American Idol Down to 16 Somewhat Good Singers

Another four mercifully let go from the competition, 16 remain

The top 20 guys and gals kicked off the American Idol results show singing the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling."

But we doubt more than a handful were positive that tonight wasn't going to be a terrible night.

Their group performance was actually pretty fun (someone picked the right song for a change), but Simon Cowell had already said that when watching some of the ladies over again, "one in particular...was so bad I had to turn the TV off—and I don't do that very often."

And considering the top 10 gentlemen weren't much better, as a whole, there were only a few contestants we would have been shocked to see go.

As it turned out, "Gravity" sent John Park plummeting back to earth, the 21-year-old being the first casualty Thursday—a week after he, and not Joe Muñoz, should have gone home.

Ellen DeGeneres was saddened rather than "frustrated" that it was these two pitted against each other for the last safe spot, but voters made the right choice by ending Jermaine Sellers' run and keeping Andrew Garcia around for at least another week.

Ironically, Jermaine's rehash of "What's Going On" played better tonight, and the usually brashly defensive 27-year-old church-trained singer offered some nice parting words.

"In God there is no failure...so I leave here happy and I appreciate y'all to the fullest, I really do," he said, adding, in a final nod to the outfit he was rocking last night, "and everybody need to go out and get a onesie."

OK, Andrew, time to put "Straight Up" behind you and start competing.

After Danny Gokey made a triumphant return to the Idol stage, probably thrilled that he never has to wait to hear Ryan Seacrest reveal his fate ever again, the ladies took the hot seat.

Kara DioGuardi admitted what those watching on TV already knew, that Michelle Delamor's "Arms Wide Open" wasn't really that great and, at worst, made us want to wrap our arms around each other for audial comfort.

So in the first head-to-head, Didi Benami got someone to lean on—thousands of someones, actually—and slipped past Michelle to safety.

And Haeley Vaughn, smiling throughout, will at least get to live out the rest of her adolescence not having to be ridiculed by Simon Cowell.

The 16-year-old was the fourth contestant to get the boot tonight, right after Simon, looking at her and the still-questionable Lacey Brown, said it was "very obvious who's going to go home tonight, to everyone watching."

All right, ladies and gentlemen, let's try to make it less obvious next week, shall we?

The top eight gals go back to performing on Tuesday, followed by the guys on Wednesday.