Please note that my yearly sentence – er, opportunity — to watch the final twelve countdown of American Idol has commenced. For those of you unfamiliar with this concept, the popular and idiotic talent program has winnowed down its list of wannabe soon-to-be has-beens down to a dozen finalists.

From here until a mighty champion is crowned, I will watch each week’s competition and then, the following morning, at a ludicrously early hour when vampires are returning to their pre-dawn caskets, I’ll meet up with my pal Elissa Bass here at the baronial studios in the bowels of the Mighty Day to tape Idol Autopsy — during which Elissa waxes rhapsodic about the previous night’s episode and I mourn the fact that another two hours are gone that I’ll never get back. (You'll find Idol Autopsy on The Day home page. Also, here is where you'll find Elissa's latest Idol blog.)

And so it was that I observed last night as the contestants interpreted material by the Rolling Stones. I bet a thousand dollars at the Mohegan Sun Sports book that at least five of the Idol People would choose to sing "Gomper" from the Stones’ much-overlooked Their Satanic Majestiss Request album.

I was wrong.

Not one of them covered "Gomper"! How can that be?

I did find it amusing when Randy Jackson said "yo" and "dog" a lot. That’s the funniest shtick in show biz history and I hope he "keeps it real" forever.

A high point for me in this first episode: at the one-hour-thirty-five minute mark I decided I still had time to drink another beer.