Oh yeah--it's entirely possible that since it was a franchise, he as the CEO could only strongly suggest to the franchise owner that the guy be fired.

That said, I'd have been a lot happier if he dealt with the guy better in the post-job interview bit, and if instead of just "Gee, this guy is awful and the girl was great!" he considered whether maybe there needed to be some CORPORATE-WIDE retraining. Much like his publicity campaign with the hot girls, but more urgent and lawsuit-preventing. Ahem.

Oh my goodness. This Katie girl never found the pitch. They use "pitchy" every other minute but they don't break it out now? Wha? The judges must really, really want her on the show because they totally soft pedaled how awful that performance was.

Siobahn - House of the Rising Sun. Unofficial season 9 anthem. And she's on pitch. After starting acappela. In this, the season of suck, I'll take it. I enjoyed her. She's quirky and fun.

That episode aired how many weeks ago and I still get ragey when I think about it. I guess that means it was "compelling tv", but it compelled me to not watch any other episodes (at least so far).

Lacey/The Story - I hate this song, so we're already off on the wrong foot. And she's bringing the nasty, whispery voice with the weird breathiness and baby sighs. And it's still off pitch, she's sharp all over the place. And the judges are just lying to her straight up. Yick. Hate this girl.

Katelyn/I Feel the Earth Move - interesting song choice. It hasn't been done to death on the AI stage. Weird pacing on the song and she seemed a little bit flat the whole way through. And I agree that she didn't really vibe with the song. It was just kind of there. But at least she can sing.

On another note, shut up, Judge #4. For the love of god.

I'm behind you Kat and haven't seen it yet, but everyone on this show is too young for that song.

Didi/Rhianon- Great song choice. Finally. Oh, I'm really enjoying this. She's singing it like her, not like a Stevie Nicks clone. This girl has a really interesting voice. I'm loving her tonight after a couple of weeks of feeling "Eh." And she looks much better. I'm not a huge fan of the one shoulder, but the color is sparkly on her. Delightful.

Paige/Smile - Weird song choice. And what's with all the goat voice vibrato? Wow. There goes any hope for a black girl in the Top 12 this year. It was awful. I didn't get that choice at all. Terrible, terrible.

Crystal/Gimme One Reason - This girl is the truth. She can blow. And she also is singing the song like herself and not like a Tracy Chapman clone. Fun. Loving the Mamasox!

Lily/I Fall to Pieces - Crazy ass song choice. And she sounds like ass. She's missed the final note of every phrase. Patsy Cline songs are so hard to sing. They will kick your ass. Were the judges even listening? Why are they even here? Now with extra added useless.

Top 6: Mamasox, Siobahn, Didi, Katelyn, Lily, and I don't care who else. I guess Katie was the least bad of the bunch.

Still not feeling anyone but Crystal, who is the only one whose name I know so far.

"Rising Sun," "Rhiannon," and "I Fall to Pieces" were interesting/decent.

Loved Crystal, liked Siobhan, I have a serious hate developing for Lilly and Lacey. Lilly MURDERED Patsy. I also don't like Didi - she was whiny again. (Also, *that* song is Rhiannon? I totally never knew that.)

I think Paige and Lacey or Katie will probably go. Paige was the only one I couldn't get though - when the Bossanova beat started, I stopped.

I like Lilly a lot, but that wasn't the right song for her. I did like what Didi did with "Rhiannon" -- it was different, but not too different, and she sounded really good. I don't like her as much as Siobhan, though. Siobhan's great, really herself, and what a great voice.

Crystal's my girl, though. She's wonderful.

I just wish they would tune down the backup singers a bit. I know they probably want each song to sound performance-grade for the TV audience, but I don't want to hear them, I want to hear the contestant.