Judges Save Option

[Kyle]

It is so patronizing to imply that America got it wrong.
Cause the conclusion is "we know better".
They are saying nothing less than "the viewers are stupid".

Even if there is a major "mishap" during the voting,
that kicks out a good performer and keeps a talentless hack,
it's called life.

[maude~flanders]

I asked before but no one responded, do they combine the totals from this week and next week to determine which two go home next week?

No, they have never said that would be the case when and if the save was used. It will just be the bottom two next week who go.

[TopCatDC]

Interesting take on why the judges used the save this week, rather than next week from WhatNotToSing.com:

Traditionally, American Idol moves to a two-performance format beginning in the Final Five. Had the judges waited until next week to use the Save, it would have meant they'd have six singers for two straight weeks. That's happened once before, in Season Six after nobody was eliminated during Idol Gives Back. The following week, the six remaining contestants again performed one song apiece. That suggests it's too complicated to have six people sing two songs on one night.

By using the Save this week, the producers get to sell seven MP3s on iTunes next week and 10 the week after, for 17 revenue streams. Had they used it next week, that would leave them with six and six, totaling 12. How much money do you think American Idol makes on each iTunes download? As a wild guess, $15K perhaps (30 cents per song times 50,000 downloads apiece?) If so, that gives them seventy-five thousand very important reasons to use the Save while there are still seven contestants left.

[AsIs]

Very interesting Top Cat!