American Idol decided to put a little spin on the introduction of the show. Instead of using Ryan, the ‘guest host’ for a few seconds was the lovable Duff drinking character, Homer Simpson. It seems that he doesn’t watch the show quite often due to his busy schedule and assume several contestants was left when there was only three.

The results show was filled with recaps of last night’s performances, the contestants back in their own hometown to be greeted from fans and family and much more. First, Jordin went back to Arizona, Blake in Washington and Melinda in Tennessee where she went to her church where her parents was by her side. Also she’d went to the state’s capitol with a welcome home message from the governor and were presented with a ‘Melinda DooLittle Way’ street name of her own. Among the countless fans, love of family and church members from the congregation, Melinda was very emotional to be back home and receive the outpouring love from everyone.

Idol fans got to see a familiar face from the past season- actually it will take another glance to see the guy who left third place last year. Ex finalist, Elliott Yamin, sported anew hairdo, similar to a Josh Groban style as he sang ‘Wait for You’ off his debut album. Elliott’s performance was terrific and it was good to hear his beautiful voice on stage again; this time without any pressure.

A flashback of the contestants as children were presented in this week’s Ford commercial, of the three having fun in their bedroom and coming out the room at their age. Blake, Melinda and Jordin hops into a car and drive off to an ‘American Idol’ premier walking the red carpet. That was a cute commercial.

Maroon 5 performs their new song on stage. ‘Makes Me Wonder’. It was only the other day that Blake sung one of their own tunes “This Love’ and got rave reviews on it. Now after all the performances, clips and agonizing wait, Ryan finally reveals who will make the final two. Jordin makes the final cut after 16 millions votes counted in for all three of the contestants. The only two left is Blake and Melinda. Many people vote for the two for different reasons, Blake for his ‘beat boxing effects and Melinda’s foe her powerhouse vocal.

Sadly, Melinda was cut from the show and honestly, I was shocked and upset as she is my definite favorite on the show. Never in the bottom three at all but is booted off in a moments of seconds. But at the same time, I am very happy for her. She’d made it this far in the competition and the bright side is that other past finalists before her have gotten the boot early and have successful careers, Chris Daughtry, Elliott Yamin and don’t forget, Jennifer Hudson who’d won an Oscar. There are many opportunities waiting for Melinda and it is a guaranteed that she will be a superstar one day. I will continue to support Melinda whatever her career takes her.

Before hearing the results, singer Pink performed her song, ‘Who Knew’. The contestants did a rendition of  ‘You Really Got Me’, as the foursome escapes from crazy fans following them wherever they go, at times leaving Blake behind. The group also singed classic Bee Gees songs together, ‘Emotions’, ‘Too Much Heaven, ‘Guilty’ and among a few others.
 

Taking a break off their hectic schedule, the finalists went to a screening of the sequel of ‘Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer’, and got to meet with the director of the film. The stars of the movie, Jessica Alba and Ioan Gruffudd were on sitting in the audience.
 

Viewers also got to know some background on the contestants other than what we knew as aspiring singers-pictures when they were children, family portraits and those who inspired each of them to be where they are today. Melinda mentioned how she learned to open up to music when visiting her father often and says how she loved to dream big. She definitely got a bigger dream than she hoped for as being one of the top contestants in this season.
 

Legendary singer Barry Gibb performed on the Idol stage singing one of his own past hits ‘To Love Somebody’, looking and sounding well. But the end is near for someone to go home, thankfully, Melinda and Jordin stays but as much as I like LaKisha and Blake, it was no surprise the two ends up in the bottom two. Both Blake and LaKisha struggled with their performance, as LaKisha sung ‘Stayin Alive’ with a much slower tempo than the way the original is made and Blake put too much emphasis with ‘You Should Be Dancing’ with the beat-boxing effect and the a-a-a-a-a-a-a that made it his downfall. But fans forgiven Blake and he made it through while LaKisha went home. I will miss her big voice and humble personality on the show. She made it this far in the competition and that alone is something she should be proud of.
 

But during Melinda’s rehearsal, Barry wasn’t sure if Melinda could pull off “Love You Inside and Out’ because it is a man song and is sang in falsetto. At the end, he’d believed Melinda pulled it off and jokingly said he sounded like woman himself when singing. Melinda stepped on stage singing ‘Love You Inside and Out’ and she’d sing it as if she were talking to her man. The vocals was on point, her heart and soul was in the song. There is no other way to describe though the judges had a different perspective.

According to Randy, her performance didn’t make him jump up and down in his seat, Paula wanted Melinda to wow her but the vocals are consistent. Simon wasn’t impressed and expected to hear something better. But better it came when Melinda had another round to sing ‘How Can You Mend a Broken Heart’. While singing the tune with Barry, Melinda wanted to cross out ‘loser’ because she wants to win the whole show.

Melinda looked classically beautiful wearing a nice fitted dress and worked twice as hard to win the judges and guess what, she did! Randy said it was a great vocal with a beautiful ending. Paula says she is a throwback to Stephanie Mills but still want Melinda to surprise everyone with something different. Simon loved it, especially the second half and said she’d earned herself a spot in the finals. It seemed that Melinda’s song choice ‘affected’ her first performance but did great overall in the second one. There is no doubt that she will be going anywhere, expect well on her way to becoming the winner very soon.

Anyway, ‘Idol’ raised 70 million dollars from ‘Idol Gives Back’, thanks to celebrities, other contributors and us viewers at home that helped make a difference. Some past ‘Idol’ winners, Fantasia and Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks were part of the fundraiser to donate more funds for poverty-stricken children in Africa.

R&B singer Robin Thicke (one my favorite singers by the way) performed his hit song ‘Lost Without U’. For some reason, I believed he kind of resembled Simon. Next is shown is the Ford commercial with the contestants singing ‘Paint It Black’ as they drive around in Ford car looking at them participating in a circus/vaudeville act with Blake dressed as a magician and Jordin as a mermaid, while they all dress in black with Phil wearing a top hat.

Now the fun starts to slowly end as one person with the lowest votes is going home. Melinda, LaKisha and Phil are asked to come on stage. Melinda and LaKisha are safe but Phil is going home. Honestly, I did not see that coming as I thought Phil did a great job with ‘Blaze of Glory’- his last performance on the stage proved that he deserved another round. Second elimination round began with Jordin, Chris and Blake. Jordin is safe and the two left standing is Blake and Chris, but the guys have to wait it out after Bon Jovi performs his new song, ‘(You Want to) Make a Memory’. Bon Jovi said each contestant done a fantastic job and thanked Idol for letting him is part of the show, also he announced that the band official tour starts in January.

Back to Chris and Blake, the two best friends who made it to the top six. Chris who been in the bottom three before, is booted off the show. The Justin Timberlake-like singer ends the show with ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’. Everyone gathered around Chris for a group hug as they said their goodbyes. Only four remains and one becomes closer to be crowned the next Idol.

The band now makes their appearance on ‘Idol’, and there were not only one, but two guests’ mentors, keyboardist David Brian and lead singer Bon Jovi. Before the rehearsal, Bon Jovi gave a little advice on how to perform and sing a song, saying that to make a song your own and also a artists is telling a story to everyone when they are singing.

Before the ‘Idols’ sing, we see a couple of familiar faces in the audience, the top 32 contestant, Antonella Barbara and the top 12 finalist, Gina Glocksen, which Ryan took a second to say hello to. While the rock theme proved to be tough for a couple of contestants and naturally good for others, Melinda brought out her hidden rock side on “Have a Nice Day”. Melinda wasn’t sure that she can rock but Bon Jovi reassured her she has the pipes but to need ‘rock it’ and take it to church. Her rehearsal performance was so good that even Bon Jovi himself wanted to add her to band. Seems like a compliment for Melinda who is indeed a great powerhouse vocalist anyway.

And she sure enough to it to church and rock it from beginning to end with ‘Have a Nice Day’, hitting those high notes perfectly and bringing a bit of spunk to her performance. And thankfully none of the judges had bad comments about Melinda though Randy said it was a good performance, though not a best one but brought out a Tina Turner attitude, Paula asked Melinda how it feel to be a rock star, Melinda wasn’t sure and Paula told her she is one, Simon agreed with Randy’s comment on Tina turner attitude and says Melinda vocally in a different league than everyone else tonight.

It seems that Melinda can sing any genre of music and it turns out beautifully. Now that is what a true singer can do.

But first, comedienne Ellen  Degeneres hosted from the Walt Disney concert hall in LA. Among the celebrities that perform were Earth, Wind and Fire, Roscoe Flats, Josh Groban, Kelly Clarkson Annie Lennox. During the charity special, Ryan shoed footage of New Orleans nearly three years ago, when they’d held the A.I auditions. Only a year later, Katrina strike and in the same building Idol hopefuls’ audition in, many Katrina victims were placed.

Next the six finalists sang ‘Time to Care’ a song written and produced by the great Quincy Jones. The contestants wore all white while singing their group song together. Actor Benn Stiller shoed off his wonderful signing abilities for the cameras while a guy in the background told him eight-thousand dollars were raised so far. Meanwhile, Ryan and Simon went to a tiny hut-like place where two children reside. The kids parents had died and the eldest 12 year old boy became a caretaker for his little sister.

A little break was from the charity event as Ryan began to call out who is safe. Melinda went first and was told she was safe! Another week on the show for her to get even better than before. Next thgs is shown is Paula going to  Boys and Girls Club, the kids do variety of hobbies, such as painting, playing ping-pong, basketball and more. The program gives the children some type of happiness and less reminder of the problems many face at home.

To put a little humor on the show, actor Jack Black were a temporary Idol contestant singing, Seal’s ‘A Kiss from the Rose. Randy and Paula hated it; Simon says Black singing a lot better than Sanjaya. But the Seal LOVED his performance! But speaking of performance, Idol finalist, Blake was told he is safe. Another celebrity that went to Africa is past Idol winner Carrie Underwood, singing to the children, and “I’ll Stand by You. She also volunteer to help the kids while on her journey there.

Back in America, there is a problem with literacy and Idol took us to a small county where many adults were illiterate and hope that their children will get the help they never had. ‘Save the Children’ is a program that teaches kids to learn to read at an early age.

More throughout the show, a Ford commercial is shown with the contestants singing, ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’, they all were in a hot red vehicle sitting in drive-in while listening to many celebs lip-synch to Bee Gees ‘Staying Alive’. The singing celebrities were Dr. Phil, LeBron James, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Goldie Hawn, including Ryan and many others.

The results where shown again, Phil safe and LaKisha is well. Only two remains- Jordin and Chris, like Ryan said a total shocker. Before the show ended Celine Dion sang a “duet”, ‘If I Can Dream’
with Elvis Pressley. For the final time, we’re back to the results. Either Chris or Jordin is going home. Both of the singers did great on last night show, and it will be horrible to know either will be leaving Idol for good. But the good news is, neither is not and everybody is safe! Of course there is no way for someone to leave on a night like this, it will be tasteless. Anyway, a special clip were shown before the results of children saying ‘thank you.

Bono of U2 was the guest mentor for the contestants and told his own story of how he’d got involved in helping the people in Africa. With this tearkjerker Idol special, the show ends on a much happier note as the finalists sang ‘American Prayer’.