Next Week’s Theme and More From the Official Press Release

So the official Top 24 press release arrived in my inbox at 1:05 this morning. And no, I was not up to receive it…

I know what you’re wondering, so let me get right to it. Yes, Michael Lynche is in the Top 24. So were all the reports wrong? I have no idea. But I’m willing to bet money that “Idol” will never say…

However, there was a change in the Top 24. The press release had the following statement: “It has been determined that Chris Golightly is ineligible to continue in the competition. AMERICAN IDOL contestant Tim Urban has replaced Golightly as part of the Top 24.”

I wondered last night how I had missed one of the guys going through and now I’m pretty sure that I didn’t. I’m guessing that Chris Golightly was edited out of the show and Tim Urban was inserted in later.

Now to the other important detail—next week’s theme. The release says, “each contestant will perform a Top 10 hit from the Hot 100 chart.” Whether this means the current Hot 100 chart or the history of the Hot 100 chart, I have no idea (but I will definitely try to find out). But I have long argued that current hits spell trouble for contestants, so if it is current stuff, this could be interesting.

Honestly, I hate it when they do themes this early in the competition because this is really the contestants’ chance to show us who they really are before they get pigeon-holed…

I’ll have much more in the coming days, including some comments from Simon Cowell, so Stay Tuned…