Real Housewives of Atlanta Ends With Cynthia Married, NeNe Nuts, Phaedra Funny, Sheree Acting Badly With Kim & Kroy Making Their First Public Appearance Along With Kim's New & Improved Breasts

The finale of the 3rd season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta centered on the drama surrounding Cynthia's sad wedding to a drunk Peter who seemed to magically sober up by the time he read his vows.

That was one strange wedding. Marrying a dinosaur surrounded by dinosaurs.

And why would you go through a wedding when you find yourself suddenly broke?

In the finale Kim Zolciak proudly revealed her newly rebuilt breasts, or as she calls them, her "new titties."

Kim's boobs really should get their own Bravo TV Show. Kim had to do a lot of titty adjusting tonight. In the screen cap we see Kim do yet one more adjustment, at the wedding, while Kroy looks on.

Along with the new boobs, this also was the first time out in public, with the other "housewives" with boyfriend, Atlanta Falcon, Kroy Biermann. I assume Kim was not pregnant at this point in time. Because drinking wine was still a favorite Kim pastime.

Knowing that Cynthia was pinching pennies for her wedding, and needing a secure wine supply, Kim brought her own bottle.

Kim and Kroy were on Watch What Happens Live after the finale. At that live time, which was Sunday night, Kim was 5 and a half months along. And looking really good. Kim wears being preggers real well.

Kroy is a quiet guy. Definitely seems the opposite of Kim's free-spirited loudness. And it seemed like Kroy is actually quite smitten with his baby mama.

Back to the finale. Watching Sheree's audition for a movie part was a bit painful. It was like those she was auditioning for were doing the auditioning for the Bravo cameras.

Phaedra had several Phaedra gem one-liners, none of which I remember. Phaedra really grew on me the more we got to see her.

Cynthia, not so much. I think because I felt sort of sorry for her. It's not fun to watch someone and feel sorry for her.

As for NeNe. Well. The woman is nuts. That is all there is to it. Delusional and nuts. And way way too loud.

The Bachelor's Michelle Money's Affair with Chicago Bull Boozer

That is Michelle Money and Carlos Boozer in the picture. Michelle is currently trying to convince Brad Womack to marry her on The Bachelor.

Michelle Money.

I've never heard of anyone named Money before. I've heard of boozers before, but never anyone named Boozer.

Every iteration of the Bachelor and Bachelorette that I have watched has had at least one villain or nutcase among the love seekers. Sometimes it will be a person who is both a villain and who seems to be a bit of a nutcase.

That would seem to be the case with Michelle Money. A villain and a nutcase.

Ms. Money told Life & Style Magazine that she had an affair with Chicago Bull basketballer, Carlos Boozer, back when he was #6 for the Utah Jazz.

Ms. Money told Life & Style, “Yes, I was in a relationship with Carlos while he was still married. What I did was wrong,”

Apparently Michelle is well known in Salt Lake City. She claims Mr. Boozer told her he was separated when they began their affair. However it was not til March of 2009 that Boozer filed for divorce. And then, 3 months after that, the Boozer/Money Affair ended.

Life & Style may say Boozer filed for divorce in 2009, but the Salt Lake Tribune reported that divorce proceedings got underway in August of 2010. So, there is speculation that Boozer got back with the wife after he dumped the Money girl.

I think Michelle Money would be an excellent match for Brad Womack.

Beverly Hills Housewife Husband Paul Nassif Calls 911 For Charlie Sheen

I don't believe we've seen Adrienne Maloof's and Dr. Paul Nassif's kids on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Or was that their kids in their dad's office getting shown how dad uses a computer to do plastic surgery?

That is Adrienne and Paul and their 3 kids in the picture.

I digress from my intended subject.

So, I was a little surprised to read that the Maloof-Nassif family is the next door neighbor of CBS bad boy, Charlie Sheen.

And that it was Paul Nassif who was the 911 caller who summoned help when his neighbor, Charlie, was drunk and suffering bad stomach pains.

Adrienne and Paul released a statement to the press regarding Charlie, saying, "We are so glad that Charlie made the decision to seek the assistance of a rehabilitation center today. This is something that his friends and family have pushed for, and we wish him all the love and support he will need in the coming days."

This is the first time this year that production on TV's #1 sit-com, Two and a Half Men, has had to come to a stop due to Charlie Sheen checking into a rehab facility. This is the 3rd time in 3 months Charlie Sheen has needed to check in to a hospital.

The character of Charlie Sheen, the person, seems to be very much like the character, Charlie Harper, he plays on Two and a Half Men. Charlie Harper is often drunk, is not averse to drugs, is a womanizer and has been known to hire a hooker or two.

Charlie Sheen, the person, in recent times has been in the news for leaving a New York City hotel torn up, with Charlie in such bad condition he had to be hospitalized. Last summer Charlie plead guilty to assaulting his wife in Aspen, Colorado. And earlier this month Charlie was in the news for some wild partying in Las Vegas.

I will never understand why so many people with charmed lives get themselves so messed up. I like to think if I lived a charmed life, which I don't, that I would find myself enjoying it. Not getting stoned, drunk, violent and requiring my neighbors to call 911 to help me.

But, it would be interesting if I found myself suddenly leading a charmed life and finding myself succumbing to temptations that currently do not tempt me. Somehow I can't see myself tearing up a hotel room. Or assaulting my wife. Or hiring a hooker. I might get drunk, though.

The Bachelor's Brad Womack's Bettina Bell Affair

The Bachelor, Brad Womack, aka Brad Pickelsimer, just keeps getting skeezier and skeezier.

I am not sure skeezier is a word. It is being flagged as misspelled, so I suspect I have made up a word.

Well, skeezier fits.

I did not watch any of Womack's first attempt to find a wife on The Bachelor, the attempt where Brad won infamy by rejecting all the potential wives.

Including Bettina Bell. I think that is Brad rejecting Bettina in the picture.

Bettina Bell made it as far as spending the night with Brad in one of those notorious Fantasy Suites. And then he rejected her, keeping Jenni Croft and DeAnna Pappas to reject later.

Well.

Apparently Bettina Bell made a good enough impression in the Fantasy Suite that after Brad's The Bachelor stint was over the fantasy started up again, with Brad wooing Bettina with sweet nothings, heavy-duty smooching and other Fantasy Suite type stuff.

And then when Brad got the call to go and try and find a wife again on The Bachelor, he suddenly broke up with Bettina after 9 months of conjugal bliss.

Bettina says, "It was so strange. He was pursuing me like crazy, and then out of nowhere he went MIA."

MIA means Missing in Action for you who don't do initials.

Brad, the cad, denies being in any serious relationship during the time between his two The Bachelor stints, saying, "I have not been in a true relationship since the show ended."

That's gotta make this Bettina girl feel real good.

Bettina is shocked that Brad agreed to go back on ABC's infamous Train Wreck, hypocritically telling her he hated doing it the first time, that it was a bad experience.

Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi's Scandalous Baby Custody Battle With Adam Dell

I remember being surprised when Padma Lakshmi got off a train at the finale of the Top Chef season in which Michael Voltaggio won Top Chef to see that Padma was hugely pregnant.

This sparked a lot of Internet speculation as to who Padma's Baby Daddy was. I remember one unlikely Baby Daddy rumor had him being Tom Colicchio.

Eventually it became known that the Baby Daddy of Krishna Thea was venture capitalist, Adam Dell, he being the brother of Dell Computer billionaire, Michael Dell.

Well.

According to records straight out of Manhattan Supreme Court, Padma refused to put Dell's name on her daughter's birth certificate. Adam Dell is suing for full custody, claiming, in court, that Padma has limited his time with his almost one year old daughter to only 7 hours a week.

Now why would Padma treat the father of her baby this way?

Well.

According to what Dell had to tell the court, Padma had told him that she had been sexually active with a billionaire named Teddy Forstmann at the same time she was busy baby-making with Dell. And that Padma "made clear . . . her hope that Forstmann was the child's biological father."

In the picture above, that is Adam Dell on the right, he being the young looking guy. The guy below, walking with Padma, is what looks to be a much older guy, Teddy Forstmann.

When one looks at those with whom Padma chooses to have her assignations, one must remember this was a woman who was married to Salman Rushdie.

He being the guy who's 4th novel, The Satanic Verses, upset Muslims in several Muslim countries, with death threats, including a 'fatwa' against Rushdie courtesy of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who died in 1989, while Salman Rushdie continues to live.

Without Padma.

The Bachelor's Brad Womack's Previous Name & Criminal History

That is a mugshot of Brad Womack, taken in November of 2009, after his first failed search for a wife on The Bachelor. I do not know what Brad did this time that warranted a mugshot.

Previously, way back in 1993, back when Brad Womack went by the name of Bradley Stephan Pickelsimer, Pickelsimer was arrested on a forgery charge, due to being in possession of a counterfeit driver's license. In other brushes with the law Pickelsimer/Womack found himself busted for passing a bad check and for public intoxication.

Forgery is a felony, which brought Brad a $200 fine and 180 days of probation. To this day Womack has to check in with the Texas state agency which tracks convicted criminals.

The Womack criminal history does not seem all that bad to me. And I can sort of understand  why someone might want to change their last name from Pickelsimer.

Of all the Reality TV Shows that I watch, I least understand why I waste time on The Bachelor.

It is so strange watching all these strange women get so twisted up over a guy they've barely met. And those dates he talks them on, either solo, or in groups, are so ridiculous, for the most part.

Rappelling off a Los Angeles skyscraper? If someone I barely knew took me on a helicopter ride to the top of a building to rappel down to a swimming pool and dinner, well, I'd take the elevator and call a taxi and get out of there.

And why does Womack jump in a pool with his clothes on over and over again? And how is it that these people always have their swimming suits and changes of clothes with them?

And do none of these women find Womack to be a rather wooden bore?

Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for January 15 - January 21

The Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for January 15 - January 21. The first number is the ranking, the second number is the season average, then the show name and network. The last number represents the number of viewers in millions. An asterisk * indicates a tie.

American Idol's new season started at the top of the Nielsen's, if you don't count football games. Hawaii 5-0 is in the Top 20 again. Twice. At #6 and #18,

Rank	Show name	Network	Viewers in millions	Season-to-date average(in millions)
1.	AFC Championship: Jets/Steelers	CBS	54.9	--
2.	AFC Championship Post-game	CBS	31.5	--
3.	American Idol (Wed.)	Fox	26.2	26.2
4.	American Idol (Thur.)	Fox	22.9	22.9
5.	NCIS	CBS	21.1	19.9
6.	Hawaii Five-O	CBS	19.3	--
7.	NCIS: Los Angeles	CBS	17.3	17.0
8.	Two and a Half Men	CBS	15.6	14.7
9.	The Mentalist	CBS	14.8	15.2
10.	CSI	CBS	14.3	14.0
11.	The Big Bang Theory	CBS	13.6	13.8
12.	Mike & Molly	CBS	12.8	12.0
13.	Blue Bloods	CBS	12.3	12.4
14.	Criminal Minds	CBS	12.0	14.7
15.	The Good Wife	CBS	11.4	12.8
16.	Harry's Law	NBC	11.1	11.1
17.	Modern Family	ABC	10.9	12.4
18.	Hawaii Five-O	CBS	10.8	12.9
19.	Bones	Fox	10.6	10.2
20.	House	Fox	10.5	9.7
*	How I Met Your Mother	CBS	10.5	9.5

The Real Housewives of Atlanta: NeNe Needs to Shut Up

Last week's episode of RHOA was dominated by NeNe Leakes leaking her loud mouth at Kim, for no decent reason.

Sunday night's next to last episode took up where we left off last week, with NeNe braying like a wounded mule.

This season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta started off with NeNe embarrassing herself at a party, screaming at Dwight.

Why would an Atlanta TV station keep NeNe on the air after watching her bizarre behavior? NeNe was a guest in that nice German real estate agent's South Beach Miami mansion, screaming about Kim being like a child when it is NeNe who acts as if she never matured past the Terrible Two's, or maybe the Fearsome Four's.

Maybe there was something actual and real that Kim said that set NeNe. But we weren't shown it. And it seemed that Kandi, who saw and heard it all, was definitely not on the NeNe Team.

To me NeNe has veered way in to Jill Zarin territory, totally misunderstanding how she is coming across. I used to like NeNe. Now I can't stand her, repulsive cow that she is.

Meanwhile, Kim just keeps on being amusing, aspiring artist that she is.

And how many Big Poppas does Kim have? It seemed like Kim was real friendly with the German real estate agent. I meant to type "familiar" but my chronic typo problem typed "friendly." Both words work.

When NeNe does her self-serving confessionals, that seem so out of sync with reality, she must not have seen what we've just seen. So, does NeNe get embarrassed when she sees the actual episode? Or is she so deluded that she does not see what we all see?

Next Sunday is the last episode, with the reunion shows starting the following Sunday, I would assume. That should be interesting, what with Kim several months into being pregnant, not drinking, not smoking. I don't think we've seen a sober Kim at one of the RHOA reunion shows.

Tidbits About The Real Housewives of Atlanta

Is there anything that is not covered by Wikipedia?

Wikipedia has an interesting entry about The Real Housewives of Atlanta with several tidbits worth noting.

Three of the Atlanta Housewives have their own separate Wikipedia articles, ironically these three are three of the Atlanta Housewives who have no husband, Sheree Whitfield, Kim Zolciak and Kandi Burruss.

So, what are some of the interesting tidbits I gleaned from Wikipedia?

Sheree Whitfield

Until some time in 2006 Sheree Whitfield ran a fancy Atlanta boutique called Bella Azul. Sheree got a $1.1 million divorce settlement from the NFL's Bob Whitfield. In the divorce Sheree's lawyer claimed Sheree's "limited education and inability to earn an income" caused her a severe disadvantage. After the divorce Sheree was evicted, by court order, from her home in Sandy Springs, Georgia.

Kim Zolciak

In the most recent episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta we heard Kim referred to as being 32 years old. In reality Kim Zolciak was born on May 19, 1968, which makes Kim 42 years old. Which seems a lot more believable than 32. Kim is now pregnant courtesy of 25 year old Atlanta Falcons footballer Troy Biermann.

Linnethia "NeNe" Leakes

NeNe was evicted from the rental home we saw her living in during the first season of RHOA. That house was not in Atlanta, instead was a 40 minute drive northeast of Atlanta in something called the Sugarloaf gated community. NeNe was evicted by her landlord, Winwood Properties, after a court filing in the magistrate court of Gwinnett County claimed NeNe's husband, Greg, owed $6,240 in past due rent.

Kandi Burruss

Kandi was the first African-American woman to win ASCAP's songwriter of the year award. The father of Kandi's precocious daughter,  Riley, is Kandi's ex-boyfriend, Russell Spencer of Block Entertainment.

Phaedra Parks

Phaedra's husband, Apollo Nida was convicted of racketeering. Apollo began serving his 18 year sentence on July 28, 2004. Almost 5 years later Apollo was paroled on May 27, 2009. Apollo married Phaedra on November 1, 2009. In May of 2010, Phaedra somehow managed to give birth to a full term baby, Ayden Adonia Nida, after cooking him in her baby oven for only 7 months. According to Phaedra.

Cynthia Bailey

Nothing all that remarkable in the Wikipedia mention of Cynthia, besides the remarkable fact that she had the gumption and confidence to take off from Tuscumbia, Alabama to seek her future in modeling in New York City, with nothing on her resume besides being her high school's Homecoming Queen and being in a few beauty pageants.

Lisa Wu-Hartwell

Lisa's past scandals have long been gossip fodder. Lisa has been known by several names, such as Sharon Millette Wu, Sharon Lisa Sweat, and Lisa Wu-Sweat. Lisa had two sons and two daughters with ex-husband Keith Sweat. Lisa does not have custody of the 4 kids she had with Keith Sweat.

DeShawn Snow

DeShawn lasted only the first season of RHOA. I suspect she was not asked back due to the fact that she was kind of boring. DeShawn claims the show's producers told her she was "too human for a circus show." During DeShawn's brief time on RHOA we met her husband, a tall NBA star named Eric Snow. They seemed like a happy couple, having started being a couple way back in their impoverished school years. So, it was a bit of a surprise to read that Eric filed for divorce from DeShawn on February 19, 2010. He probably got bored too.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Ends On a Low Note With Kyle Screaming & Kim in Tears

Well, the first season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills is now history.

Almost.

We still have the two part Reunion to "fight" through.

I found watching these housewives both amusing and annoying.

As in some of them are very annoying housewives. And in a different way of being annoying than annoying housewives on some of the other Bravo Real Housewives franchises.

I think it was the extreme shallowness of so much of some of these BH Housewives lives that annoyed me. To live such privileged existences and then to spend your time on such petty personal bickering is a sad sad thing.

Of the BH Housewives I liked Lisa VanderPump and Adrienne Maloof the best. With Adrienne seeming, by far, to be the most grounded and normal of the group.

My opinion of Lisa slightly altered in the final episode. Why is it that that strange upset in New York City can not just be forgotten? It really was a big brouhaha about nothing. Why did Lisa feel she needed to get to the bottom of it? To get the "truth" out of Taylor. Why did it matter so much to Lisa? To the point that Lisa had deduced that it was Taylor who had triggered Camille into the outburst in New York that so dominated the weeks that followed.

It was Lisa who caused Taylor to confront Kim at Taylor's birthday party ahout what was really said about Camille during some airport or airplane conversation. It all seems so trivial and inconsequential it is hard to remember what these Housewives are all twisted up about.

So, at Taylor's birthday party, Kim is a bit drunk. Does not take well to Taylor confronting her. Soon it escalates, til all the Housewives are putting on a Shouting Show for the party guests, to the amusement and befuddlement of their husbands.

Again, it seemed Adrienne was the only adult in the group.

Kim left, somehow ended up in a limo with that creepy Brit guy who Lisa keeps trying to hook her up with. Then Adrienne gets in the limo to conduct a therapy session. And then Kyle gets in the limo and soon the interior of the limo exploded into Kyle F-bombing Kim and eventually dropping the shocking, shocking, I tell you, revelation that Kim is an alcoholic.

Which apparently is true, due to the fact that soon after this incident Kim Richards spent a week in alcoholic treatment rehab type center.

I really don't get how these Housewives can be so fabulously wealthy, living in such fabulous homes, driving such fabulous cars, or being chauffeured in fabulous limousines to fabulous parties and other fabulous events and yet somehow can not simply enjoy their fabulous lives and instead wallow around like low-class, un-educated, trashy miscreants with bad manners.

For the most part.

And another thing, I was late to the Beverly Hills Housewives, finally starting to watch about 8 episodes ago when one of The Real Housewives of Camano Island, Carlotta Del Rio, told me I was missing some good stuff. Including this character named Camille.

At that point in time I did not realize Camille was the wife of Kelsey Grammer. And I had trouble understanding the high level of contempt Camille was held in by viewers. Eventually I sort of got it. But then, by the end, I sort of actually like Camille. It is Kyle who seems a villain to me, more than Camille.

But, really, all these Housewives should learn it is a wise thing to listen to what Adrienne is saying.

And one more thing, regarding Kim Richards. On the Watch What Happens Live episode which followed the RHOBH finale, Adrienne and Taylor were Andy's guests. At some point someone asked if anyone knew what Kim's source of income was. No one knew, with Adrienne properly opining it was no one's business.

Which had me a bit curious about Kim Richards. From the Wikipedia article about Kim I was surprised to learn how extensive Kim's TV and movie career has been. Much more extensive than sister Kyle.

I also learned from whence Kim's children came. She's been married twice. First to G. Monty Brinson, having one daughter, Brooke, from that assignation. Then in 1991 Kim was engaged to a commodities salesman named John J. Collett who was murdered by a hit man. Kim then married someone named Gregory Davis, with whom she had Whitney and Chad. Both marriages ended in divorce. At some point in time Kim had another daughter, Kimberly, courtesy of ex boyfriend John Jackson.

I was unable to learn at what point in time Kim took to the bottle to help soothe her many sorrows.

The Bachelor's Emily Manyard's Tragic Past

This week on The Bachelor we finally heard the sad secret that Emily had been holding back from telling anyone, not the girls or The Bachelor, Brad Womack.

That is the one love of Emily's life, on the left, NASCAR driver Ricky Hendricks, killed in an airplane crash on October 24, 2004, along with seven other family members and friends.

Emily did not go with Ricky that day. Staying behind because she felt ill. Later that day Emily learned Ricky's plane had crashed into Bull Mountain on its way to the Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia. The crash was due to pilot error caused by a heavy fog.

A few days later Emily found out she was pregnant, giving birth in June of 2005 to Josephine "Rikki" Hendrick.

I believe Emily was 18 at the time Ricky died, 19 when the baby was born.

Emily telling her sad story had a profound effect on the other seekers of love, eventually causing the one with vampire fangs to leave. Which sort of made me think she was the best catch in the house.

Brad picked Emily for one of those coveted one on one dates. It was upon learning this that Emily told the other girls her story and her trepidation about telling Brad.

On their date the pair flew north to a California vineyard. Upon arrival there was a lot of awkwardness with Emily acting all reticent and Brad being a bit frustrated.

Then, later, while having dinner, Emily told Brad her sad story.

And that is where it got weird for me. Emily told Brad her story pretty much verbatim, word for word, precisely how she told it to the girls. I found that so odd.

Brad was properly empathetic and sympathetic. And gave Emily one of those coveted sacred roses.

I like Emily. How could you not? But, that verbatim retelling of her story troubles me. Why? I really don't know.

I can't believe I'm entertained by watching this trainwreck. This would not be possible were it not for the invention of the DVR and the Fast Forward button.

And I have to say, Brad Womack, well, is this guy good marriage/breeding material? Have we heard him have an actual conversation? Do these people actually ever actually talk about anything? But that damn journey they are all on?

Methinks it would make for some high hilarity television if Brad were to ask each of the girls for her opinion about Obama's Health Care Reform. Or what they thought the response to North Korea's bad behavior should be. And what about the rise of China? What do you think of that? How many kids would you think it wise to have in our current troubled economic times?

Anyway. Emily for the win? Probably not. Is marrying Brad winning? Probably not.

Top Chef All Stars: Marcel Vigneron Packs His Knives & Goes After Restaurant Wars Disaster

I have no idea why Marcel is on a beach with Padma.

The latest episode of Top Chef All Stars started off with Dale winning a strange Quickfire Challenge. The Chefs had to slice up 2 fish to frying portions, approved by a master fish slicer, Justo Thomas of the famed Le Bernardin.

The top 4 slicers then had to cook a dish using the remains of the fish they had just gutted. Dale Talde used the liver in the dish he made, which seemed to be what gave him the win.

Then it was off to Padma who informed them that the Chefs were about to fight in Restaurant Wars. As part of his Quickfire win Dale got to lead one restaurant and pick the other restaurant's leader.

Dale wisely picked Marcel to lead the other restaurant, obviously figuring that Marcel would self-destruct. Which is what happened.

Marcel has zero leader skills. He is good at pissing people off.

The restaurants had to be something called a "Pop-Up" Restaurant, that I really did not understand. The guest judge was a volatile Frenchy who we saw be volatile on Top Chef Masters,  Ludo LeFebvre, who, apparently has a successful "Pop-Up" Restaurant.

Dale's restaurant was called Bodega. Marcel's was Etch.

The guests did the judging in this Restaurant Wars.

As the restaurants opened and Etch spun out of control, it was fairly clear that Bodega was a smoother operation, with Fabio running the front like a master, while Tiffany was Etch's greeter and a disaster at it.

Back at Judges' Table Padma called Etch first to the table, giving them some hope they'd actually won. This hope was quickly dashed. Meanwhile back in the Stew Room, Richard Blais was sure Bodega had lost.

At first the losers were reticent to point fingers. Then Marcel said yet one more dumb Marcel thing, which set off everyone, but Angelo, pointing at Marcel as the cause of their epic fail.

In the end, Richard Blais won Restaurant Wars and $10,000, while Marcel Vigneron was sent packing.

In his Bravo Top Chef Blog, Anthony Bourdain is amusing, as always, in his blogging about Restaurant Wars he is particularly amusing about what it must be like to live in "Marcel Land."

American Idol Season 10 With Steven Tyler & Jennifer Lopez Off to a Good Start

I had been of the opinion that American Idol jumped the shark when Paula Abdul left, replaced by Ellen DeGeneres and Kara DioGuardi. The departure of Simon Cowell seemed to me to be the final straw in the American Idol coffin.

But.

I think I was wrong. Wednesday night's first episode of the new season of American Idol really seemed like a new and improved version.

And getting rid of, what had started to seem to me, the repetitively, evermore less amusing, Simon Cowell, seems to have been a healthy change.

Sort of like getting rid of a tumor you did not realize was cancerous.

Last year, or was it the year before, American Idol hype said it would be a kinder, gentler American Idol, reflective of the tough economic times. But, I really did not notice much difference. A lot of the same making fun of unfortunate, clueless souls was still very much an element.

Last night there really was none of that old American Idol style meanness. The goofy, talentless auditioners who did appear were treated respectfully and pretty much gently. My favorite of those was the totally clueless Boy Scout.

Right from the very first audition there was a big difference, with Steven Tyler sort of singing along. It was like both he and Jennifer Lopez were more humanely, honestly connected to those trying out than Simon Cowell ever came close to being.

All in all, the new American Idol just has a way more positive feel to it. At least so far.

And I like the enhanced back stories. The daughter of a cancer survivor, a new American from Kosovo, a 16 year old kid who spent time in a homeless shelter. I think my favorite may have been the Singing Waitress.

Both Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez surprised me. Tyler due to how funny he is. Lopez due to how honestly nice she seemed. The poor lady was devastated the first time she knew she had to say no to someone. As auditions continued saying no did not get much easier, with Jennifer at one point saying, "Oh, my God, I hate this! Why did I sign up for this? I want to go home."

American Idol seemed to find some interesting singers in New Jersey. I've pretty much gone from figuring I'd be bailing on American Idol, to now I am solidly in for the duration.

A very pleasant surprise.

And one more thing. Randy Jackson appears to have lost a lot of weight and I thought he came across way better with his new judge partners.