Missed Both Days, But No Surprises Here

So, baseball kept me away the last two days and I missed Idol completely. My mother called about nine this evening, and even though she doesn't watch the program, she told me the "blond-haired girl is singing at the end of the show by herself and she is crying. So, I guess that told me everything.

I am curious as to how the Neil Diamond evening went last night. I'm not sure about these mentor nights.

Actually, I think the mentor thing is a good idea. But the method of it is not a good one. I don't know if we need to choose different (better) mentors, or, and this is my thought, that perhaps we need to use different mentors and change the format of the show. For example: is it crucial that we choose mentors and then require the contestants to sing only their songs? Really? Couldn't the pop idol, and keeping in mind the point of the show is to make it relevant to today's pop industry - couldn't the pop idol mentor them on how to attack the songs of today?

Like Simon says, "If you can sing, you can sing anything." That doesn't mean we have to hear them sing anything. Let Neil Diamond coach the kids on how to knock out a song on the radio today, or at least in the last five years. If Neil Diamond can coach, he can coach anything.

The biggest problem I have, you see, is that we force these kids to sing ALL of the mentor's songs. That really narrows our field of mentors down first of all, but I don't necessarily like the mentor coaching on how to sing his/her song. I would like to keep the song selection varied, and a song list where the song choices actually reflect the personality and talent of the contestant. Then, after that song is chosen by a particular contestant, let the mentor coach them on how to sing THAT song.

Why did we think when we brought in the mentors, that the contestants should be allowed to sing only the mentors' songs? Perhaps a contestant would choose the mentor's song, but because it was the right song and the right fit and it just so happened the person who made it famous was the mentor that night.

Is anyone with me on this?