'Tis the Season to Be Gay on Idol ?

But the show seems to be losing its ability to control contestants in its iron grip. Last season's Danny Noriega and David Hernandez are good examples of the door coming off its hinges. Hernandez was an all-American boy who displayed few if any of the flaming qualities that Family Guy 's "Family Gay" episode presented last week to a national audience. But he had worked as a bartender and go-go boy in a gay bar. Translation: probably not straight. And then he was gone from Idol before he had a chance to speak about his life. Who knows if he would have or not.

Noriega, on the other hand, didn't have to speak about his life because it was all up there onstage at CBS Television City. Every flip of his hair, every snap of his neck, every sassy word flung at Simon Cowell drew a very visible homo line in the sand. But again, he was voted off before he had a chance to take it as far as you know he wanted to. Something about him screamed, "I will make out with some random guy from the audience if given half the chance, and I will do it right here, live on national television, just to freak you out."

That would have been interesting to watch. Live television means anything can happen. And we're getting to the place where it just might. This season's Nathaniel? Same as Noriega, only gayer, and again, already voted off.