...but I, too, have finally fallen victim.

I am watching 'American Idol'. Really. I can't believe it myself. And like everyone else who watches, we have our favorites too.

Yes, we. I've sucked my children into watching it as well. DH used to call it 'American Idiot' and even he turns an eye towards it from time to time to critique what folks are doing on the show. I'm not sure if he's got solid favorites picked out though, he hasn't said.

We watched part of the show on Tuesday night after the kids were in bed, and I still have it on the DVR so we can see the rest, and I cheated and watched the end of the results show after they were all in bed. Not like I could have escaped it - the radio show that I listen to on the way into work always covers what went on the previous night and it's all over my Yahoo and Google news pages in the entertainment sections.

So, I'm officially bummed that Amanda was eliminated and am shocked, like most of the people I know, that Kristy Lee Cook is still in it. How? Someone tell me how that is possible.

No, wait, don't. I know why. It's a popularity thing. It's just like Simon said the other night - if everyone treated it like a talent contest and not a popularity contest, then we'd probably have David Cook as the winner (and he'd deserve it because he's good). Previous recordings aside, I'd like to see Carly Smithson win it. Or Michael Johns. Or Amand- no, she's been eliminated, but I'd still like to see her win it.

Truth be told, I would have loved to see the final showdown be between Amanda and Carly because I think they both rock. And I don't mean in a rock-n-roll sort of way, although they have shown that they are perfectly capable of that. And I think Amanda's elimination is going to shake some folks up into changing things up a bit in their styles.

So be warned, next week's show might be an utter mess. Not that this week's was fabulous, although I rather liked that version of 'Blackbird' Carly did. Geez, listen to me. I only was going to watch the show out of passing curiosity (and because of a request from A to watch an episode because the kids at school were talking about it and she was curious too) - I didn't plan on making it part of my regular rotation of television.

Seriously. I've sorta watched Idol over the years - the last 5 minutes when Ryan runs the contestants and phone numbers down usually got caught on the DVR when I'd record 'House' or '24'. I always knew who the winners were, or who was dropped from the competition because of hearing it on the radio or because they did something scandalous that caused them to be quietly scooted away as a result. But other than early in the first season, I never watched.

Oh yes, I watched in the first season - I couldn't stand Simon and the auditions so I stopped watching. And this year I didn't pick up until all the auditions were almost over. Oh yes, I think Kyle should have been picked over Colton and I would bet that Kyle would have lasted longer. Maybe not this long, but longer than Colton (who was one of the very first eliminations), but that's beside the point. I fully admit that I am now an AI fan...

...and yes, the Intelligence just might be Artificial on that show