'American Idol' Vegas: Countdown to the Top 24

The first part of the double "American Idol" episode was head-spinningly fast, and the second part was painfully drawn out with a finale of waterworks theater. Can't we just listen to these people sing? No, it's "American Idol," we can't. The good news was that so far, despite us losing a few sweet contestants in this Vegas round, most of the "Idol" judges' choices seemed sound.

Want to know the final results? Get the full Top 24 Rundown here!

Let's first try to assume that the "American Idol" contestants who said they hadn't heard a Beatles song before didn't realize that they have. About a million times. Unless you've never switched on your television or a radio or been in any environment where recorded music was being played, you've heard a Beatles song.

"American Idol" attempted to show in the first hour how the process works behind the scenes, where vocal coaches and producer Jimmy Iovine's team try to whip the contestants into shape for their next performance. "AI" delighted in showing an extended segment where a loud vocal coach used drill sergeant techniques of humiliation to try and get a stunned Thia Megia and Melinda Ademi. Thia's been getting airtime, but you may need help remembering Ademi, a New Jersey contestant whose family escaped the war in Kosovo. The "coach from hell" seemed overacted and the screaming only seemed to make the two teenagers withdraw more. Epic fail, "Idol."

The 61 "American Idol" contestants divided into duos and trios and did what looked like a pull-from-the-hat selection of a Beatles song. First up was duo Stephano Langone and James Durbin, singing "Get Back." The guys had a great energy, captured the rocker vibe of the song, and despite dissimilar singing styles, blended well. Am I the only one who still likes James Durbin? He has a good, clear singing voice and he kept the rocker scream minimal tonight, instead of wailing on it for the whole song. Randy though Stephano was a little slow at the beginning but eventually hit his stride, and overall the judges seemed impressed with the lively duo.

MySpace "American Idol" winner Karen Rodriguez and her duet partner Pia Toscano (who did that fantastic "Grenade" performance in group round) tackled "Can't Buy Me Love." The girls, who were friends before "Idol," displayed great chemistry with smooth choreography and pleasant harmonies. Stephen Tyler liked the build-up of the energy, and Jennifer Lopez praised the girls for getting that it's more than just singing--you've also got to put on a show.

Powerhouse singers Naima Adedapo, Jacob Lusk and Haley Reinhart performed "The Long and Winding Road" for their "American Idol" Beatles number. Producer Jimmy Iovine warned Lusk not to oversing every number, warning him that Bono would be performing in a bar somewhere if he did every number that way. For the actual number, Jacob tried to pull it back, and to me it sounded wavery and wobbly--like someone who had strained their voice. Haley Reinhart may have plunged a bit too drastically into the lower registers, but she was solid overall. Naima Adedapo gave a fantastic, powerful, clear-voiced performance that was the best of the group.

Jennifer enjoyed that each performer took the same song and "made it [their] own." Inexplicably, the judges lavished praise all over Lusk, and Randy went directly against Iovine's advice and told him to do what he does best and just "put the peddle down" on every performance.

"American Idol" next gave us peeks at Rachel Zevita, giving the Beatles a sort of deep, quirky goth vibe, as well as Lauren Turner giving a beautiful, nuanced performance of "Let It Be."

Then came what may have been the finest performance of the entire night of "American Idol" Vegas numbers. Two of Jennifer's faves, the handsome crooner Tim Halperin and the lovely fashion plate Julie Zarilla, played piano and dueted on The Beatles song "Something." They each sounded gorgeous in their solo parts, and then their harmonies literally gave me chills. That does not happen often on "Idol." It was a particularly pleasant surprise, as I've not been as impressed with Zarilla as the judges have in previous episodes.

I thought Tatynisa Wilson went home in the last "American Idol" round, when she made up new lyrics to Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance." I guess it's only fair that she stayed on, as Scott McCreery got to move on despite the same flub. Her trio with Jerome Bell and Lakeisha Lewis on "I Saw Her Standing There" had all the right moves but not quite enough vocal power, earning them mixed reviews from the judges. Jennifer thought Lakeisha was holding back too much; Randy thought Jerome was "okay" and that Tatynisa got better towards the end; Stephen thought the other judges were crazy and that the whole number was great.

Paul McDonald, the Rod Stewart-esque blond from Nashville dueted with Kendra Chantelle on "Blackbird." Despite McDonald's slightly husky voice and Chantelle's purer tones, the two blended nicely and gave us another awesome duo performance for "American Idol" Vegas. Jennifer enthused that it was "so beautiful," and Stephen liked that it was "so different." Randy admired the way they arranged the harmonies to show off the uniqueness of their voices.

**Insert ridiculous, unrelated, nonsensical waste of time following a threatening Ashley Sullivan marrying her visibly frightened boyfriend in Vegas, in the same place as her "idol, Britney Spears."

Boot camp survivors Thia Megia and Melinda Ademi didn't seem to be all that improved after their screaming vocal coach, who mocked them from the audience, read them the riot act. Megia fared better, but the performance as a whole was so off that it made Stephen transform into Randy and declare "It was just all right for me." Eek.

"American Idol" gleefully listed the newly married Ashley Sullivan as Ashley Saraiva as she dueted with Sophia Shorai. As if we don't have enough trouble keeping up with people's names. Unfortunately, it was tough to tell what Shorai sounded like over Saraiva's nasally "enhhh" sound, and the judges were disappointed.

Scotty McCreery, Denise Jackson and teachers' pet Lauren Alaina combined their three drastically different vocal sounds into a sort of comedic pantomime involving a British phone box for "Hello, Goodbye." McCreery at least tries some higher notes than his usual dwelling-in-the-basement rumbling sound, but Jennifer told him "I prefer you where you live." Stephen Tyler compared the theatrics to a Marx Brothers movie and ended with "nice try." Randy let them know they'd be taking the tough song into consideration in their final evaluation of their singing.

After this we got a glimpse of Casey Abrams and Chris Medina wearing hats, running around, and Medina jumping up and down on a bed. The harmonies were bad, and it just didn't gel. On the other hand, we got good harmonizing from resident "American Idol" prima donna Jordan Dorsey, Robbie Rosen and Aaron Sanders. Robbie deservedly got the love he deserved, Randy smacked Jordan down as "not the greatest" and Aaron got a somewhat backhanded compliment from J-Lo about how she always forgets about how good he is.

The hour wrapped up with about twenty cuts. Thia Megia, Scotty McCreery, Jordan Dorsey, Ashton Jones, Robbie Rosen and Lauren Alaina are all moving on at this point. We say goodbye to the feisty Carson Higgins, White House intern Molly DeWolf Swenson, Caleb Hawley, Denise Jackson, Melinda Ademi and weeper drama queen Ashley Saraiva.

The second hour of "American Idol" revolved around contestants having to walk down a 40 mile spotlighted runway until they got to the stage of doom to reach their verdict. Their reward for the nerve-wracking, designed-to-be-painful long walk? A precarious perch on a sadistic, tiny white plastic stool. Why don't they just put a wooden school chair up there with one of the legs sawed down shorter than the other? Imagine the entertaining "Idol" drama as distraught contestants flip backwards off of the stage!!

Let's cut through the drama and judge fake-outs to the results. Naima Adedapo, Clint Jun Gamboa, Haley Reinhart, Paul McDonald and Ashton Jones are in. Jennifer Lopez let ousted "American Idol" contestant Hollie Cavanagh know that she'd been outvoted, but she thought Cavanagh could come back in a year or two and win the whole thing. Cutie Alex Ryan is also out of the running, and many of the "American Idol" contestants seemed stunned when Lakeisha Lewis was let go from the competition.

The pretty, Jason Castro-esque Deandre Brackensick, who did his final solo performance on a mandolin, was encouraged by the judges to cultivate his "magic little voice" and continue his pursuit of a music career.

The big "moment" of the night came when the "American Idol" judges rightly kept Chris Medina out of the Top 24. Sadly, Medina's final solo performance of "Fix You" was probably his strongest performance of the competition, but it wasn't enough to overcome his inconsistency beforehand. Jennifer let him down easy with a lengthy speech about his good qualities first before breaking the bad news, and Medina took it in stride. At the start of the critique he had said "I did more than I thought I was capable of." It was hugs all around and kisses from the smooshy Steven Tyler.

Then "American Idol" subjected us to an eternity of Jennifer Lopez breaking down over having to say no to these kids, and after endless awkward attempts by the guys to comfort her, she declared she wouldn't be able to do anymore. Cue dramatic music for next week. As commenters on TVLine rightly pointed out, it was a bit insensitive to follow-up Chris Medina's real life tragedy with the manufactured celebrity drama of a distraught judge.

There's no doubt that crushing people's dreams is tough to do, especially if your opinion differed from the final vote. It's nice if the judges are actually human and care about what happens to these kids afterward. We don't need to make it all about them, however. Fine to show Jennifer getting upset, but then let's move on, shall we?

For my part, I'm thrilled to see Naima Adedapo and Ashton Jones moving on. I'm good with the judges' other choices, though I wouldn't have minded seeing Hollie Cavanagh take a stab at the Top 24. It'll be a good thing, however, if she comes back stronger than ever in another season. I was sorriest about Carson Higgins, but it's true his voice wasn't as strong as the others. He's got a lot of character and charisma, however, and hopefully he'll keep working at it.

Tune in tomorrow for the rest of the drama and the rest of the Top 24.

Watch "American Idol" every Wednesday and Thursday night at 8 pm ET. Check your local listings as times are always subject to change.