Lisa goes home on a surprising ‘Idol’ night

The night could not have gone more differently for the two contestants widely considered to be in the most trouble on "American Idol" on Wednesday.

Lisa Tucker finally ran out of chances. Bucky Covington may be around for awhile.

Tucker, the 16-year-old who finished among the bottom three vote-getters every week of the finals, was finally sent home. That was the least surprising part of the night; Tucker nodded expectantly as host Ryan Seacrest told her she was in trouble again, and gave a calm "Whatever happens, happens," when she was among the bottom two onstage.

Her night typified her performance on the show in general. She was nice, wholesome, said all the right things and yet somehow failed to inspire people to cheer for her. Simon Cowell called her the best 16-year-old the show had ever seen at her first audition, then seemingly never had a nice word to say about her again. She never caught fire and never found her niche, though clearly anyone with the stage experience that she already has as a teenager doesn't need to worry about a future of painting cars or slinging hamburgers.

Covington, who's been the last-ranked survivor twice already, not only avoided the bottom three entirely, but also found out that the show's theme for next week would be country music — the one style he can sing. For the 28-year-old, it was like Christmas morning, or winning front-row seats to a Tim McGraw concert.

He's already stayed in the race a lot longer than people expected and now has a great chance of lasting a little while longer. He can't win this competition, but it's looking like he this year's Scott Savol — the contestant who sticks around week after week while most of America scratches its head and wonders, "Who on earth is voting for this guy?"

Predictably unpredictable
The great thing about "American Idol" is that even its unpredictability is predictable.

Every season, at right about this time, there seems to be a week of uninspiring performances that cause a lot of viewers to change the channel, read a book, or go straight to bed instead of burning up those phone lines to make sure their favorites all come back next week. The result is a cranky host, petulant judges, and someone in the bottom three who shouldn't be there.

Last season, it was Bo Bice who found himself with the second-fewest number of votes in an early week, as the annual "Broadway" night got people calling for half-priced show tickets in New York instead of picking up the telephone to vote. Fantasia finished in the bottom three early in the third season before winning it all, as did Ruben Studdard in the show's second season.

This week's theme of "songs from the 21^st century" didn't bring out many inspiring performances, and frankly the 10 finalists are lucky that people voted at all. Shakira and Wyclef performed "Hips Don't Lie" on Wednesday's show. It's a good thing they didn't perform on Tuesday. They were both provacative and entertaining, got the audience involved, and pretty much epitomized the standards that they've both already set. The 10 "Idol" finalists are still a long way from reaching those heights. The contrast might have sent viewers scrambling for the remote to find some actual talented singers rather than putting up with the Idol wannabes.   

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The contestants should be grateful that actual modern pop stars don't often appear perform live on the show. Chris Daughtry has sounded great so far with his rock style, but he sure doesn't want to take the stage right after the band Live. Kellie Pickler wants no part of a stark comparison to Faith Hill, nor does Paris Bennett to Beyoncé.  

Clearly Tuesday's show didn't inspire a large number of votes, because Ryan Seacrest didn't announce the total at the beginning of the show as he usually does. And those who did vote must live within a 30-mile radius of Rockingham, N.C., since that's the most logical explanation for how Covington stayed out of the bottom three.

No McPhee-ver?
Instead it was Katharine McPhee who, seemingly out of nowhere, finished with the second-fewest number of votes. The 21-year-old wasn't nearly close to being as good as Christina Aguilera — as Simon suggested she was on Tuesday — but she was certainly strong enough not to be stressed out. Still, they sat her in the back row with the also-rans, which meant she had a good view of Mandisa, Daughtry, Picker, Bennett and Taylor Hicks being given their safe-conduct passes with no drama at all.

When Elliott Yamin got the good news as well, that left four finalists left for the three bottom slots. Tucker was next, and her fate was no surprise. Ace Young followed, and was also in the bottom three. That left McPhee and Covington, and most viewers probably thought that this was just another case of the producers making McPhee sweat before giving her good news.

Not this time. And she didn't even get to sit back down right away, as Young was sent back to safety first. She gave a nice answer when Seacrest asked her how she was feeling, talking about God's plan for her. Her facial expression made it clear, however, that she was very skeptical that that plan called for her to be getting the boot so soon, especially as her roommate Pickler sang a lot worse and skated through anyway.

Finally, she got her reprieve. Some have survived such a scare and gone on to win the competition. Most tend to find themselves living dangerously every week thereafter and bowing out sooner than later. She and Young will need to be very strong next week, since with the country theme right off Covington's wish list, it's anybody's guess as to who the most vulnerable contestants are.

Craig Berman is a writer in Washington, D.C.