American Idol: What a Cop Out!

But it was for a good cause, right?

LAist watched the entire two hours of American Idol's telethon tonight, which was broadcast at both the regular Idol studios and the Walt Disney Concert Hall. And while we admire Ryan Seacrest and company for trying to do something good for kids living in poverty in both America and Africa (checkout myspace.com/idolgivesback or the Idol Gives Back page for ways to donate), we felt cheated and manipulated when American Idol didn't give anyone the boot tonight.

We were strung along for 120 minutes when Seacrest announced that everyone was safe this week because, after all, it was "charity night." Puhleeze. Isn't the point of elimination night to cut another contestant? 70 million people voted Tuesday night and they didn't deserve to be put off one more week. They'll count the votes and cast off two people next week. But hey, LAist watches and recaps so that you don't have to...

Random AI notes from tonight's show.

>> Walt Disney Concert Hall looked gorgeous, but the audio sounded muffled during the first few acts.
>> With all the singers and musicians booked for the show, you'd think they'd open the show strong with a current and relevant artist to keep viewers interested, right? Nope. Earth, Wind and Fire kicked things off with a greatest hits medley.
>> Both Jack Black (singing "Kiss from a Rose") and Ben Stiller (singing "Reminiscing" by The Little River Ban) were mildly amusing.
>> While Il Divo was kind of lame, we actually didn't mind Josh Grobin and the African kids choir.
>> Simon singing the Pussycat Dolls' "Don't Cha" on The Simpsons was funny.
>> The Celine Dion and Elvis Presley duet from 1968 was weird. Elvis was the more lively of the two during the performance and he's, umm, dead.