'American Idol' with Steven Tyler is Off to a Good Start

Wed., Jan. 19th, Fox, 8 PM (ET): "American Idol" premiered with its new judges and some new rules and the big surprise, for me, was that Steven Tyler was funny as hell.

Best lines from the night:

"Did you eat a lot of paint chips as a child?" (Tyler to contestant Michael Perotto).

"Nice hat." (Jennifer Lopez, sarcastically, to contestant Chris Cordeiro). Cordeiro was wearing bangs and a straw hat with tan cargo shorts. The audience had just been shown a public service announcement Cordeiro made to earn his Eagle Scout badge that played like one of those "duck and cover" spots from the 50's that used to tell students to hide under their desk in the event of a nuclear attack. If you could bottle "nerd" and sell it, Chris Coredeiro would be the Mother Lode.

"What we have here is a failure to communicate---vocally." (Steven Tyler, to contestant Michael Perotto, channeling Strother Martin's famous line from "Cool Hand Luke.")

"I ramble when I'm nervous. It's awkward." (Contestant Ashley Sullivan, giddily, to the judges.)

"We're all here because we're not all there." (Steven Tyler to contestant Caleb Hawley after drumming percussion accompaniment on the table while Caleb sang).

(Regarding last season's judges, from contestant Rachel Zevita). "I'm nervous (to sing in front of you). They weren't people I looked up to sing since I was 4 years old." (Zing!)

"She's out of her mind, but I love it." (Jennifer Lopez about contestant Tiffany Rios).

"How did you do this for 10 years?" (Jennifer Lopez to Judge Randy Jackson, agonizing over cutting a contestant.)

The Surest Bets to continue, based on talent and sad backstory:

Robbi Rosen (spent years in a wheelchair as a child); Melinda Ademi (Kosovo refugee); Brielle VonHugel (Dad is in recovery from throat cancer); and Travis Orlando (family spent 2 years in the Grand Concourse shelter in the Bronx after losing their home).

Worst or oddest performers of the night: Burper Michael Perotto (Giant Tone-deaf Nerd); Eagle Scout Chris Cordeiro ("Nice outfit? Fishing?" from J-Lo); Tiffany Rios (stars on boobs); and Yoji "Pop" Asano from Japan, who said he became a Michael Jackson fan at the age of 2. Yoji performed some extremely weird dance moves causing Tyler to comment, dryly,"You started early," when "Pop" said he had been studying Michael Jackson's moves since he was 2. He performed a Miley Cyrus song. When asked if he was a big fan, he said, indifferently, "Not really."

Others who made it through and have potential: Rachel Zevita, who has an operatic voice and made it to Hollywood in season 6 (J-Lo remembered her from her first time through); Victoria Huggins, a North Carolina southern belle with a thick accent; Devyn Rush, a singing waitress from Times Square; Kenzei Palmer who is a musical theater student; and Caleb Hawley from Wisconsin.

Stay tuned for Thursday night's continuation of the program to see if it holds up as well.