The first night of American Idol is like the first day of school: everything feels instantly familiar, as if there had never been an eight-month break at all. Same theme song, same Seacrest, same delusions of grandeur from the tone deaf. And yet, there were a few aspects of the Phoenix auditions that serve to raise hope for the new season.

For starters, the ratio of awful to pretty decent was more in line with where I'd like to see it during the auditions. We got a good look at eleven singers who moved forward in the process, not as good as it could have been (27 were advanced in all), but a better number than we've seen in the past. What's more, most of those eleven seem to have real chances of getting somewhere in the competition, displaying an intriguing voice, a memorable personality, or both.

The train wrecks we did see tended to at least be bad in entertaining ways. Two who figure to make the permanent Idol memory reel are Michael Gurr, who came across like a teenage version of Will Forte's Tim Calhoun character and sang like a frog being dissected while still alive; and Elijah Scarlett, whose voice is so deep he makes the "Chocolate Rain" guy sound like Frankie Valli by comparison.

And as for Kara DioGuardi, the new judge looks like the best idea Idol has had in a long time. Not only were her own critiques cogent and on point, but she seemed to have a salubrious effect on the other judges, who often had difficulty disguising their boredom last season. It turns out that without the luxury of being able to phone it in from Planet Percocet, Paula Abdul is actually ... not invariably useless. Who knew? DioGuardi was at her best dealing with starstruck teenager and budding songwriter Lea Marie, who bounced forth in a pink cowboy hat (she's from Connecticut), called herself a cross between Hilary Duff and Madonna, and generally looked as if she was being set up for a huge fall. As it happened, her version of the dance hit "Every Time We Touch" wasn't horrible, but neither was it good enough for a golden ticket. Simon Cowell was put off by her perkiness, but Kara took the right tone with her, telling her she needed to mature some and advising her to stick with it.

On to some of the night's better singers, in no particular order. We might as well start with the one singer passed through who I can confidently say has no chance of ever escaping Hollywood: Katrina Darrell, the "Bikini Girl" who has been the star of Idol commercials for going on two months. As a singer, she does look great in a bikini, as Simon quickly noted. Her "Vision of Love," while sung in key, had no verve or soul in it, and had she been T-Shirt and Jeans Girl, that would have been that. But Simon and Randy Jackson (who has knocked better singers for daring to do Mariah Carey) put Katrina through, if only to get a rise out of the women on the panel. DioGuardi then challenged Katrina to a sing-off, during which the new judge flashed a bit of temper. Katrina won't last long in Hollywood, and the moment wasn't worth the buildup, frankly.

Others who moved forward but didn't make a huge impression included bubbly Brianna Quijada, who won my heart forevermore by calling Cowell "Simey," and J.B. Ahfua, who is the first David Archuleta 2.0 but not the last by any stretch. Arianna Afsar, an adorable San Diegan who started a program that sends teenagers to befriend nursing home residents, seems likely to join the ranks of wannabes who should have resisted the urge to audition at such a young age. Idol is a grind that defeats all but the best teenagers, and she won't have the experience to overcome that.

But the other seven who were moved forward look to have real chances of at least getting to the final twelve, based on a first glance. Emily Hughes has been one of the more buzzed-about contestants due to the relatively high profile of her band Go Betty Go and due to being featured in some of the promos, but her take on "Barracuda," admittedly not an easy song to sing without a band, was only fair, leading to the suspicion that she is Idol's latest attempt to discover a female "rocker" that the American people will also embrace.

Alex Wagner-Trugman has the sort of weird deadpan humor that middle America doesn't always find endearing, telling a story about getting sick after singing in a mold-encrusted closet. But his take on "Baby Come to Me" was surprisingly mature. Another teen who confounded expectations was horror movie maker Cody Shelton, who has something of the Archuleta sound, but in a less twee package. One more contestant whose voice didn't match the image was oil-rig worker Michael Sarver, who had the bearing of a would-be blue-collar country star but sang the Boyz II Men hit "Thank You." He has a shot if he makes a play for the country audience.

Another contestant who should make the down-home trappings work for her is Deanna Brown, who performed "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" with assurance. At 25, she's a little older than Idol fans typically like their female singers, and she's going to face a lot of pressure to market herself as country, but her audition showed she may be another Melinda Doolittle type who can handle whatever is thrown in front of her. The judges liked Deanna well enough, but seemed even more enamored of Stevie Wright, who tackled "At Last," a tough task for a sixteen year-old. I thought it sounded rehearsed within an inch of its life, raising questions about how well she might fare once the pace picks up.

And then there's Scott McIntyre, who anchored the night. As a classically trained pianist who graduated from college at nineteen, he wouldn't sound much like a potential populist Idol hero, but as someone who is all of those things plus legally blind, he could be money in the bank. He was excellent on "And So it Goes," and while I have some doubts that he can musically exceed the level of the poor man's Josh Groban, there doesn't seem to be any way he won't be going deep into the competition.

One more thing: the backdrop behind the judges, a desert scene that made it not look like they were in a sterile studio for once, is another excellent change. See, I'm all sunny and Idol-y today as the snow falls around me.

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