'Idology': Who is the frontrunner? Is Idol trying too hard to make Amber happen?

Credit: TVLine.com

TVLine.com's American Idol expert, Michael Slezak, is back with Season 6 standout Melinda Doolittle for an all-new Idology.

This week, Michael and Melinda discuss what could be the tightest top 4 race in the history of the series. In addition, the hosts debate whether the show is trying too hard to make Amber Holcomb a big deal. Also, could Angie sneak in and win this thing? And what's happened to Kree's finale prospects?

It's a fun, insightful episode as always, so check out the video below via TVLine.com:

Thoughts:

I do feel like the producers are really pushing the Amber agenda, and I wonder to what extent it might backfire on them. I think it's clear they want Candice in the finale, yet I imagine that a vote-splitting scenario could see Candice getting shown the door. Then again, for as many people that assume the endgame, for the producers, is a Candice/Amber finale, there are just as many who insist it's Amber/Kree. This really is the first season in ages where I can't be 100% certain about either half of the final two.

And hey, who knows? It could be a battle between the only two people remaining in the competition who haven't hit the bottom 2: Angie and Candice. And who wins, in that scenario? Statistically, Angie has the edge, given that every Idol winner has won on their first try. We've never had a repeat auditioner like Candice or Amber take the crown. Of course, before this year, we never had an all-girl top 5, so statistics don't really mean all that much in this scenario.

That said, the razor-close nature of this race is exciting, especially when you factor in that the producers still have to find a way to extend the season by a week, since the save wasn't used. That could lead to all sorts of weird voting anomalies if, say, they decide to have no elimination this week, and instead opt to carry over this week's vote totals into next week. A performer whose first week is strong and whose second week is underwhelming could end up with a middling vote total which, at top 4, could be enough to send them packing.

Then again, this assumes that people vote on merit. And far too often, vocal merit has little, if anything, to do with the outcome of a televised singing competition. However, each one of these girls has the vocal chops to be in the final four on merit, which makes this a far more interesting race than it otherwise might have been, since I could easily imagine any one of these girls winning. It might be a harder stretch to imagine Amber winning, given her early bottom 3 placement, but I don't think it's impossible. And that's more than I could say for past seasons, which telegraphed its outcome from the get-go. I initially felt this was one of the most predictable seasons of the entire series; but now that we're down to the wire, I'm beginning to question just how predictable it is.

So what do you think? Are the producers shoving Amber in our faces too much? Is Kree less likely for a spot in the finale? Who is the frontrunner? Sound off in the comments!