'American Idol' Top 11 Results Shocker--America Got it Right!

Let the "American Idol" conspiracy theories begin. Tonight's shocking bottom three (not all girls!), elimination (not a girl!) and save (not a girl!) lit up Twitter with comments of joy, outrage and a heavy dose of skepticism. Though I correctly named the bottom three last night, I confess I never actually thought it would happen. The staged feeling of the unexpected save, with so many weeks left in the competition, made it that much more surreal--and let's face it, suspect. Despite our nagging cynicism, however, tonight was one of the best "AI" results shows we've had in awhile--due to some amazing surprise guests and even more surprised contestants and judges.

Ryan Seacrest warned us at the top of the hour that we were in for some results that "might be shocking." Nigel Lythgoe had tweeted the same thing earlier, and my sardonic self thought, "what, an actual dude in the bottom three?" Of course it turned out to be even more shocking, but we'll get to that in a moment. First we had the "American Idol" Top 11 in their gorgeous formal-wear, guys in black suits and gals in beautiful, sparkly white dresses. Very nice.

Next up was a segment with Jennifer Lopez's hubby, singer Marc Anthony. As promised, judge J-Lo got the singers the help they needed in hearing themselves up on the big "Idol" stage. Marc worked with the contestants on fine-tuning their earpieces and what elements of the music they wanted fed into it come performance time. His expertise showed in the vastly improved performances Wednesday night, living up to his demand that the Top 11 have "no $#@$! excuses this week."

We also got a sneak peek of Marc Anthony critiquing the performances from backstage Wednesday night, and disagreeing with his wife on the subject of Pia Toscano--who he thought performed perfectly. There was also a little chuckle when J-Lo claimed her speechlessness was rare, and Marc confessed to the cameras, "That's the biggest truism." He then offered to be a recurring mentor on "American Idol"--"You can get me real cheap!" Back in real time, Ryan teased J-Lo about Marc being in big trouble later. Despite all the laughter, Marc looked nervous.

We got the obligatory "American Idol" group number, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," which had really awkward choreography but some pretty darn good vocals. Oddly, Paul McDonald only got about two words which sounded like a squeak of helium amidst all of the belters, and Scotty McCreery was once again nowhere to be found. Pia and James Durbin totally rocked out, with huge, killer wails that blended so well at one point I wasn't even sure which one of them was singing. (Of course it didn't help that the camera was spinning all over the place, capturing that awesome clunky dance interpretation instead of, you know, focusing on the person actually on the solo.) Thia Megia and Jacob Lusk had solid vocals, Casey Abrams gave a cartoonish growl, and Haley Reinhart looked a little frightened that the camera was pointed at her.

We could forgive all, however, when the curtains at the back of the stage parted and a singing and keyboard-playing Stevie Wonder rolled out on a moving stage. The crowd went wild, and Steven Tyler went delirious, howling and nuzzling enthusiastically against J-Lo. The Top 11 provided backing vocals to the always incredible Wonder, and then did their best "I'm not worthy" bows. The best was yet to come, however, as Stevie gave a shout-out to Steven and then sang him a "Happy Birthday" tune. Naima Adedapo held up a tie-dye color portrait of Steven while Pia and Lauren Alaina brought over a giant sheet cake. Ryan turned Steven towards the camera and he shouted, "I'm speechless!" but his big grin said it all.

Next up was yet another "American Idol" Ford commercial. Call me crazy, but I thought the concept was actually pretty cute, with the kids gathering up recycling and eventually making a tree out of green glass bottles and cardboard. The problem, as ever, is the anemic, tinny vocals that blend into one wimpy whine of nothingness. Someone needs to get their finger off of the "OVERPRODUCE" button.

Finally we got to some actual results. Ryan called down Lauren, Pia and Scotty. The two girls held hands, then Pia reached out to Scotty, who grasped her hand. Ryan told them they all needed to pack their bags--to go on the summer tour. There was much jumping and rejoicing and possibly a few words not suitable for television.

Anyone who was waiting for the "shocking" news hadn't gotten it yet. Though we did get a bit of a stunned feeling by Sugarland's performance of "Stuck Like Glue." First off, singer Jennifer Nettles was wearing an 80s ensemble of hot pink jacket, black tank, turquoise belt, bright green skinny pants and hot pink shoes. The song itself was not so much country as 80s pop country, or Ke$ha-does-country. Whatever you call it, it certainly wasn't boring, it had a catchy tune, and Jennifer has a great voice.

Next up was another shocking event--"American Idol" causing me to laugh hysterically for a good five minutes. We got what we thought was going to be another groan-worthy "human interest" video about the contestants--and the fact that James is a huge pro-wrestling fan. It was funny enough hearing the Top 11 all talk bout how obsessed the Durbs was about his wrestling, but then we got to see a demonstration of the tallest singer whirling Paul around on his shoulders and then tossing him down to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Eventually we got an all-out pro-wrestling match in the "AI" house between James, Stefano Langone and Paul, with Naima commentating and Pia smearing on some football grease paint below here eyes and clocking Paul in the head with a pillow. Total. Slapstick. Genius. Hilarity. The best was James' child-like glee over wrestling, including animated and pretty well-done impressions of Hulk Hogan.

After the merriment subsided, Ryan called Paul and James down to the stage, oddly making them stand at a distance from one another. He then told them that they were "not safe--no, really not safe." Stunned and a little confused, James and Paul both turned when the curtains parted once again--to reveal Hulk Hogan himself. James nearly exploded on the spot, falling to his knees with the overwhelmingly joyful expression of a kid who just saw the four foot stack of presents Santa left him.

Hogan announced in his trademark style that the two guys were safe, but Ryan wasn't. He delivered Ryan a blow to the head, and Ryan went flying into the camera and the crowd. Got to give Ry credit for once again being game for anything. Hogan then finished off the act by tearing off his shirt to reveal his OMG-who's-been-too-long-in-the-tanning-bed muscled chest--a shirt which James later received as a present and will probably end up sleeping with...forever.

It was back to business, then, as Jacob, Thia and Stefano were called down to the stage. Stefano looked worried as Ryan read out all of the critiques that no doubt sound like "blah blah blah" in the Peanuts adult voices to these poor nervous contestants. Jacob was safe, and Thia and Stefano were sent to the bottom three. Huzzah. A dude actually did make it to the bottom three, and one I had predicted to boot.

Then it was Naima, Haley and Casey. Naima was good-naturedly gesturing in Casey's direction as the obvious "safe" choice when Ryan called her name. Stunned, Naima stumbled over to the couches and into Jacob's waiting arms. After the shock of a guy in the bottom three, and Naima safe, Haley didn't look hopeful--yet she wasn't sure if she should be certain of defeat yet. Then Ryan announced she was safe, and Haley's jaw dropped. It was Casey to the bottom three.

To prolong the suspense, we got another musical guest, this time Jennifer Hudson. As a 7th place finisher in her season of "American Idol," Jennifer had to be feeling some smug satisfaction when Ryan announced her as the only "AI" contestant with an Oscar. Actually, I think he called her the only "winner," and I don't think he meant it in the Charlie Sheen way. Unfortunately the song she sang, new single "Where You At" wasn't such a winner. Jennifer was magnificent on the vocals, showing off her amazing power and range, but the song just didn't seem to go anywhere. She loaded it with plenty of attitude and some impressive vocal acrobatics, throwing everything into the tune to try and make it live a little. At the end of her performance, over the thunderous applause, she shouted "Feels good to be home!" Ryan came over to say hello, and gave a shout-out to Jennifer's back-up singer--George Huff, the 5th place finisher during Jennifer's season 3 run on "American Idol."

The moment had finally arrived. I admit I gasped aloud when Thia was declared safe. While I think Thia's performance was better than the two remaining guys' last night, it was still shocking to have no girls in the bottom two. Stefano started to look sick at this point, as he usually does on results night, and I'm always hoping for Ryan to speed things up and spare this poor guy the suspense. When Ryan announced the BIG SHOCKER that Casey was going home, Stefano almost seemed more upset than if he'd been going home himself. Clinging to Casey and uttering a steady stream of sympathy/encouragement/love, Stefano actually had to be pried off of the shaggy singer so that he could face his fate with the judges. Stefano then fell into James' arms, and James suddenly realized he'd been captured by the hug monster, in the midst of being upset himself over Casey's ouster.

As Casey began his soulful rendition of "I Don't Need No Doctor," we got a shot of Haley crying. A few seconds into the song, Randy called out for him to stop, and there several moments of confusion and hysteria as Steven announced "This is crazy wrong" and Casey was told he would be safe. Casey then completely lost it, running up and expressing his shock and wonder at the judges saving him at the Top 11. Then he collapsed against Ryan, unintentionally creating a similar moment to what got Adam Lambert in trouble at the AMAs. Whoops. After that Casey ran and embraced his tearful family.

The camera panned back to Jennifer, who looked extremely serious and not all that thrilled. When Ryan managed to get Casey back to face the judges, Jennifer told him that "we want to get you back to being the musician that you are." Randy also noted that he didn't need to do the growl. This advice would have been more useful, of course, before Casey got voted off.

The Top 11 all crowded around Casey, but you could sense a certain unease, particularly from former bottom three dweller Haley. Then Ryan announced that while two contestants would have to go home next week, all 11 would be going on tour. Oh, how they all rejoiced then! It's got to be a huge relief, knowing you've got a job for the summer no matter what happens from this point on.

The Final Verdict: The cynic in me sees this results show as a perfectly engineered ploy to liven up the show and head off some of the ratings slippage. There's been a lot of talk this week online about the inevitability of girls going home one after the other, and a resulting feeling of "why bother even tuning in to the results show?" I feel there's a distinct possibility that Casey might have been near the bottom, but not necessarily the guy with the least votes. The Powers That Be may have decided their best bet for the tour would be to keep everybody, especially while there are still 5 girls, to stifle the criticisms of sexism.

On the less cynical side, a lot of people who were ticked off at the girls getting an unfair shake made up for it by voting for them like crazy. Figuring the guys they liked would be easily safe, as always, they racked up the votes for Naima, Thia and Haley. This "I'll show you!" voting could have bumped one of the guys out as a result. The fact that everyone did pretty well Wednesday night also made the voting results less predictable--if everybody's good, do you vote for all of them? How do you choose? Somebody has to go home. In my mind, the results came out as they should have, with the bottom three reflecting the weakest performances--so there's always the possibility the voting went exactly the way it should. Nah, I know, I don't believe that either.

Whether you guess producer manipulation or not, Casey's reaction seemed genuine. His overwhelming shock at being saved could have indicated a few different things. One, no one thinks the judges will use the save this early, so everyone was pretty shocked on that score. Two, the judges have pretty much praised Casey no matter what he does, even while his singing has been deteriorating week by week, so he might have been totally taken by surprise being in the bottom three. Lastly, I started getting the impression last week that Casey might be completely joking about his performances on "American Idol." The numbers started looking like self-indulgent parody, and I could see a guy like Casey just seeing how long he could get away with being "artistic" and keep getting voted in. When the judges used the save on him--and therefore jeopardized everyone in the competition who is taking it seriously, Casey suddenly felt super-unworthy and beside himself. If this last interpretation has any grain of truth, we can only hope it will jar Casey into putting on a real performance next week and actually showcasing the vocal and musicianship skills we know he has.

What do you think, "AI" fans? Rigged? Staged? Manipulated? Voter apathy? The right move?

Watch "American Idol" every Wednesday and Thursday night on FOX, at 8/7c. Check your local listings to verify times.

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