Will wonders never cease? This...

Will wonders never cease? This week, two of the least deserving contestants in recent reality-TV history got the boot: the obnoxious, repellent, incompetent Brent on The Apprentice and the chirpy, twerpy Kevin on American Idol. They should never have made it on these shows in the first place. But since we usually can't depend on common sense to reign on shows like these, it's worth cheering when it happens. (It would have been a swell hat trick if the woefully insecure, gratingly unworthy Gina had been eliminated from America's Next Top Model this week as well, after her runway freak-out over the glittery cockroach accessories. But there's always next week.)

And now we're left with an official American Idol top 10. My perceptions since the last time I weighed in have shifted a bit, so here's my revised handicapping:

Top tier: Chris and Mandisa. They rock, and soar.

Close behind: The classy Katharine and, maybe, the soulful Taylor, if he can concentrate on the vocals and not the jive-dancing. I thought my TV was on the fritz, but it was him doing the erratic shaking. Not pretty, or even all that entertaining.

Good but not great: Elliott, seemingly the nicest guy in the competition, but hardly an original; and Ace, whose self-adoring crooning is slipping deep into Constantine cheeseball territory. He's almost as good as he thinks he is, but he needs to get over himself, and soon.

The "adorable" imposters: I'm still not sold on Paris, whose vocals are shakier than the judges are willing to admit just yet, and whose precocious bravado has worn thin. And Kellie Pickler's Gomer shtick has gone beyond laughable to ludicrous. Now it's just looking calculated, and it's annoying. Plus, her singing's bland at best.

The pits: Bucky. Unintelligible and only marginally talented, he needs to be the next to go. Followed soon by Lisa, unless she can hire the Without a Trace crew to locate her missing personality. She was an early favorite of mine, but now she's almost completely MIA, which seems a shame.