"Idol" oustings (*SPOILERS*)

I cannot stress enough that you should not continue reading if you're waiting to watch the show. That being said, I haven't even watched yet, being still at work, but I thought some people looking for a bit of news would be interested. From AP:

SERIOUSLY THERE'RE SPOILERS BELOW -- IN THE VERY NEXT GRAF -- AND I DON'T HAVE TIME TO WHITE THEM OUT. SO STOP READING IF YOU PLAN ON WATCHING AMERICAN IDOL TO FIND OUT WHO WAS KICKED OFF. DO YOU FEEL I'VE DONE ENOUGH WARNING?

NEW YORK -- Four saw the door as American Idol whittled its 24 semifinalists down to 20 Thursday night. Amy Krebs, Nicole Tranquillo, Paul Kim and Rudy Cardenas were cast off by viewers getting their first chance to vote in the top-rated talent contest's sixth season.

The two dozen aspiring singers -- 12 men and 12 women -- who faced off this week had made it through the show's early auditions and last week's tense and tearful opening Hollywood rounds.

Kim, a 25-year-old from Saratoga, Calif., was the first one cut on Thursday after failing to impress even Paula Abdul with his rendition of "Careless Whisper."

"It hurts, man," Kim told Ryan Seacrest. "It hurts."

The elimination of 22-year-old Krebs, who sang Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me," proves that it helps to stand out in the crowd. "She didn't sing that badly, she just didn't make an impression," noted Simon Cowell, who said Wednesday that the Federal Way, Wash., resident had "the personality of a candle."

Cowell also criticized Tranquillo, a 20-year-old from Philadelphia, for her "over-rehearsed" cover of Chaka Khan's "Stay." Abdul, though, had some kind words.

"You're a brilliant vocalist," she told Tranquillo, who was holding back tears. "You really are."

Abdul was also a fan of Cardenas, 28, who is from Los Angeles. She praised his falsetto as "amazing," even though Cowell called him an "OK singer."

Thursday's show also featured a performance by third-season winner Fantasia Barrino, who announced she will star as Celie in the Oprah Winfrey-produced musical "The Color Purple" on Broadway. She will join the show April 10.

I'm sort of annoyed at nearly all of these picks, but more on that later...