It is all over for country cutie Kristy Lee Cook on American idol.  The singer from Oregon had survived a lot longer than many had believed she should have and she made the top seven, but it is over for Kristy Lee.  She was joined in the bottom three this week by Brooke White and Syesha Mercado but those two ladies survived.

It is hard to pinpoint why this was the week that Kristy Lee Cook went home.  She did fairly well with her performance of a pretty difficult Mariah Carey song “Forever” but she likely bought two weeks with her Lee Greenwood song “God Bless the USA” and Dolly Parton week.   This is no Michael Johns shocker, it was time for Kristy to exit.

The ladies struggled mightily this week and the real shocker is how Carly Smithson didn’t wind up in the bottom three.  It was not a good week for the ladies, but it seems as if Carly really got lucky as her performance of “Without You” was abysmal.  

This might start a trend of several weeks in a row that see the ladies go home.  Unless Jason Castro slips up, the next few votes will likely toss Syesha, Carly and Brooke.  Who goes next, and does it really matter?  We are certainly looking at a David and David finals with Archuleta and Cook.   All of our American idol coverage is here, check back for more analysis and of course all of the gossip from backstage.

Alicia Witt’s character in the Friday opening Al Pacino thriller, “88 Minutes,” is that of a teacher’s assistant who’s completely gaga over her boss. To hear Alicia carry on about Pacino, her feelings of idolization must have been pretty easy to play. “Al goes above and beyond the norm, especially for someone who’s accomplished all he has,” she lets us know.

“He really wanted to rehearse, and for two weeks before we started shooting, he had people come over to his house to read scenes and work on them with him. During production, he’d have people get together for Italian dinners, and we’d sit there with our scripts and work on scenes some more.”

Adds the actress/singer, “He’s probably always been my favorite actor. Now I look up to him for his work ethic as well. He doesn’t carry himself as someone to be idolized, which is really endearing. There’s no grandiosity, no entourage. As soon as we shook hands, my nervousness went away.”

Pacino plays a forensic psychiatrist/university professor who put a serial killer behind bars, and who gets told by an unidentified phone caller that he has 88 minutes to live in the flick. Witt says that given the ticking clock aspect, “There was the challenge of trying to define what these people are to each other, but not be absurd about it” — and the relationship had to be conveyed within glances and tones of voice.

MEANWHILE: Witt doesn’t know what her future will be with “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” though she made it clear from the start of her tenure as Det. Nola Falacci on the series, she says, that she wasn’t interested in a permanent job. “Julianne Nicholson is back from maternity leave, and the structure of the show is two detectives. They’ve asked me to do a few more, but it wouldn’t be on a regular basis because that’s not the nature of the part. I actually miss Falacci. She’s a kick. I have one episode left to shoot on my current contract. I think we’ll do that in June, and then we’ll see.”

THE BIG SCREEN SCENE: Richard Jenkins’ “The Visitor” doesn’t open ’til tomorrow (4/18), but it’s already become a critic’s darling, with praises for the film — and especially Jenkins’ performance — being sung from NPR to the New York Times, along with commentary about the mysteries of great acting.

“It’s been an incredible experience and one I didn’t think I would ever have,” says Jenkins modestly. The one-time “Six Feet Under” ghost dad tells us that he and filmmaker Tom McCarthy (”The Station Agent”), who share the same agent, happened to be staying at the same hotel a while back, and after running into each other in the lobby one evening, went out for dinner. “We talked about everything but the new movie. A year and a half later, he called and said, ‘I wrote this part for you. Would you read it?’”

The part turned out to be that of a widowed economics professor whose empty life gets recharged — and then some — when he becomes friends with the Syrian drummer to whom his New York apartment has been rented by scammers.

“The first thing I said to Tom after reading it was, ‘Nobody is going to give you the money for this with me in the lead.’ But Michael London and Groundswell Productions stepped up, and it wasn’t even an issue for them.”

Jenkins’ next two flicks have him back in the supporting actor range, but Jenkins isn’t complaining. He says he had a blast making the Will Ferrell-John C. Reilly comedy “Step Brothers” — as Reilly’s father, who falls for Will’s mother (Mary Steenbergen), leading to a blended family of grown men who never quite managed to leave the nest. He also recently wrapped the Coen Bros. comedic drama “Burn After Reading” — with Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, John Malkovich and Frances McDormand.

COOKING ON ALL BURNERS: Food Network star Sandra Lee reports the four — count ‘em — four cookbooks she’s putting on the market this year are just a drop in the bucket. “I have done so much work in advance I have already laid out my next nine books through 2011,” says the popular host of “Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee.” In addition to cookbooks, she now has “a deal to do a book based on my Semi-Homemade philosophy for Better Homes and Gardens.” First off the presses, is the just released “Semi-Homemade Grilling 2,” “Grilling 1 was the No. 2 bestselling grill book ever when it was released,” she notes proudly. “Then this fall I have ‘Semi-Homemade Shortcut Meal Solutions’ coming out on how to get the supermarket employees to do all your work for you, ‘Sandra’s Fast Fix Family,’ the 300-recipe collection all about family meals and ‘Semi-Homemade Desserts 2.’” Lee says she’s expressed concern she might be glutting her own market, but “the buyers dictate what comes out, and they want these books. There’s always room for another cookbook, and they’re all under $20.”

Lee will celebrate the 200th episode of “Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee” show on May 3, but says she’s also way ahead of the game on that front. “I have three more shows to do, and I will have shot shows well into and through 2009.” To commemorate the milestone, Lee and crew donated $10,000 to God’s Love We Deliver, an organization that feeds people living with serious illnesses.

The American idol results show is underway and even though it sometimes seems easy to predict these elimination shows last week proved that there will be shocking results.  None of the prognosticators had Michael Johns going home but the soulful Australian singer was unceremoniously dumped from American idol six days ago on a special Thursday night elimination.

On Wednesday night, host Ryan Seacrest has announced that there were 36 million votes were cast via phone and text message and American idol fans really showed up in big numbers during a week that featured songs by record setting pop star Mariah Carey.  Many fans detested it and certainly some of the contestants couldn’t have liked the choices they had.

So who goes home?  The clock is ticking and the show is live on the east coast and right now Jason Castro and Carly Smithson have been placed in one group.  David Cook and Kristy Lee Cook in another group.

Brooke White has now joined David Cook’s group.  Syesha has joined Carly Smithson’s group. David Archuleta is the odd man out right now but he is likely safe and probably has the most votes.  Check back and refresh as we will have the results live as they come in.  Or click here for all of our American idol coverage.   

Jason Castro was hit this week with a bit of a controversy as a photo that showed the singer surrounded by smoke made its way online.  But nothing has hurt the focus of the singer from Texas as he again delivered another solid performance and that is back-to-back weeks that he has held his own with David Cook and David Archuleta.

On the flip side, Carly Smithson seems to be sinking like a stone. Five weeks ago I would have never believed that he would have outlasted Michael Johns but barring a stunner tonight he is one week away from making it into the top five.

Castro delivered again with “I Don’t Want to Cry” and though he was in a very tough spot following David Cook’s incredible performance of “Always Be My Baby” he was still very good.  (See the pot story controversy here for Jason Castro) Ranking the contestants now from bottom to top is difficult as the bottom group of three is basically all the same.  But if I had to, I would say that Carly Smithson has dropped to the bottom of the group.

Syesha Mercado would be ranking in at number six and Kristy Lee Cook checks in at number five.  Arizona’s Brooke White gets a four ranking in my opinion and then it is Jason, David Archuleta and the top performer is David Cook.  Results night is just a few hours away, check back here for who gets voted off and all of our other American idol coverage.    

It is American idol results night and after Mariah Carey night on Tuesday it is a welcome elimination. What a tough week.  First let’s review the contestants that should be safe.  All of the fellas performed well enough and should have the votes.  Despite those funky pants, David Archuleta did well enough on “When You Believe” to keep his spot as the top dog on the show.

David Cook was again the performer of the night.  Cook is a men among boys (sorry ladies, no offense) and he hit the groove with “Always Be My Baby”.  Jason Castro was good enough with “I Don’t Want to Cry”.  All the men should be safe in the elimination show.

Syesha Mercado actually performed well with “Vanishing” but I fear this may be her swan sing and she may “Vanish” from idol after tonight’s vote is announced.  But there is no guarantee as none of the ladies were very good.  The worst performance of the night was by Carly Smithson, she sounded way off with “Without You”.  Ugh, what has happened to Carly?

Kristy Lee Cook has to be eliminated at some point, right?  It might come tonight but she looked great and sounded good enough on “Forever” to hang around.  Brook White tried “Hero” and the performance was just “so-so”.  No more Mariah on idol ever, please.  My prediction for the “The Bottom Three” for elimination night on the results show Carly Smithson, Syesha Mercado, and Kristy Lee Cook. 

All of our American idol coverage is here and we will be covering the results show and the elimination tonight so check the link to see who gets voted off. I think it is all over for Syesha, but she deserves to stay one more week.  We will see if I finally get one right.

Ambre Lake has taken the top honors on the reality TV show ‘Rock of Love’ and now Bret Michaels has found his true love.  Or not,as he is really not too sure and with this train wreck of a show who really cares, it is just a shame that it is already over.  She beat out the clever Daisy de la Hoya.  (Both are pictured right).

At the finale, Michaels told de la Hoya to walk down the steps, but much to her chagrin, he told her that “the tour stops here,” and thus picking Ambre Lake who is already being challenged about many of her statements on the show including some accusation that she lied about her age.  Oh the humanity!

Michaels was trying to find love out of twenty-five girls, and as this is a rock star world most were your basic cleavage bearing artificially enhanced groupie types. Apparently the two are still dating, even though they had to separate for five long months.  He says you can’t find love on Reality TV.  

But you can find photos, and now that Ambre has a little fame and there are some new steamy photos that have emerged.  This page has all the links and the first link is safe.  The “Rock of Love 2″ reunion special will air on VH1 on Sunday, April 20.

Where’s the love in Sin City for Brangelina?  Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are usually given the red carpet treatment everywhere they go and when they travel on their private jets they have paparazzi and reporters constantly surrounding them giving them the A-list celebrity treatment.

But is the new wearing off Jolie and Pitt?  He was just shut down in Texas recently when he tried to get a ninety percent (90%) discount at a luxury resort in Texas where he is shooting a movie.  Tjey told him “no’ and he went on to rent a private home from the WWE wrestler “The Undertaker”. And now a story from Doghouse Boxing claims that when Angelina and Brad were in Las Vegas they got little love from boxer Ricky Hatton.  He did feel a bit off for the diss though.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. had just knocked out Hatton last year when Jolie and Pitt tried to talk with him directly after the fight.   That didn’t really work out so well as his head was still ringing and he had little to say to the rock star couple.  It sounds like it can be chalked up to poor timing.

Hatton stated: “Needless to say I was back in the changing room and my head was in bits and they were both in the changing room as well. They said ‘How you doing Ricky?’ and I just went ‘Alright’, and walked past. I felt a right clown after that!”
 

Mariah Carey night was a disaster and that was one full hour of pains sans David Cook’s performance.  The bottom three should be all gals this week as none of them were all that good with their performances.  Brooke White just might be there in the bottom three but I believe it will be Carly Smithson, Syesha Mercado & Kristy Lee Cook.

I’m really not certain who deserves to be voted off but I will certainly vote for dumping Mariah Carey for all time from American idol.  Are they trying to chase away viewers?  It was one difficult hour of Mariah songs as hardly anything worked at all.

Kristy Lee Cook tried “Forever” and for the song it wasn’t awful.  I would think that she was ready to go home this week but perhaps the country music fans will give her one more week.  If it goes on performance alone from last night Carly Smithson is done.  The once promising voice seems to have hit the wall.  She tried “Without You” and it was just terrible during parts of the song.  American idol will soon be without Carly.

Syesha Mercado did fairly well on something called “Vanishing” but it is an obscure song and I’m not certain how that will set with American idol voters.  Check out all of our American idol coverage here including results, analysis and all of the backstage gossip.

Pals Miley Cyrus and Mandy Jiroux are at it again and this time they are taking on Madonna.  The two pals are now a YouTube hit as they make their way across the World Wide Web and this time they are doing a remake of Madonna’s “4 Minutes To Save The World” video.

The pair have already hit the online video sharing website with several other videos that have caused a stir including one that drew a lot of attention as when she just split from Nick Jonas and she made the video that sounded a whole lot like a lovesick break up video with Mandy as they worked their way though Akon’s song “Lonely.”

Now they are back for more with the new Madonna video.  While Miley is a mega-star and know all over the world while drawing tons of attention everywhere she goes, Mandy is still looking for her way to stardom and many are already criticizing her for trying to use Miley as a vehicle for name recognition.  That’s probably a bit unfair as they just seem like good friends, even with the age difference.

Both have already had their own online photos in skimpy attire as Mandy has a sexy bikini photo shoot that has now drawn some attention and right before that a whole bunch of racy photos of Miley were spreading all over the web.  Check out the Madonna video from Miley and Mandy here at Hollyscoop.     

Extreme skier John Nicoletta died in a fall at the Alyeska Resort in Alaska during the Freeskiing World Championships. The competition was aired live on the Internet.  He died last week on Friday and was only 27 years old and more than 200 friends have held a tribute to the athlete in Aspen. Nicoletta is an extreme skiing hero and is featured in ski videos, both commercial and on YouTube.

The fall was described as intense as he lost it over a wall and he just fell off the outcrop and went straight down.  Though the Associated Press reports that there was a delay getting a medical helicopter to the scene, it would not have mattered, as his death was instant, the wire service reports.  The cause was blunt force to the chest.

The world championship free skiing competition was halted Friday after the shocking fall and death.  After discussions with competitors, it was decided that the competition should be resumed and that happened on Sunday.  The annual Alaskan event was held at the Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood.

He lost control when he tried to ski off a band of rock called the Headwall.  An EMT cited by the Associated Press says that the fall was so intense and he was certain that it was bad when he first saw it.  He notes that Nicoletta did several cartwheels as he fell and his helmet was ripped off during the intense drop.