Brief "Idol" analysis

It's hard -- even having only watched this season -- to not expect some dimwittedness from the voters on Idol. But you can't necessarily fault the decisions they made this week, ousting Antonella, Sundance, Jared and Sabrina in the last set of cuts before the final round.

Obviously, Antonella was way out of her league. That she stuck around as long as she did had more to do with media hype for her, *ahem*, photogenic personality, her cuteness, and, more than likely, votes from Idol haters hoping to crown the worst as the winner. There's no argument from anyone who's watching the show seriously (though there're probably some sad faces around Red Bank Catholic today). Sundance, also, not a terribly big surprise. He rocked his original audition, but never again proved himself as deserving, despite his mediocre appearances over the past two weeks.

The other two oustings, while troubling, can't be discounted as completely crazy. Both Jared and Sabrina deserved to be in the finals (Jared's better than he was this week and Sabrina was amazing on Wednesday). With Sanjaya and Haley both sticking around, you have to feel for these two. (I'd like to point out that I called Sabrina's ousting.) But, that reasoning aside, neither had a true shot at the title -- not with Melinda, LaKisha and Stephanie around. No one does. They could toss half the girls and all of the guys right now. But those who don't belong there will be gone soon enough.