Confessions Of An 'American Idol' Junkie

Early on the judges roles were set. Simon was the brutally honest one that reminded candidates that style, personality and having a certain "look" are still very much part of the music biz, for good, bad or indifferent. By the time they arrived in the third city, candidates knew it was he they needed to impress most and it became an on-going joke.

Randy Jackson became the honest, with a gentle edge, judge. While he often relayed some hard truths to candidates, he never did it with the sarcasm or below the belt honesty that Simon claimed as his own. If the British were seen stereotypically as arrogant before, Simon is the poster child for UK arrogancy!

Paula Abdul was the mother of the group, refusing to be mean or truly honest with anyone. Her commentary to those who hadn't a snowballs chance in hell consisted of, "I really admire your confidence, you did a good job, but maybe you should try lessons." And almost every time Simon interrupted and made it clear that no amount of lessons would make it work.

I'm thoroughly sick of Abdul's syrupy, mothering gentleness. True, its a great "good cop" to Simon's "Rodney King-take no mercy, bad cop," but it goes against the essence of the show's quest - to find the next singing sensation.

She's perpetuating the disillusion some of these folks have that they're good at singing. Some of them had an okay voice but lacked stage presence. Some of them lacked any style or were so tacky attempting to have individual style that it hurt, my feelings!

And some of the candidates are obvious graduates of the school of parents, friends and church goers telling them they can sing. Everyone can sing in church, cause its impolite to boo!

For the most part, the thorns have been snipped off and now 30 "roses" are competing for the top honor. Last night, 10 of those 30 performed solo and though all of them can carry a tune, not even half of them were star material.

After selecting a song of their choice the candidates ranged from really good to hey, at least you gave it a shot. What was most amazing was how so many of them chose a song that did not showcase their talent at all!

I mean thousands of people vyed for these positions, it could be their last real chance at fame and at

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