''American Idol'': Go, Diego, Go!

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One such singer is single father Perrie Cataldo, who wisely brought his adorable son to his audition. I swear, I heard the sound of the nation's collective ovaries kicking into gear the second they showed the kid falling asleep on his dad's lap — mid-interview! Okay, so Perrie caught a little Mariah-itis on his overwrought rendition of ''I'll Make Love to You.'' But Boyz II Men's original was pretty melismatic, too, so for now, I'll forgive (and hope dude chooses better material going forward).

And, continuing a positive season 7 trend, the producers managed to showcase four additional Hollywood-bound contestants (from 31 total San Diego successes). Two of them (attractive blonde Tetiana Ostapowych and attractive brunette Samantha Musa) were just aiight for me, but two male contestants (both of whom reportedly have semipro backgrounds) bear watching.

Dreamy Michael Johns (who apparently once fronted a band that had an unfruitful deal with Maverick Records) delivered a decent ''I've Been Loving You Too Long'' that prompted Simon's most obvious comment of the season (''you're a white soul singer''), and if you consider that both Constantine Maroulis and Sanjaya Malakar managed to inspire lusty screams in their respective seasons, the hunky Australian's entry into the top 24 could result in permanent hearing damage for Idol's live viewing audiences.

Quite the opposite, David Archuleta (reportedly a Star Search winner at age 12) could be poised to play the role of season 7's sexually nonthreatening heart-throb, though his choice of John Mayer's ''Waiting on the World to Change'' (once covered by Sanjaya) and his general perkiness made me a little uneasy.

Oh, and on the subject of uneasy, how'd you all like Simon's insane mispronunciation of Barack Obama's surname? I know the cranky British judge isn't obligated to follow American politics, but he spends enough time in this country that you'd expect better than ''Oh-b'mah,'' no?

Two names it's probably safe to forget are Monique Gibson and Christopher Baker, who might want to consider expanding their circle of singing coaches beyond, well, each other. Monique, with her lace-bottomed leggings and winter boots, gets a 10 for creativity for inserting the Jackson 5's ''Who's Loving You'' in between bookend slaughterings of Whitney Houston's ''I Believe in You and Me'' (ending with Mariah's ''Dreamlover'' and Brandy's ''I Wanna Be Down''). On technical merit, however, girlfriend did not fare as well. Indeed, Simon's understated assessment of her skills — ''There's nothing wrong with walking out of here knowing you can't sing'' — is a mantra that every rejected contestant should be forced to repeat 25 times before Fox's camera crew will agree to film any profanity-laced tirades against Idol, its judges, and humanity in general.

Christopher, meanwhile, may have watched Madonna's version of Evita one too many times, what with the way he delivered ''The Greatest Love of All'' with arms outstretched, the crowd in his mind chanting his name from beneath the balcony of the Casa Rosada. Did these two really take offense at their ousters, or did they flawlessly feign outrage to score some added screen time?

I had a similar question about Alberto Hurtado, who seemed so earnestly off-kilter with the sequined gold eagles on his shirt and jeans, his giant green fan declaring his Idol fandom, and his downbeat original track called ''Live.'' But when the cameras cut to the guy spinning a Barbie doll like a top and hilariously cooing, ''It's the paso doble,'' I wondered if maybe I had been duped. Either way, I'm not complaining: I never knew that Barbie could get down like that, and I guess that means the old Idol might still have a few new tricks.

What did you think of the San Diego show? Were you happy Fox kept it to 60 minutes, instead of foisting another two-hour episode on us? And what about Carly? Does she have a right to be on the show, or is she so much of a pro that she's got an unfair edge on her less-seasoned rivals?