'Idol's' Season 7 is sheer heaven

Even the early departures of widely enjoyed candidates Danny Noriega, Kady Malloy and Asia'h Epperson last week seemed proof of the quality of this season. Whereas in seasons past the top 12 have contained a fair amount of chaff and several more weeks at least were spent culling singers who had not risen to the challenge, this year the knife was hitting bone before even reaching the top 12.

Since Hollywood Week, I have been setting forth the notion to acquaintances that this may actually turn out to be the Archetypal "Idol" Season. This group, I have offered, contains a higher median level of singing than any before and a greater assortment of unique and compelling personalities likely to gather followings than previous seasons. What's more, at the center of the drama is the epic showdown brewing between the Chosen One, David Archuleta, a child singer seemingly genetically engineered to fulfill the "Idol" prophecies of greatness, and the Duende From Down Under, Michael Johns, probably the male contestant with the most raw charisma ever to step foot on the "Idol" stage. And waiting alongside the battle to claim the female caucus' rightful place at the table rages Carly Smithson, a dark and supernaturally gifted singer who still remains a bit of a wild card but has the potential to overturn all conventional wisdom about the race.

This is the case I have made, and it has been met in equal measures by hoots of derision and wild exclamations that Yes! This is the year! Along with great enthusiasm for a broad spread of the candidates.

Instinct tells me we are on the brink of something amazing here. However, instinct also tells me not to trust my instincts. A perusal through my columns of last year will unearth a fair number of similar bursts of mad, unabashed enthusiasm for the field.

Thus, coming to a place where thought accuses and feeling mocks, I have decided not to trust my unexamined impressions but to turn to science instead to gauge the question: How does this season stack up to the others?