American Idle.

Yawn.

This season of American Idol is putting me to sleep.

I have been a die-hard fan for three seasons. I missed the Kelly/Fantasia/Rueben years, but fell hard for Carrie Underwood (her performance of "Alone" is still one of my very favorites on the show), Elliot Yamin, Melinda Doolittle and Jordin Sparks. These four (and their mostly talented competitors) made the show worth watching.

I even went to the concert last summer with my friend Carrie. It was fun. The drink lines were short. Sanjaya wasn't as appalling as I'd feared. And (bonus!) they handed out free Pop-Tarts.

But this year has been boring from the start. There were tiny glimmers of hope here and there — and I still think David Archuleta is very cute — but I am just not invested in this season. And I'm not the only one who feels this way: last week's episode had the lowest number of votes since 2003. Everyone knew Jason would get kicked off last week. And no one will be surprised by Syesha's elimination tonight. So, why bother voting? Or watching?

I'm not sure what went wrong this year. Is the concept just getting old? Or is the talent lacking? My guess is that it's a combination of both. But the one thing that's really been bothering me is that none of the contestants seem to care either. They can't even be bothered to learn all the lyrics to their songs. Last night David Archuleta flubbed the lyrics for the second time this season — and he's in the top three (and will probably win). There have been more ho-hum performances and missed lyrics and poor song choices this season than I care to count.

Even writing this is kind of boring me.

I will dutifully watch tonight's elimination and next week's finale, but unlike years past, I will probably breathe a sigh of relief when it's over.

And I am definitely not going to the concert this year. I can buy my own friggin' Pop-Tarts.