Sam Woolf survives make-or-break week

WOOLF. Was he “saved” because of his looks and charisma? AMERICANIDOL.COM

We’ve stopped watching the “overstaying” TV talent tilt, “American Idol” on a regular basis, but do try to catch it from time to time, just to keep tabs on its current progress.

Last week, it was down to just seven finalists, and handsome but callow Sam Woolf was the low man on the show’s totem pole. He thus had to sing for his life to survive—but, his best efforts didn’t seem to be enough, so it looked like he would have to leave the competition—unless the tilt’s jurors would exercise their only “save” vote for the season to keep him “alive.”

That didn’t seem to be a likely prospect, since they had opted not to use it in past weeks to save notably better singers—but, lo and behold, Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban surprised everyone by choosing to save Sam Woolf!

Why they did it triggered a lot of discussions and arguments in the days that followed. Our understanding of their “shocking” move is that they felt that Sam’s “star quality,” even if it’s still in the process of being polished and honed to perfection, deserved to be given more time to assert itself.

Yes, the tilt searches for the best singers, but looks and charisma are still key factors in the discovery and creation of a show biz star, and given more time, Sam could be “it.”

He may not end up better than another boy-next-door type, David Archuleta, but please note that David ended up making it all the way up to No. 2—not bad for an “unknown” teen from Nowheresville.

Also please note that, while this year’s finalists are prodigous singers, some of them have less-than-stellar looks, so the show needs a lot of help in that department—which the sweetly charismatic Sam is only too willing to provide.

Now, we don’t know how much longer the vocally deficient young man will be able to stay “alive” in the competition after this make-or-break week. —But, if teen girls’ votes keep him in contention up to, say, the tilt’s final three, the judges’ “shocking” decision to “waste” their lone “save” vote on him shall have been resoundingly vindicated!