This American Idol farewell season’s “middle rounds” have become so convoluted, they practically make The Voice – with that show’s maddening sliding-scale points system from the first two seasons, and its ever-changing fine-print rules about cumulative iTunes Bonuses, Bring-Back Performances, and Twitter Saves – seem as simple as Blue’s Clues. Instead, the seven contestants moving on to the top 14 this week, and the five contestants who got the ax, were decided entirely by the judges/producers.
