So, is there actually a male talent that doesn’t suck on this show? Seriously.

I missed the first few vocals, and Chris Daughtry did a fair impression of Bon Jovi (as if that were a good thing), but to this point in the evening everyone else has been some combination of mediocre and miserable.

Kevin Coval’s whiny voice is painful to experience. Sway’s falsetto is impressive, but his vocals were mostly messy and overdone. Bucky Covington was, perhaps, the worst of the bunch. While his song choice wasn’t bad (even if predictable), he sounded forced and off key most of the way through.

And then Gedeon came along and sang “Shout”, which hasn’t got much in the way of vocal difficulty. Sure, it was fun--it was even a good performance--but it didn’t really prove much. I felt a big “so what” at the end of the thing, personally. As annoying as he is, I have to admit that at least I didn’t feel like voting against him when he was done.

While I tend to think that American Idol is a wild celebration of the merely decent, the tepid, the conventional, and the unexceptional, this group of guys seems to be underperforming tremendously. Both Paula and Randy keep saying kind things about these guys, but it all really boils down to this: it would be hard imagining any of these guys setting the world on fire with their singing careers.

To be fair (and to update the post), Elliott Yamin sounded good and put on a good performance. That was probably the performance of the evening (even if it was Stevie Wonder). Even Simon said nice things.

As for Ace Young, I can’t stand his nasal voice or his general lack of manliness. And, damnit, die creepy soulful gaze, die.

Very lastly, I had forgotten about Taylor Hicks. I love this guy, I love his voice, and I hope like hell that he stays on the show for a long time to come. Vote Taylor Hicks.

Update: Now that’s a mighty good question. Mighty good.