For me this has been Idol's dreariest season. The talent is vastly better than the 3rd season, of course; I think 11 of the finalists are good enough to be in the top 12 (since Amanda screamed her way thru all 5 of her performances, we never did find out if she could actually sing) but the raw talent has not translated into a lot of great performances or a lot of singers I'd be happy to be see win. The problem is that everybody seems so gray and desperate. Nobody even dresses colorfully. The contestants all know that few people aside from some of the winners, Clay, Daughtry, Jennifer (who still has no CD out) and some country singers has gotten much of a career out of this, and they also must know the final will probably come down to the two Davids. The judges seem tired, the contestants seem tired (I'm especially thinking of David Archuleta, who makes John Stevens look energetic) and even sucksters seem tired of it all. Talent-wise, this is an average season; but whatever magic the show had is almost done.