American Idol in Atlanta

American Idol found Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia Barrino and Clay Aiken in three previous trips to Atlanta. So, the city has talent, right?

Not so much talent as great slapstick comedy

Eva Miller is not the next great talent to come out of Georgia. Her audition is, however, one of the funniest things I've ever seen. It's hard to judge whether it was intentional or not, but the slow motion slip-fall that ended with Eva on her back, chicken legs in the air (and letting out a surprised "whooooop!" on the way down) left me gasping for air.

I think I rewound it about a dozen times (nearly killing my roommate in the process). It was just too good. Whether she was just overconfident and clumsy or putting on an act hoping it would send her through despite her atrocious vocal stylings, Eva is thus far my favorite terrible audition this season. Thankfully, the judges were having none of it and sent her and her ridiculous antics packing.

Their judgment through the rest of the day, in my humble opinion, wasn't as solid. I've heard rumblings that the judges are a lot kinder than they have been in the past, and that Idol itself is focusing a lot more (some would argue too much) on contestants' backstories.

Pageant Queen Brooke Helvie made me physically recoil. If she's not the bubbly, blonde, air-headed president of the Delta Delta Delta sorority at University of Florida next year...

Here's the thing, though. She DID prove that a pageant girl could sing (though it was a bit overdone) but she also proved that she had the IQ of styrofoam...marveling that she just said "I doo-doo American Idol" didn't help with that. No way she's making it into the final 24.

That seemed to be the theme for the night, though. Was the talent REALLY that bad in Atlanta or did Idol just not show the very best auditions? If the former, fine...just don't give out tickets to the people that aren't very good. If the latter - WHY?! I understand showing the very worst auditions, but shouldn't we get to see the very best as well? Don't try to placate me by showing me middle-of-the-road talent that makes it through on a quirk or a good sob story...I want to see the good stuff in the first round too!

Josh, the guy with the crazy eyes who loves glass-cutting just a little too much for my comfort, did a good job with an awesome Queen song, but they had to make him sing with his back to them. Really guys? Really? He's not making the top 24 either unless he learns to not freak Simon out.

Asia'h Epperson...I don't even know where to begin. Her dad died 48 hours before she auditioned...and she did it anyway. I was terrified (I'll be honest, I almost couldn't watch it) that she would be awful and I'd have to watch the judges try to let the poor, grieving girl down gently. Stuff like that (and I wouldn't necessarily put it past Idol producers) is why I avoided the show for so long.

Thank god, she was damn good (and probably would've been even better if her voice hadn't cracked with emotion several times while tying to get through "How Do I Live?" by Leann Rimes).

Your dad WOULD be proud, girl.

The last kid, though...Josiah. Yes, it's sad that you live in your car (though it was techically your own choice) and are a lonely, 18-year-old nomad. You have my sympathy. However, your audition sucked, dude. That weird vibretto, singing your own song...I wasn't digging it at ALL. I have absoltuely no earthly idea how you managed to hoodwink Randy, Paula (well, okay, those two aren't as hard to believe) AND Simon into passing you to the next round. Ugh.

Maybe it's time to beg momma to let you come home.

Tonight is supposed to be "the best of the rest." Well...we'll see. I, personally, can't wait to see what happens in Hollywood.