Or maybe the chefs weren't allowed to have grills.

I don't see a problem with modifying classics for a challenge like this - just do it well.

At a certain point, though, you're not making a Waldorf salad any more, and you should stop calling it that. It's like when a movie studio buys a book property they don't know what to do with and winds up releasing something totally unrelated to the original source material with the same title - why bother keeping the title if you've completely rewritten the story? All it does is annoy the fans of the original, no matter how good the thing you actually made was.

Or people on epicurious.com who feel the need to review recipes by saying "Well, I used shrimp instead of pork loin and Old Bay instead of chili powder, and I left out the jalapenos, and grilled everything instead of poaching it. I wouldn't make this again."

At a certain point, though, you're not making a Waldorf salad any more, and you should stop calling it that.

This. What you choose to call something leads to a certain expectation. It's like Casey's coq au vin last season. (It was Casey, right?) The judges seemed to think the chicken was good but it wasn't coq au vin. When you do something radical, you run the risk of appearing to not know what you're talking about.

Though sometimes it really is because you don't know what you're talking about. The worst offender ever of clueless chefness (even this TC season's "piccata" is a distant second) was the "cassoulet" on Hell's Kitchen. It was mac and cheese, which isn't even remotely close to cassoulet except for the occasional letters those words have in common.

Random Dancing with the Stars thought.

How is it that the judged never blame anything on the music being off? Despite the good comments from the judges, I didn't think Shannon Elizabeth did a great job with the jive, but jeebus, the band may have been the worst I've ever heard them.

Feh.

Ms. Dolly Parton!!!! Whoooooooo!

Fabulous boots. So much love for her.

Paula going for the hair. At least she's right, you can finally see his face. I like David Cook. I think he's a bit of a grandstander, but I also think he's got a wider range of music he's able to incorporate into his repertoire successfully because he doesn't just try to copy the original.

I'm trying to wait to post until the end because I feel like I'm spamming the thread every Tuesday . . . but it's so hard. Well, actually not so much this week, because, much like the great Simon Cowell, I haven't been blown away by anyone yet, though it's all been quite pleasant. Except Ramiele who was horrible. Again. Some more.

As much as I dislike Kristy Lee because I just, well, dislike Kristy Lee, I do think Ramielle should go. She just doesn't have the chops to hang in there. She's lackluster in comparison to the others.

Oh I like Ramiele, but she's so going home tomorrow. The only way she could avoid it is if Michael Johns were to completely blank on the words in the final spot.

I'm stunned that Syesha chose this song. I tell you. Stunned. Only, not.

And, seriously, I can't even let myself stop to ponder how much Paula makes to babble on this show. Just. No.

Yeah, it's one thing to try to do a Dolly song, but to do one that was redone by another big artist and made even bigger? D. U. M. B.