Little hope for 12,000 'Idol' hopefuls in Chicago

A season-high 12,000 people auditioned for American Idol in Chicago, but only 13 got golden tickets to Hollywood. How sad is that? That's nearly half of the singers who advanced to the next round last week in Atlanta. Most of Tuesday night's episode of the top-rated Fox show was devoted to untalented hopefuls emboldened by false approval by line producers just so they could embarrass themselves before the judges, who included Shania Twain as a guest, and millions of viewers. One contestant, Amy Lang (looking kinda like a full-figured Lea Michele of Glee), went over the top with an overblown "Dr. Feelgood" and what she called "boob flexes," only to find that if she had actually taken the thing seriously, things might have turned out differently. Even the "good" singers -- the ones the program briefly showed, at least -- were unremarkable, even if talented. But Chicago overall? Eh. This one-hour episode felt longer than last week's two-hour debut. What did you think?