Last night, American Idol entered the Hollywood round, otherwise known as the period when the show actually becomes watchable, yet the ratings drop off.
Probably the biggest watercooler argument from last night’s culling was the fact that Katrina “Bikini Girl” Darrell advanced to the next round. Personally, while she annoys the hell out of me, the decision was probably justifiable. There’s no way I can imagine her contending for the final, but the dirty secret of the early part of American Idol is that you know early on only a handful of people have an actual shot at winning, which means you have to round out the semifinals and finals with cannon fodder. If some of that cannon fodder provides highlight-reel arguments between Simon and Kara, who’s to blame them? (EW has an extensive recap of last night here.) Do you have any favorites yet, or is it too early to start getting invested?