We're down to the Final 12 on American Idol! Man, it must be such a great feeling to get to that point. Really, just the total realization of any young singer's dreams. And to get cut just shy of the final 12? That must be incredibly painful. To find out what that pain feels like, we sat in on a conference call with the four contestants who were cut from the Final 16 last week, and discovered why they think they went home and what they hope they'll be doing in the future.

So, after weeks and weeks of tryouts, then another week of the judges painstakingly winnowing the massive group of semi-finalists down to a manageable 24, four of those finalists were promptly voted off by America last week. Or, rather, they weren't voted on. Ashley Rodriguez (who sang "Happy" by Leona Lewis), Janell Wheeler ("What About Love," Heart), Joe Munoz ("You and I Both," Jason Mraz) and Tyler Grady ("American Woman," The Guess Who) all did the walk of shame, followed by the shuttle bus ride of shame and the transcontinental flight of shame, heading home to return to the jobs and families they left behind. And really, aren't we all better because of it, disgraced contestants included? We sat in on a conference call with all four to get their final thoughts about the competition.

We were so glad to have the local audition and Hollywood Week nonsense finally behind us, but now that we're into the actual performance and voting portion of American Idol, we have to say that we've never been less inclined to pick up the phone for someone as we are this year. For all of the "most talented group ever" hype, we've yet to hear anything that remotely lives up to it. Instead, we've got a dull mess of kids, Ellen trying desperately to be relevant and Simon looking like he's just counting the minutes until X-Factor begins. It's going to be a long season, and here's what we're dreading the most:

It's Simon Cowell's last season on American Idol, but he's hoping to go out on a high note with the best season yet. We sat in on a conference call with him and got his take on his rumored replacements as judge. He even told us what a contestant has to do to stand out from the crowd -- future contestants (hell, current contestants) should take note.

If, like us, you have practically worn out your Glee DVD, already have all of the downloads on a constant loop on your iPod and yet still can't stop thinking about the show, we've come up with some suggestions that will keep a song in your heart while you wait for the series to finally return from its inordinately long hiatus in April.

Paula's gone, Simon's got one foot out the door and yet, American Idol will still soldier on through 2011, if not beyond. But based on what we've seen over the last eight years, including the first four hours broadcast this season, we have some suggestions for tweaks the show should make in order to keep us hooked after Cowell and his cutting critiques are gone.

Well, he's been talking about it for years, but it's finally happening... Simon Cowell is leaving American Idol, which means that after the current season (which begins tonight), not one, but two of the original judges will be gone. Paula Abdul's seat has been filled by Ellen DeGeneres (how she'll fare remains to be seen), but the show has always revolved around Simon's cutting remarks and candid criticisms, so replacing him will be a much larger task. We've come up with some people who might be up for the job, or at least could be entertaining to watch while we wait for The X Factor to premiere.

After you've gotten over the shock of Simon Cowell leaving American Idol after this season (for real this time!), you may begin to wonder what the hell The X Factor is and how it's any different than Idol and if you should actually care about it. The answer is: sure. Without Cowell and Paula Abdul, Idol is going to be painful to watch, but X Factor offers some interesting features that Idol currently doesn't, which might actually result in a higher quality of talent coming out it. This basically means that instead of people voting based on cuteness, we might actually get some real vocalists, in the vein of former UK X Factor winner Leona Lewis.

The recent loss of Vic Mizz, composer of the Addams Family theme song, reminded one Wall Street Journal writer that the modern TV theme song is a rare bird, indeed. While we love the theme songs for Chuck, How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, many of our favorite shows are only a few chords, or a vague melody with some la-la-las. We went through our DVRs and picked out the show openers that need to start kicking ass, preferably with some good, old-fashioned rock 'n roll. Here are the songs we want to hear, even though we're sure the rights would be impossible to get for most of them, and the rest would need to be covers performed by other bands. They'd still be improvements.

Ahh, Office webisodes. I always forget you exist and then I randomly watch one and laugh until Angel throws a Ken Doll at me. Today's installment featured Kelly Kapoor and new, obliviously sweet receptionist making a music video for their girl group Subtle Sexuality's hit single. In the Dunder Mifflin office, of course, because who needs location and set dressings when you've got a vending machine and a Kevin? The song's called "Male Prima Donna," and yes, it is about Ryan. And you know what? It was meant to be intentionally bad, but it's better than most Lady Gaga songs, and she's richer than Dwight running a bed and breakfast in hell with Satan, so I say reach for the stars, Kelly! You'll be celibately dating a Jonas Brother in no time with an act like this!