'American Idol': Too Much Inspiration

A night of supposedly uplifting ballads meant to set up ''Idol Gives Back'' somehow falls flat, although Kristy Lee Cook suddenly seems amazing again.

The annual American Idol charity special had better live up to its name and give back come Wednesday night, because this evening, the show that becomes my obsession for five months a year just took and took and took, and when it had run its 60-minute course, my good mood, my enthusiasm, and quite possibly my sanity had gone missing. All that was left, in fact, were some uneaten mixed greens and a couple of heinous trout bones on a dinner plate (et tu, grocer?), along with the unsavory task of writing words of praise about Kristy Lee Cook.

The weird thing is, I can't even blame the episode's theme, ''inspirational music''; where I'd expected eight consecutive servings of pabulum, the remaining finalists instead offered up a (relatively) decent(ish) assortment of songs, including unschlocky tracks by Robbie Williams, Aerosmith, and Carole King. Too bad most of the vocal performances didn't live up to the material.

Read the full article here.