Tonight's Show,,,

Back in Season 2, finalist Corey Clark was disqualified from the competition after it was revealed he hid arrests from the show’s producers.

“Idol” dealt with it by showing a videotaped apology from Clark before that week’s show began. It was pretty painful to watch as Clark was clearly reading a statement given to him by the show.

But this was in the days when “Idol” was young and just starting to take off. And we were all naïve about how the show worked. Plus, “Idol” had no competition and stood at the top of the heap alone.

Those days are long gone as the show is facing competition from every side. There is no way that the show will deal with another disqualification the same way. It needs the buzz and attention.

But I believe that how they deal with this—and the cries of ratings stunt surrounding it—is the defining moment for the show. We could very well be witnessing the beginning of the end tonight…

Back in a few…