The Guys Disappoint Again

I'm sorry but this crop of guys for Season 6 really are a weak bunch, with very few exceptions. As tonight's final contestant, Chris Sligh, wrapped up his performance of D.C. Talk's "Wanna Be Loved," I was left thinking: that's it? There were probably only 3 or 4 really good performances and the rest just filler.

The painfully evident fact is that the men of season 6 are a resoundingly uninspired bunch. Even Paula wants to cull them down to four! That said, there were varying shades of awful among the five guys at risk of going home on Thursday as well as one contestant who appears to be inexplicably safe. And while I'm not normally the kind of person who believes that reality TV is governed by a higher power, I'm actually considering praying that Sanjaya Malakar will get the boot. To be fair, the kid probably hit fewer wonky notes than Brandon and maybe even Phil, but the discomfort level of his performances is so off the charts that it borders on unbearable. With his hair — the unspoken ninth contestant on the men's side — straightened and layered to alarming effect, Sanjaya delivered John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change" in a thin, nasal warble that had no place in a serious singing competition. Come on America, this is a singing competition!

If Sanjaya's meekness and hula demonstration were turnoffs, though, so too was Sundance Head's hubris in choosing "Jeremy." Sure, the judges praised his "Mustang Sally" cover last week, but that's only because the whole performance was nothing more than an excuse to "Shout, Sundance, shout!" The winding, complex Pearl Jam melody represented a whole different degree of difficulty, and Sundance wouldn't have been able to hit most of the notes if he'd been wielding an oversize tennis racket. I'm not exactly sure how Randy could've dubbed the performance as "kinda hot," when it was actually wildly off-key.

The judges' mild pimping on Sundance's behalf is bad news for Brandon Rogers, whose choice of Rare Earth's "I Just Want to Celebrate" will probably result in his delivering the rather fitting line "I put my trust in the people, but the people let me down" during what I'm guessing will be his Thursday-night exit performance. By this point, Brandon has made it abundantly clear why he's a backup singer: Every time he reaches for a big note, he fails miserably.

Of course, if Brandon scores sympathy votes because Simon mistakenly called him "Travis" during the post-performance critique, then it could lead to the not exactly upsetting elimination of Phil Stacey or Jared Cotter. Paula, who i give props for being extremely lucid, was completely on point in her criticism that sharp-dressed Jared needs to do more than simply sing on key. With his barely competent cover of "If You Really Love Me," Jared broke the unwritten rule that Idol contestants should stop singing Stevie Wonder, at the same time proving his limited star potential.

Phil, meanwhile, ranked No. 3 on my list of the night's best performances, despite brutalizing the opening bars of LeAnn Rimes' "I Need You." Maybe it was his nifty trilby that, um, capped his position, or maybe it was the way he recovered his mojo when he reached full-tilt belting. Still, if there's a Las Vegas pool where I can bet on the contestant most likely to finish in 12th place this season, it would be Phil.

Chris Richardson has been a big favorite of mine for the guys. But his voice was a little off-key at some points on Keith Urban's "Tonight I Wanna Cry" and a tad bit nasally. That being said, I still think he is one of the strongest guys and should have no problem getting through. Chris Sligh I did not like at all. He was shouting at some points duirng his song and his personlity grows more and more annoying. Paula was right (again!) that Chris S.'s performance of D.C. Talk's "Wanna Be Loved"' was not his best effort.

Similarly, Blake Lewis' choice of 311's "All Mixed Up" left Paula, Simon, and Randy slightly befuddled, although the track's reggae rhythms were especially well suited to the spiky-haired contestant's slickly contemporary style. The real problem for Blake (and it's the same thing that plagued him during last week's Jamiroquai cover) was the way he got winded and subsequently a little pitchy, over the duration of his performance. For now, Blake's managing to cover his flaws with intermittent bouts of beatboxing, but when he's sharing the stage next week with ladies like Melinda, LaKisha, and Stephanie, he better make sure he brings it.