'American Idol' March 24, 2011 Show is a Shocker to Top All Other Seasons

Fox, Thursday, March 24, 2011, 8 PM (ET) "American Idol" had one of its most dramatic nights ever when front-runner Casey Abrams received the lowest number of votes and was in danger of elimination from the show. (Surely a "WTF?" moment.) The judges stepped in to use their one "save" of the season to retain the young Joe Cocker-esque musician.

Casey and Stefano were the last two standing after the other low vote getters were trotted out, one-by-one, and then rescued, one-by-one. Stefano, Thia and Casey ended up in the bottom three. The first two: not too surprising. But the shocker was Casey's low ranking.

No less an authority than "Entertainment" magazine (March 18, 2011) selected Casey Abrams as the ultimate winner of the entire competition, saying, "Underneath that goofy facial hair and dazed demeanor, this 20-year-old California dude (born in Wilmette, IL) boasts some serious musical chops." The author of this "Entertainment" handicapping at 3 to 1, Rob Brunner, added, "And he can really sing." (I now feel better about my +18 out of 24 showing for the Oscars, and I'm glad I haven't made any rash predictions for "American Idol's" tenth season...yet.) Brunner predicted, on page 48 of the March 18, 2011 "Entertainment" in an article entitled "We Pick the Winner:" "Not I-starred-in-a-school-production-of-Carousel-last-year-sing, but actually inhabit a song, infuse it with personality and emotion and a little humor." My daughter, a Music Business graduate, only watches the show for Casey. (She had better start voting, methinks!)

Casey was interesting from the outset, showing up with a melodica during auditions so he would have perfect pitch when he began singing. On this night, to save his life in the competition, Casey began singing "I Don't Need No Doctor" in his characteristic funky growl.

The 3 judges began waving their arms in the air after approximately 3 bars, telling Casey to stop.

"We know who you are," said Steven Tyler, declaring that Casey's elimination was just plain wrong. Which it was. Here's a performer with true talent, a distinctive style, musical ability out the wazoo and America's vast unwashed apparently tone-deaf masses kick him off?

What's wrong with this picture! (Answer: Everything.)

Casey looked like he might pass out after the judges used their one "save" of the season to keep the bearded mop-head on the team. I assume tonight's failure to reduce the group of eleven to ten means that 2 people will be eliminated next week. In my opinion, losing Stefano, Haley or Thia would be far less damaging to the show's integrity than losing arguably the most talented and fearless singer in the group. He has come out and sung difficult songs, like Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and then, on Wednesday night's show, hit the high notes on Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine."

What show was the rest of America watching? You had Stefano singing with little or no emotional connection to his material and Thia actually bobbling the words a bit, and then a truly great performer stalks the stage and...what....? You voted for "the cute one"? Yikes!

After he was "saved," there was a dramatic encounter with Casey hugging his parents and overcome with emotion at the judges' using their one-and-only save so early in the season. He could be heard saying, "I can't breathe." I feared he would pass out. Really, one of the most dramatic nights on "American Idol" in 10 seasons, (making me wonder if the "vote counters" somehow engineered this total screw-up.)

The rest of the show preceding Casey's near-elimination consisted of Ryan Seacrest (who is beginning to sound like Tony the Tiger when he pronounces the word "G-r-r-r-r-e-a-t!") announcing that 30 million viewers had voted, Sugarland and Jennifer Hudson performed. Marc Antony assisted the contestants with the use of an in-ear headphone so that they can better hear themselves when they perform. Another high point was the appearance of Stevie Wonder to play "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" and to wish Steven Tyler a happy 63^rd birthday. Hulk Hogan also put in an appearance, (which seemed to thrill James Durbin more than anyone.) [I was hoping for Jesse Ventura, next, but no such luck.]

Jennifer Lopez offered the startled audience and the overcome-with-emotion Casey this advice as the emotional show ended on a dramatic note: "Let people feel your soul. You deserve to be here."