It's easy to mock or complain about a lot of things "American Idol" does, and even about the length and some of the creative choices of the "Idol" Gives Back show itself in years past, but I refuse to do anything but applaud the charitable approach itself, and I would encourage you to donate some money if you can. As for the elimination part of the show, I have the results spoilers coming up after the jump...
Unlike season 6, when the show wimped out at the last minute from sending anyone home, or season 7, when they separated the results show from "Idol" Gives Back, here we actually got an elimination on the same night as the telethon, and it was the feel-good ending I was hoping for, with Tim Urban's dimples finally failing him.
What was vaguely interesting was that Casey James wound up in the bottom group with him, leaving Crystal, Lee and Siobhan as the only contestants to not yet wind up at risk on an elimination show. We've gone pretty deep into seasons with one contestant never being at risk (Taylor and Carrie both won their seasons that way, for instance), and I'm sure we've gone far with it never happening with two, but can any amateur "Idol"-ologist tell me what's the farthest we've gone with three never being at risk? Is this unusual, or am I just desperate to find something to pay attention to this season besides Crystal's super-competence?
What did everybody else think? Relieved TUrban went home, or annoyed you'll miss the spectacle of Simon trying to find nice things to say so as not to rile the kid's fanbase? And how did this year's telethon compare to the previous two?