'American Idol' Launches Its 7th Season in Philadelphia

American Idol launched its seventh season with auditions in the city of brotherly love Tuesday night. But if Philadelphia is any indication of the rest of the auditions, it's going to be a long road to Hollywood.

Don't get me wrong; there were some talented people in Philly. In fact, 29 got a golden ticket guaranteeing their trip to Hollywood.

My top picks for the night were, in no particular order:

Selma, OR native Kristy Lee Cook - This 23-year-old kickboxing, horse trainer belted out a beautiful rendition of "Amazing Grace."

Chicago native Angela Martin - I'm not sure which won me over - her rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" or her love for her little girl who suffers from Rett Syndrome.

Dover, DE native Chris Watson - This 20-year-old not only had a smooth voice, but according to Simon he looks like a star.

But finding the talent among the fluff and the commercials that comprised the two-hour premiere was excruciating.

In fact we had only seen one contestant when the first commercial aired a mere seven minutes into the show. And there were plenty more commercial breaks to follow including at least one other time when we only got to see one contestant between breaks.

Then there were the promos before the commercial breaks that gave away whether contestants made it before we ever heard them perform. No suspense here.

And let's not forget the fluff, or should I say junk, between the contestants. Did we really need a whole montage showing how many swear words (all bleeped out of course) rejected contestants in the city of brotherly love know? And how many times did we need to the same contestants rant about their rejection? My kids watch this show with me. I don't want them to think these examples are how one handles rejection. No one likes a sore loser.

On the other hand, I enjoyed seeing the winners and their families celebrate. But, as he confessed, Simon doesn't completely understand while people get excited when their friends get good news. Similarly, I liked the background stories on the contestants that are moving forward. It gives you a little connection to them. Why though they wasted these segments on people that had no business auditioning to begin with, I'll never know.

The medley of contestants auditioning to "I Love Rock N Roll" was a great way to showcase several competitors. It's hard to believe that many people chose that song as their audition song. It would have been nice to know what the most popular audition song was in each city.

I was surprised to see what I thought was a pretty mellow Simon. He even went so far as suggesting to 16-year-old Temptress Browne that he and the other judges would walk out with her to break the bad news to her family. The football player (middle linebacker) was disappointed when she didn't make the cut and was afraid to disappoint her sick mom. Simon really does have a soft side.

In fact, when James Lewis, a Philly native and a tour guide for the city, performed "Go Down Moses," Simon was the only judge not to laugh. I was actually surprised at how cruel Paula and Randy were when they laughed so hard at this young man who was obviously pouring his heart into his performance, albeit is was less that perfect.

It makes you wonder about the friends of some of these competitors. I'm all about following your dreams, but dreams will only get you so far without talent. Knowing that they in no way have any vocal talent, why are their friends sending them off to face the harsh criticism of Simon rather than tell them the truth?

But American Idol brings out everyone - those with talent, those without and those that are just plain weird. Here are the highlights of some of the more eccentric competitors.

First up is Ben Haar, who not only showed up in a belly dancer costume or maybe it was a Princess Leia outfit, but was willing to have his chest hair waxed on camera all for a chance to audition. What did he get? A chance to sing three notes before a disgusted Simon sent him packing.

But Haar wasn't the only Star Wars fan in the crowd. Christina Tolisano from Enfield, CT showed up in a self-designed Star Wars outfit complete with a Princess Leia hairdo. But when she was rejected, she went on a rant about Idol's lack of diversity and a need for geeks like her.

But the queen of rants for the evening was Allentown, PA native Alexis Cohen. Alexis seemed like a pretty upbeat kind of girl. She even took her rejection with grace - that is until she left the audition room, then it was a like she was an entirely different person complete with enough curse words and hand gestures to make a sailor blush. But don't worry about Cohen, she's moved on and is planning to go into "actressing."

There were also a couple song writers in the crowd. First there was Milo Turk, 39, who didn't let the fact that he was too old by contest rules prevent him from perform his song "No Sex Allowed."

Similarly Paul Marturano professed his love for Paula in his own song where he promised "to stalk her" and "to chalk her."

What drives some of these people to perform is something I will truly never understand.

With six more cities of auditions to go, it's going to be a long road to Hollywood.