We have to admit that an hour of the American Idol results show is excessive -- even for LAist. So we skimmed the show and cut straight to the results: Sanjaya Malakar is still safe, and weak Haley Scarnato finally gots the boot. No surprises there, really. Haley's style is so bland that she makes Hillary Duff look, umm...what's the word we're looking for? Talented. But what did kind of surprise us was that... more ›

It was Latin night on American Idol with coach Jennifer “don’t call me J-Lo” Lopez. But, unfortunately, like her movies of late, the music pretty much tanked. The songs that reflected the beats south of the border were not kind to our eight finalists. (And really, can’t we do a little better than picking boring Gloria Estefan or Carlos Santana songs?) >> Melinda Doolittle started off the show with “Sway,” and this was the... more ›

LAist will cut to the chase and do in less than a minute what American Idol took 30 minutes to do tonight: Rocker chick Gina Glocksen is out and Sanjaya Malakar just took another step toward the finals. If you need a few more details than that, then read on... The nine finalists were split into three groups: >> Group 1: Blake Lewis, Chris Richardson and Sanjaya Malakar >> Group 2: Haley Scarnato, Gina... more ›

Tonight on American Idol, octogenarian crooner Tony Bennett coached the remaining nine contestants. While we were semi-excited to hear the Idols take on the standards, LAist was really anticipating what form Sanjaya’s shape-shifting hair would take on this week? Maybe a salt and pepper gray in honor of Mr. Bennet? No such luck. This week, Sanjaya wore a ’do that was much tamer than the faux-hawk: just the simple slicked-back crooner look. But we... more ›

Fan favorite Sanjaya Malakar has taken another step toward American Idol-hood. Tonight, it was portly Chris Sligh— the Jack Osbourne lookalike — who got the boot. Now we admit that Chris had an off night last night with a cover of The Police's "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic," but at least Chris can sing in tune. We can’t say the same for Sanjaya, whose tone-deaf fans obviously voted him into the American... more ›

American Idol was only an hour and seven minutes tonight, which we think meant shorter songs clips and shorter packaged coaching segments with guest judge Gwen Stefani. And the shorter show was just fine with us because (1) most of these “Top 10” singers are good -- but they’re not great; (2) while the song choices were better than last week’s British Invasion, they were ripped right from the Adult Contemporary radio station playlists... more ›

That little Riverside girl who cried and cried over Sanjaya on American Idol last night must have voted a bazillion times on the way home because America's favorite bad singer with no personality has made it through to American Idol's Top 10. (Yeah and you have no one to blame for that because you didn't vote and the folks over at votefortheworst.com did.) So after 30 million votes, Sanjaya stays and Stephanie Edwards is... more ›

In the six seasons of American Idol, LAist can't recall a more average group of singers -- in voice and personality. Tuesday nights so far have been two hours of tedium, except for one or two standout performances a night. Last night -- British Invasion Night -- was no different. The song choices were unappealing to those under 40, and it's a safe bet that many of the contestants never even heard of their... more ›

There are three months left of American Idol. And judging from last night's show, that's three very long months to whittle down from 12 to the two finalists. The singing overall on the Diana Ross-themed show was pretty lousy, except for a few of the usual suspects: Jordin Sparks (who we think sang a Diana Ross tune from The Land Before Time, Melinda Doolitte belting a song from The Wiz, and show-stopper LaKisha Jones singing... more ›

So the girls hit the American Idol stage last night, and they proved once again that they can sing so much better than the boys this season. So the question on our minds this morning is whether co-front-runner Melinda Doolittle (heads and shoulders above the pack with LaKisha Jones) is just frontin. Can she really be that meek and unsure about her singing? She comes on stage like a lion and leaves like a... more ›