There's sadness in Bag End tonight as Jon Peter Lewis, the hobbit emissary to American Idol, failed in his quest and was voted off the show. Clearly, he could have used some ass-kicking elves. At least he can now go back to romping through the fields shoeless and, well, doing whatever else his people do. John Stevens was in the bottom three as well. Rounding out the group was Diana DeGarmo, who was the contestant sent back to safety. From her reaction you'd think she'd won something other than public acclimation that out of the 8 contestants, she's only the 6th best liked.

Warning: next week will apparently feature Barry Manilow tunes.

On The Apprentice, Trump went with Bill Rancic over Kwame Jackson, which seems like the right choice. For his trouble, Bill now gets to oversee the construction of a 90 story building in Chicago, an interesting case of serendipity given that Bill is from Chicago. Hmm...

The live portion of the show wasn't that great. There wasn't enough time to really answer questions - Omarosa got called out for being a liar, but was able to skate by giving some BS/joke response that got followed quickly by other contestants seeking their brief time in the sun. Even when Trump got to mention someone - Tammy, for example, is having a baby - there wasn't much time for follow up. We did learn that Amy and Nick dated briefly after the show, but to no avail. Trump pretty much spoke for everyone when he noted that their "romance" may have been the lamest TV fling ever.

There was also a brief "preview" for next season, which was just Trump talking about how next season's tasks would be harder, with shorter deadlines, and involve Fortune 500 companies (who are getting into the act now that the show's a hit - why take a risk?). I don't even think the show's been cast yet, so no intros to new contestants or anything like that. Trump even mused that he might bring some of this season's folks back, giving us shots of Sam, Troy, and Omarosa. As they say, two out of three ain't bad.