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A Train Wreck by Any Other Name

The talent portion of "American Idol" starts now. You know, people who can hit the notes and aren't delusional – or pretending to be, in exchange for some fleeting notoriety.

For the rest of Season Six, "American Idol" turns to live performances. My guess is that ReZoomers like me prefer this phase. (Though it may be thought of as a program for the under-30 set, almost half the audience last season was between 35 and 64.)

Each season of TV's most-watched series has two phases. The just-completed first part emphasizes contestants who sing horribly and act like they don't realize it. This part is aimed at the irony crowd, who watch the show to mock the clueless.

And there are rewards. Two young men were hired as correspondents by late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel right after their televised embarrassments.

It's almost impossible to handicap the field during this phase because the contestants who will go on to potential fame and fortune don't get much airtime. It's about the croakers and the judges' nasty reactions to them.

Idol Hopeful Chris Sligh

Even during mid-February's "Hollywood Round" – when 172 hopefuls selected from nationwide auditions were narrowed to 24 – archly constructed dramas pushed performances aside.

The contestants' family situations took precedent: the Army reservist with a husband in Baghdad, the emotional boy trying to get his mother's attention, the man who missed his daughter's birth to audition, the Indian-American kid whose sister didn't make the cut.

Host Ryan Seacrest pushed the obvious storyline – there's a lot at stake, which creates pressure – with repeated clockwatching, as if we were tuned in to an episode of "24."

The elevator ride to judges' chambers also was a recurring motif, usually ending in tears either way. Misdirection was another method used to create dramatic tension in these highly edited episodes.

"I am sorry to tell you," Simon Cowell said to desperate single mom Lakisha Jones, "you're going to be seeing a lot of us."

And Now For Something Completely Different

Like previous reality giants "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and "Survivor," "Idol" is a multi-generational hit. Remember that last year's winner was a dude with gray hair.

So who's going to win a spot in the recording industry machinery? The guys started out sounding better than the gals, but there's no clear favorite – no Carrie Underwood or Fantasia Barrino making an indelible first impression.

The closest thing is Chris Sligh, who looks like a rag doll and is the 28-year-old son of missionaries. He's popular among his fellow contestants and one of the best singers so far, despite Simon Cowell's words to the contrary.

Now, it's the audience's turn to decide.

Manuel Mendoza is a television, music and theater critic currently co- producing "Stop the Presses: The American Newspaper in Peril," a documentary about the future of print journalism.

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