'Idol' isn't all about talent

"American Idol" is supposed to be a big-time talent show. And it sort of is. But not really.

The fact that the finalists are being eliminated one-by-one by viewers who take the time to phone in their votes means that it's anything but fair. Which we knew coming into this second go-round, given that the extraordinarily talented Tamyra Gray was eliminated before the extraordinarily mediocre Nikki McKibbin in the first incarnation of "Idol."

As a bit of a hometown fan, I'm rooting for Utahn Carmen Rasmusen to do well in this competition. (The results of this week's balloting will be announced tonight at 7:30 p.m . . . well, it will actually be more like 7:56 p.m.) As a matter of fact, she's done extremely well to make it as far as she has — to the final six. But, honestly, she hasn't performed all that well the past couple of weeks. She certainly performed less well than the two people who were voted off, Rickey Smith and Kimberly Caldwell.

On the other hand, the week before that, Rasmusen and Trenyce were the two bottom vote-getters (the week no one was voted off), while Joshua Gracin clearly delivered the worst performance. C'mon, he was terrible — but he has the whole I'm-a-member-of-the-Marines thing going for him.

Frankly, the judges have more legitimacy than the viewers. Even Paula Abdul, whose criticisms are toothless, and Randy Jackson, whose vocabulary consists of little more than "dude" and "dog." (Whether you like him or not, Simon Cowell is almost always honest, at least.)

The judges have no axes to grind. They don't vote in a bloc for the hometown (or home-state) hero. But, at this point in the "Idol" experience, they don't get to vote at all.

Heck, CBS's "Star Search" is probably a more legitimate contest than "American Idol." Sure, its judges are sort of goofy, too, but at least they get a vote. (Half the judging is the in-studio celebrities; the other half is viewers calling or logging in.)

Don't get me wrong. I hope Rasmusen turned in a killer performance last night that blew the judges and the viewers away. But even if she did, she might get voted out.

"Idol" is about getting phone-in votes. And that, as has been clearly demonstrated, doesn't necessarily have anything to do with talent.

EXTREMELY SICK: Watching "Extreme Makeover" (9:10 p.m., Ch. 4) is enough to make you sick — and not just because of all the footage of post-operative plastic-surgery patients.