American Idol kicked off what promises to be a long, drawn-out finals process last night, with kids singing Motown to the judges, a live audience, and special guest Lamont Dozier, who seems to have had his hand in just about anything Motown put out.

The word for the night was meh. There were a few good performances, but mostly uninspiring ones. No one was truly awful. There were bio clips for all 12 performers (they had to fill 2 hours somehow), too. So how'd it go?

* Kimberly Locke sung "Heat Wave" and, with flames on the karaoke-style background screens, did indeed remind one of a Burger King commercial. Meh rating (1=least meh, 10=infinite meh): 5.

* Joshua, who we learned joined the Marines after becoming a husband and father, sang "Baby I Need Your Lovin.'" Meh rating: 5.

* Charles, who hails from Oberlin, Ohio, and really, really seems to favor clothes in various shades of blue, sang "How Sweet It Is," which was the downfall of one of last year's first finals casualties. Uh oh. Meh rating: 8.

* Camera whore Kimberly Caldwell sang "Nowhere to Run" and was pretty much as she always is: not bad, not great. We learned from her bio that she's been trying to become famous since she was a little girl. At least we see where it comes from now. Meh rating: 4.

* Rickey sang "1-2-3" and was pretty good. In his bio he called his sister a dork, adding that she was a female version of him. He sounds better when the songs don't call for him to try to hit all sorts of notes. Meh rating: 2.

* Julia sang "Where Did Our Love Go?" after showing us around her Brookfield, CT hometown. Most of the bios followed the same pattern: talk to family or a friend, show the finalist going back to their high school or college, back to a work site, etc. No real surprises, bio-wise. Just to continue the "feud," meh rating: 4.

* Clay sang "I Can't Help Myself" and it was same as it ever was. Clay looked calm, hit everything, actually a little less crisp with pronunciations. Clay's mom calls him Clayton. Simon finally tried to put Clay into a Broadway/show pigeon-hole. We'll see how it takes. Meh rating: 2.

* Vanessa chipped in with "You Keep Me Hanging On." Vanessa has a pot-bellied pig named Bacon. Its middle name: Bits. I liked that. Meh rating: 4.

* Corey sang "This Old Heart of Mine" while we learned that he grew up just about everywhere and was kind of a handful as a kid. Dozier said he sounded like a young Smokey Robinson, which you can see but he's got a ways to go to get there. Meh rating: 4.

* Carmen sang "You Can't Hurry Love" and proved that she's a quick learner by singing a song with very few held notes. She's from Bountiful, Utah, where everyone has some shade of blonde hair. Meh rating: 5.

* Trenyce sang "Come See About Me" after we learned she left the University of Memphis three years into a nursing program to take a shot at music. Mom didn't like the idea, but she's come around. Meh rating: 2.

* Ruben celebrated Alabama's first-ever Ruben Studdard Day by singing "Baby I Need Your Lovin." Wait, he did? That's what's listed on the official show site. I can't imagine that they let two guys sing the same song. And if they did, Ruben did a nice job in singing it in a very different way from Joshua. Ruben was decked out in a tasteful black and grey "205" shirt. Meh rating: 1.

As for who gets the heave-ho, I'll follow the meh ratings and go with Charles. While he wasn't terrible, he was more obviously off than the others. It doesn't help him that he's kind of the "mystery" contestant, having not gotten much air time and not having a ginned up feud or other schtick to hang his hat on. If we're doing the "bottom three" method, I'll put Carmen and, uh, let's say Kimberly Locke in there. Carmen will still be doing time for her deus ex Simonica appearance, while Kimberly Locke has the double-dip of going first (on a two hour show in ADHD America) and not performing to her usual level.