SueTube – Let’s talk TV with critic Susan Young

Hey, where would those singers be without the people who write the songs?

Now, “American Idol” producer Simon Fuller is asking for potential hit makers to join the American Idol Songwriter competition, giving Idol fans their first chance to write the next American Idol’s hit single.

Additional details and online submissions, which open today, can be found at www.americanidol.com

Fuller and his 19 Entertainment A&R staff will select the initial Top 20 songs from all the entries. Beginning May 2, fans will then be able to go online, listen to and vote for their favorite songs.

The song chosen by the nation will then be performed live in front of millions of viewers on the season’s finale.

But that is only the beginning.

The song will be recorded and released by this year’s American Idol. The winning songwriter will receive a music publishing deal with 19 Entertainment; a cash advance on royalties; and the thrill of watching their song belted out by “American Idol” finalists on the show’s final episodes.

Key Dates for American Idol Songwriter Competition

April 4 – Launch contestant submission phase on

April 17 – Submission phase ends

May 2 – Online voting commences

May 8 – Online voting closes

May 22 – The songwriting winner announced on American Idol finale

At least we know who is in the top, middle and bottom of the “American Idol” competition.

Tonight, Gina Glocksen, Haley Scarnato and Phil Stacey all landed in the bottom. Phil got the first reprieve. I thought he sang better last night, and I think that saved him.

Then it came down to the rocker and the wannabe Vegas show girl.

Apparently, Haley’s scheme to keep viewers interested with her revealing wardrobe just begging for a malfunction is working.

Voters ousted Gina, who was significantly better last night than Haley. At least Gina got a chance to do a sing-off.

It was more than we got from Tony Bennett, whose bout with a cold led to the legendary singer’s no-show. He was replaced by the next generation of crooners, Michael Buble.

Michael managed not only to wow the crowd with his singing, but also with his joke on former contestant Antonella Barba.

“American Idol” let viewers know who was in the first tier, and it came as no surprise to see LaKisha Jones, Melinda Doolittle and Jordin Sparks on top.

That left boy singers Chris Richardson, Blake Lewis and Sanjaya Malakar planted firmly in the middle.

Can it be that Sanjaya’s time can be coming close to the end?

Let’s say some big radio jock _ we’ll call him Howard Stern _ decides he’ll mess around with the biggest show on TV.

Can he really muck up a show dependent on American voting, a show we’ll call “American Idol”?

Producer Ken Warwick says no way in Hades.

With close to 40 million votes cast each week, Warwick says the impact anyone like Stern has on the program is “minimal.”

“There’s very little hype anyone could do that would affect the vast number of votes cast, even if all of Howard Stern’s audience cast votes,” Warwick ays. “The gap above and below Sanjaya (isn’t affected by Stern).”

So, Sanjaya is doing this all on his own merits?

“Say what you may, but he’s a good looking kid and young girls like him,” Warwick says. “He’s not as bad as everyone makes him out to be. Part of this business is communicating with your audience and he does that. If the American public likes him enough to put him up at the end, it’s out of my hands. We always have one or two contestants that shine for reasons you think they shouldn’t, but it’s part and parcel of the show.”

Chris Sligh, who was voted out last week, says he thinks people are coming down too hard on Sanjaya.

“I think that people underestimate Sanjaya. I think that Sanjaya is actually a very good vocalist,” Sligh says. “I have a lot of respect for him. I do not envy his position at all. He’s a very, very sweet kid and he’s just 17. I think that he gets a bum rap.”

Warwick says that people might be surprised at how fluid the weekly results are, with so-called front runners often ending up near the bottom of the mix.

LaKisha Jones and Melinda Doolittle aren’t necessary shoo-ins just because he and others believe they are the best singers on the show.

“Last week, there was someone who was second that the week before was ninth or 10th. They move around like no tomorrow,” Warwick says. “It depends on their performance (that week). Some grow through the series. It’s always the way that the winner comes up in the competition and was not there (in the top) from the beginning.”

Which bodes well for someone like Jordin Sparks.

Warwick says in the history of the show, there has only been one contestant who was always the favorite who ended up winning the entire competition.

Fantasia.

“America normally gets it right in the end, and I’m confident that Sanjaya will not be the `American Idol,’ ” Warwick says. “(If he does), it’s because the American public wants him. (`American Idol’ has always been) the story of a journey of somebody who started out with nothing and ended up a huge star.”

J.J. Abrams has long professed his love of “The Twilight Zone” and, while he didn’t write this week’s episode, you knew this had to have his stamp of approval.

Creator Damon Lindelof has said that some characters only exist to serve other characters, and that seems to be the fate of Nikki and Paulo.

On one hand, we had the little “Zone” homage about how this wicked couple pays dearly for their crimes. On the other, we have another view of the events that have unfolded since the crash.

But what I thought was the most significant scene was between Ben and Juliet in the hatch, monitoring Jack and plotting how to get Jack to do the surgery on Ben.

Paulo knew that Jack, Kate and Sawyer would be kidnapped by The Others. Interesting.

Nikki stumbles out of the jungle, falling down in front of Sawyer and Hurley

In any event, the episode ended in typical “Twilight Zone” fashion with the two getting buried alive – a just punishment for two murderers.

And now we’ll find out how Sawyer, and Charlie, will pay for their role in kidnapping Sun after Charlie confessed all to Sun.

Sun slaps Sawyer after finding out he is the one who kidnapped her.

Next week, Sawyer gets slapped with the reality of being selfish, while Kate and Juliet spend some quality time together.

The week after, Jack returns to the Lost tribe and brings Juliet with him.

I don’t trust Juliet, and I think she’s still playing a game on Jack with the help of Ben. But maybe that’s just me.

Let’s discuss.

So it’s bye-bye Mr. American Idol Sligh.

Chris Sligh, the only other guy outside of Sanjaya to bring any kind of non-singing sparkle to the show has been given the hook.

Haley Scarnato (L) shows a sigh of relief after Chris Sligh (R) is eliminated on AMERICAN IDOL Wednesday

Sligh man, why oh why did you try to do No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak”? It was a song obviously beyond your reach. We’ll miss you, and your saucy style.

And yes, we heard you when you loudly whispered to Phil Stacey that he owed you 50 bucks. Apparently, Phil believed he was set to go before you did.

Don’t worry Phil. There’s always next week.

As for the Sanjaya freight train, or should I say fright train?, it’s still going strong. We don’t mind if he stays on the show while the bottom and middle rung people are voted off.

Please, just stop the insanity before we get to Melinda, LaKisha, Jordin, Blake and even Chris.

Last night, Simon looked at Sanjaya and said, “It doesn’t really matter what we say anymore.”

That’s right Simon. The Sanjaya train is on the track and barrelling through this competition.

So I’ve decided to take another view of Sanjaya. To tell you the truth, without the Sanjaya factor, it would be a rather dull season.

Mr. Pony-Hawk has little singing talent, but he’s great when it comes to entertainment.

PONY BOY

First, let’s say how great Gwen Stefani was last night. She looked fabulous (where can we find that top?) and her comments were spot on. She gave a little shrug when it came to Sanjaya. She knows he’s become the clown in the circus.

GWEN LOOKED GREAT

And she acknowledged that both Melinda and LaKisha don’t really need her help, although I think everyone can use a little Stefani in their life.

I still love Melinda’s voice, but her aw-shucks attitude is getting a little stale. Embrace your talent and go a little diva. Time to shed the meek and start adding some dazzle.

And LaKisha needs to get some personality into her performances.

If you want to put a little more Sanjaya into your life, check out www.sanjayafannetwork.com.

Web master Clint says “ It was designed with the hopes that we can all influence American Idol and make an otherwise dull season more interesting and perhaps see if Simon Cowell will really quit.”

I don’t want Simon to quit, but a little tweaking is always fun.

If “American Idol” was really a singing competition, then Sanjaya would have gotten the boot tonight.

His performance on Tuesday of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” wasn’t even good enough for an elementary school talent contest. When he reached up high and squatted down low, it’s was cookie-tossin’ time.

So who got bumped tonight?

The bottom three were called out: Sanjaya, Phil and Brandon.

We had no problem with the voters’ bottom three until the person being elminated was called out and it was Brandon.

Well, at least Sanjaya didn’t forget the words the way Brandon did on Tuesday. Brandon was one of the early bright lights who dimmed significantly as he constantly made poor song choices.

BRANDON ROGERS

Good-bye Brandon. Would that it was Sanjaya we were bidding adieu.

“Survivor” is getting too painful to watch.

It’s one thing to plop wanna-be Trumps into backyard tents on “The Apprentice.” It’s quite another to watch starving people get weaker and weaker while another team just keeps getting fatter and more smug.

Perhaps things will change when “Survivor” returns on March 21 (it’s getting bumped for basketball).

But this past week’s show was agonizing to watch. When an intellectual like Yau Man can’t even remember numbers and words in a match game, you know that the lack of nourishment is taking its toll.

Michelle looks like she can barely make it through the day, much less compete in challenges.

Starvin’ Michelle Yi, of the Ravu tribe tries to fend off beefy Lisette “Lisi” Linares, of the Moto tribe, during the immunity challenge, “Kung Fu Cannibals

Enough already.

Does Sanjaya Malakar have some mysterious mojo going or what?

Clearly, he was the worst of the bunch this week, yet Breck Boy was spared by voters who decided to pop him into the final dozen.

Perhaps it was his newly straighten locks.

Or seeing him do the hula.

Still, even dirty Internet pictures couldn’t save the vocally challenged Antonella Barba, who got the boot despite being one of the most Googled contestant perhaps in the history of the show.

ANTONELLA SANG CORINNE BAILEY RAE’S “PUT YOUR RECORDS ON”

There had been ample speculation that Antonella would slip into the final 12 just on the basis of her looks. But she proved less resilient than the aforementioned Sanjaya.

Clearly from the judges’ perspective this week, the other woman who needed to go was Haley Scarnato. Simon said that he had to ask Paula what her name was because he honestly couldn’t remember it.

Apparently, the voters didn’t share Simon’s lack of recall.

Instead, they lopped off the Barbra Streisand look-alike Sabrina Sloan, who hit it hard each week and appeared to be a shoo-in.

SABRINA SANG EN VOGUE’S “DON’T LET GO”

Also getting the hook this week was Jared Cotter, who proved to be a little too cheesy for the voters.

JARED SANG STEVIE WONDER’S “IF YOU REALLY LOVE ME”

And finally, just when we thought we’d see the last of Sunjaya, the name called out was Sundance Head.

SUNDANCE SANG PEARL JAM’S “JEREMY”

Sundance has had his problems in the competition, but we didn’t think it was quite his time to go yet.

As for the big announcement “American Idol” has been touting all week, it turns out that “American Idol” is ready to share the wealth with those less fortunate.

“American Idol” will helping poverty-stricken people throughout the world including Africa and America.

On April 24 and 25, for every vote viewers cast, an equal amount of money will be donated to the charity. In addition, show sponsors Coca-Cola, Ford and AT&T, among others will donate money to the Chairty Projects Entertainment Fund.

The fund will distribute the money to Save the Children and other U.S. organizations dealing with poverty in this country. CPEF will also distribute proceeds to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and other organizations involved with health and education programs in Africa.

Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest meet school children in Africa.

On April 25, the Wednesday results show expands to two hours, with entertainment provided by such celebrities as Gwen Stefani, Josh Groban, Pink, Michael Buble, Annie Lennox, Il Divo and Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen).

So, did anyone else notice who the former First Lady was snugglin’ by in the previews for next week’s “24”?

First, we’ll hark back to how strange it was to realize that while our dear Jack was getting tortured in prison and his daddy was aiding terrorists who nuked Valencia (Magic Mountain!), some of his old pals were getting busy.

Did anyone else expect that Bill Buchanan, who had romanced Michelle Dessler after her split from Tony Almeida, would bounce back to marry Karen Hayes???

Anyway, in the previews we discover that former First Lady Martha Logan is now in the arms of her hero, former Secret Service agent Aaron Pierce.

Now, there’s an explosion.