American Idol: Durbin is king; McCreery, Abrams mere serfs

Whose idea could it have possibly been to choose Carole King songs for the six remaining contestants? How many would have even heard of Carole King? Perhaps Casey Abrams, because he's a little weird, but surely none of the other cheery little teens and boys not yet allowed to drink alcohol.
There again, this was an opportunity for the contestants to show just how creative, how original they could be. They even had famed producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edwards to help them prepare along with Jimmy Iovine. But there was a little extra difficulty. There are only six remaining, but the needs of selling commercial airtime meant the show had to last 90 minutes.
So they had to fill time. With what? Why, with duets.
First we had Jacob Lusk singing alone. "Oh, No, Not My Baby" was his song. Oh, no. He sang it 65 times in rehearsal. Sporting a striking ensemble of purplish check jacket, blue waistcoat, hangover-crashingly bright yellow shirt and even a purple bow tie, Lusk tried to infuse some jazzy soul and curiously hip-hop (well, more hop) dancing. But it all seemed to be a strain, quite understandably.
"It was about time you shook your tail-feathers," said Steven Tyler. "You're here because you're a great singer so hopefully America will give you some votes, so that you can stick around," said Randy Jackson.
Translation: Some hope, Jacob. You're in trouble.
They really set up Lauren Alaina. There she was in rehearsal singing away. She was given "Where You Lead, I Will Follow," a song of which surely no one aged 16 has ever heard, unless they happened to be a fan of "The Gilmore Girls," for which this song is the tune.
And then mentor Iovine brought in Miley Cyrus. Strange, given that, in a previous rehearsal, Iovine had told Alaina that she was a far better singer than Cyrus. Clearly Iovine is a man even the singers fear. Cyrus smiled, gushed and in her extraordinary smoky baritone told Alaina: "Just do it for yourself."