Adios! ‘Idol’ boots group act, cuts right singer

Lacey Brown may not have been the worst, but she never found her rhythm

After the wackiness of last week’s semifinal round that saw Lilly Scott among the surprising eliminations, it was a relief that there were no big shocks in this week’s “American Idol” voting.

LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 17: (L-R) Contestants Lacey Brown, Paige Miles and Katie Stevens onstage at the American Idol Season 9 Top 12 to 11 Elimination Show on March 17, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Becker/PictureGroup)
8:33 a.m. ET, 3/18/10

It’s hard to argue with Lacey Brown getting sent home, or the judges’ refusal to use their save on her. She wasn’t great this week and never really found her rhythm while on the show. And if she wasn’t really the worst performer this week, she also wasn’t close to being the best.

It would also have been hard to argue withPaige Miles or Tim Urban — the other members of the bottom three — getting the boot. But ultimately there was a reason that both deserved to stick around. Miles had laryngitis Tuesday while she was performing and could still barely talk on Wednesday, while Urban at least tried to do something different by bringing the Stones to Jamaica and getting the reggae vibe going — even if it failed miserably.

Hollywood Masti Masala

Few stand out in long, uneventful ‘Idol’ show

Few stand out in long, uneventful ‘Idol’ show

Besides Magnus, Bowersox and Lynche, everyone else was just kinda ‘eh’

On a night when most of the performers were mediocre, Siobhan Magnus hit all the right notes with her version of the Rolling Stones "Paint It Black."

By Craig Berman

msnbc.com contributor

updated 11:13 p.m. ET, Tues., March. 16, 2010

Two hours is a very long time to commit to a television show. Add the interactivity element to it, as “American Idol” does, and you’re asking viewers to spend their entire after-dinner evening watching relative unknowns cover Rolling Stones tunes, and then pick up the phones to vote and text for their favorites.

Sometimes, that is a lot to ask. Even for a seasoned professional like myself, Tuesday was one of those nights where I looked at the end-of-the-show recap and thought, “Oh, yeah,Casey James did sing something tonight, didn’t he?” These are episodes where everyone blends together unless they really stand out, for good or ill.

So on a night where nobody was terrible enough to be the obvious choice to go home, the question becomes who was memorable enough to rest easy?

Hollywood Masti Masala