Movies: We may not need another Robin Hood remake, but this week’s version starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett — in theaters Friday — actually looks pretty good. It’s written by Brian Helgeland, who wrote one of our favorite movies about knighthood, A Knight’s Tale, as well as action packed movies like L.A. Confidential, Conspiracy Theory and Green Zone and it’s directed by Ridley Scott. That’s good enough for us.

For romantic comedy, Letters to Juliet, with Amanda Seyfried and Christopher Egan, looks sappy and satisfying, and Just Wright, starring Queen Latifah and Common, is saucy and seductive. Or try TiMER, starring Emma Caulfield best known from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which is in limited release in New York starting Friday.

TV: Mid-season shows are pretty much done premiering, but on Monday you can watch the debut of VH1′s newest show Undateable, which is pretty much what is sounds like — you’ll learn all those things that make men “undateable” that they may not be aware of.

We’re also getting to season finale time. Vampire Diaries and Supernatural on CW will be having their finales on Thursday and NBC’s Trauma and Mercy wrap up their first seasons on Monday and Wednesday, respectively. Other finales this week: Private Practice on Thursday, Smallville on Friday and Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters on Sunday. The networks have yet to reveal their full schedules for the coming season — and some of these shows, like Private Practice, are on the bubble. So make sure to watch this week, because it might end up being the series finale!

Also this week, watch the season finale of Saturday Night Live with guest host Alec Baldwin and musical guest Tom Petty. It’s Alec’s 15th time hosting the historic late night show — but can he top Betty White in terms of comedic genius?

Music: If you’ve been really enjoying this season of American Idol (we have our own thoughts) you won’t want to miss this season’s new CD release, out Tuesday. This 10-track album — called American Idol: Season 9 — features a song each from the season’s top 10 finalists, including favorite Crystal Bowersox‘s “Me and Bobby McGee” and just-eliminated Aaron Kelly’s “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing.” Also out on Tuesday, the first mainstream album from Christian singer Jennifer Knapp, one month after she revealed she was gay in The Advocate. The albums title, Letting Go, reveals Jennifer’s feelings on revealing her sexuality and making the move into the mainstream music scene.

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During a conference call with reporters today, Siobhan characterized her unexpected dismissal as “the end of one thing and the beginning of the next…a gateway to all the other things that I’ve aspired to do.” Those things include starring in an opera or Broadway show, like Phantom of the Opera or Jesus Christ Superstar, and working on her acting career. She hopes to one day appear in a “wicked gory horror film” with all the special effects makeup that she finds cool, and maybe collaborate with all her siblings on a project. And, of course, there will be the touring with Idol and recording her own album eventually.

“It’s been such a wild ride,” she added. “It’s not over, it’s just the next chapter. Now I can think even more about what’s next for me, which is hopefully going to be an array of things.”

Siobhan was careful not to pick favorites when asked who she thought had the best chance of winning this season (“I can honestly picture any one of them the winner at this point”) and who she had become closest to during taping (“we’re all so close and they’re all such cool, honest people”), and she spoke fondly about working with former Idol contestant Adam Lambert as mentor. “It’s wicked flattering being compared to him,” she said of Adam. “I respect him so much for his individuality and his presence.”

Now Siobhan heads back to her home on the cape of Massachusetts, where she’ll reunite with her huge family and boyfriend, who she said had been her rock through the Idol process. But is he the one she’s missed the most? “I can’t wait to see my cat, give her a big kiss,” Siobhan said.

(Photo courtesy of FOX)

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True, Lilly gave one of her weakest performances of the season on Tuesday, but we didn’t even consider the fact that America would vote her out. Katelyn, on the other hand, we suspected might go. But that doesn’t mean we have to agree with it. As for the men, Todrick probably sealed his fate by delivering the recently Glee-ified “Somebody to Love” with an almost cartoon-like exuberance, but how Aaron Kelly managed to make it but Alex didn’t will continue to remain one of the greatest mysteries of life.

So, America, that means your top 12 American Idol season 9 finalists are, in no particular order, Didi Benami, Crystal Bowersox, Lacey Brown, Siobhan Magnus, Paige Miles, Katie Stevens, Lee Dewyze, Andrew Garcia, Casey James, Aaron Kelly, and Tim Urban. Who are you rooting for? (For the record, Crushable is on Team Siobhan, until her eventual elimination because that’s how it always goes for the people we root for, on which occasion we will be switching to team Bowersox.)

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If there was any doubt about the last statement, this year — Idol‘s ninth season — has effectively silenced it. Now that original judge Paula Abdul has packed up her crazy and headed home and co-creator Simon Cowell will be following her at the end of the year, the show has to redefine itself. And, judging by the choices they’ve made so far, the next season of the show could veer wildly off the rails.

While Ellen DeGeneres is a great host and TV personality, her role on Idol still doesn’t completely fit because she’s outside the music industry. Sure, she’s there to represent the voice of the common folk, but the common folk’s voice is well-represented already since they get to vote. Randy Jackson may have experience in the music biz, but he has been useless for about seven seasons now, recycling the same “It was pitchy, dawg” and “Girl, you can saaaang”-type comments for every contestant. This year, because the show hadn’t nailed DeGeneres down as a permanent judge by the time auditions started, a revolving door of celebrities took their turn appraising the wannabe singers. Some of the choices — Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne, a Jonas brother — may not have been the most musically gifted, but their popularity on the Billboard charts at least gave them a reason to be on the show.

Now, though, it looks like Idol is desperate. One of the guest judges for this season is going to be … Paula Deen. As in, the Savannah chef who hosts multiple Food Network shows and is known for her unabashed embrace of the deep fryer. We may like a lot of Paula Deen’s food, but there’s absolutely no reason for her to be on Idol. In the past, guest judges always had some kind of connection — even a tenuous one — to the music industry. Guest judges/mentors like Mariah Carey, Burt Bacharach, and Dolly Parton provided both music advice and industry advice to the show’s contestants and provided them with great material to cover on the show. Quentin Tarantino popped in to guest judge on Season 3, and all they could come up with for his connection to music was that he likes to use a lot of it in his movies. We really can’t wait to see what farfetched reason they come up with to shoehorn Paula Deen onto the show — maybe it will be something borderline offensive, like asking her to guest judge on Country Week or something. Because you know what reminds us of Johnny Cash? Paula Deen. Yep. Totally logical. Replacing one Paula with another Paula is TOTALLY SUBTLE, Idol. Surely we won’t be able to tell the difference between the one with the Southern accent and the one who sounds like she’s drunk.

As for the ridiculous rumor the show was going to replace Simon Cowell with shock jock Howard Stern? It seems surprisingly likely now, considering that the producers are embracing their love of stunt casting.

(Photo by WENN)

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It was absolutely stunning. When he was done, Kara DioGuardi compared him – favorably – to Adam Lambert and his way of turning a song around, and I agree to a point but honestly I would compare Andrew’s rendition of “Straight Up” to David Cook‘s defining moment when he sang “Billie Jean” instead. Regardless of the comparison possibilities, Andrew did a fine job indeed and he is currently sitting tentatively in my top spot right now.

I also enjoyed Haeley Vaughn as much last night as I did when she first auditioned. I love all kinds of music but I’m a big country fan so I have a soft spot for her, especially since she’s so good. I loved the way she sang Taylor Swift‘s “Change”.

So long and farewell to Antonio Wheeler, also known as “Skiibo Ski” and Vanessa Wolfe. I won’t miss Skiibo Ski at all, he was incredibly annoying; I WILL miss Vanessa and wish she had picked a better song and performed better.

I wasn’t blown away by Casey James when he auditioned and was actually irritated that he actually removed his shirt like he was hooking or something, but I must confess that he did a great job in Hollywood.

(It makes me laugh the way Kara kind of swoons at the 19 second mark!)

Tim Urban‘s audition would have put me to sleep but he redeemed himself by singing David Cook‘s “Come Back To Me”.

I still don’t know why we never saw Lilly Scott until this week because she’s great!

Round two airs tonight, I can’t wait!

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This season 181 hopefuls walked into that Kodak Theater to stand up and sing. We also finally got to meet Ellen DeGeneres as the newest Idol judge. When she was introduced to the crowd she said that she knows what it’s like to stand up on a stage and try to please a room of different people and that’s what she was bringing to the table.

It was interesting to revisit the names we got to know through the audition rounds and to see if they could stand up as well now as they did then. For example, while Katie Stevens made it through the round with Simon telling her “you’re quite good”, the very annoying Skiiboski did not; Ellen made me laugh when she advised him that he was “too intense” and that there’s a fine line between sexy and scary.

I remembered loving Vanessa Wolfe the girl from the small town who had big dreams, but unfortunately nerves got the best of her and a bad song choice ended her road right then and there. On the other hand, Andrew Garcia blew everyone away with his version of Paula Abdul‘s “Straight Up”. He did a kind of funky acoustic arrangement and it was insanely good – I have to find a YouTube clip of it! Kara summed it up when she said, “That was GENIUS” and naturally he made it to the next round.

There was a whole string of people who didn’t make it through, and it was so fast that I missed a lot of names but I was sad to find out that Amadeo DiRocco didn’t pass to the next round. I had really liked him tremendously during the auditions, both for his voice and his fun personality and it’s a shame that he didn’t do better in Hollywood.

We also saw a series of people who made a fine of example of bad instrument use. Whether they could sing in the auditions or not, the instruments just did really bad things to a lot of people, which was unfortunate. Sometimes I think people need to understand that instruments are allowed, not mandatory.

Luckily, even though Haeley Vaughn chose to play her guitar, she did extremely well. She told the camera that she was very nervous but it didn’t show when she started to sing. Randy called her “interesting” which is sometimes the kiss of death, but this time it worked in her favor and we’ll see her again.

We also saw one of my favorites, Mary Powers, and remembered immediately loving her rock vibe. She brought it to Hollywood too and did a great job. Ellen told her, “you have an amazing voice and you were really into that song.” She’s coming back too.

I laughed at the end of day one when there were four people left and Ellen made them step forward, step back, step forward again, move over, turn around, and then finally said, “Oh you’re all going through!” They joined a total of 46 people who survived day one.

On day two I was disappointed that beatboxer Jay Stone didn’t impress me, and failed to impress the judges as well. Simon said, “That was ridiculous” and Ellen suggested that perhaps something was wrong with him microphone. Alas, poor Jay will not be giving Blake Lewis a run for his money since he didn’t get past the Hollywood round.

We also got to see Lily Scott, and correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think we saw her in the auditions. What a shame too, because she can really sing! She busted out an Ella Fitzgerald song and she was fabulous. Kara summed it up well by saying she REALLY liked her. Although we didn’t see her try out, we’ll see her try to continue on in the next round!

Michael Lynche had an interesting attempt because he spoke to his wife on the phone before going on and found out her water broke – his first child was potentially on the way while he sang! He joked with the judges that his wife would be really upset if he didn’t pull off a victory. Luckily he got that victory!

Justin Williams tried to win the judges over with some keyboards and crooning but it didn’t work out for him. That’s too bad because I think he could have done some nice Jason Mraz but his song choice just wasn’t good. He was cut.

Tim Urban took a bit of a risk by choosing to sing “Come Back To Me” by David Cook. I love David so I wasn’t sure what to expect but Tim did a fantastic job and surprised me. Kara warned him that the chorus was a bit shaky but overall it was “pretty good” and he made it through.

I had high hopes for sweet Maddy Curtis but she just didn’t do well at all, choosing a song that just didn’t fit her voice or style. Simon confirmed that by saying, “That was the wrong song for you” and sadly she was cut. On the other hand Casey James – someone who hadn’t blown me away in the auditions and managed to get through by removing his shirt for Kara and Victoria – blew me away with a great blues song, accompanied by his guitar. Randy said, “I loved that, you’re a really good singer/songwriter” and he will be back in round two.

Taking an even bigger risk than Tim Urban was Didi Benami. She stood up in front of Kara DioGuardi and sang Kara’s song “Terrified”. I really enjoyed it, other than the higher notes, but in general I thought she rocked it. Simon said, “I hate to admit it but I really liked that song.” Didi will be back again.

Closing off the night was Crystal Bowersox singing “Natural Woman” and she did an excellent job. She was so good that the audience even sang backup vocals for her. She had gotten a good luck tattoo earlier in Hollywood and it worked for her because she made it through with Simon adding that she’s “infectious and real”.

The show closed as Simon said, “That’s a wrap.”

Tomorrow we move on to the group performances which are always ripe with drama. Let’s see who can hold it together and survive round two!

Image: Michael Becker / FOX

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TMZ has dug up a lot of information about this contestant. Nicci was adorable in an awkward way but how real was her act? For one thing, Nicci appeared on Fear Factor under the name Nicci Palmeri and said she was from California. She’s also been on Making the Band, Next, and Date My Mom.

Check out the video clip of Nicci as “Nicole” on Making the Band here and then the clip of her on Fear Factor over here.

Hmmm. You’d think by now that people who try out for reality shows would realize that people WILL look them up online and try to figure out who they are! I wonder how far Nicci will make it in Hollywood before the truth comes out.

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Jessica Furney managed to charm Simon Cowell with his own song well enough to get sent through to Hollywood:

I’m still not sure how Victoria Beckham felt to discover that she is Stephanie Fisher‘s fashion icon considering Stephanie’s outfit was as bad as her singing.

I loved Didi Benami’s rendition of “Hey Jude” so much that I had to revisit it. I thought she did a great arrangement.

I still think we should all remember the name Aaron Kelly. Unless he screws up really badly during the Hollywood rounds I think he’s going to be a major contender. He’s young, he has a great voice, a humble background, and he’s a good looking kid. He just might have every young girl in the U.S. dialing the house phone with one hand and text voting with the other.

I can’t wait for Hollywood!

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For instance, we got to hear Jessica Furney who swore she wasn’t sucking up when she chose to sing “Footprints in the Sand” which was co-written by Simon Cowell. Luckily she had a really good, clear voice and got a yes across the board!

We were also introduced to Amanda Schectman who had a rather nice voice, but I found myself phasing out while she sang. I guess I wasn’t alone because all the judges said that she can sing but she has a lack of connection with her audience. She promised to work on it and got four yes votes.

Last season Lacey Brown made it to the top 15 and was nudged out by Megan Joy. She came back and sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” very well and was given a second chance to prove herself in Hollywood with all four judges giving her a yes.

While persevering helped Lacey, it didn’t do a thing for Stephanie Fisher who was auditioning for the SEVENTH time. Seven! After that many tries I think I’d take the hint, you know? She kind of made me think about what it would be like if Paris Hilton tried out for Idol. She massacred “Fever” and Simon said, “With the greatest respect, you have a horrible voice.” Ouch!

Not faring any better was Adrian Chanditchi who, at 6’8″ described himself as a “beautiful man-flower”. He tried to sing “Can’t Help Falling in Love” and it was just really weird. He was such a big man and yet he had this tiny little falsetto voice. He didn’t make it through!

Providing some unintentional humor, we saw Michael Lynch who had a very smooth and kind of sexy voice. I wasn’t the only one with that assessment because both Kara and Kristin were swooning and about three seconds away from drooling. He got four yes votes so we’ll see more of his charm in Hollywood.

Next came some of the heart string stories. First up was Didi Benami who said she was auditioning in memory of her best friend who had passed away four years ago. Didi said her friend was the reason she had the courage to pursue a career in music. She sang “Hey Jude”, a last-minute decision and she did really well. She had a great vibe, nice range, and did a great, unusual arrangement of the song. She got four yes votes right away.

Next up was Aaron Kelly, a 16-year-old who had grown up so poor he was nearly taken by social services until his aunt and uncle adopted him. He sang “The Climb” by Miley Cyrus and it was actually an excellent choice. He had a great country vibe and super tone. I think he could go really far, especially if he appeals to the younger female voters. He was sent straight on through.

We were treated to a strange audition by Kimberly Bishop who made me think of a goth version of Kristen Stewart. She tried to sing Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” but no one liked it. It was really bad, she had a terrible voice. When she was told no she then asked is she could be excused which was … polite but weird. She seemed very out of it throughout the whole thing. I wouldn’t want to accuse someone of being high but let’s say I wouldn’t be surprised.

The final audition was yet another tear jerker of a story with Hope Johnson explaining that although she grew up poor she didn’t know it because she thought everyone went without dinner sometimes. She said at school she would save some of her lunch and bring it home to give to her little brother who would cry because he was hungry. She went on to say that she always just tried to make it through today to get to tomorrow and that music was her escape. Her song choice was “I Hope You Dance” and although she had a really nice voice I was mostly struck by the subtle emotion that she packed into it. She got four yes votes and hopefully won’t ever have to worry about being poor again.

That wrapped up audition rounds and next week we meet Ellen DeGeneres as a judge and the infamous Hollywood round. I can’t wait!

Image: Craig Blankenhorn / FOX

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I’m a sucker for genuinely emotional people too, so I was moved by his tears outside after he made it, talking about how he thought his dreams were over until he got there.

Here’s Kimberly Kerbow who luckily had a good enough voice to back up her strong self-confidence. Lots of teasing and joking regarding Simon’s hair:

(Before it gets to Kimberly you get to see some of the people who didn’t make it through showing how gracious they are…)

I think my favorite feel-good story of the Denver auditions was Danelle Hayes. She had ME tearing up with her emotional chat.

Next I present you with the self-proclaimed “male Mary J. Blige” Kenny Everett:

If Nicci Nix can fly 14 hours to be at an audition then I can dedicate a moment to share her efforts.

She’s ridiculously adorable and very likable but I’m sort of wondering how she’s allowed to audition. Is she American? I guess we’ll find out!

Haeley Vaugh wants to be the first black pop-country artist, and I think her auditions shows she’s off to a good start.

Finally, I apologize for this but if I had to see Bikini Boy, so do you.

Um, yeah.

Last round of auditions air tonight!

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