Danny Gokey Lands First Big Praise on American Idol

In the early going in season 8, it seems that both the judges and the fans have locked on to Danny Gokey as one of the front-runners to be the next American Idol. Online polls and the live judges' critiques of his performance seem to suggest that he'll be one of the finalists for the title in a few more weeks. He is also running near the top in the "hottest guy" category, which is a nice cushion to have should he run into a bad performance in one of the upcoming weeks.

One of the contestants who has not been so fortunate is Tatiana Del Toro, who seems to have nailed down the "most annoying" vote with over 70% of the vote from an online poll of viewers. So it would seem that Tatiana is going to be this year's Sanjaya - at least for now. Perhaps Howard Stern will align behind her and push her into the finals like her predecessor, unless Sirius files for bankruptcy before that can happen.

With the live performances underway, the American Idol season will soon be in full swing, with the nation hanging on the vote-off episodes and the live performances every week. Bikini Girl Katrina Darrell made the original waves on this year's show, but it seems now that the real talent is going to rise to the top. It will be interesting to see if Gokey or the eventual winner turns out to have the star power of some of the powerhouse winners of American Idol, like Carrie Underwood or Kelly Clarkson.