After a season of standout performances, the race to crown this year's American Idol winner is tighter than ever. Luckily for the singers and viewers, mentor Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M Records, guides the contestants in song choice and arrangement. "I'm like [the Wizard of] Oz," the all-knowing Iovine jokes. "I like helping the kids. It's creative to me. It's my opinion, and I have no trouble giving it." Iovine (and the Idols themselves) shares the keys for each contestant to win...
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KNOPE CAN DO! On a thoroughly charming Parks and Recreation finale, eternal idealist Leslie Knope achieves her lifelong dream of being voted into office — and Amy Poehler captures every nail-biting emotion, from overwhelmed pride at casting a vote for herself to premature despair, an ultimately genuine joy and gratitude to all the friends who made this possible. Her opponent Bobby Newport isn't the only one who's relieved — and geez, show, Paul Rudd is such an adorable boob (the way he stares at a boom mike like it's a chew toy), can't he stick around as a mascot or something? Pawnee City Council may not be Washington, D.C. (where Ben appears to be heading, casting a long-distance pall over the celebration), and a 21-vote margin of victory isn't much of a mandate, but who cares when you have friends like a whisky-laden Ron Swanson, who tells Leslie when she's down that the team rallied to her cause because "that's what you do when you care about someone: You support 'em win, lose or draw." Awww.
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The pressure is on as American Idol named its top three contestants Thursday night and said goodbye to 18-year-old Hollie Cavanagh.
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It's British music week on American Idol, and each of the Top 5 will sing two songs of British origins. The Beatles? The Rolling Stones? Oasis? We've got the set list and — blimey! -- there are a few surprises in store.
Who will have "London Calling"? And who won't get no "Satisfaction"? TVGuide.com assesses the song choices:
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Jessica Sanchez may have had the lowest number of votes on American Idol last week, but she earned the judges' save in a moment even more dramatically befuddling than last season's save of Casey Abrams.
Before Jessica could even sing a full verse of her "save me" song, the Idol judges stormed the stage. Jennifer Lopez yanked the mic from her hand and said, "This is crazy! Yes, we're using the save. You ain't going home. Go sit down; go sit down." Randy Jackson then admonished the...
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