"Idol" Stalls at Eight

And then there were eight. Again.

Like every Wednesday "results" edition of American Idol, last night's episode included singing, dancing, nasty criticisms from Simon Cowell and viewer voting results. But unlike every Wednesday edition, no one was booted off.

Late Monday, show producers gave the axe to party-boy Corey Clark, who's due in court next month on assault charges for allegedly smacking up his kid sister and resisting arrest. Once Clark, who says he's innocent, was ejected, Fox was peppered with questions on how it would handle the remaining shows (Would producers eliminate a week of the contest? Would we be subjected to a greatest-hits episode to take up the slack? Would Ryan Seacrest ever learn how to use a comb?).

But Fox kept viewers (and the two lowest vote winners) in the dark until the end of the hourlong, filler-filled show, when host Seacrest gave the contestants the news that "the decision has been made."

That decision? Nobody's going anywhere.

The two happiest people were likely Trenyce and Carmen Rasmusen, who sang "I'm Every Woman" and "Turn the Beat Around," respectively, and were the least impressive to the audience. They'll get to hang around another week (although all vote counts will be carried over and combined with next week's tallies).

Also likely smiling are Fox execs and the advertisers who will get to cash in on the behemoth viewership of American Idol without having to truncate the series due to Clark's early ejection. Last Tuesday and Wednesday, nearly 40 million TVs tuned into the show, making it the top two shows of the week, besting even coverage of the war in Iraq.

About the only people not excited are the 20 million-plus fans who sat through the whole show without seeing anyone kicked off. Message boards are already filling with backlash against Fox and Idol producers from those who say they were suckered into watching the whole show for naught.

Though the future of the contestants is up in the air until next week, one thing is certain: Fox is going to milk every single last drop of publicity from the show.

First up, the show's contestants are gearing up to record a set of American Idol charity singles. Initially, the plan was to remake the Burt Bacharach/Hal David hit "What the World Needs Now Is Love." But that plan has been scrapped, and all of the members of American Idol 2 have teamed up to record covers of Lee Greenwood's "I'm Proud to Be an American" and "God Bless the U.S.A." (both of which were performed on last week's show). The double-A-side single will be rush-released via RCA Records with a portion of sales earmarked to the American Red Cross.

The Greenwood and Bacharach tunes will all be included on American Idol Season 2: All Time Classic American Love Songs, in which the Top 10 finalists (presumably minus Clark) will belt out make-out tunes (excepting, of course, the Greenwood flag-wavers). Again, a portion of sales will go to various charities.

But it doesn't stop there. Not only is last year's winner, Kelly Clarkson, releasing her album this month (expect another Idol appearance in the coming weeks), her movie musical with runner-up Justin Guarini, From Justin to Kelly, is due out in June. Fox's Junior Idol, a kiddie version of the contest, is scheduled for a summer run.

Also on tap is a mall tour called Behind the Scenes with American Idol in which Idol contestants RJ Helton, EJay Day, Vanessa Olivarez, Charles Grigsby, Kristin Holt and Jim Verraros hit the mall circuit for a meet-and-greet with fans followed by a live karaoke contest. The tour plays 21 malls in 14 cities and kicks off this weekend in Miami and New York.

Finally, there's American Idol: The Videogame. Gamers can get in touch with their inner wannabe on PlayStation 2 and PC next Christmas. According to game publisher Codemasters, the game "will be a music-based rhythm-action game, allowing players to create, style, train a character and compete as a singer," all the while exacting colorful (and likely unpleasant) commentary from a computer-generated Randy, Paula and Simon.

Stay tuned for cereal, clothing and shoe endorsements.