2 Utahns make it to semifinals for 'Idol'

As expected, two Utahns advanced to the semifinals of "American Idol."

In the episode that aired Wednesday night on Fox, it was revealed that 17-year-old Taylor Vaifanua of Hurricane and 23-year-old Megan Corkrey of Sandy remain in contention. They're two of the 36 hopefuls who still have a shot at winning a recording contract and the title as this year's American Idol.

Corkrey, who hasn't been seen onscreen since the Salt Lake auditions episode, was barely onscreen Wednesday night. She got about 5 seconds while judge Randy Jackson told her she's moving on.

Vaifanua — described by host Ryan Seacrest as "an early judge favorite" — got her first major screen time since the Salt Lake episode. Viewers saw her forget lyrics during her group performance and saw her hit a vocal home run with Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You."

"I was kind of disappointed in my group-day performance, as far as forgetting my words," Vaifanua told the judges. "But other than that, I'm proud of myself for being young and coming out here and just challenging myself for the first time and just doing the best I can."

And it was good enough to get her to the semifinals.

"She can sing," judge Kara DioGuardi said.

"She can really sing," Jackson said.

The show has changed its format somewhat for Season 8. This is the first season to have 36 semifinalists.

Executive producer Ken Warwick told TV critics the change was made because, with just 12 finalists, "by the time we got down to the final eight, we'd been living with these kids for, like, eight weeks already. And if any of them didn't have fantastic characters, it got a bit boring."

The 36 semifinalists will be divided into three groups of 12. Over the next three weeks, one group will perform each Tuesday. Viewers will vote that night, and on Wednesday three of the 12 singers will advance to the finals — the top male vote getter; the top female vote getter; and the No. 3 vote-getter regardless of gender. (Neither Utahn will perform in the first group; Groups 2 and 3 have not yet been announced.)

A wildcard round is scheduled for Thursday, March 5. The fourth-place finisher from each of the three previous weeks will participate, along with a still-to-be-determined number of contestants recalled by judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Jackson and DioGuardi.

"The judges will decide" how many contestants will appear on the wildcard show, Warwick said. "It might be nine, it might be 10, it might be 12."

All the wildcard hopefuls will come from the pool of 27 semifinalists who are not voted in by viewers. So any contestant that didn't make the 36 finalists cannot be this year's American Idol.

After the judges select three wildcards to round out the 12 finalists, they will begin performing on Tuesday, March 10.

E-MAIL: pierce@desnews.com