'American Idol' ends for Brooke White

Wednesday night saw a tearful end to the “American Idol” journey of singer/songwriter Brooke White.

The husky-voiced songstress broke the traditional “American Idol” mold by being the first performer in a low-key, Carly Simon-inspired vein to reach the top ranks of the competition, ultimately finishing tonight in the fifth-place spot.

Paired for elimination with Syesha Mercado, White was perhaps best known for her hyper-emotional reactions on past elimination nights. She stayed true to form, breaking into tears during her farewell song –- Neil Diamond’s “I Am... I Said” -- and retreating to the rear of the stage where she was surrounded by fellow contestants in the "Idol" crew.

Next week the final four -- David Archuleta, Jason Castro, David Cook and Mercado -- will compete in a week themed around the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

-- Richard Rushfield

'Gossip Girl': What will Serena and Blair wear at NYC's wedding of the year?

We know that the bride (Lily, played by Kelly Rutherford) will wear one-of-a-kind Vera Wang.

But what about Serena, Blair, Chuck and Dan?

Elizabeth Snead has a few sneak peeks from the set of the "Gossip Girl" finale, "Much 'I Do' About Nothing" (airing May 19).

Click here!

'Lost': Old business, new business and 'Something Nice Back Home'

One of the frustrating things to deal with as "Lost" continues to add layer upon layer to its mythology is keeping myriad -- often unresolved -- clues, theories and Easter eggs straight on a weekly basis. Most of the time I'm so caught up in the current week's reveals that I fail to remember every bit of "Lost" trivia that's been revealed over the years.

That was the case this week, when The Times' assistant managing editor and fellow "Lost" fanatic Michael Whitley e-mailed me to remind me of an orientation film that wasn't introduced as part of the series. The Orchid Station's orientation film was first screened for fans at the San Diego Comic-Con last summer and was then made available online.

It provides an answer to the identify of Halliwax, the man whose parka Ben Linus was wearing at the beginning of last week's episode. In the film, Halliwax is another name for the guy I'll call Dr. Orientation. He's appeared in all of the Dharma Initiative films so far, identifying himself as Marvin Candle, Mark Wickmund and Edgar Halliwax. Candle, Wick and Wax. More name games, similar to what the Others were playing with the 815 survivors in the first and second seasons when Ben was known as Henry Gale and Ethan Rom was never officially unveiled as an anagram of "Other Man."

Does that make Dr. Orientation one of the Dharma people, one of Ben's people or both? And is there one Dr. Orientation or three? The mysteriously doubling rabbit and this season's loopy time tricks provide some big clues.

'American Idol': Shine on, you crazy Diamond

Sometimes the greatest insights about the night before come with breakfast. This morning, my hubby and fellow pop scribe, Eric Weisbard, pointed out that the maturity I'd written about in my Idol Banter last night isn't just a matter of tone.

In fact, he noted, Diamond was the guy who helped bring easy listening into the adult-contemporary era, and that means the lyrics to many of his finest songs are, if not Snoop-level dirty, at least a bit risqué. And we all know that risqué doesn't fly on "Idol."

Here's a list of Diamond's Greatest Semi-Nasty Hits and the subject matter to which they fairly explicitly allude:

"Cracklin' Rosie" and "Red, Red Wine": inebriation

"You Don't Bring Me Flowers": the problems that ensue when one partner is not sexually fulfilled (Neil sings...."When it's good for you, babe, you're feeling all right," and Barbra Streisand replies, "Well you just roll over and turn out the light."

"Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon":  deflowering girls

"Holly Holy" and "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show": dubious religious messages a la "Jesus Christ Superstar"

"Crunchy Granola Suite": the obvious Jason Castro choice alludes to growing and ingesting marijuana

"Play Me": free love

Oh, Neil. If only the Idols could.

-- Ann Powers

'American Idol' Tracker: A chaotic Neil Diamond night

The Idoldome was a colder, emptier place Tuesday night than it had been a mere week ago, when the most electrifying singer in "American Idol" history, Carly Smithson, still walked among us.  In the life of every "Idol" partisan, sooner or later this day must come when one must look defeat dead in the eye and search for new reasons to keep faith in the system. 

In the end, democracy cannot be just a way to force one’s own candidate into office; the means must be more important than our individual ends and, bitter though it may be, the will of the electorate must be embraced.  Were it not for American Idol, one must recall, we would have never known Carly Smithson at all. However, taking my seat in the Carly-less Idoldome, I recounted the words of the Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert in his Elegy of Fortinbras, when he wrote, putting words in the mouth of Hamlet’s sole survivor,

“Now you have peace Hamlet you accomplished what you had to
and you have peace The rest is not silence but belongs to me
you chose the easier part an elegant thrust
but what is heroic death compared with eternal watching
with a cold apple in one’s hand on a narrow chair
with a view of the ant-hill and the clock’s dial”

In the event, cold apple in my hand astride my narrow chair in the upper tiers, it proved to be an interesting night for moving on and seeking closure, doing so on the night of what Simon Cowell called “the strangest show we’ve ever done.”  I am not sure how much of this came across on television, but in the Idoldome events were, even by the roaring circus atmosphere of the tapings, fairly frenetic, or as Simon termed it, “chaotic.”

'American Idol' Banter: Neil Diamond in the rough

I never thought I would have occasion to feel sorry for Neil Diamond, but "American Idol" always seems to introduce me to new and uninvited emotions. Tuesday's show, devoted to the songbook of the estimable Tin Pan Alley rocker, did him a great injustice -- and it didn't do much for the tremulous Top Five Idols, either.

Maybe they're still processing the slaying of Carly last week, or perhaps they'd gotten into whatever made Paula render judgment on Jason Castro's second song before he sang it -- but with one exception, all five contenders seemed a little, well, glazed.

That exception was Syesha Mercado, who used her lovely sense of calm on the Lionel Richie-esque ballad "Hello Again" (Diamond's song predates Richie's "Hello" by three years, by the way) and delivered the jangly 1967 song "Thank the Lord for the Nighttime" as if her mama were Motown royal Martha Reeves.

Syesha's turning out to be as intelligent a performer as David Cook, though it hurts her that her strong spot is where standards meet jazz, since "Idol" generally promotes the idea that pop history begins in the 1980s. To me, Simon's pronouncement that she might be in trouble seemed as loopy as Paula's missteps (the wiggiest judge also called Syesha "Brooke"); but I've also come to accept that, this season especially, America doesn't always vote with its ears.

'Dancing With the Stars': Shannon Elizabeth eliminated

Well, despite their best efforts to show that they’d undergone a complete attitude revolution, Shannon Elizabeth and partner Derek got the ax this week.  If you’re a celebrity on, let’s say, the D through B-minus lists, and you’re considering signing up to be a "Dancing With the Stars" contestant in the future, let this be a lesson to you: Do not violate the sacred "DWTS" ethos of peppy persistence.  You might want to start practicing the following lines now: (1) "We’re just having such a blast," (2) " 'DWTS' has changed my life" and (3) "You just have to go out there and give it your best shot."  Granted, these are necessary but not sufficient –- otherwise, Steve Guttenberg would still be with us.

I’ll hand it to the "DWTS" people this week: They really made the most of Cristián de la Fuente’s injury.  Instead of engineered and flimsy suspense, there was engineered and palpable suspense.  Would Cristián wait to find out his fate, or would he drop out?  First, we learned more about the injury itself.  Partner Cheryl said she’d heard a pop, which she initially thought was her dress (and, hey, kudos to her for not freaking out that she had been inadvertently denuded), but it turned out to be Cristián’s arm.  Eventually, we found out from Cristián that his injury was not a “severe muscle cramp,” as the emergency medical technician had (perhaps condescendingly) called it, but rather a ruptured tendon in his bicep that would require surgery.  Co-host Tom Bergeron asked whether Cristián wanted to continue competing (if fate would permit it), and I found that I was actually a little on the edge of my seat.  Maybe this was because Tom had already tantalizingly told us that some new information had come in just before the show.  It turned out that the new information was that the doctor could delay the surgery if Cristián wanted to continue, which he did.  Now, you already know that he was spared this week –- he wasn’t even in the bottom two –- so I can’t re-create that moment here.  It will be interesting to see a couple of things going forward: First, how long the sympathy card will keep him in competition, and second, how well he can dance without using his left bicep.  I find I use my bicep for numerous actions each day, including lifting my child, drinking coffee and/or cocktails, and clocking anyone who dares insinuate that "DWTS" is for sissies.  It strikes me that you really need your biceps in ballroom dancing, particularly when you’re the man.

The other couple in the bottom two was Marissa Jaret Winokur and partner Tony, despite their strong scores from the judges this week.  I wonder whether all of those fans keeping Marissa in the game shifted their support to Cristián this week.  I also wonder whether the fact that Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark finished second this week wasn’t actually a good thing for them in that it may have forced people to vote for them instead of assuming they’d easily go through to next week.  Discuss.

'Hell's Kitchen': Burn victim heads home, Chef Gordon Ramsay goes back to grilling

Each week, Chef Ramsay lays the trap. And each week, someone walks right into it. Haven't they learned anything by now? Ben fell for it last week when Chef Ramsay told him that he was "surprised" by his dinner service performance. Ben profusely thanked the chef, puffed out his chest and started yammering about how he was giving it his all....until chef interrupted to say he was surprised at how bad the performance was.

This week, Louross fell for it. Chef told him he was the evening's standout. But not for the reason Louross thought. Ooo. That backhand had to smart.

American Idol Tracker: Neil Diamond night first impressions

Simon called it the "strangest show we've ever done."  In person at the Idoldome, things did indeed seem, as he said, a bit chaotic.  I'll have the full report later tonight, but please share your first impressions in our comments section now.

And don't forget to join me for a live chat tomorrow, Wednesday noon PST at chat.latimes.com.

- Richard Rushfield

Lisa Loeb to make a cameo on 'Gossip Girl'

As you might have seen on Dish Rag, heiress Lydia Hearst is making an appearance on "Gossip Girl" as herself a socialite named Amelia (here's a sneak peek pic). Now the CW confirms that singer Lisa Loeb will be making a cameo in the May 12 episode.

Remember how Rufus' band, Lincoln Hawk, was featured in a Rolling Stone "Top 10 Forgotten Bands of the '90s" issue in the show's pilot? Apparently, Lincoln Hawk reunites at a '90s-themed concert sponsored by the magazine at which Loeb will also perform.

After last night's episode, maybe Serena should dedicate "Stay" to Dan.

-- Enid Portuguez

Photo credit: Mark Seliger / Los Angeles Times