American Idol/Top 6: In The Spirit of Sally Struthers.

Last week's theme was "Idol Gives Back" and the Idols were supposed to sing feel-good songs that would inspire us to give back to those less fortunate. Last week's other theme was recovering in the aftermath of Hair-i-cane Sanjaya and to show us that the Idol can go on.

In truth, last week's show was another boring episode of the Idols trying to inspire us to good and Simon and Ryan traipsing around poor neighborhoods in Africa, which I guess is one big borderless entity, since the show failed to mention any of the countries they were in. Chris started off with "Change the World," which is one of my most favorite songs ever. I guess he and Simon kissed and made up after the big nasal debate because Simon was all about Chris's performance, calling it "sexy" and "soulful." I thought it was pretty good, and he got my vote, although I kind of wished I had voted for Melinda instead.

I think Melinda is finally coming to her senses and actually picking songs from the last 15 years as opposed to the last 30 years. She sang a Faith Hill song ("There Will Come A Day") and is starting to live up to her diva-dom, especially after Simon told her last week to cut it out with the "surprised" look. Lakisha, on the other hand, seems to heading for a train wreck. She belted another stupid song ("I Believe") that Fantasia only improved somewhat when she sang it by giving it the ghetto scary-Fantasia treatment.

Blake was ok. He shouldn't have sung "Imagine". Really, that song is more famous for the identity of it's singer. Blake's performance was sincere, but that song should be most notable for being one of the most boring ones ever written. Phil and Jordin were pretty boring too, only being memorable for Jordin again being so good that she makes herself cry.

My votes:

Best Performance: Melinda Doolittle. I voted for Chris, but I was biased because I love that song so much that Chris sang. In retrospect, I should have voted for Melinda.

Worst Performance: Lakisha. Doesn't she realize that the none of the former Idols' songs are really any good?

Most Improved: Jordin Sparks. Because Randy called her performance one of the best vocals in Idol History. A sentiment, I HIGHLY disagree with. Jordin's performance really did not resonate with me at all.