Yes, ladies and gentlemen. We have finally arrived. This week is the last week of auditions on “American Idol.”

Of course, if they had all been as entertaining as Wednesday’s Dallas episode was, it wouldn’t have seemed like such a long wait. In fact, I was very tempted to make this column a salute to the greatness that is Neil Patrick Harris and to use it to begin the campaign for NPH to replace Simon Cowell on “Idol” next season. But I somehow managed to suppress that impulse to keep my focus on this season and what lies ahead.

Because as long as the audition process seems on television, it is way longer to those who actually have to live it. And that can lead to people cracking under the pressure or in the case of one contestant already this season, making a mistake off-camera that gets you eliminated.
Some of you have probably heard the unconfirmed reports that a contestant was replaced in the top 24 after his father told the story to his hometown newspaper. If true, it’s a very sad story because the dad was just expressing his pride over his son’s accomplishment — something I think to which we can all relate.

But confidentiality agreements are the backbone of almost every reality competition television show and “Idol” is no exception. With most shows, the punishment is some sort of financial penalty. In the case of “Idol,” you lose your shot — the most severe penalty of all.

I think my friends would tell you that I am pretty good at keeping secrets. But I have to wonder how good I would be at keeping a secret as big as this for as long as these young people and their families are required to keep it. Thanks to the magic of editing, we don’t see just how long the process is, which is one of the show’s best kept secrets.

The audition episodes make it look like there are thousands of people waiting to sing in front of the judges. But those people were in line days, weeks and sometimes even months before the judges got there to sing for talent scouts. If a contestant is lucky enough to make it past the scouts, then they get to sing for the show’s producers the next day or possibly a week or more later. Then if the producers give the thumbs up, the contestant gets to sing for the judges when they come to town, which can be up to two months later.

If the contestant receives a golden ticket to Hollywood, that’s when the real wait begins. For as long as five months, the contestants have to go back to their normal lives and try and pretend like nothing has changed. Then when Hollywood Week finally comes and goes, just as the auditions begin airing on television, the contestants who survive are forced to stay quiet again until a few weeks later when the judges tell them who has made the top 24. Then they must hold it in for another couple of weeks until the top 24 is announced on television.

And I thought four weeks on TV was tough to go through.

This week we head to Denver with guest judge Victoria Beckham and then we get a special recap episode to wrap it all up before we begin Hollywood Week and the first appearance of new judge Ellen DeGeneres. Remember that Tuesday’s episode is scheduled for 8 p.m., while Wednesday’s is scheduled for 9 p.m.

Angela Henderson writes about “American Idol” in the Idol Chit-Chat blog on www.herald-dispatch.com.

PHoto courtesy of Michael Becker/Fox

Guest Judge Neil Patrick Harris, second from left, joins Randy Jackson, left, Kara DioGuardi, and Simon Cowell on a recent episode of "American Idol."

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