Kellie unchained from remainder of competition

LOS ANGELES -- Tuesday night, Keillie Pickler admitted to being scared about what the judges had to say about her performance of "Unchained Melody."

They weren't too kind, and neither were the voters: The bubbly, heretofore fan favorite became the seventh finalist sent home this season, leaving but five singers to compete for the crown.

But hey, maybe Kellie's on-air plea for a boyfriend will work out, and she'll have someone to play pottery with back in North Carolina.

Before we get around to seeing who Kellie lost out to, though, we have to suffer through several minutes of the judges and Seacrest yammering on about how much they love each other -- take that, you gossips who believed Paula and Ryan were feuding. I mean, didja see how genuine they all were?

And then, we get this week's commercial, which features possibly the lamest version of Blondie's "Call Me" ever put to tape.

And then Andrea Bocelli, who's not my cup of tea but really does have an amazingly pure voice, puts the finalists to shame with his performance (note to "Idol" producers: Perhaps future celebrity guests shouldn't be quite so far out of the finalists' league).

And then, finally, some results. The show does the break-up-into-groups thing again this week, with Seacrest dispatching the finalists into three separate pairs: Katharine and Chris, Elliott and Taylor and Paris and Kellie.

Elliott and Taylor are saved first -- no surprise there, given Elliott's best-in-show performance Tuesday and Taylor's continued popularity. After another ad break (hey! It's the gun guy from "The Sopranos"), Kat and Chris find out they received the highest number of votes. So much for the judges' criticism of Katharine (and by the way, good on Simon for amending his earlier criticism of her).

Goodbyes and thank-yous take up the last moments before the credits, so Kellie doesn't even get to sing a few bars before she goes. Oh well. She had far better moments than "Unchained Melody," so maybe it's for the best.