AI Season 10- Top 3 Elimination, 05-19-11

Clips, clips, clips. Captions: Sometimes it's good to go home... but not tonight. Iovine opines that Scotty will survive tonight. The only thing I'm absolutely sure of is that there is a guy in contention right now. I still think Scotty is going to win, but I also thought Durbin would be in the running, and Haley would be long gone, so that shows you what I know.

Randy is wearing an oddly shaped plaid vest, or maybe it's a shawl, I can't tell. I have no idea what Steven wore because we didn't see him much tonight. JLo is in tan pleated shorts and a black transparent top over a strapless black bodice, impossibly tall heels, and very very straight hair.

Ryan says that 95 million votes were cast, the most for any non-finale show in the history of the franchise. Yay, I guess. He then brings out the Top 3, and I think that Haley is wearing a tiara.

We see a clip that must have been filmed a couple of weeks ago, because the Top 4 (including James) all get to meet J.J. Abrams. He shows them bits from his new movie, Super 8, which appears to be The Goonies for the '10s. (Don't let the snark fool you- I want very much to see this movie in the theater.) Abrams gives all 4 Super 8 cameras (Q: do they even make Super 8 film any more? I have a very precious DVD of movies that my parents shot of my sisters and I between the years '63-'70 that was originally on Super 8 film. I'm pretty sure that the camera is obsolete now). I will be curious to see the movies they make.

Karen! Naima! That one girl! Pia! Elle Fanning! Elle babbles long enough to make Ryan really nervous, before she finally spits out a giggly declaration that her six year old cousin loves Scotty.

Haley gets the first Home Town Visit footage. I note that lately, every shot of Haley includes cleavage. Haley and her low cut shirt go to her home town of Wheeling, Ill. It's raining. A lot. But they manage to gather a couple hundred people to cheer for her. Haley sees her Mom and Dad, and then she wears rain gear in a parade which ends at her high school. Evidently Wheeling calls her Goldilocks. They then go to a racetrack, which has sort of full stands. She and her dad give a concert in the rain (everyone is wearing heavy jackets). Haley's bodyguard is a hoot.

After the break, a squeaky little girl intros the Fordmercial. The kids are at the beach, and since I've been to SoCal a few times in the past year, I mostly look at the scenery, hoping to recognize the landscape. I don't.

Guest Group #1 is Il Volo. Il Volo consists of three goofy looking young men, singing O Sole Mio soulfully in Italian. The guy with the spiky hair and red glasses lounges up the joint. The heavy dude with the Beiber hair has a huge voice. The middle guy has the Frankie Avalon vibe down pat. This is maybe the weirdest performance I've ever seen on the show, and I watched the Sanjaya season.

Next Home Town Trip sends Scotty to Garner, North Carolina. Scotty's crowds are a lot bigger than Haley's, and there are many weeping, wailing, screaming girls in the audience. Back at his school, Scotty plays baseball with his buds. He's momentarily overwhelmed by the hometown support. In fact, Scotty is showing more emotion than we've ever seen on stage. During one of his concert numbers, he's joined on stage by Josh Turner, who is the other low-voiced, young country singer. Scotty is blown away.

Guest Group #2 is Nichole Scherzinger and 50 Cent. Nichole starts out in silhouette behind a backlit sheet, and then she shimmys around the barrier. This chick looks a lot like Pia, if Pia was dressed in straps and feathers (and let's face it- if Pia had lasted long enough on the show, she would have worn them eventually). Nichole has Shakira hips, and a bunch of backup dancers. It is even more obvious than usual that she is not actually singing. 50 Cent does whatever it is that he does. My goodness... what passes for dancing these days... sigh...

Lauren's Home Town Visit was saved for last. She's genuinely excited to go home to Rossville, and I am officially tired of looking at her mother. Oh, tornado damage... right. I don't doubt the sincerity of Lauren's emotion at seeing the devastation for the first time, but I have to wonder just how much mileage the show wants to get out of weepy Lauren and the storm damage. I know the voting is done this week already, but next week's votes are even more important. I think they really really really want Lauren to win. Or they at least want to make an actual contest out of this dog and pony show.

Hmmmm. There are 10 minutes left and Ryan says it's time to get busy... after the break. Lauren is wearing a tight, teal suede bomber jacket over a black top, which she continually pulls down over her hips. Also the white boots that she had on last night (unless she has multiple pairs, and since this is Lauren, I shouldn't make assumptions on that point). Scotty is in tan leather and plaid (I got a chuckle out of my own original impression of Scotty, which mentioned a lack of plaid. He has since remedied that situation). Haley is weairng an odd shirt that consists of dangly ruffles. And she really is wearing a tiara. It's not a pointy-crown kind of tiara, but it's a tiara just the same.

The lights are dimmed, and after 95 million votes... Scotty is headed for the finale. Even though I prepared myself for a Shock Boot, there's no real surprise in Scotty being Top 2.

And then Haley sports a major bitch face as Lauren goes to the finale. Haley does not manage to smile during the montage either, though she did fake a little good grace at the end. And for her singout she chooses.... B-B-B-Benny and the Jetzzzzzzzzzzz, which harks back to the Haley performance that I hated the most.

I do think that Haley improved steadily over the season, but I simply did not like her much. I don't have a clue where she'll fit into the music industry, and I'm not sure she knows either.

So, it's Lauren and Scotty, which means that Scotty is going to win because I highly doubt that Haley's votes will go to Lauren. But we'll see. At least we get some Casey next week.