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The torture of departing American Idol, down to 16 now

By April MacIntyre Mar 5, 2010, 5:08 GMT

Your American Idols, one by one they fall Courtesy of FOX

Idol producers don't make it easy on the losers, they have to maintain some stoicism and buck up as their dreams shatter in front of 30 odd million people tuning in.

Their families sitting at the sideline.  Dreams dead. Go home.

Four were sent packing, two men, John Park and bowtie onesie-wearing Jermaine Sellers, who sadly did a nice rendition of the song he sang the night previous, which got him booted off.

The Idol producers make these people get up, after they know it's the end of the line, and put the brave face on and do it one more time for posterity.

Time has to be filled up, and all the artful commercial breaks and guest singers still leave room for heightened emotional string pulling.

Two women were axed too, the eternally happy Haeley Vaughn and the pretty Michelle Delamor.  Didi caught a break for the dreadful, out of her depth performance last night.

Former Idol Danny Gokey sang “My Best Days Are Ahead of Me.” He was brimming with happiness and positive energy, and said he was inspired by Randy Travis to go country.   He seems to be jumping in that pool head first.  Gokey appeared ready to begin again, putting the death of wife behind him.

Did anyone catch the Idol producer botch ups during the broadcast? There was a side shot that showed one stage manager caught moving and arranging the girls up in the balcony, then a stage manager was shouting at host Ryan Seacrest off camera.  The ending of the show was stilted, weird and way too much for a blindsided Haeley to keep it together.  Haeley was distraught, in tears, and barely finished her final song with no help from her fellow contestants I might add, they left her out on that stage to twist without coming to her aid vocally.

Next week, the eight female semifinalists (Didi Benami, Crystal Bowersox, Lacey Brown, Katelyn Epperly, Siobhan Magnus, Paige Miles, Lilly Scott and Katie Stevens) will take the stage once again, singing on Tuesday, March 9 (8:00-9:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed).

Then, it’s the guys’ turn on Wednesday, March 10 (9:00-10:00 PM ET live/PT tape-delayed) as the eight male semifinalists (Lee Dewyze, Andrew Garcia, Todrick Hall, Casey James, Aaron Kelly, Alex Lambert, Michael Lynche and Tim Urban) perform in hopes of winning America’s vote.

To me, Tim Urban, Alex Lambert and Lacy Brown are close to being the next ones out of the loop, but any one of them can deliver a bad performance and change the game up.

Do you think the losers should be made to sing their final song or are you happy with the way the show is set up?