Eating the KFC Double Down while watching Adam Lambert and 'American Idol' on Elvis night: A big, fat, cheesy combo!

I could not resist trying the KFC Double Down. I like junk food, even if I balance it out by eating a lot of broccoli-and-quinoa dinners. But you show me a new sandwich with bacon, cheese, and mayo-mystery-sauce wedged between two pieces of Kentucky Fried Chicken, and that is a challenge I am ready to tackle.

Much the way the remaining American Idol contestants accepted the challenge of performing Elvis Presley songs. Insert your own grilled-peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches, late-period Elvis jokes here. Me, I respect Elvis in his prime the way I respect McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese: brilliant American inventiveness.

Don’t worry, this isn’t me dumping on Idol, and the eminent Michael Slezak gives you the full measure of his Idol expertise here.

No, I’m just writing about an experience you do all the time, but that critics don’t often write about: eating while watching TV.

So I sped home with my KFC Double Down in time to see Adam Lambert exhort the singers to provide viewers with what Elvis did: something “to listen to, look at, and feel.” I think Lambert is truly terrific. He gets it.

Unlike Presley, however, who was too polite to do such a thing, Lambert can also play the music critic with acuity. He told Andrew Garcia his rehearsal version of “Hound Dog” was “boring.” (It was.) In assessing Lee DeWyze, Lambert pointed to the area of the face and said, “there’s nothing going on there” — i.e., that Lee is inexpressive. (He is.)

I was so happy watching Lambert offer cogent, good-humored analysis that I started eating without thinking much about what I was consuming. (You know the feeling. Looking down at the empty bowl of potato chips during a Glee commercial break and wondering, where the hell did the chips all go?) Then I chewed and swallowed with concentration on the food.

The Double Down tasted… heavy, with grease. But not without a certain spicy charm. The KFC formula (I bought the “original,” not the “grilled”) combined with the bacon, cheese, and mayo for a nice tang. If I’d eaten a crisper piece of bacon placed on a single, thinner piece of KFC chicken, I think I actually would have said it was really fun. Unhealthy on a regular basis, but fun. Something like listening to badly but spiritedly performed music.

I’m not going to make the Double Down part of my regular snacking. It’s back to the broccoli and quinoa for me. Similarly, I’ll be watching Modern Family instead of Idol tomorrow night.

Have you tried the Double Down? Did you watch Idol? You didn’t by any chance combine the two, did you?

For Idol coverage: ‘American Idol’ brings back Adam Lambert for Elvis night