Surprise? Well, maybe...

We're not ones to check out Idol spoilers, generally speaking. (Sometimes it's just more fun to be pleasantly surprised on Tuesday nights.) But if you're eager to know what the rumors are about Bucky's next song choice, they're talking it over at Television Without Pity, Idolforums and IdolOnFox.com. It's taken all our self-disclipline not to open those threads. Can we hold out until Tuesday? We'll see...

As for Tuesday's judging after the rumored song, there's a bit of discussion about Simon Cowell's next strategic move as well, now that Bucky's made the tour. Jennifer O'Reilly at TheCelebrityCafe.com has an intriguing observation:

Could it be that Simon is intentionally giving his least favorite contestants lukewarm comments in order to insure their smooth departure from the show? Think about it – last week Simon told Melissa it was her “best performance yet” despite the fact that she forgot the words not once, but twice, to Stevie Wonder’s “Lately.” He wanted her gone, but he knew that if had told her that she was appalling (as he did with Kevin Covais) her devoted fans would run screaming in outrage to their American Idol speed dial.

Fans are supposed to vote for the singer who performs the best, but sadly sometimes they vote for the one who is most accosted by the judges. That’s called the pity vote, and I think that finally, after five seasons Simon is finally figuring out how to manipulate the votes to control who goes home what night. I can only imagine him choking on the semi-civil response he’ll have to give Bucky Covington next week to keep things going his way.

Interestingly enough, the same conclusions were drawn in the TWoP thread above, and a healthy slice of the posters at every board we lurked upon are expecting a "faint praise" moment next week, whether Bucky's performance is brilliant or not. (Guess after five years of Idol, a little jadedness on both sides of the screen is to be expected.) Our take? As always, the only safety is to never assume anyone is safe.

If you enjoy a performance and you want to see the performer next week, vote and vote again. Technically, Paula, Randy and Simon are just giving expert opinions, not passing a final sentence; your way of expressing your agreement--or disagreement!--is by picking up the phone and hitting that redial button. And we think y'all know how to do that...

On a lighter note, there's a sweet followup to yesterday's look at Bucky's growing British fanbase. An eloquent young English poster at Idolforums has declared him "fit"; turns out that "fit" means something more fun in the UK than it does in the States!

More later...