I was lucky enough to see the final round of Stanford Idol tonight, and…wow. It was really, really entertaining. 100 Stanford students auditioned, 40 were chosen for the quarterfinals, and eight made it to the finals. There was the over-the-top diva, the soulful big guy, the sultry vixen, the R&B singer-slash-dancer, the heartthrob, and most importantly, the Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini lookalikes. They even had three “celebrity” judges, two overly energetic hosts, and a blooper reel from the auditions.

Sounds cheesy, but I actually had a great time. Sure, it was a standard formula, but they managed to make it their own, and it was clear that everyone was having a lot of fun. It also didn’t hurt that the audience was excited…and loud.

There was one problem, though. All three judges were way too nice. Where was Simon Cowell? Where were the harsh put-downs? The breathtakingly rude snap judgments? That’s half the fun, right? Ah well. I guess there’s always next year.