I definitely liked the "Carly Simon" type girl and the Australian male singer who did "Bohemian Rhapsody" last night. I think both would be good recording artists at least from this early vantage point.

The kid living out of his car is kidding himself and I think the judges are giving him false hope. He is NOT ready to be a professional singer! They must think he would be good for the show, so they let him through after a hideous acapella version of "Stand By Me".

Thank God Paula showed some backbone and dropped the pageant queen before she became a national annoyance like Sanjaya or Antonella last year.

Also, letting the funny fat black guy through was a joke. My wife and I couldn't believe that he made the cut!

Dumping the group thing was a great idea (totally unnecessary) as was the option of including instruments. When the singers were good, it was really nice to see that they could also play something. When they were bad (like the drummer) it was just a funny train wreck to watch.

Last note: Good for Simon when he apologized to "shirt and tie guy" for walking off the stage after his first performance. Admitting to his childish tantrum and scene stealing nonsense was a classy thing to do. Just when I decide that I really do hate the man, he proves me wrong by doing something admirable like this!