'American Idol' on Thursday, February 17, 2011 from Hollywood

Thursday, February 17, 2011, Fox, 8 PM (ET) The second night of "American Idol" confirmed that this year's talent is much stronger than last year's talent.

HALEY REINHART

First up was Haley Reinhart, age 20, of Wheeling, Illinois, who had almost been sent home the day before but sang a rousing version of "God Bless the Child."

ASHTON JONES

Goodlettesville, Tennessee, gave us a good performer in 24-year-old Ashton Jones who pulled a Jennifer Hudson and sang "I'm Tellin' You I'm Not Goin'" from "Dreamgirls."

THIA MIGIA

This 15-year-old from Mountain House, California, killed with "What A Wonderful World."

CALEB JOHNSON

Caleb, from Texas, was not as impressive as the 3 who went before. He seemed unsure of the key his selection was in and asked if it was the key of "G."

FRANCES COONTZ

Frances was way off-key. She's only 16 and can try another year.

JUNEBUG

Host Ryan Seacrest made the comment that the Evil Emperor was "in it to win it at all costs" and talked of his "cut-throat" move in pushing Jacee Badeaux out of group night. Nevertheless, the karaoke singer did render an impressive version of "Georgia on My Mind." I think the audiences will find it hard to forgive him for his previous mean-spiritedness, and he should lose the glasses. They just make him look weird. (Are June bugs that lovable?)

KENDRA CHANTELLE

The 26-year-old blonde from Georgia did not make much of an impression.

SOPHIE SHORAI

The 17-year-old sang "Georgia" barefoot.

CHRIS MEDINA

This is the young man with the fiancé with the traumatic brain injury. He is from Oak Forest, Illinois and is 27. His voice is not the best in the competition, but he does have the backstory competition won.

CARSON HIGGINS

Carson, "Mr. Crazy Eyes," 22, from Malibu, sang a Bobby Brown song ("My Prerogative") and is out there, for sure, in the personality zone. He may be like "Norman" from other years, but Carson is entertaining and will be retained for that reason, alone, until more talented singers are given the nod and surpass him.

JULIE ZORRILLA

Julie wore a silver short dress yesterday while singing on group night, a dress that J-Lo praised. Tonight, she played keyboards.

CALEB HAWLEY

The 25-year-old from New York accompanied himself on guitar.

COLTON DIXON

From Murfreesboro, he has a great name. [Nashville really did give the group much of its talent pool this year, and the largest number of contestants---17,000---tried out there, completely clogging Broadway, the main drag.]

BRETT LOWENSTEIN

From Boca Raton, Florida, the 16-year-old with the crazy Carrot-Top red mop of hair accompanied himself on guitar.

ROBBIE ROSEN

The Merrick, New Jersey native sang and played keyboards. He has a winning smile.

CASEY ABRAMS

This is the 19-year-old who came out and auditioned with a Melodica to keep himself on key. Tonight, he accompanied himself on bass and sang a Joe Cocker-like rendition of "Georgia. He's from Idyllwild, California.

CHELSEA OAKES

The redhead who originally tried out with her boyfriend from Nashville (he was cut yesterday) was not memorable this night.

LAUREN ALAINA

An early favorite, this 15-year-old prodigy from Rossville, Georgia wisely chose to sing "I Don't Want to Miss A Thing," a Steven Tyler/Aerosmith song again. Last time, Steven sang part of it with her. Look for her to go a long way.

JACOB LUSK

This 23-year-old Compton, California native sang "God Bless the Child" and gave it 110% to earn a standing "O" from the judges. Then he ran out in the hall and sobbed on his mother's shoulder, while saying, "I'm not a cryer," (to which Ryan Seacrest responded, "Coulda' fooled me.")

JOHN WAYNE SCHULTZ

Mr. Cowboy Hat, from Karnes City, TX, age 23, was lack-luster after the histrionics of Jacob Lusk, but he did all right with his "I'm getting older" lyric.

ASHLEY SULLIVAN

Ashley almost quit and left her group in limbo. She is not very attractive. She sang a Michael Buble song ("Everything") that she said she sang every day her boyfriend was in Iraq. She is from Springfield, Massachusetts and is 26 and works in retail, which is where she probably will end up soon.

STEFANO LANGONE

The 21-year-old from Washington was good.

JOVANY BARRETO

The 23-year-old ship-builder delivered a so-so performance a cappella.

JACEE BADEAUX

The chubby youngest competitor from Lafayette, Louisiana sang "This is the time of my life" and Jennifer Lopez said she always likes to hear him sing.

SCOTTY McREERY

Scotty forgot the lyrics to "I Hope You Dance" but still sailed through to the next round on the basis of his profoundly deep bass voice.

TATYNISA WILSON

The 20-year-old from Illinois was off-key, struggled with the words to "I Hope You Dance" and was not that great.

From the descriptions above, you can assume that those who were off-key and did poorly might have gone home, but that did not always happen. I've bold-faced my favorites (so far -- some we did not hear, like the brother who made it through), and, of the group mentioned above, my early favorites are Lauren Alaina, Casey Abrams and Jacob Lusk, with strong challenges from Haley, Ashton and Thia (the first three performers limned above.)