Analysis: Sun (finally) sets on Scott's 'Idol' journey

Scott MacIntyre is a happy guy. In fact, he was probably the nicest, most personable finalist to appear on Idol this season. That said, like last week there was really no other option for who was to be sent home.

After weeks of offering up very similar song choices and performances at the piano, Scott finally tried something different as a result of Paula's nudging of him to step out of his comfort zone. Looking back, he probably still would have left had he gone with the piano on "The Search Is Over" rather than the gimmicky guitar, so the blame really can't be pinned on anyone but him and his vocals.

As for the seemingly endless discussion among the judges to decide whether or not Scott was worth their powerful save option, there is no way two of them were actually willing to use it. It had to be all for show, to ratchet up the drama factor and to give Scott that much more hope that he'd have another week. One thing I noticed was Randy seemed to be really detached from the rest of the judges, as he was sitting behind Simon and Paula during Scott's final performance and really had nothing to say when it was time to make a decision.

By the way, what was up with the judges and that photoshopped "baby photo" of Simon and Paula? That was a waste of time. But what was an even bigger waste of time was Frankie Avalon's surprise performance to make Simon feel old about turning 50 this year. The guy walked out from behind those big doors looking eerily similar to what Ryan will probably look like in 50 years and proceeded to shuffle around the stage. At least half of the audience (probably closer to two-thirds) had no idea who he was or why he was there. In fact, I still have no idea what he was doing there. All I know is it was a waste of time.

Speaking of wastes of time, last night's guest performers were both on the average-to-awful side, as Flo Rida had more fun stripping on stage than he did singing along to his "Right Round"'s catchy hook and Kellie Pickler was more interested in flirting with the judging than churning out a respectable vocal. Flo's typical rapper schlock ("R.O.O.T.S. in stores now!") when he chatted with Ryan (who was trying to act too cool, by the way) post-performance was just another anchor on his appearance on the show.

Getting back to the results for a moment, the other Bottom 2 dweller was Anoop, which did not come as a huge surprise. It looks like unless he can score the pimp spot next week and pull off an amazing showstopper, his time may be up soon. Lil, on the other hand, will get a kick in the pants to finally listen to what the judges have been trying to tell her for weeks and she will turn the advice into a golden performance as long as she does not go for a "I Will Always Love You"-like performance for next week's "Songs of the Cinema" theme.

Another Ford music video was upstaged by its behind the scenes featurette that preceded it, as seven of the finalists had to pretend to enjoy dressing up like magicians, putting sparkles on their faces and singing along to Britney Spears' "Circus" (no surprise on who the one finalist that enjoyed the whole production was). The amount of footage of Scott in the behind the scenes video was a dead giveaway as to who would be leaving, as he had never been included that much in any off-site group video package.

As for IDOL LIVE's predictions, I am now 0-6 with my original predictions because I had Alexis going home originally and, well, she left in 11th place a few weeks back. I'm doing much better on my pre-results show predix, though, as I correctly called Scott leaving last night. Therefore, my record has improved to 3-6 in that predicting category. I was off on who would be joining Scott in the B2, though, as I had Kris in there over Anoop, and I had Anoop in third-to-last rather than Lil. But oh well, as long as the end result is the same.

As mentioned upstream, next Tuesday the Top 7 will have to master "Songs of the Cinema" and endure re-listening to Miley Cyrus' taped performance of "The Climb" from a few weeks back. Awesome!