Have the "American Idol" producers already picked the final 4?

That's the rumor:

“Adam Lambert and Lil Rounds are better singers and musicians than Gokey and Grace, but they’re too much like past winners and ‘A’ successes,” the woman said. “Adam’s too close in style and sound to Chris Daughtry, while Lil Rounds is a dead ringer for Fantasia. Even their background stories are similar!

“The producers really want it to be Danny or Alexis. They think they’re very commercially viable, have a good image and a great story.”

Adam is like Chris Daughtry? That's so off that I doubt the source entirely. They've never had anyone like Adam in a position to win. Adam is the most exciting choice. You might just as well say that Gokey is too much like Taylor Hicks.

Anyway, I can believe this is the final 4 they want. That doesn't mean the contest is fixed in any significant way. They're stuck with the votes that come in. Misreporting the vote would, if discovered, destroy the show. But they can do plenty of things to help the contestants they like best. They can showcase a singer when they want, putting him in the last or the first slot, and so forth. And they've got that new rule that lets them save one contestant once during the season. I assume the point of that rule is to save Adam — the best idol ever.