"AMERICAN IDOL:" THE 21st CENTURY "TWENTY-ONE"?

Hello, everybody. Okay, I'm one of the millions of you who are NOT into "American Idol", but I can admit it: This program is now becoming the 21st century version of "Twenty-One", and for good reason...Heavy favorite Chris Daughtry unexpectedly got the boot tonight.

For those of you who don't remember, "Twenty-One" was a very controversial 1950's game show in which in which a series of scoreless ties and lack of knowledge by the contestants led to producers and sponsor Geritol rigging the show in hopes of upping its ratings. As a result, defending champion Herbert Stempel was out (thanks to him blurting out "On The Waterfront" instead of "Marty" in the question on who won the 1955 Best Picture Oscar; he was ordered to "take a dive"), and Charles Van Doren was in. Van Doren became an overnight celebrity thanks to his winning ways, including a cover subject in "Time" magazine. "Twenty-One", on the other hand, managed to beat "I Love Lucy" in the ratings.

After Van Doren was dethroned, that's when Stempel blew the whistle. Van Doren did admit to being given the answers to the questions in advance, as the quiz show scandals made headlines in 1958...well, that and Alaska about to become the 49th state.

(Oh yeah...a pilot for an un-rigged "Twenty-One" was produced in the early '80s, but never sold. And of course, the 2000 revival with Maury Povich did bring in good ratings, but not enough to unseat the then-red-hot "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.")

Flash forward 48 years later to 2006, and "American Idol." Just seconds after Daughtry was out, irate fans wasted no time heading to the show's message boards blurting out their disgust. A few called for vote recounts or boycotts; many blamed it on the phone system; while others said with Chris gone they'll watch the other networks' shows in lieu of "Idol." Even some said Katharine McPhee should've been gone instead of Chris.

But the majority of those have said that the show has taken a page or two from the "Twenty-One" playbook and rigging the it in hopes McPhee will be in the final two. One poster said there hasn't been a good winner since Kelly Clarkson.

Despite all this, it's just the latest example of the old "controversy equals ratings" trick for "Idol." Sure, they may be television's top show, but they're doing this just to keep viewers hooked...just like "Twenty-One" and Charles Van Doren 50 years ago! Oh, and yeah, I hope McPhee wins.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I started Part 1 of the Round 1 preliminaries in my annual poll for 2006's Sexiest Woman. So far, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Alba, Natalie Portman, Stacy Keibler, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Mandy Moore will make the top 20, but it's far from over. Anything can still happen, so vote in Group A, Group B, Group C, and Group D and see what happens. Of course, those top 20 from Groups A-D and the top 20 from Groups E-H when the thing resumes in October will be advancing to Round 2.

With those said...so long.