For the first time, "Idol" decided to split by gender.

We start with more than 150 guys in Hollywood. By night's end, we have just 43. By tomorrow night, 20.

It's a brutal cutdown and edited much more tightly than the past couple of years.

While we see some good talent, we see even more wrecks. Not surprisingly, the judge's panel is dominated by Nicki Minaj, followed closely by Keith Urban. Mariah Carey seemed almost like a non factor when it came to comments at this stage.

I'm glad to see David Leathers Jr. and Johnny Keyser back. Both were men I was rooting for at this stage a year ago. And I am again, even though Keyser stumbled during the group session. We hear two Georgia guys, Micah Johnson and Matheus Fernandes, who survive into the solo round to be heard tomorrow.

One who stood out to me tonight: Curtis Finch Jr. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of him.

The guys first sing a capella in groups of 10. They move on or go straight home.

First up is a man from Morrow, GA,  with a speech impediemnt, Micah Johnson. He does a fun version of "Bennie and the Jets" that merits a standing o from Urban. He makes it through to the next round, with three others who only go by first names. Oklahoma City's Nate Taogets a few seconds.Rocker  Gabe Brown from Chicago auditions, too. The Turbinator Gurpreet Singh Sarin breezes through, too.  Karl Skinner, the pizza chef from Joplin, Missouri, provides a lot of style and personality but  he gets booted vocally. Too bad. Baton Rouge firefighter Dustin Waits is cut, too, despite the fact Nicki loved him in the auditions. Dr. Calvin Peters, the doctor, is out, too.

Coretz Shaw from Dallas shoots for Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You." Sounds a little flat to me but he puts his all into it. The judges were split but he makes it htorugh.

Curtis Finch Jr., a choir director with gospel flavorings, gets a big yes. Frankie Ford from Brooklyn has soul. Lazaro Arbos, the Naples, Fla. stutterer witih few friends and low self esteem, can actually sing. He's hardly the best vocalist but brings tons of heart.  Trevor Blakeney, Bryant Tadeo and Charles Allen, three singers we have not seen before, make it as well.

Brian Rittenberry from Jasper, GA, whose wife has been fighting cancer, does a white boy soul version of Brian McKnight's "Back at One." He is cut! "I thought I nailed it," he said.

Ultimately, half the guys were gone day one.

Thirty minutes in, we get to group night with the guys. In year's past, it was up to contestants to pick their own groups. But Nigel Lythgoe said they decide the groups and cannot change. They have to choose from 20 songs that they can all agree on. They have one night to prepare.

Lazaro, the stutterer, isn't familiar with a lot of the songs and his group is frustrated. One group is struggling between rock/pop and country calling themselves "Country Queen." One guy wants "Moves Like Jagger." Another wants Jason Aldean. They compromise with Extreme's "More Than Words."

The Mathheads, which includes Matheus Fernandes from Atlanta, who is part of the first group. They do Queen's "Somebody to Love" with lovely harmonies. Nick Boddington, Mathenee Treco, Gabe Brown join Matheus. "Pretty impresive," Nicki. "You gelled well."  They all go through.

Next group includes Johnny Keyserfrom last year and they jumped right into "I'll Be There." He forgets the words on stage. Kareem Clark also forgets the words. It's a train wreck. Only one of the four knew the song. Surprisingly, Johnny makes it. Kareem does not.

Charlie Askew is the one who struggles with others felt ill. Curtis Finch Jr. is back and is exceptional. I can't figure out who the third guy is but all three make it hrough after a tour de force "Lazy Song."

Micah Johnson, Vincent Powell, Marvin Calderon and David Willis sweep through. Zach Birnbaum, Nate Tao, Cortez Shaw, and Elijah Liu rock "Some Kind of Wonderful."

Another group botches One Direction. The Taylors also mess up "Don't You Wanna Stay" but two make it through: Paul Jolley and Will White live to sing another day. Then a quartet tortures "Pay Phone." Nicki Minaj liked the Turbinator. "I'd be Keith Turbin," Urban said. Despite the mess, they all make it through. Nicki loved the wreck.

The next group: Last Minute, also attack One Direction. And ruin it even worse than the Turbinator crew. Among the culprits: Jason Jones, Dan Wood, Jessie Lawrence. "The song is about one direction but it was four directions," Keith said. "You were equally bad," Nicki said. All of them go home. 

Ryan Connor Smith in the next group opted for a pure a capella performance. Very high risk. Devan Jones is offkey. Devin Velez is much better. We haven't seen Devin before, have we? The judges didn't think it worked. Ryan ends up going home.

The next gorup put together a wonderful "Some Kind of Wonderful." Tony Foster Jr. is good. Mario Jose is even better (but he goes home). Burnell Taylor, who made Mariah ccry, does fine but Keith says his 'pitch was shaky." Darien Moses is decent as well but it out.

Josh Stephens, Scott Fleenor,  Christan Lopez and Lazaro Arbos sound decent doing the Beach Boys' "Wouldn't It Be Nice" despite some creative lyrical choices. Lazaro didn't know the song and screwed up the words but covered it up pretty well.  Christian and Lazaro stay.

The country-queen blend is not one I'd recommend because they torture "More Than Words" to the Extreme.  The two country guys Lee Pritchard and Trevor Blakeney get cut and Trevor is especially upset by his poor performance.  The queens JDA and  Joel Wayman survive.

The youngest quartet were put together on purpose. David Leathers Jr., who should have made it through last year, is back and I'm still a fan as they sing "The Longest Time." Kevin Quinn is almost as good but is out. Kayden Stephenson, the cystic fibrosis kid who may not live til 35, messes up the lyrics and has to go home. Sanni M'Maimerra is barely given any airtime.

Oz had some problems with harmony. Frankie Ford, the New York City subway singer without as much working knowledge of musical terms, feels left out and the other three are annoyed.  Frankie gets emotional right before the start of singing, collapsing in tears. Frankie is way off from the get go. Papa Peachez and a more powerful Adam Sanders. Frankie can't even get a lyric out and is on verge of collapse.Charles Allen really gets Mariah going. Papa noted the personality clashes were problematic. Keith fought for Frankie for his spirit but he couldn't get enough votes to go further. Nicki said Papa was "too complacent" and has "to step up." He just makes it through with Adam and Charles.

I just received last week's Atlanta "Idol" ratings. While "The Big Bang Theory" and "NCIS" easily beat "Idol" nationally, "Idol" just edged out "Big Bang" head to head in Atlanta, 254,000 vs. 245,000. The Wednesday night show drew significantly more viewers locally: 461,000, the most of any non-sports program last week. The competitive landscape on Thursday night is clearly much rougher.