Entertainment

10:36 AM CDT on Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Before we get to the singers, let's discuss the most entertaining part of Tuesday night's Idol: the chick in the front row. OK, we have no proof that Paula Abdul was on something; maybe she's just really, really moody. Lots of sober people burst into tears for no particular reason, right? No? Well, Paula did. Conclusions will be drawn.

The gang of six tackled love songs, but only two did so admirably. One singer will be shown the door tonight – and one judge is probably in for a talking-to.

1. Chris Daughtry: Before he performed "Have You Really Ever Loved a Woman," Andrea Bocelli had him lie on his back and sing it. Hey, whatever works, and that worked beautifully.

2. Paris Bennett: The chameleon of the bunch transformed herself to tackle "The Way We Were" with gusto. She smiled through some of the lines that are supposed to be painful, but that's OK. As Mr. Bocelli put it, "She has an instrument that is absolutely incredible."

3. Elliott Yamin: He should have chosen a love song that people have heard of, instead of hoping to bring Donny Hathaway's tune "back to the forefront." Maybe you should worry about yourself and your votes right now, big guy.

4. Katharine McPhee: Big points for style (sultry gown, sultry hair, sultry glances at us at home), but tiny points for singing. All she did was prove that her voice doesn't measure up to Whitney Houston's.

5. Taylor Hicks: It's official: He needs to move around all crazy-like to be entertaining. This is something Taylor probably figured out years ago.

6. Kellie Pickler: "Get your earplugs out," she said while rehearsing her "Unchained Melody." But did any of us heed her warning? No. And we suffered because of it.

Darla Atlas