'Idol' Has a Plan To Get a Leg Up On 'Dancing'

* * *

Sanjaya Malakar lives to sing another day, and now there are two people in the starvation-for-Sanjaya hunger-strike movement who must decide whether he's worth dying for on "American Idol."

Even more upsetting, that adorable little Ashley, who wept through Sanjaya's performance Tuesday night, was put in her seat by show producers (who'd seen her cry over him during dress rehearsals) so they could grab that perfect girl-weeps- during-Beatles'-performance-on- "Ed-Sullivan-Show"-esque moment during Sanjaya's live performance. Is nothing sacred?

Oh yeah, and Stephanie Edwards is out, after looking like one of the stronger contenders in the early stages of the competition.

But not until after Peter Noone and Lulu -- this week's guest "mentors" in Fox's singing competition -- come out to perform.

There is a reason guest "mentors" don't sing on performance night. Most of them don't have much voice left. Or, in the case of Herman's Hermits lead singer Noone and Lulu, never had much of a voice to begin with. If the competitors, most of whom have no idea who these mentors are they're being saddled with, heard them sing before they performed, they might listen to their advice even less than the, um, not-at-all they currently listen to them.

Lulu, who sings "To Sir With Love" because it's the only song anybody knows she ever sang, looks great -- several male colleagues report having developed a little crush on her.

And Noone, who looks less well preserved though still much better than, say, Mick Jagger, sings "There's a Kind of Hush," which was one of his bigger hits and includes the catchy lyrics:

La la la la la la la,

La la la la la la la la,

La la la la la

La la la la la,