noah | February 18, 2009 12:45 pm

has told AOL (in an interview that’s presented as a gallery, gah) that this year’s crop of American Idol hopefuls is “the most talented bunch we’ve ever had.” It’s probably worth noting that the interview in question is timestamped 12:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 17 (i.e. 24 hours ago), and that he might have some different things to say now that we’ve all had to sit through last night’s mostly atrocious semifinal. Or maybe not, since this is the ever-optimistic Randy Jackson we are talking about here… [AOL]