After the sad and surprising departure of Pia Toscano last night on American Idol, it’s time to review all the contestants that are left.   I’m a big fan and something of a pop musical genius  (just kidding : ), so I thought I’d rank all the American Idol Contestants based on the following items:

Singing Ability, Personality, Looks, Star Power, Likelihood of winning.    Feel free to chime in with comments if you do or don’t agree.   1 is low, 10 is high.   For likelihood I’ve ranked them 1 through 7

THIS …. is AMERICAN IDOL!

Idol Contestant | Singing Ability       |  Personality      | Looks      |  Star Power      |  Likelihood of winning

Haley Reinhart                9                           8                 9                   7                             2

James Durbin                   8                           9                 8                   9                              1

Casey Abrams                  9                           8                 6                   7                              4

Jacob Lusk                        8                           7                 6                    7                             7

Stefano Langone             8                           8                  7                   7                              5

Paul McDonald                6                           8                  9                    7                             8

Lauren Alaina                  9                           8                  8                    7                             3

Scotty McCreery             7                          6                  7                    7                             6

Of course the fact that I was a big Pia Toscano fan might indicate I’m not very good at this game.   I don’t think my favorite has *ever* won American Idol since Kelly Clarkson who I had picked very early on correctly at the first winner.   I was also close with second place Clay Aiken, who narrowly lost to Ruben Studdard in what remains my favorite American Idol season of all time, though not the most talent filled season which is absolutely this year.    No bad singers made it past the round of 24 and everybody left, with the possible exception IMHO of Paul, has tons of raw singing talent.

P.S.  Wow, my post Pia Toscano Leaves American Idol already has over a thousand views and 10 comments in under 24 hours.    Clearly, American Idol is an amazing traffic magnet for a blog, and since I’m a big fan I think it’s time to start writing a lot more about the show and the contestants because

” THIS …. IS AMERICAN IDOL “