Simon who?

Idol has moved on. Onwards and, dare I say, upwards?

That’s right, sports fans, I have fully embraced the new Idol. Sacrilege? Nope, if you’ve watched at all thus far, you’ll know it ain’t. Surprising, right? Like the rest of TV land, I was skeptical on hearing of Simon Cowell’s departure. There was even talk in our house of tuning out entirely. Until now, the show was all about Mr. Cowell. Sans Simon’s acerbic wit and nasty/funny comments, we’d have to focus on- gasp – the contestants.

Shudder….

Out with Simon and in with…Steve-I-Mean-Steven Tyler? Token girl trade from Paula to Cara to…. JLo? What kind of crazy were they speaking over at Fox? Sure the Dawg was still there and while being good for some lingo ‘n smiles, he was hardly the big ticket draw, y’know?

Still, we decided to give ‘er a try. Even if it meant we’d laugh at instead of with before tuning into our regular scheduled PVR programming.

With yellow tickets being offered up like nits at a pre-school, we were disgusted. And yet there was something so…watchable…about the whole thing. Steven Tyler was funny. And charismatic. And kind. Jennifer Lopez was sweet. And generous. And kind. And Randy was constructive. And charming. And kind.

Was this the dawning of a kinder, gentler Idol? It seemed to be. And so we went from waiting for bleeps while ogling JLo’s hair and skin, to investing in the contestants. Such stories!! Welling…OK, weeping… became de riguer. It’s quite a trip from Will Hung, Bush Babies and “Pants on the Ground” to death, depression and disease. Yeah, they went there.

Caregivers, overdoses and refugees. Autism, accidents, and arson. All-singin’, no-dancin’ movie-of-the-weeks. It was relentless.

And it was riveting.

Hollywood week came and went. And a funny thing happened on the way to the Kodak. We got hooked. Again. Then came last week’s jumbotronic extendo-cull, where 24 contestants were mercilessly whittled down to 13. Gone was ginger Geddy Lee lookalike and hugger-extraordinaire Bret. Sent packing was sweet, hamish Robbie Rosen. Karma bit group-night nasties Jordan and Clint in the butt as they got the boot. And overrated ab-man Jovanni was unceremoniously dumped after being given a cringe-worthy second chance.

For the ladies it came down to traders – a couple of hotties, a pair with big hair, and a handful of generic blondes. Lots of doubling up in the girl camp with few standouts. This year it’s all about the boys. White-toothed Paul, Stefano “Tribbiani” and Country – yep, country – Scottie all ranked. Best of all, our family favourites James, Jacob and Casey made it through.

That’s right, family favourites. Some clans have game night. Or pizza night. We have Idol.

And you can too! It’s not too late to jump on the bandwagon of Season 10! Go, Casey, Go!