"American Idol" Judges "Save" Matt Giraud on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

"I don't see that you really have any chance of winning the competition," said Simon Cowell to Matt Giraud, as Matt ended up the lowest vote getter of the competition on Wednesday night's outcome night. After having said this to the contestant who had just sung his heart out a second time, Simon was (apparently) outvoted by "the girls" and Randy, who used their "Judges' Save" to keep Matt in the competition through Tuesday of next week, at least.

Then came the bad news: "This means that 2 people will be going home next week."

And more bad news: "And next week is disco week." (Ugh)

Ryan Seacrest got in a good line: "Thanks for the buzz kill, Simon," as the program ended, pretty much as I had predicted in my published piece of yesterday predicting results for tonight, with Lil (Rounds), Matt (Giraud) and Anoop (Desai) in the bottom three. (Hey! When you're right, you're right! Lord knows I was wrong about the Davids last year, so I'd better revel in being right about this night's low vote-getters and the Obama win in Iowa, both of which I predicted accurately. Crystal ball in working order from Cancun, where I write this.)

The night was an odd one. It opened with quick cuts of pictures of contestants underscored by a pulsing heartbeat sound, which gave way to appearances by Miley Cyrus and Jennifer Hudson (could 2 more different performers be found?) and featured a clever Ford ad in which the 7 remaining contestants were shown on fictitious magazine covers.

We learned that Jennifer Hudson is engaged and touring (for the first time) with RobinThicke. [She's not engaged to Robin Thicke, though....oh, Nevermind. ] There was no mention of Jennifer's recent permanent move from Chicago, the city where her mother and young nephew were recently murdered allegedly by her former brother-in-law. Much was made of Jennifer's new album, which won a Grammy, and Jennifer sang "If This Is Love" from that album. [I kept wondering why they didn't get Robin Thicke to "mentor" the singers, rather than Quentin Tarantino.]

I have no idea what Miley Cyrus sang, and, with any luck I'll never be forced to find out. Something about "Climb" or "Climbing." Earlier in the day, there was a huge flap when Jamie Foxx made some over-the-line comments about young Miley on a radio show (the tamest comment he made about her was that she needed a gum transplant) and, later, apologized for raking her over the coals on national radio.

Foxx really did go well past the boundaries of good taste and/or good judgment, suggesting heroin use, invoking the name of Britney Spears, and advocating other equally unacceptable actions be taken up by the very young performer to enhance her image. Rumors are that her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, was not amused, and who can blame him? For his part, Foxx, the comic-turned-actor tried to pass it off as comedy poetic license, when questioned on the Jay Leno Show, and apologized for his errors in taste and judgment.

I just keep wondering who Miley Cyrus' publicist/promoter is? That person is a genius! He (or she) has taken a girl who is very average and ordinary looking, with very average vocal skills, and definitely made the most of her extremely modest talents, not to mention making her into a television phenomenon and a tour golden ticket: a triple threat. She's all the rage recently, for reasons that escape me. I do admit that I thought that dear old Dad (Billy Rae Cyrus) looked "hot" when he appeared in a Dolly Parton video many, many years ago, (sporting a mullet, as I recall,) but every time I see him now, I nearly break into a variation of a song from "Auntie Mame" that goes, "Where's that boy with the promise?" (only I sing mullet for promise). Billy Rae, with his goatee is not cutting it these days, [for me ]("I'm not feeling it, Dawg"). But apparently, on some level, with the pre-teen Jonas-brother-loving crowd, his daughter, (aka Hannah Montana), is. She's the Flavor-of-the-Week.

I would have liked to have heard Simon Cowell critique Miley's vocal talents, outfit and hair this night, but it was not to be. Instead, we learned what we already knew: out of 36 million votes, Matt and Lil received the lowest number and Anoop continues to circle the bowl. Matt, unfortunately, drew the very lowest number out of those 36 million votes cast.

It's looking, more and more, to me, like an all-male finale, with Adam (Lambert) and Danny (Gokey), but, as Simon pointed out, Allison Irahita is a force to be reckoned with, and certainly Lil Rounds has had the vocal chops all along to huff and puff and blow that house down, should she get her act on track in time. Kris (Allen) will hang in there till the tweenagers (who also probably loved Miley's song) quit voting multiple times...(if they ever do)...and, in any event, we're down to only 2 girls, so an all-male finale is seeming more and more likely.

Stay tuned for further developments on (God Help Us All) "Disco Night" next Tuesday on Fox. Maybe Lil (Rounds) can dust off a Donna Summer song and "wow" the judges with her twist on it. For her sake, I hope so. Go for it, girl! (And bring in Donna Summer to mentor, rather than Francis Ford Coppola or Steven Spielberg, this time.)