Bored. I thought the Jamie/fake immunity idol was dull as dishwater. By the time she made it to tribal, it seemed clear that she was 99.9% convinced that it wasn't an idol and just played it in a "What the hell? Just in case." kinda way. And then Probst, being the he-man, woman-hater that he is, decided to make a big stink about it. Crazy Dave? Swear to bejeebus that I did not even remember who he was when he first came out. And then when they showed the naked thing, I just thought Hatch did it first and did it better. James was very, very pretty. But this was a man who had not one, but two idols and couldn't find a way to make that suspenseful in any way. Aaron? Who? Sherea? Who? WWE girl? Had totally forgotten her until she showed up again. And the end pre-ordained from the time of the merge.

So. painfully. bored.

both Todd and Courtney had great jury performances, some of the better ones I've seen anyway. While Amanda had a crap-tastic jury meltdown. (And now I have to love PG just a little bit for calling her on the doe-eyes!)

I totally agree with this. I'd say I was pro-Amanda before the jury but she really didn't do herself any favors there. And, before the jury, I would have put good money down on Courtney getting zero votes. The minute it ended, my housemate and I knew she had pulled in at least one or two.

I think it was a pretty good season, although I hate the concept of the immunity idols and how they work.

I really would like to see a twist that makes it more about surviving. It just doesn't seem like people have any real incentive to keep the workhorse/survivalist/strongman and you end up with people like Courtney in the finale. For example, I would love to have them know upfront that they weren't merging, or that they had to live with the jury members after being voted off. Anything that would really change the game from the standard "get an alliance of four, vote off the strong people around merge-time" that it has become.

or that they had to live with the jury members after being voted off.

Oooh. That could be fun! I agree that they need to shake things up some. The immunity idol hardly ever pays off. (Hi, Terry. I'm talking to you!)

Is anyone watching the Clash of the Choirs show?

Ooh, no, but I meant to. Is it any good?

Did anyone else watch America's Next Great Band? We've been kvetching about it at the music store for its whole run. It conveniently aired on Friday nights before our Saturday morning lessons.

I watched Clash of the Choirs. It was too much filler for me, but the four choirs were actually not bad. Patty's choir blew the other ones out of the water, though. They broke it the hell on down.

The "judging" was less than useless.

On the whole, I am bitter that this is taking my Heroes timeslot.

The judging was useless, and I really think the competition is going to come down to "which charity pulls the American heartstrings the most." I mean... sick babies! homeless people! cancer victims! battered women! soldiers and their families! It's tug-a-palooza.

I was least impressed with Lachey's choir. I thought Shelton's was surprisingly good, and Rowland's was ok. At this point, though, Bolton's choir is my favorite. I don't know if it's just the particular arrangement, but I thought theirs was both the most aurally interesting and the most "choir"-like. I can't deny that Patty's choir broke it down like a fraction, but much like fractions, there was nothing there I haven't seen before. A pair of strong sopranos and not much for everyone else to do does not a choir make.

ION, I can't even believe I care this much.

Well, I wasn't expecting Patty's choir to be other than a fairly strong church choir, which is usually a couple of really strong sopranos and other folks who can carry a tune. It was all very Patty-fied.

I thought Nick's was by far the weakest choir, too.

It was all very Patty-fied.

This = very true. They weren't terrible, by any stretch. I'm just... a choir nerd. They all had very different vibes, which made it hard for me to pick a favorite.

I'm predicting Lachey's will go tonight.

I didn't see it, except for the two-minute summation before Journeyman came on, but the whole thing was vastly outside any experience I've ever had in a choir. Unsurprisingly.

It's like Sister Act 2 (Nun Whoopi builds a choir out of poor inner-city kids including Lauryn Hill and JLoHew), where they go to a state choir competition and there are spotlights and gospel robes and a ceremonial butchering of "Ode to Joy."