The Final 7 - April 17, 2007

So here we are, Idol fans, down to the final seven. What a long, strange, awful, boring, awfully boring trip it's been. Has this been the worst season of American Idol to date? Well, let's just say that when the Season 6 broadcasts reach Omicron Persei 8 in two million years, the Omicronians will do one of two things:

• If the earth still exists, they'll immediately dispatch 30 of their death ships to blow the planet up; or
• If the earth doesn't exist anymore, they'll put 30 of their death ships into a mammoth DeLorean, travel back in time to when the earth did exist, then blow the planet up

Speaking of blowing, tonight's guest is Martina McBride. I don't even know what that meant, especially since I couldn't tell Martina McBride from Martina Navratilova. Actually, that's not true. Navratilova's the one with the Adams Apple.

Interestingly, we don't have a country-type singer on the show this year. Unless, of course, you count Sanjaya. Wow, that was a really awkward open to the show. Wasn't it? They should have saved comment about the Virginia Tech tragedy until after the opening theme. It just didn't work.

Well, there you go. This proves I didn't know Martina McBride. I would have guessed that she's a blond. Then again, I guess that every woman is a blond. Always good to be optimistic, The Seer says!

Phil's leading off tonight. Haven't seen much from him in the past few weeks. Wow, who woulda thunk it? After all this, turns out Phil's a country singer! This is an excellent performance. The best he's sounded in about a month. He even looks better than he ever has. A great way to start off the show after last week's dreckfest.

Next up is Jordin, who really has to prove something to The Seer. So far, I think she's the most overrated person on the show this season, along with Chris Richardson and Randy. Just kiddin' dawg, I feel ya. Here's one more thing I feel: this performance. Gotta give the girl props. That was fantastic. Maybe I was wr... Um, I might have been wrrr... I was wrro... Okay, I might have not been exactly correct about her. That was her best performance of the year.

Here we go with the star of the show. Let's face it, watching Sanjaya has been one of the only good reasons to tune in this season. Love her or hate her, she's appointment viewing. Unfortunately, it's usually an appointment for a root canal. Sanjaya and country music? They should go together about as well as Don Imus and The Pointer Sisters. Has anyone else noticed that Sanjaya seems to have aged four years during this season? She's a foot taller than she was a few months ago and her voiced has changed. Is it just me, or did that backup singer Sanjaya moseyed on up to shoot her a look that said, "Dude, come any closer and I'm gonna stick this microphone stand through your pancreas!"? As far as the performance goes, it actually wasn't the worst I've seen. Not very good, but not totally dreadful.

It's time for LaKisha. This chick's been a real tough one to figure out this season. When she's really on, nobody can touch her. But that's only happened once or twice all season. This is a weird rendition of this song. The chorus didn't really have the impact it should have. I don't know if it was the arrangement or the key she sang the chorus in, but something was off. Another disappointing performance from LaKisha. I'm beginning to think that one amazing performance she gave two months ago was an aberration.

What's Chris got for us tonight? You know who he sounds like? Bucky, the hick from last year. TSW thinks he's versatile. Yeah, he's good at sucking at so many different genres. Is he horrible? No. Is he worthy of winning American Idol? Not even close. Compare him to Kelly, Ruben, Clay, Fantasia, Carrie, and even Taylor. He's not even close. I hope he gets VD. Okay, I don't really hopes he gets VD. A real bad case of laryngitis would be nice, though. Then maybe they'll bring Antonella back to take his place! By the way, Simon hit it right on the head. Chris's voice is tinny. That's his major problem. If this guy wins, I'll renounce my Seership.

Melinda's up next. No necklace tonight, but TSW says her neck looks better because her hair is long. Or something like that. I wasn't really paying attention, so to be honest I don't really know what she said. I've started tuning TSW out because everything she says these days is either about cheesecake or hot fudge. Melinda did a great job as usual tonight. She's clearly the only great singer in this competition. She's shone in every genre, and she even looks pretty good tonight. This is going to be one of those seasons like Season 1 where the winner - Melinda - crushes the runner up by a margin of 90% to 10%.

Blake's the anchorman tonight. I really like Blake. As I've said many times, we haven't seen anyone like him on this show. This performance isn't the greatest in Idol history. It's also not the best tonight. But it was good, and it had character. Even though he doesn't have the world's best voice, he always does something unique and memorable.

So who's in tomorrow's bottom three? This is the toughest week of the year to call. Okay, let's go with LaKisha, Phil and Chris, with Chris going home. Sorry, Chris fans. (And if Chris doesn't go home, it's probably because he teared up when talking about his friends at Virginia Tech.)

It's also time for The Seer to make his Final 3 prediction. I think Melinda, Blake and, yes, Sanjaya, will make the Final 3 this year. You heard it here first. There's always a surprise in the top three. Last year's shocker, for example, was Elliott over Chris.

So there you have it. Another rousing edition of The Seer's American Idol Blog. Happy to bring it to you. Now quit bothering me.

-Your Friendly, Neighborhood Seer