No one saw this coming. American Idol sent home Pia Toscano on Thursday night, widely viewed as one of the best singers left in this year’s competition, and it sent the judges fuming.

“I have no idea what just happened here,” said judge Jennifer Lopez. “I’m shocked, I’m angry, I don’t even know what to say.”

Fellow judge Randy Jackson agreed with Lopez, and added, “I’m never really mad on this show, but this makes me mad.”

Toscano, 22, is from Queens, New York City, and the fact she was sent home drew boos from the audience, Reuters reported. There are eight competitors remaining.

The elimination also led to widespread social media chatter, with many saying they were shocked, and some saying they won’t watch Idol anymore altogether. Stars like Snooki weighed in with a tweet, “Pia should have won the whole thing! I’m not watchin Idol anuymore. I’m with JLO on this one…”

Former Idol break-out rocker Chris Daughtry tweeted his disgust at the whole show:

The contestants were the same old, naive teeny boppers  and low self-esteem adults as we’ve seen in the past. There were the same weirdos (the guy who burps when he’s nervous), the same wannabes (the Britney fanatic), the same sob stories (cue violin), and even the same songs (If they ever have a season where they DON’T sing “Hallelujah” … I’ll sing it) — pretty much the same everything.

One major change: The judges “aren’t in the business of crushing spirits,” as Jennifer Lopez put it. But here’s one pleasant surprise — they were a lot funnier than we thought they would be. Especially Steven Tyler. While the Aerosmith frontman doesn’t have Cowell’s frosty wit, he is pretty outrageous. His best line of the night, in response to one contestant: “Well hellfire, save matches, f— a duck, and see what happens.” What??

He also has something that Cowell didn’t have — he’s fun. Tyler’s love of music came through again and again, and he often couldn’t resist singing along or pounding on the table. Guess that’s why he fronted the best-selling American rock band in history.

The “Idol” judging panel also has something else it never had before — a bona fide sex symbol. Between the hair, the makeup, the clothes and the jewels, you can’t take your eyes off of Jennifer Lopez (even if you find her tinny little-girl voice kind of annoying). Even Randy took a peek at her legs, which Tyler was kind enough to point out.

Which brings us to another point about Tyler — he’s a dog. Not “the dog” like Randy — a “dog,” as in a pig. Tyler loves the ladies, and the ladies — most young enough to be his granddaughters — love him right back. At 62, he had no problem pointing out that a super-wholesome 16-year-old was showing “just the right amount” of leg.

One major criticism: More so than the judges of yore, this panel seems a little too willing to send the freaks to Hollyweird — most notably Tiffany Morris, a well-endowed dance teacher who literally let it all hang out while singing about how America needs her for “higher ratings on TV.” But Tyler made up for it by addressing the dangling stars on her skimpy bikini top, asking, “What’s with the jujubes on your hoo hoo bes?”

As Ryan Seacrest pointed out early in the show, this isn’t a story about the judges, it’s a story about YOU, America. And of all the 51 contestants who made it through New Jersey, only one really made a lasting impression on us — 16-year-old Travis of the Bronx. He has the sad back story (grew up surrounded by gangs, drugs and violence, lived in a shelter until recently), looks clean, hip and marketable and did a good, understated job with the Beatles and Jason Mraz.

But we kind of wished Simon were there to point out, “If you’re so poor, why do you look like you’re wearing designer eyeglasses?”

For those of you keeping tabs on the current American Idol casting rumors, supposedly Jennifer Lopez is in, Steven Tyler might be in, Kara DioGuardi is out, and Randy Jackson may or may not be back.

Well, we just got in touch with the “dawg” himself, Randy, who tells us only one thing is “for sure” on the upcoming season…

“The only thing that’s for sure is Ryan [Seacrest],” Jackson told us at the 2010 Farmers Classic tennis tournament presented by Mercedes-Benz. He insists, “Nothing has been decided.”

Jackson did not comment on reports that he was almost canned along with DioGuardi after Ellen DeGeneres chose to leave, but said he would welcome the addition of Jenny from the Block to their block.

 ”If Jennifer Lopez is a judge I would be very happy,” says Jackson. “I love her.”

Today at the Television Critics press conference in Beverly Hills, Fox bigwigs Kevin Reilly and Peter Rice insisted to reporters, “The only thing I can tell you with absolute certainty right now is that no one has signed a deal yet on either side of the camera to join American Idol next year that wasn’t on it last year. There are no signed deals with anybody.”

Translation: We still know nothing about the upcoming panel of judges, or the status of Kara DioGuardi’s rumored departure and Nigel Lythgoe‘s rumored return as an executive producer—not to mention whatever the heck is happening with Randy Jackson.

When asked about DioGuardi, Rice explained: “I’m not going to get into the speculation about it, [because] it’s not fair to everyone who is being speculated about.”

Rice did shed some light on Ellen’s exit: “In early June, I met with Ellen and we talked about her feelings about the season and the idea that she wasn’t comfortable. She didn’t feel it was a good fit for her. I tried to dissuade her that it’d be different in the future, but ultimately we came with the agreement that we’d begin to look for new judges—which we were doing anyway because Simon [Cowell] was leaving…We felt confident that we could come up with a panel that didn’t include Ellen as a judge.”

Lopez and Tyler’s reported deals with Idol were tip-toed around evasively, too, with Peter saying: “Much of the information that has been written is accurate, and some of the information has been wildly inaccurate.”

American Idol will begin holding auditions for its landmark 10th season in Nashville, Tenn on July 17, and for the first time, 15-year-old powerhouse hopefuls will be eligible to compete.

Will the change be enough to keep talent show fans glued to the tube for a sans-Simon Idol?

The show previously had a 16-to-28 contestant age requirement. Sorry, Gen. Larry Platt. The maximum age is still 28. Idol auditions will continue through the summer in Milwaukee; New Orleans; East Rutherford, N.J.; and Austin, Tex., before wrapping up in San Francisco on Aug. 19.

Hey, betcha didn’t know that singer/actress Amber Riley — who plays Mercedes Jones on the Emmy-winning television musical Glee — was once rejected by American Idol.

Extra TV caught up with Idol’s Top Dawg Randy Jackson at the Chrysalis Butterfly Ball in Los Angeles on Saturday, where he revealed that the pleasingly-plump powerhouse’s first shot at stardom faded with a fizzle. After turning in a lackluster performance, Amber was promptly booted by Idol producers and never had the opportunity to audition for the judges, Randy explains.

“Yo, that girl Amber Riley, she I guess, I didn’t know this, she didn’t make it to us. She auditioned for ‘Idol’ and got rejected. She’s like the lead singer the lead star of ‘Glee’ and let me tell you something America, this girl is talented and she can really sing.”

Since joining the cast of Glee, Amber has contributed her vocals to the show’s charttopping compilation album, performed at The White House, and even graced the stage of The Oprah Show.

Eat your heart out, Idol.

TMZ.com has learned that American Idol Band leader, Rickey Minor, was none to pleased by the apparent snubbing of his name from the Idol finale extravaganza yesterday. 

Minor, a 6 year veteran of the show and a  major player in the arrangement of every Idol performance for the past 6 seasons, was not acknowledged as one of the members of the “American Idol famly” that is leaving the show to head Jay Leno’s band at the Tonight Show.

Get the full scoop at TMZ 

Reality juggernauts American Idol, Dancing With the Stars and The Biggest Loser stumbled last night. The final Idol performance  (6.6 rating/19 share among adults 18-49) on Fox was down 23% from last year and probably the lowest-rated ever. The Dancing finale (3.8/10) on ABC was down 27% from its spring finale last year and the lowest-rated ever. The finale of NBC’s Loser (3.8/11) was down 19% from last season’s spring finale. Still, the show was up 23% from last week in 18-49 with its highest demo numbers since Jan. 26. Dancing had the highest-rated results show for of the season. For comparison, Idol was flat with last week’s Top 3 performance show.

Fox’s Glee (4.8/13) at 9PM and NBC’s Parenthood (2.6/7) at 10 PM held on, both flat with last week. CBS’ veteran NCIS (3.2/10) at 8 PM was down 3% from last week and 9% from last season’s finale. The network’s freshmen NCIS: LA (2.7/7) and The Good Wife (2.0/6) fared worse in their final episodes for the season, both posting larger week-to-week declines and their lowest-rated original telecasts ever.

Lee Dewyze was hurtin’ while Crystal Bowersox was returnin’.

The “American Idol” finale Tuesday night saw the single mother from Ohio shoot to the head of the competition while Chicago’s favorite painter appeared to stumble over his nerves.

Crystal  started out strong, choosing her best performance, “Me and Bobby McGee,” for her favorite of the season. Just as she impressed the judges when she first sang the Roger Miller hit, Bowersox roared back into their hearts with her encore performance. Randy said he hoped she would make a record like that while Kara said she had a fire in her belly. Meanwhile, Simon thought she brought them back “to the time when we fell in love with you.”

Despite his best performance being last week’s “Hallelujah!”, Lee chose Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” as his favorite song. The performance was about as middling as it was the first time around. Randy asked him to kick it up a notch while Ellen said Lee had improved since last time and that she “couldn’t be prouder if I birthed you myself.” Kara asked him to punch harder and Simon demanded a kiss on the lips rather than one on the cheek, which confused everyone.

Lee didn’t fare much better with REM’s “Everybody Hurts,” which was chosen for him by the show’s executive producer, Simon Fuller. He made a valiant effort but should have really resorted to an acoustic rendition. Simon thought it was a brilliant choice ( much?) but that he sounded nervous. He told Lee to give him a 10 out of 10 performance when he returned for the third round “because you’re capable.”  It sounded a little patronizing.

While all this was going on, Mamasox was suiting up in a black satin party dress for her performance of Alannah Myles’ “Black Velvet.” The Ohio native scratched up the classic rock song even further with her Joplin drawl, impressing the judges to no end. Ellen gave the 24-year-old a standing ovation while Simon said she “nailed” the song.

Next up, the duo sang what will become the winner’s first single. Lee chose U2′s epic “Beautiful Day” while Crystal sang Patty Griffin’s folksy gospel tune “Up to the Mountain.”

Kara thought Lee got swallowed up in his song, but that he had grown up most this season. “You deserve to be here tonight,” she said, which sounded about as patronizing as Simon’s last comment. Meanwhile, Simon said he genuinely wished the best for Lee.

For her final performance, Crystal was in her element (despite the giant diamond necklace around her neck) singing her simple folk song while seated on a stool with only her guitar to guide her. In fact, she was so emotionally attached to the tune that she cried at the end of it. Randy said her performance was one of her best moments at the perfect time. Ellen said she was in a league of her own and Simon thought it was the best performance of the night. “Incredible,” he said.

At the end of the night, Will Young sang “Leave Right Now” and it was hard not to see it as a message to Lee.

Casey James was cut Wednesday from “American Idol,” leaving Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze to duke it out in the finale of the popular Fox singing competition next week.

James, the long-haired 27-year-old musician from Fort Worth, Texas, was revealed to have received the fewest viewer votes after his ho-hum performances Tuesday.

“I can’t believe it, man,” gushed James. “I’m so thankful for the opportunity.”

James consistently gratified the judges throughout the contest with his bluesy stylings but never seemed to wow the panel, except the time when Kara DioGuardi asked the hunky Texan to remove his shirt during his audition.

But his fate seemed sealed Tuesday when Simon Cowell compared his rendition of Eric Hutchinson’s “OK, It’s Alright With Me” to a salad.

James’ departure means either Bowersox, the earthy 24-year-old musician from Toledo, Ohio, or DeWyze, the bashful 24-year-old paint sales clerk from Mount Prospect, Ill., will be crowned “Idol” next Wednesday.

DeWyze told host Ryan Seacrest that he’s “never wanted to win more than I do right now,” while Bowersox thanked the judges for their continued support.

“Everything that you guys have said has been helpful,” beamed Bowersox.

The duo had long been considered to be the front-runners of the ninth season, never appearing as one of the show’s bottom vote-getters. Bowersox solidified her finale spot Tuesday with Melissa Etheridge’s “Come To My Window” and Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed,” while DeWyze delighted with Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

“It’s just totally different than I would ever thought it would have been,” DeWyze said of the experience.

The finale comes during a slump for the aging but popular Fox franchise. Seacrest revealed that more than 47 million votes were cast this week for Bowersox, DeWyze and James. At this point in the competition last year, the host announced more than 88 million votes were received for Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert and Kris Allen, who went on to win the eighth season.