American Idol: The Singers Choose Each Other's Songs, and There's a Rumor Ryan Seacrest Might Choose Another Job

Credit: Michael Becker / FOX

American Idol happened this week, and the "contestants choose songs for each other" conceit behind the song choices turned out to be a lot cuddlier than I'd originally envisioned—each hopeful picked a song for each of his or her combatants; the singers then selected one song from each list. Wednesday night's performance show was super-full of filler (Terry Bradshaw showed up, Caleb reminded those still watching that he's afraid of spiders, Demi Lovato sat on the couch and gave the contestants the occasional pointer); on Thursday Dexter Roberts was sent packing to Alabama, his general affability and love of dogs no match for the crammed-down-audience's-throats "appeal" of Sam Woolf.

But the real Idol news came Friday morning, when RadarOnline posted a breathless item about Ryan Seacrest—the show's MC, chief self-deprecator, and lone remaining point of on-camera stability—"desperately want[ing]" to shake loose from its clutches. Look!

“This season of Idol going to be a real endurance test for Ryan,” the source says, as he tries to ride out the season until the May 20 and 21 finale.

“Idol is holding him back right now,” the source says, “but it’s also the most money he’s ever been paid for anything, so he has to be a politician about it.”

It's easy to make fun of Ryan Seacrest—his affability, his omnipresence, his overemployment. But over the last few years of American Idol, during which the once-most-watched show in America has experienced ratings stumbles, demographic graying, catfighting between judges, and other unpleasantries, he's served as the show's core, its one beacon of stasis. This week's pair of shows made a case for him being really freaking good at his job even before the news of his wanting out broke. Top Seven week is when the two-hour length of the performance shows becomes absolutely rough. The padding this week included, among other things, shots of Bradshaw playing guitar, Randy Jackson talking, the contestants offering reasons for choosing songs for their competitors that ultimately went unplayed, Demi Lovato judging but not judging the duets, Seacrest and Caleb Johnson singing (!), extended discussion of a sofa that was onstage during a duet of that terrible Passenger song. And more. I half expected Seacrest to order the kids to learn the NFL On Fox theme on the spot for purposes of judging their ear training.

Through it all, though, Seacrest kept things rolling in a way that was professional and didn't resort to "take my job please" desperation. Yes, at certain points it seemed like he was gritting his teeth, but it was hard to think of a host who would be better at going through the motions while realizing that this old, clunky machine that was probably wheezing through its sunset years was the culmination of a dream for some people, and being gracious toward them as a result. An Idol without Ryan Seacrest would be a weird mutation of Idol; better to just get Lovato back behind the judges' table and reboot X Factor instead.

All this hand-wringing could be for naught, though. A few hours after the Radar piece went up, The Hollywood Reporter threw up an item claiming that Seacrest will stay with the show for two more years. His overemployment will be lessened just a bit; he's reportedly giving up his red-carpet duties, which, truth be told, started getting a little beneath him once E! started in with those manicure cameras. Whether this is a bit of PR by Fox (which employs quite the crack PR team) or the truth will become apparent, probably, sometime before the finale. Which is a little over a month away!

The singing this week was mostly the same old, same old. Calebkicked things off with a barn-burning version of Kings Of Leon, and things got sort of worse from there, stopping off at John Mayer's coffeehouse with CJ Harris's off-pitch rendition of "Gravity" and culminating in another gulpy and "serious" yet overpraised Jena Irene performance.

On the other hand, Jess Meusegot extra points from me for lashing out at the judges. During Thursday night's show she sent a barrage of irritated tweets that stemmed from some criticism after her slightly wooden performance of Miranda Lambert's "Gunpowder & Lead": Harry Connick Jr. told her that she needed to move her body more (he expressly instructed her to dance around her room to music) in order to naturally inhabit songs with more percussive vocal lines. It's a reasonable critique, as, truth be told, she does seem a bit lost up there when she isn't behind her guitar. But some of her fellow competitors are just as awkward—hello, Sam Woolf, who the show is still trying to turn into the next Niall Horan!—and they don't get guff for it, or if they do it's smothered by a ton of praise. I can see what's happening here in a way—of the remaining contestants, she's one of the less marketable ("female singer-songwriter past high school age" is not exactly a hot pop demo right now), and Idol doesn't want another soft seller on its hands, especially after this year started with so much promise. But it's still frustrating to see her get called out, especially when Sam and Alex Preston have similar (and possibly more dire!) issues with charisma.

MY VOTES: 50 for Caleb, 50 for Jess.

THE BOTTOM TWO: Jess (!!) and Dexter.

WHO WENT HOME: Dexter, even though he was one of the few performers to be on-pitch during his whole song this week. Poor guy.

FILLER ALERT: No, really, I heard the NFL On Fox theme twice this year. LEAVE BASEBALL SEASON ALONE, FOOTBALL. YOU'VE HAD YOUR CHANCE.

SPEAKING OF NEXT WEEK: It's "A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock N' Roll." Here's hoping someone hauls out "Soldier Of Love."

Maura Johnston is Noisey's intrepid Idol correspondent. She's on Twitter - @maura

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Still need to catch up? Check out all of this season's Idol recaps here. All caught up? Read Maura on why the New York Times doesn't know shit about poptimsim.