The former Carly Hennessy was accepted to go to Hollywood with American Idol, but never made it as she was sent back on a plane to contemplate her navel for a couple of years. Now, Carly Smithson has resolved her Visa issues, appeared on American Idol, wowed the judges once more and has been given a pass to Hollywood, for real this time.

What is causing a stir, however, is that the hard luck Irish miracle, Carly Smithson is not the amateur that many thought her to be. In fact, as Carly Hennessy the Irish singer has had a recording contract with a major player, MCA Records and has put out an album.

The studio spent a cool two mil on promoting the album, which didn’t even sell enough copies to satisfy all the customers who typically go to one McDonald’s restaurant in one day. This brings up the question of just how much of an amateur does one have to be to appear on American Idol?

Of course, there are singers who have been and are currently in the competition who have recorded albums before. Most of these were with Indie labels and other small operations. At what point does a recording artist, who is currently in-between major labels get to compete? Or, is this what we are seeing with Carly Smithson?

There is no doubt that Carly Smithson has the pipes to compete. What is at question is does she have an unfair advantage, being a professional who has had a major recording contract, over the other contestants?

Perhaps one day we’ll see Mariah or Beyonce between contracts and appearing on America’s most beloved talent show?

While last season’s winner Jordin Sparks and runner up Blake Lewis are both currently in the Billboard top 100 rankings, some other former American Idols are not faring so well. Just recently, past Idols Taylor Hicks, Katherine McPhee and Ruben Studdard have been given the ejector seat by Sony BMG Music, Incorporated.

Citing low CD sales and artistic differences, Sony has put the Idols on idle in an effort to clean house before the next season of the TV talent show begins. The top questions on everyone’s mind for season 7 are “Will the contestants be more talented than last time” and “Will Simon Cowell be nastier than last time”? What else is there?

Ah, yes, there is one more question that those in the know want to know and that is “Will the obnoxiously bad and oblivious contestants be any worse this year”? What’s a talent contest without a little train wreck TV thrown in? Stay tuned for next week.

On-air, MTV will integrate lyrics into their shows through interviews and other means. Online, song lyrics will be offered when people search for music on their websites. On mobile handsets, people will be able to send text queries and receive a link to a webpage with the lyrics sought.

It’s high time that MTV realized that they are not only in the music business but also in the lyrics business. Music and lyrics go together like cake and icing. By offering one or the other, you don’t get the full experience.

And Muse Dog does like the full experience, oh yeah. Now, scratch my belly.

The structure of Don’t Forget the Lyrics is similar to some other game shows in that contestants can pick their choice of songs and there are various helps including filling in missing words, multiple choice of lyrics and assistance from a family member.

The Singing Bee, on the other hand, is combination spelling bee and karaoke. I just saw Suzie this week win $50,000 on that show so that was pretty cool.

But, the decision of which show to watch is a real toss up. On the one hand, Don’t Forget the Lyrics is on Fox and Muse Dog likes chasing foxes. On the other hand, The Singing Bee is on the Peacock network, and I like chasing bees and peacocks as well.

Since Muse Dog is generally more loyal to the first thing he sees, I’d have to go with Don’t Forget the Lyrics since I saw this program first. But, remember with either of these shows, memory is key, and please remember the next time you see me to give my belly a little scratching, he he.

With help from his uncle with the words to Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line,” the contestant stooped over, short of breath, either farting or having an infarction. The rotund dude recovered, but had to bow out for missing one lousy word on the Garth Brooks song “Friends in Low Places”.

Don’t forget to watch Don’t Forget the Lyrics when Fox re-ups this TV show next season.

NBC on the other hand is airing their own TV music show, called The Singing Bee. No doubt, like a spelling bee, memory will come into play in this new TV show as well. NBC has decided to outfox FOX by airing their show one day before the Don’t Forget the Lyrics debut.

One only has to wonder how many humorous misheard lyrics will come into play in each show. In a few weeks it will be apparent whether the Peacock gets to strut its stuff or if it will indeed be eaten by the Fox. Shows air on July 11 and 12 respectively.

I won’t reprint the email here but one angry reader wrote in saying that the “teeny boppers have taken over American Idol”. This angry fan went onto say that young teens with text messaging capabilities had hijacked the show in favor of the other two younger contestants on American Idol.

Conspiracy theorists will say that perhaps this is the work of Howard Stern’s “Vote for the Worst” campaign was at work.

Whether you believe in foul play or a free market system rearing its ugly and unpredictable head, its hard to say with a clear conscious that the correct person was ousted last night, in favor of more talented vocalists.

Well, the final two is not as easy to predict do to strong vocal performances by all candidates in last night’s American Idol TV show. In the past few shows it was easier to predict who was in it to win it, as Randy Jackson likes so say and who was a dead man walking.

With my cool canine musical instincts still intact, my gut feeling is that Melinda Doolittle has done too much to go home now. That means tonight’s axe will fall either upon Jordin Sparks or Blake Lewis. I think Jordin is stronger vocally, but Blake is a more unique performer, so tonight we’ll get to see how big of fan base each has been able to establish so far.

Predictions? Well, I’ll probably be mistaken, but I’ll go out on a limb and say that Blake is going home tonight and starting a brilliant bebop career a little earlier than he had hoped.

Three contestants on American Idol forgot the lyrics that night to some of Diana’s best loved songs. Brandon Rogers started off the evening before a larger audience in a much bigger theatre. Apparently, nerves got the best of him as in the middle of the song he paused, having forgotten the lyrics to “You Can’t Hurry Love”. Because of his gaff, Rogers was hurried off from public view as the first American Idol of the final 12 to get the boot.

Rogers wasn’t the only American Idol however to flub the lyrics as both Stephanie Edwards and Haley Scarnato did so as well. But, the women committed their lyrical sins in a little less obvious manner than Rogers did and were safe for one more week. Remembering one’s lyrics is essential for surviving the cuts at American Idol as Sanjaya Malakar proved by staying around another week, when he has been expected to leave for several weeks now.

This past week, the weaker Jus Rhyme got booted of in Survivor style when a Detroit bar and a black native emcee dis’ed him until he was dyslexic with his rapping rhymes. If you like seeing quick-thinking white gangsta lyricists, coming up with cutting and clever jibes in the spirit of Eminem, then its worth tuning in for this last in-your-face battle of hip hop wits.