American Idol: Top 36 Wild Card Predictions

Lil Rounds, Scott MacIntyre and Jorge Nunez took the viewers choices for American Idol's top 12 from grouping number three, so now we're left with the judges choices for the final three positions. Last night, the judges selected eight contestants to sing one more time and they will be picking three of them to move onward tonight, live. Will the judges even out the group so that there are six females and six males, or will they pick solely based on performance? It's all up in the air, but I do know that some of the selections for the wild cards was shocking, to me at least.

The judges have selected Von Smith, Jasmine Murray, Ricky Braddy, Megan Corkrey, Tatiana Nicole Del Toro, Matt Giraud, Jesse Langseth, and Anoop Desai to perform one more time to determine which three will continue on. Now, I'm all for the wild card slots because it gives the judges a chance to put people with real talent into the competition but were unable to secure the fan base. However, there were two selections for the eight slots that I really do not understand. Von Smith and Tatiana Del Toro. What were the judges thinking there? Frankly, Ju'not Joyner out sang Von Smith and if I had been in the judges shoes, he would have a place in the wild card round. As for Tatiana, I don't think she has sung overly well since her initial audition. There were many other females that were far more talented and had far more star quality. She would have been my last choice from the females that didn't make it through.

What will happen with the wild card round? I have no idea, honestly, since it will all depend on their performance during the live show. What I would like to see happen, however, is the judges basing their selections on the performances, not the look. I would like to see Megan Corkrey, Jesse Langseth and Matt Giraud make it through. All three have had fantastic performances from the auditions onward, there is no clear reason for them to not have made it through other than the change in the actual format of the show. If the American Idol judges go for back story and looks, then it will be Tatiana heading into the top 12. Anoop is also a candidate for the top 12 as well, but hasn't performed as well as the others have since the audition.

American Idol should consider a complete overhaul of their system if they continue on to a season 9. One where the viewers can vote back people who got eliminated during Hollywood week. Or skip the Hollywood weeks and put the auditions online for those they put through and let the viewers have more say in the beginning and let the judges have more say in the later rounds, since American Idol is nothing but a popularity contest from the tip 10 onward.

Just my $.02. What do you think?