Tonight's show started off with a salute to the Seventies, which meant lots of happy tunes and prancing feet. The men started out with Todd Rundgren's "I Saw The Light," which turned out to be a pretty good fit for them. But lord help the audience, the women tackled Bonnie Tyler's "It's A Heartache," a tune which was pretty cheesy even when it was originally a hit.

Unfortunately, it quickly turned much uglier. Next into the vocal shredding machine was 10 CC's "The Things We Do For Love," and honestly, if the producers loved the audience, they would have shut down that awkward, off-key rendition after about six bars.

Things were only slightly less painful during Carole King's "I Feel The Earth Move," a song which seemed to bring out a lot of twitchy hand-nodding in the singers. Thankfully, it was time for a commercial break, which gave me a chance to grab a drink and settle my stomach.

The men were up first, and after having the back row of five stand up, he quickly let three off the hook before leaving Jason Yeager and Danny Noriega on their feet. Then it was Yeager's time to leave the show, not an unexpected move given Tuesday's haphazard performance of the Doobie Brothers' "Long Train Running."

Then it was the ladies turn to face the ax. Once again, the back row stood up, and when it was all over, Alexandrea Lushington was gone. Her exit was surprising, particularly given her strong albeit quirky performance of Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now" on Wednesday. She's the first person this season who I thought was eliminated way too soon. Hers was an emotional exit, and as she sang one last time, David Archuleta sobbed nearly uncontrollably. When she finished, she rushed offstage and hugged him

After the commercial break, the front row of women stood up and another surprise took place when Ryan Seacrest brought Kady Malloy and Alaina Whitaker onstage, telling them that one of them would be gone, and the other got the third-lowest number of votes. But that was enough to save them. Alaina was the unlucky singer, which was surprising even to Kady, who simply massacred Heart's "Magic Man" on Wednesday. Alaina was sobbing, clutching on to Kady and facing away from the camera, telling Ryan that she couldn't sing. In the end, she decided to perform, backed by the rest of women. As with Alexandrea, I thought Kady deserved to stick around.

One last singer had to leave, but before that happened, there was a bit of Idol self-promotion. A couple of quick announcements about the first show with the final 12, which will feature songs by Lennon/McCartney and a special exit song recorded by former "Idol" champ Ruben Studdard. There was also giant promo for the "Idol Gives Back" show, which will feature performers including Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Brad Paisley, Daughtry, Mariah Carey, Snoop Dogg and Carrie Underwood.

There wasn't much time left, so Searcrest didn't waste much time. He brought Luke and Robbie Carrico to the front and center and before you know it, Robbie was gone.

Next week, the final sixteen take on the songs of the 1980s, and former Idol finalist Blake Lewis will appear on Thursday's result show to sing his new single "How Many Words."