You might think last night's was the biggest event in the American Idol calendar, but at "only" an hour long, actually it was only about the singing. For Fox and the AI team, the much bigger event is the results show. Host Ryan Seacrest warned American viewers that the show may overrun, and to be careful setting their DVRs. Tonight, ITV2 has given it 90 minutes, and if you've managed to avoid the spoilers you'll probably be on the edge of your seat for most of it. But like I said, last night was all about the singing.

Three guys remaining and they would each have only two chances to impress the American public before finding out if they'd made it to the finale or, as Ryan Seacrest has it, the "fuhnnallie." In these days of blanket coverage, twittering and Internet alerts popping into your mail box every few seconds, it's increasingly difficult to avoid spoilers when the live show airs so much earlier in the week than we see it here, and even more so when you've been away for the weekend. Even so I managed to sit down in front of the recording yesterday afternoon not knowing how it would pan out.

Rock week, and after some seriously rocky performances (haha!) on an - apparently - rocky stage, and after being coached by the inimitable rock legend Slash, reality bites. While all four of the remaining contestants will be going home this week, for three of them it's a journey to a high-publicity madcap civic reception as an Idol semi-finalist, while for one it's... just going home.

Mixing it up tonight - with four contestants left - to decide who makes the semi-finals the idol hopefuls will sing twice. Once on their own and once in duet. And after a freak accident on stage before dress rehearsal, where one of the towers collapsed minutes before recording started, the contestants will hit the stage with their raw live performances, having had no chance to rehearse.

With so much cracking snooker to watch I'm a little late reviewing this as I've had to squeeze it in between sessions, so apologies for that. Five singers left and this week's theme was "standards from the Rat Pack era." So with most (all? No, Sammy Davis Jr is still with us as, of course, are many of the ladies) of the rat packers dead, who would they get to mentor the group?

Tough week on Idol this week - not only was it "disco week" but the final seven had the threat of TWO dismissals hanging over them, following last week's save of Matt Giraud. Would the judges' faith in Matt be rewarded? And if so, who would fall prey to disco fever?

With only a couple of weeks left when they could use the "Judges' Save" this week was the (surprise!) week they elected to use it, in a last-minute scramble that saw Simon Cowell declare "we've made a decision" while the other three judges, thinking he was about to chuck Matt Geraud out of the competition, jostled and shouted "no we haven't!" What Cowell meant, as it turned out, was that although his had perhaps been the lone dissenting voice in the discussion, he'd changed his mind.

Eight contestants remaining and the theme for the week: "songs from the year of my birth." Another huge choice for each singer, even though several of them were apparently born in 1985, yet still the bad song choices abounded.

I missed out on reviewing last week's AI with being on holiday, but I did catch it, I did mentally divide the group into "good," "bad" and "indifferent," and I did get two of the bottom three correct. But I expected Megan Joy to leave whereas the Great American Public decided to dispense with Michael Sarver. This week, they caught up with me.

So far this year the American public have been right on the ball with their rejections, this week bidding goodbye to Alexis Grace after a searingly dirge-like performance of "Jolene." Mind you, this was Grand Ole Opry week, so whatever the contestants were singing was going to make your ears bleed. Or so I thought...

While ITV1 continues to struggle with its output, its digital sister appears to go from strength to strength with its eclectic mix of high quality imports, lifestyle shows and selected repeats. This year's Idol continues tomorrow with "Grand Ole Opry" week, which has of course already aired over in the US. Click through for a sneak preview of how the first few contestants fared. You'll be surprised at who leads the pack this week!

No surprises this week in the results, after a mixed bag of Michael Jackson songs, but the judges and producers really split the American audience with their declaration of a new rule for this season: the "Judges' Save." Jump the cut for a debate about the efficacy and legitimacy of the judges' increasing efforts to save their favourites.

I've been holding off from writing much about this year's American Idol competition while the audition rounds, Hollywood week, and the initial eliminations ran through, but now the final finalists have made it through to the... er... final, here's a run-down of who's who and what's what. Delayed slightly by our temporary absence over the weekend. *shrug*

In its eighth season, American Idol decided to make some changes to the audition weeks. In my opinion, it was exactly the right thing to do. Overdue even, but at least they got to it this time round. Less footage of the sad thousands who come along hoping to "live the dream," often bringing entire entourages of family and friends, all of whom have encouraged them, often for years, by telling them they're the next Whitney or Britney when in fact, as they go on to prove, all they are is Shitney.

Season Eight (eight!!) of American Idol got started this week in the States, with the UK as usual running a couple of days behind. So we revved up our coverage last night and for the time being at least, we'll be having two shows a week. Thursdays from 8-10pm and Fridays from 9-11pm. So what's new? And, perhaps more importantly, what's not?

American news, especially during the interminable presidential primaries and subsequent campaign, fills our bulletins. American culture seeps across the Atlantic and stains our shores. And American TV makes up a sizeable chunk of our viewing time. OK, in many cases that's not a bad thing, but then you've got American's Got Talent. If you've been watching this show, filling in the Friday night slot on ITV2 left vacant by American Idol and waiting for Xtra Factor to start later in the summer, you'll know that the ten finalists this year are all pretty good. So what am I moaning about? Well, the fact they're not really "this year's" finalists, for a start.

If you're a fan of either of these two shows (and if you're a fan of one, I'd imagine that there is a chance that you're a fan of both), then you will clearly have noticed - and no doubt been aggrieved by - the fact that Channel 4 had to stop broadcasting the latest series right in the middle. This wasn't their fault, of course; you should instead blame those whiny screenwriters actually wanting to be paid for their work.

Over on Dollymix, we're reeling from the news that Dharma & Greg is going to be remade for the UK. Yes, ITV is taking one fairly innocuous American comedy and turning it into what will inevitably be yet another dreadful British ITV sitcom... or maybe I'm just embittered and cynical and it will actually be adorable and we'll all be hugging ourselves with fuzzy glee throughout.

To celebrate the re-birth of Dharma & Greg (Sky & Kevin? Sunblaze & Simon? What will the British name be? It's too, too exciting!), we've done a round up of the Top 5 American sitcoms that were re-made in Britainland. Most of the things we pinch off the Americans are TV quizzes (Blankety Blank, University Challenge, Blockbusters, Supermarket Sweep? All thanks to America) and the odd reality TV show (The Apprentice, obviously). Usually, we just ship the show over here wholesale - after all, what's the point in remaking it in the same language only with half the budget? Remaking American shows reverses the natural order of things, but one thing seems to be true whichever way you make the conversion? The new show is nearly always rubbish.

Keep reading for a run down of the best (or worst) British remakes of American sit-coms.