Tonight American Idol features the Top 5 contestants who have out-sung everyone else – Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice, Scott Savol, Vonzell Solomon and Anthony Fedorov – over the last 15 weeks. Well, maybe didn’t quite out-sing the likes of Mario Vasquez, Nadia Turner, Anwar Robinson, Jessica Sierra or Constantine Maroulis. But they are still on stage and will battle it out for a place in the finals on May 25. 

While the reality programme has lost some of its bite this time round, and the contestants seem somewhat mild compared to last year’s batch (unforgettable performances by Fantasia and LaToya still linger), the producers of the show have managed to enliven things with the neat commercial breaks (you know the ones in which the contestants help advertise sponsors like Ford), and have even come up with some savvy marketing strategies like including footage of the contestants’ families and friends to add a personal touch and let viewers develop a “bond” with the contestants.