American Idol Season 9: Week One: Andrew Fenlon Was Abused

American Idol's first week of Season 9 is out of the way.

I am very grateful for the fast forward button on my DVR.

I did not miss Paula Abdul as much as I thought I might. In Paula's absence Kara DioGuardi seems more assertive. Maybe mouthy is a better word.

My favorite audition of the week was the one by Andrew Fenlon. He of the Clark Kent glasses, who really did not quite become Superman when the glasses came off.

We followed Andrew through the day as he got increasingly worn out by all the waiting.

When he finally got in front of the judges, in Boston, with the guest judge being the Spice Girl known as Posh, Victoria Beckham, about whom nothing seems all that Posh, Skeletor would be a more fitting nickname, Andrew was emoting a bit of an attitude.

For me the attitude made Andrew interesting. But, unfortunately, on this season of American Idol the code word is "Energy." As in "you have good energy." Or in Andrew's case, "you have bad energy."

I thought Andrew to be amusing when he was sort of Smart Assed answering Simon's first question. Then Simon got all overly parental, like scolding a child. I found that offputting.

I don't know how well the judges were able to hear the things Andrew was saying. Andrew kept trying to get control of the bad reactions he was getting. He seemed quite perplexed.

And then that Kara woman really went to far, telling Andrew she did not like him, asking him if he'd ever had a girl friend. His response to that was funny, but I don't think Kara heard him. I think Kara was pretty much being borderline abusive to the 25 year old kid.

In the end, Andrew got the boot. He handled it well. Was funny verbalizing his perplexation over what had just happened to him, to Ryan Seacrest.

Then we saw Kara and the Posh girl acting all unsettled by their encounter with Andrew Fenlon, with Kara saying she felt like she needed to take a shower to wash Andrew off her.

Oh, I forgot, Kara also told Andrew he needed to be spanked, that he'd been very naughty. I found that very bizarre, as did Andrew.

Anyway, I think American Idol missed providing us some good reality TV entertainment by not sending Andrew to Hollywood. The kid could sing, his rather aggressive demeanor managed to unsettle the American Idol judges to varying degrees. That is a good trait. It seemed obvious Andrew was a bright guy, who projected a very distinct image. Isn't that what they're looking for?

Andrew Finlon is on Facebook. He's a graduate of Phillips Academy, a $40,000 boarding school.

I also did not like how fun was made of the country boy welder during the Atlanta episode. That was extremely tacky and mean-spirited, in my opinion.