American Idol Ratings Slide Without Sanjaya

American Idol is still the #1 show in America even if the ratings are down compared to last year. Sanjaya's elimination was the highest rated episode of American Idol this year. The ratings of Idols Give Back last Wednesday was down 9% from the previous week.

I think the ratings will bounce back up with the double-elimination on Wednesday. But if we hear another dubious "that's the best vocal in all 6 seasons of American Idol" from Randy, the following weeks won't be so pretty.

Ratings News (MJ's)

Conspiracy theories:

1. Pimp Jordin for the win, then drop Melinda for the shocker.
2. Pimp Jordin for the win, then drop Jordin for the shocker, for Melinda to win.
3. Put Phil Stacey in the final for the shocker. (I'm hoping this will happen. I read that Phil was very nice to Sanjaya last Wednesday.)
4. Eliminate Cake next week for the shocker. And break hearts of women everywhere who will swear they will never watch American Idol again.

My money is still on a Jordin Sparks-Chris Richardson final with Melinda as a Top 3 or 4 shocker. It may not be obvious but Chris seems to be one of the anointed ones since all of a sudden his nasally singing sounded awesome to all three judges last week with Randy proclaiming he's "out there to win". Jordin of course got the "you could win American Idol" comment from Simon himself, and the "best vocal in all 6 seasons" comment from Randy.