Is Taylor Hicks biting the program that feeds him?

Last season's American Idol winner recently said the reality show was "fizzling out" and pooh-poohed being crowned last year's winner.

Now, of course, he's doing some damage control before the new season starts and Simon Cowell blacklists him forever. E! Online reports that the grey-haired crooner has apologized, saying:

"Those words were taken completely out of context. I'm very thankful to have had the opportunity to be on 'American Idol.'"

We hope he is, considering how much we enjoyed his performances ... and how much we're looking forward to the next season. Starting January 16!

We'll have a longer post later this week on all the latest American Idol album sales, but we wanted to post the first-week numbers for Chris Daughtry's album: 304,000.

That means Chris Daughtry album sales were second only to Jay-Z on last week on Billboard chart, and the fourth-place American Idol finisher's debut was good enough to outsell The Beatles' LOVE remix album, which sold 272,000.

That number also gives Chris the top first week so far this year for an American Idol product, topping the likes of Kellie Pickler, Clay Aiken and several other stars.

Of course, Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee still have a chance to beat that mark. Regardless, it's great to see that the Daughtry band and CD are off to a great start.

Diana DeGarmo, the talented singer who went from American Idol runner-up to Broadway, claims she's been the victim of an Internet stalker who stole her identity and blackmailed her.

The American Idol star, currently starring in "Hairspray" on Broadway, says the stalker first contacted her through DeGarmo's page on MySpace.

Appearing Tuesday night on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, DeGarmo said that a young Australian woman bombarded her with email and instant messages. The stalker then somehow got a hold of DeGarmo's cell phone number and called her up to 60 times a day.

The singer says the woman assumed her identity and used it on the Internet to solict sex and drugs. DeGarmo, who finished second to Fantasia Barrino on the third season of American Idol, told O'Reilly the woman then called her and asked for money to leave her alone.

The Broadway star tracked the stalker to Australia and reported her to police there. After an extensive search spearheaded by the FBI and the Australian Federal Police, Tanya Ouattrocchi was nabbed and is due to face a laundry list of charges in Melbourne Magistrates Court on December 11.

Assuming the guise of a 14-year-old "big fan" from Minnesota, Ouattrocchi was initially pleasant and complimentary when she first contacted DeGarmo via her MySpace page. But the communication reportedly deteriorated into stalker-like rants when Ouattrocchi began emailing her explicit material and "outrageous questions" about her sex life.

Nobody wanted her first time around, after she finished a respectable seventh in Season 3 of American Idol, but now that she's starring in Dreamgirls and generating some serious Oscar buzz, Jennifer Hudson is a desirable commodity for record labels.

We've learned that she's just been inked by Arista, Clive Davis' original branch of the BMG realm he now commands.

Said Davis in a statement:

"Jennifer Hudson (right) is a vocal wonder, a tremendously gifted artist. Her extraordinary voice gives her a signature sound and distinguishes her from every singer on the horizon today."

Said Jennifer Hudson in a statement:

"Clive Davis is a legend, and I feel more than honored to be associated with him. Because of his vision and hands on approach, Arista already feels like home. I can't wait for us all to make beautiful music together."

We're looking forward to it, of course!

It may have been for the best that Chris Daughtry didn't win American Idol. He got the 19/BMG record contract anyway, plenty of good publicity out of his unexpected ouster from the show, and seems to have gotten the green light to do just the album he wanted to -- writing or co-writing 10 of the 12 songs and going for the surname-only, quasi-solo/quasi-band, almost-mythic identity of Daughtry.

As an album, Daughtry is a very airplay friendly album of formulaic, but tuneful contemporary rock, sung with fervor and restraint and considerable skill. Here's USA Today's track-by-track insight into Chris Daughtry's much-anticipated record:

1. It's Not Over: Takes one song to establish the formula on which most of the songs are built: subdued , melodic opening into cranked-up, catchy chorus. Nothing wrong with that at all, as bands from Nirvana to Nickelback could attest.

Daughtry definitely leans more toward Nickelback than Nirvana; the good thing is he sings in a less-mannered style than Chad Kroeger, who's got the formula down pat but makes me want to punch a radio button every time we hear that overfamiliar growl. Lyrical mood: desperate to patch things up.

2. Used To: More of the same, pleasant but unexceptional. Lyrical mood: desperate to patch things up.

3. Home: More of a light-rock texture until the bridge steps up the pace, sounds very commercial. Lyrical mood: pained, regretful.

4. Over You: Jumps into its soft-centered rock chorus more quickly, the most pop-oriented track yet until it ratchets up the intensity and angst toward the end. Lyrical mood: pained, regretful, vengeful.

5. Crashed: Closest thing to Nickelback yet, very predictable, yet quite likable, as with most of these songs. Lyrical mood: obsessed.

6. Feels Like Tonight: Daughtry didn't write it, but it follows the quiet/loud formula perfectly and is perfectly pleasant. Lyrical mood: desperate to patch things up.

7. What I Want: By far the most cranked-up track so far, with an impassioned vocal to match guest guitarist Slash's fretwork. Kind of lost the tune, though. Lyrical mood: regretful but touched by paramour's loyalty.

8. Breakdown: This track stands out impressively, with the greatest contrast between its softer side (featuring Chris' nimble falsetto) and its hard-rock crunch. Lyrical mood: resentful but trying to hold something dysfunctional together (for reasons that are not apparent).

9. Gone: Once again redolent of Nickelback, with another fast jump into the catchy chorus. Good guitar break, and overall one of the stronger tracks. Lyrical mood: desperate.

10. There and Back Again: Worst track on the album, nondescript and sadly tuneless riff-rock. Lyrical mood: supportive, vaguely inspirational.

11. All These Lives: Strings, acoustic guitar, big Nickelback-esque chorus, nicely pulled off. Lyrical mood: very dark.

12. What About Now: The other non-original, co-written by ex-Evanescence guy (and Kelly Clarkson collaborator) Ben Moody, is lighter, with pop single potential, again nicely pulled off. Lyrical mood: desperate to patch things up.

The tracks tend to run together in similarity, both musically and lyrically (angst-rock lives), but it was rarely less than listenable even if it wasn't exactly distinctive or ground-breaking. It's not an album that can compete in the rarefied league of rock's titans; it's not up there with U2 or Green Day or Red Hot Chili Peppers, and probably wasn't aiming for that status anyway.

If the goal was to establish a niche within the narrower accessible hard-rock realm of Nickelback, Staind, Hinder, Seether, Fuel, Shinedown or 3 Doors Down, the Daughtry band succeeded. But he still hasn't come up with the distinctive, career-making "Kryptonite" or "Broken" or "How You Remind Me" that will stand out in the crowd. We'll see if he gets there.

Football on Thanksgiving.

It's as traditional as a turkey in the oven.

This year, however, viewers that turned in to the Dallas Cowboys/Tampa Bay Buccaneers game were treated to a surprise far more welcome than any Terrell Owens outburst: a double dose of American Idol beauty and talent.

First, Dallas-area native Kelly Clarkson (decked out in an Emmitt Smith jersey) sang the national anthem. She did a wonderful job.

Then, the halftime ceremony featured yet another winner from the FOX reality smash: Carrie Underwood, a native of nearby Oklahoma.

Dallas may have won big, 38-10, but fans of these singers also walked away as winners. We hope positive news like this takes away from the tired Clay Aiken/Kelly Ripa feud.

The following is a CNN editorial we came across regarding the much-talked about incident (or non-incident, as we like to call it) between Clay Aiken and Kelly Ripa. While we'd prefer this story go away, we thought this writer's point was both fair and accurate, and thought you might want to check it out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In case anyone missed part of the 'drama' during holiday preparations, we thought we'd give a brief summary of the Kelly Ripa "feud" -- can you believe the media covered this for days? This absolutely confirms that anything Clay Aiken does is huge news, regardless of whether it has to do with his music!

To summarize, Clay was a charming and witty cohost on last week's Live! with Regis show. He and Ripa seemed to get along just fine, trading jokes, but when Kelly Ripa refused to let him get a word in edgewise, he playfully covered her mouth with his hand.

Ripa was upset and said she 'didn't know where that hand had been.' To be fair to Ripa, Clay's action doesn't win Best Observance of Personal Space, but Clay did apologize, and the show moved on in apparent harmony.

But Ripa worked up a head of steam all weekend, and on Monday, complained at bitter length about Clay's "lack of respect." Regis attempted to defuse her rant, saying Clay Aiken was likely nervous, and never imagined "in a million years" she'd have a feud with him.

Now, we know we're biased here at CNN, but we also noticed that Kelly is forgetting the times she has covered Regis' mouth on the show (not that the entertainment shows missed it. Entertainment Tonight, The Insider and Inside Edition all showed clips Wednesday pointing out Ripa's hypocrisy).

There's also the time she licked something belonging to noted germophobe Howie Mandel... and we have to wonder how pushing the photo of a cat in Clay's face qualifies as 'respectful' on her part. It's either all in good fun or... not so much.

The fact that Rosie O'Donnell decided to speak up for Clay on The View is, on the one hand, a nice gesture. However, the charge of homophobia against Ripa seems to have provided Ripa with a perfect way to deflect criticism by playing up her indignation at the charge and inviting the subsequent media storm. We're fans and yet we can't help wondering... this is major news? We're endlessly surprised by the intensity of interest in Clay's every action.

The entire issue seems to have ended on a humorous note at the American Music Awards. When Tori Spelling and Clay appeared together to present an award, Spelling quickly put her hand over Clay's mouth, and as he laughed, told him "I'll tell you where that hand has been, later." That humorous stunt to have gotten the most coverage of any appearance at the AMA's, and coverage has been overwhelmingly positive about Clay's sense of humor.

We here at CNN suggest that Ripa was within her rights to scold Clay for covering her mouth -- that can be a disconcerting violation of personal space -- although to do so privately rather than through a five-minute televised rant might have been more professional on her part.

The adult response to an apology is to accept and move on, not toss stones several days later. We'd also suggest she step out of her glass house on occasion -- if her ground rules include mocking guests' phobias, she can't really complain that her standards of 'respect' aren't properly conveyed.

Last week, we took a glimpse at the changing styles of Katharine McPhee. The reigning runner-up can pull off many looks, but she's not the only starlet (or star) in the American Idol universe who can make that claim.

Another well-known second-place finisher, Clay Aiken, has adopted a very different look of late. His longer locks make him look mature, to be sure, but do you prefer the shorter-haired, baby-faced Clay we first got to know back when he narrowly lost out to Ruben Studdard in Season 2? Or do you dig the new look?

Speaking of Idol legends coming into their own, below we see the lovely Carrie Underwood. The Oklahoma cutie has recently adopted a bold, almost vixenish look - as seen in the video for "Before He Cheats" along with numerous public appearances. Which do you prefer the traditional, sweet and innocent Carrie or the slightly-more provocative version?

It's time for another American Idol Picture of the Day, and since we can't decide which of these two to use, you get both. We couldn't justify leaving for a few days without displaying each. Call it a Thanksgiving treat.

On the left, Clay Aiken gets hushed by Tori Spelling at the American Music Awards last night, an obvious spoof on Clay's recent hushing of Kelly Ripa - an event that caused much undue controversy, as Clay fans are aware (the comments stemming that incident are so ridiculous that we didn't bother reporting it). It's good to see Clay making light of what should never have become an issue in the first place, and Tori Spelling playing along.

On the right, Taylor Hicks makes a stop in Miami... and certainly looks the part. Seriously, was this guy in Miami Vice somehow without us knowing? Not many people could pull off that shift, but Taylor does it in style. No matter what you think of him musically, you have to love Taylor Hicks (whose new album is due out any day now). He just seems like the most friendly, fun-loving person. Not unlike Mr. Aiken!

The Velvet Teddy Bear, Ruben Studdard, has always been up front about his weight problems -- and his success in shedding over 100 pounds earlier in 2006 by making extreme changes to his diet and exercise regimen.

In an interview with PETA Vice President Dan Matthews, the American Idol winner talks about the spiritual side of weight loss, what it's like being a vegetarian, how important it is to get regular colonics, and how his lifestyle affects his band.

On Becoming a Vegetarian:
"I actually came home, and there was a little brochure in my hometown paper - I ain't never told nobody this - but it was a thing about cleaning up your temple. I think it was like a Seventh Day Adventist magazine, and they were talking about 'try vegetarian.' I went online that day, and I just started reading little things from different vegetarians, and it was so much easier than I thought it would be, so I decided to try it."

On His Colonic Guru:
"They [medical experts] talk about all the colon problems, blah blah. And I've had a hydro-colonic before, so the lady that does that for us, she eats only raw vegetables - like, she won't anything but raw vegetables. And of course every time we'd go, she'd be like 'try this' and 'stop this,' but of course we weren't paying any attention - but now of course we do!"

On His Favorite Veggie Snacks:
"My favorite dish is from PF Chang's -- the Buddha's Feast. It's hands-down my favorite dish. And the tofu lettuce wraps. McDonald's has a veggie burger now. It's not as good as Burger King. Burger King's veggie burger is off the chain."

How His Diet Has Changed His Bandmates:
"My band, they all complain about my requirements for only veggie stuff backstage, but they're learning too, like I did. There's always a better way to live if you're open to it."