American Idol, Season 9, Episode 4: Orlando auditions

Oh, Kristen Chenoweth. I could sit here and sing your praises forever. You are cute and quirky. You almost always dress appropriately, and I've never seen you out and about making an idiot of yourself. Plus, you have the prettiest blue eyes that remind me of my own sweet Cathryn's pretty blue eyes. The thing I most want to praise about Kristen, though, is that she isn't a celebrity.

That's right. Kristen Chenoweth is a singer, and that's what American Idol needs more of. Real singers, not just characters. As a judge, she was right on target, because guess what? She knows music and she knows singing. I loved hearing her say things like "tone" and "range" and "register", because those are terms that singers know and use. I thought she was upbeat and positive without talking down to the contestants. I enjoyed her so much, and wish she could have been in Orlando for both days.

Last night's episode was much better than Tuesday's, based on sheer talent alone. Yes, there were elements of the ridiculous, as there always are (I done split my pants!), but I felt like we saw many more good performances than bad. As I said before, I'm not going to bother learning their names until after Hollywood, because we won't see most of these people again. That being said, I really, really liked Father of Autistic Child. I'm with Kara--I could see him making Top 12.

Next week, we travel to Los Angeles, where Avril Lavigne (boo!) and Katy Perry (yay!) will be our guest judges.

Toodles!