nicole Del Toro, who unfortunately has a big voice, too, also has a chance to make it to the final dozen.
After two more 12-way competitions (on Feb. 26th and March 4th), judges will invite their favorite evictees back on March 5th for a "wild card" round in which they, not viewers, will pick three more contestants to round out a final 12.
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