As you may have noticed, I stopped blogging about "Idol"'s seventh season, oh, two weeks ago. The simple truth is I was bored by it and had very, very little to say. I actually skipped an audition episode or two, which is literally the first time in five years that I missed an episode of "Idol." And that's sad for, like, a billion different reasons.

So yeah, so far S7 has generally sucked. Going into Hollywood week there were maybe, MAYBE five people I could even remember, much less care about. But it's Hollywood week! My most favorite part of the season! And so I knew the excitement would be back. And it was; the show pulled me back in. But there are some serious changes that I just do not approve of. To wit:

-WHERE ARE THE GROUP NUMBERS?! The groups are BY FAR the most entertaining part of Idol up until the voting starts, and have produced some of the most stunning meltdowns and giddy successes of the previous seasons. This year? Gone. Totally erased. I cannot for the life of me figure out what the producers were thinking. It's true that group singing plays very little into the success of a particular Idol candidate - they have to perform together in the pimpomercials and in the achingly cheesy Up With People-type numbers on the show and the tour, but that's it. So maybe they found them pointless? Or maybe the producers got weary of sending home legitimately talented candidates after they bombed in groups (like last year's Bailey Brown, brought down by the gruesome twosome of Antonella Barba and her even more disgusting frienemy). Whatever the reasoning, it was a bad idea. That was good television!

-Contestants that do poorly in the initial solo round are all spared, and are given a second chance to "sing for their lives." Bullshit. Nothing compared to Simon cutting an entire row of bland girls just minutes after taking the Hollywood stage. The drama and the tear count were both sacrificed in the name of protecting the feelings of a couple overconfident chumps.

-The gerbils are now allowed to use instruments in their auditions, if they so choose. This produced some great moments - ringer Brooke White killed it with a Carly Simon-esque number on the piano - and some really dreadful ones, like that poor drumming kid who sounded like part of the world's worst wedding band on "Hooked on a Feeling." Yikes.

By the end of the episode 100-something of the would-be Idols had been culled, including a couple I liked (that gorgeous woman from the first episode with the sick child; the endearing fat gay man who could be an Eddie Murphy character but isn't). But I did end up legitimately rooting for some of the leftovers, and oddly, almost all of them are men. I NEVER like the guys on Idol, Chris Daughtry excepted. But there's a strong crop this year, including possible Jessica Alba in drag Danny Noriega, Shouty Political Geek Kyle, Vocal Paralysis Boy, the Australian guy I'm now referring to as Ace Old, and Weepy Homeless Josiah, who very nearly ruined the whole thing with his bullshit diva business because he cannot play with a band. (I get the feeling that he's one of those children who was always told he was the most special thing on earth, and trying to do something normal is his anathema; he has to warp it all up and make it "his," which is to say, "make it kind of shitty.") Also: I believe Hot Farmer is still in the running! I'm going to be depressed when I have to actually learn these peoples' names and stop treating them like�pieces of meat. Sigh.

Tomorrow night: THE CHAIR!