Another new week for “American Idol;” another new controversy for the No. 1 rated U.S. TV talent contest. And again, the uproar centers on David Archuleta’s dad, Jeff.

Numerous media reports over the weekend said Jeff Archuleta has been told by the show’s producers that he can no longer help David prepare and has been banned from backstage. Fox, the network that airs “Idol,” has declined to comment on those reports.

Media stories speculated that Jeff Archuleta was admonished for insisting his son change the lyrics to “Stand by Me,” which David sang on the May 6 episode. The problem is, when he changed the song to add a verse from Sean Kingston’s “Beautiful Girls,” it cost the show’s producers more money because they must pay for music rights when contestants sing songs. In effect, the producers had to pay for two songs, “Stand by Me” and “Beautiful Girls,” when David sang only one.

Various reports say that Jeff Archuleta had been told David could not use the verse from “Beautiful Girls,” but he told his son to go ahead, anyway. None of those reports could be confirmed. 

Still, Jeff has been in hot water before for apparently choosing David’s songs, and there was some speculation that Jeff drove his son so hard, he made David cry. Last month in Us Weekly magazine, Jeff Archuleta said accusations he was an overbearing “stage dad” were simply wrong. “There was absolutely no truth in any of the stories about me yelling at David, making him cry, or withholding water from him. That was crazy!,” Jeff Archuleta told the magazine.

Jason Castro may not have shot the deputy, but with a swift but painful rendition of a Bob Marley classic, he annihilated his hopes of becoming the next “American Idol.”

Now ask him if he cares.

The dreadlocked, easygoing Texan was sent packing from “American Idol” on Wednesday night in what was arguably the most jubilant exit of any contestant ever.

Admitting that his inexperience had gotten the better of him during the previous night’s grueling performances of “I Shot the Sheriff” and “Mr. Tambourine Man,” Castro appeared visibly relieved to have the pressure of the competition behind him. Having to perform two songs in one week, he said, was tough to handle.

The 20-year-old college student, who all season long seemed to take the pressure of the show less seriously than his rivals, even said he had appreciated one of the barbs sent his way after he had forgotten some of the words to “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

“Somebody told me that I shot the Tambourine Man yesterday,” he said, laughing. “I thought that was pretty funny.”

Later, host Ryan Seacrest pointed out that Castro appeared to be relieved.

“There’s three songs next week,” Castro responded. “I don’t know what I would have done.”

Castro then launched into his final performance on the show, laughing and joking his way through “I Shot the Sheriff” one more time.

All in all, Castro’s gleeful exit was a welcome change from the tears and melodrama that often accompany the ousting of an “Idol” contestant.

Still, without Castro around to remind us that dude, this is just a TV show, the competition is bound to start feeling more serious. After all, we are down to just three singers now, all of whom are formidable contestants with their eyes laser focused on taking the “Idol” throne.

Miss those dreadlocks yet?

There’s no question that Syesha Mercado is one tough “American Idol” contestant.

Week after week, the 21-year-old beauty from Sarasota, Florida, has stepped up her game, delivering performances in recent episodes that many thought she wasn’t capable of. Now, despite having been among the lowest three vote-getters a whopping five times, Mercado is the only woman to have made it to the show’s Top 4.

For making it this, Mercado certainly deserves a lot of credit. On Tuesday night’s episode, judge Randy Jackson singled out the TV commercial actress after her performance of “Proud Mary” for “showing the heat late in the competition when you need it.”

Paula Abdul, meanwhile, told Mercado: “You started this competiton as a pretty girl with a big voice, and you turned into this beautiful woman with a magnetic voice and presence.”

Still, it was more than a little strange when, just before singing her second song of the evening, Mercado appeared to liken her run on “Idol” to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.

In a pre-taped interview shown before her performance of “A Change is Gonna Come,” Mercado explained why she chose the song by legendary R&B singer Sam Cooke.

“It was released after his death in 1965 during the Civil Rights Movement, which was a very pivotal time in history. And now I’m singing it during a pivotal time in my life — Top 4, amazing experience… I’m just so thankful to still be here and this song just took on a totally different meaning for me.”

Later, Mercado broke down in tears after judge Randy Jackson said he hadn’t liked her performance, while Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell both praised her singing.

Choking back tears, she explained again that the song meant a lot to her, again referencing its links with the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

“I just couldn’t stop crying, because I feel like I’ve changed a lot,” Mercado said.

Then, as she wiped the streams of tears off her face, Mercado suddenly snapped back to the harsh reality of live TV: “I probably look like crap right now,” she said.

Is there something rotten in the state of “Idol”?

Not if you ask host Ryan Seacrest.

The night after the show faced perhaps its biggest controversy so far this season, Seacrest just seemed to brush it all under the rug. Since Tuesday night’s performances episode, the show was tarnished with accusations that Abdul unfairly used pre-written notes to judge a performance by contestant Jason Castro BEFORE he even sang one of the songs she referred to. For a full rundown of the debacle, click here.

While Abdul herself explained the gaffe on Seacrest’s radio show Wednesday morning as confusion and misunderstanding , the incident was barely hinted at on Wednesday’s “Idol”  broadcast.

The moment was left out of the recap of the previous night’s show, and Seacrest took a brief moment to defend Abdul by only cryptically referring to the “gossip” he had read on the Internet.

“For the record, the rumors, they’re not true,” Seacrest said. “She’s part of our family, and we love her.”

So what “rumors” was Seacrest referring to? That Abdul might have based her notes on the rehearsal instead of the live show? Or that someone wrote her notes for her? Or, even more sinister, that the producers vet the judges’ comments to try to sway the competition in a certain direction?

There was a lot of buzz out there, and Seacrest wasn’t specific about what is and isn’t true.

On the “Idol” forums, the debate is still raging. Some fans say the issue should be dropped:

“no scandal, case closed! Top 4 here we go!!!”

Others feel shortchanged:

“Paula got caught in an obvious lie to the AI viewers, and they handled it as if she was the victim.”

How do you think “Idol” has handled “Paulagate” so far?

In seven seasons of “American Idol,” Paula Abdul has definitely had her moments.

But her gaffe on Tuesday night’s episode was either the “Kookiest Paula Moment Ever” or a sign of the judges’ apparently not-so-spontaneous evaluations of contestants’ performances.

Abdul on Wednesday sought to explain the blunder as a simple misunderstanding. “We all just screwed up everything,” she told Entertainment Tonight.

It was Neil Diamond night, and after each of the show’s five remaining contestants sang their first of two songs for the evening, the judges were asked to comment on their performances.

Randy Jackson quickly rattled off his impressions, and then Abdul launched into a lengthy analysis of contestant Jason Castro’s two performances. Yes, that’s right. Abdul remembered TWO performances. When Castro, and all of the other contestants, had only performed ONCE.

“Oh my God, I thought you sang twice,” a flustered Abdul said when Jackson gently pointed out that Castro had only performed one song so far. She added: “This is hard!”

“You’re seein’ the future baby, you’re seein’ the future!” host Ryan Seacrest said.

Abdul tried to cover for the mistake by saying she had been reading her notes from both Castro’s performance and contestant David Cook’s performances.

The flub was enough to convince some fans that Abdul must have prepared her notes on both songs before the live performance.

On the “Idol” forums, some fans pondered whether the judges’ comments were a function of who the show’s producers want to win rather than the content of the performances. Others gave the show the benefit of the doubt, saying Abdul must have taken notes at the dress rehearsals

Abdul explained on Wednesday that Idol producers had thrown the judges a last minute curveball during the show.  “I am feverishly trying to write notes for every performance,” she recounted, saying her notes got mixed up.

“I was just trying to give my critique for Jason Castro, and scribbled Jason’s name, and that was David (Cook)’s. “This is live television. This is fun!,” she said.

That’s it. The next time Simon Cowell actually likes a performance on “American Idol,” he should just keep it to himself. No one tunes in to see him say anything nice, anyway.

Carly Smithson’s elimination on Wednesday night’s show simply defied any rational explanation, even in the cruel and unforgiving world of reality TV. For the first time in weeks, the Irish diva on Tuesday night received uniform praise from all three judges for her passionate performance of “Superstar” from the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Composer Andew Lloyd Webber was the show’s guest mentor.

The praise from Cowell was enough to make Smithson, who last week accused Cowell of being too hard on her, whip out a blue T-shirt that read “Simon Loves Me (This Week).”

But besides Smithson’s standout performance, rival contestants Brooke White and Jason Castro were both panned up and down both on the show and in the blogosphere, including right here on Fan Fare. One of them surely appeared headed for the axe on Wednesday.

So what happened?

During Wednesday’s episode, Cowell took a stab at explaining the results, saying White had shown herself to be human by stumbling over the beginning of her performance of “You Must Love Me,” from the film “Evita.”

And Castro, he said, was “charming” even though his rendition of “Memory,” from the musical “Cats,” was an agreed upon disaster. Admittedly, Castro saying “I didn’t know a cat was singing it” in his pre-taped interview before his performance is likely to go down as one of the highlights of this season.

On the “Idol” forums, some fans tried to explain Smithson’s departure by saying the show had become more of a popularity contest than a singing competition. Others said the choice of “Superstar” was a controversial one that may have alienated some religious Christian voters. One fan, however, really got to the root of the issue:

“Carly didn’t get enough votes.”

For the full elimination night story, click here.

The media reports about Jeff Archuleta, in some cases, have been brutal.

Celebrity web site TMZ.com has said that the father of “American Idol” contestant David Archuleta has screamed at his son and brought him to tears in rehearsals while driving him to perform ever better on the top-rated TV talent show.

“Idol” judge Simon Cowell seemed to question Archuleta’s choice of a Beatles song, “We Can Work It Out,” that the 17-year-old messed up on the show back in March, implying that it might have been Jeff who chose the song for his son.

But Jeff Archuleta finally spoke out to hush his critics on Wednesday in an interview with celebrity magazine Us, calling accusations that he was an overbearing, hyper-competitve “stage dad” simply crazy.

“I’m definitely involved with my son, and I encourage him, but I think that’s a lot different from forcing and threatening and all that stuff. There was absolutely no truth in any of the stories about me yelling at David, making him cry, or withholding water from him. That was crazy!” Jeff Archuleta told the magazine.

Jeff also called his son “a reluctant singer,” saying that when David was young, the boy could not understand why anyone wanted to hear him sing. Then Jeff added, “I think (David) was blessed with a musical ear that was far beyond his years.”

And on that last quote, Jeff is probably right. The young singer has been a clear frontrunner in the race to crown the next “American Idol” this season.

The full interview can be read at Usmagazine.com.

She started. She stopped. She started again. And still, “American Idol” contestant Brooke White never seemed to get it together. In fact, does anyone even remember the rest of the performance?

White, the 24-year-old blonde songstress who has won viewers’ hearts with her bluesy voice and down-to-earth style, is almost sure to be among the show’s bottom three vote-getters this week after stumbling over the beginning of her performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “You Must Love Me.”

It was the second time this season White stopped singing and restarted a song from the beginning, this time because she forgot the words to the ballad originally performed by Madonna in the film “Evita.”

Surprisingly, White took the most heat from perennial contestant cheerleader Paula Abdul, who said bluntly:

“You must never start and stop.”

Jude Simon Cowell disagreed with Abdul, saying the move had been “brave.” But, he also warned White that “it completely threw you… you are going to be very disappointed when you watch this back.”

White’s face, with her lips pursed together and head cocked to the side, said it all following the performance. She has already been in the show’s bottom 3 twice this season, most recently last week. And with the show down to just six contestants now, there are few left who could break her fall. (Except for maybe Jason Castro after his grueling performance of “Memory” — Randy Jackson put it best when he called it a “train wreck”)

Lloyd Webber, the show’s guest mentor for the week, also must have been disappointed by White’s poor showing. Earlier this week, he told the “Los Angeles Times” that he had been “really quite impressed” with White. “I got something out of her,” he added.

Whatever it was that Sir Andrew “got” out of White during the show’s rehearsals, it sure eluded her on Tuesday night. Sorry Brooke, but the Bottom 3 looks tailor-made for you this week.

 Kristy Lee Cook may have lost her beloved horse in her attempt to become the “American Idol” but she left the show this week with a marriage proposal.

 Cook,  24, who won hearts by selling her horse to get to the “Idol” auditions last summer,  said her long time boyfriend popped the question on Wednesday night’s TV show when she was voted off the competition.

Cook told reporters after her exit that boyfriend Andy first proposed on March 15 — in the privacy of the sauna at the LA house where the Idols all live during the show!

He followed it up with a second more public declaration on April 16 elimination night. “It was really cool. He re-enacted the proposal and actually got down on one knee because the first time he didn’t. He owed it to me,” Cook said, with a laugh.

The pair are thinking of a June 2009 wedding but haven’t set a date yet.

As for her horse, Cook seemed reconciled to not getting him back. The new owner doesn’t want to sell him back “but he got a really good home so I’m happy with that,” she said.

You have to hand it to Kristy Lee Cook.

The 24-year-old country girl and latest “American Idol” casualty hung on to her slot on the show, apparently by the skin of her teeth, week after week after week. Despite seemingly endless attacks from the acid-tongued Simon Cowell, who predicted early in the competition that she would not make it past tenth place, Cook repeatedly appeared to defy the odds.

As Cook herself noted before her offing on Wednesday night, she sure proved Cowell wrong, coming in seventh place this season. Heck, she even lasted longer than that Aussie hunk Michael Johns. Who could have predicted that after sitting through her gruelling “Eight Days a Week” performance all those weeks ago?

So, it’s back to Oregon for Cook, where she already has her next challenge cut out for her. Forced to sell her beloved horse to pay for the trip to the “Idol” audition in Philadelphia, Cook told a fan who dialed into the show on Wednesday night that she wants to buy him back. The problem is, the man she sold it to doesn’t want to sell it back to her.

After delivering the news that Cook would no longer be part of the show, host Ryan Seacrest asked the man, on live television, to sell the horse back to her. A teary-eyed Cook also appealed to him for sympathy.

“Can I go ride my horse now?” she said, wiping tears from her eyes.

Call us crazy, but something tells us that the woman who not only proved Simon Cowell wrong, but also survived the show’s “bottom 3″ three times before finally getting the axe isn’t going to let one little person get between her and her horse. But maybe that’s just us.