{blackbabes} 'American Idol': Jennifer Hudson, bona fide star, comes home

Jennifer Hudson, who is -- as Ryan Seacrest pointed out -- the only "American Idol" finalist to win an Oscar (and, ahem, not win "Idol") chose a tough night to make her triumphant return to the stage that launched her career.

Hudson is busy making the rounds to promote her new album, "I Remember Me." She stopped by "The View" earlier this week to talk about it and shared her opinion that "Idol's" new judges could maybe be a bit more critical.

"You can't sugarcoat things for people because when they get into it," she said on 'The View,' "then they can't handle it." We wonder what she thought of tonight's judge's choice to use their one save of the season.

Behind the mic, Hudson delivered an understated, classy peformance of her album's first single, "Where You At." Unfortunately, understated and classy were totally out of place on a show that started with an energized performance from Stevie Wonder, the t-shirt-ripping stylings of the over-flexed Hulk Hogan and a manic nail-biter of an ending that had us on the edge of our seat.