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May 21, 2008

American Idol is crowned

Simon Cowell back peddles on his comments to David Cook. I'm guessing Cook won.

And I'm right.

The winner by 12 million votes is David Cook.

American Idol: Cook's Guitar Hero ad and the Jonas Brothers

Cook's ad for the game by Activision is pretty funny:

Finally, someone that the kids might actually know. The Jonas Brothers performed to cheers.


David Archuleta sings with One Republic on their song "Apologize."

Last year's winner, Jordin Sparks is back with "One Step at a Time."

Gladys Knight auditions Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr.

Carrie Underwood, one of the most successful Idol winners, is back with "Last Name."


And not to be outdone, Archuleta also cut a "Guitar Hero" ad. Archuleta is a boxers guy. Judging from Cook's ad, he either wears briefs or goes commando.


American Idol: The Davids duet and more filler

It's Nickelback's "Hero." It's better suited for Cook's vocal styling than Archuleta's.

Cook and Archuleta had to plug the "Love Guru." It was kind of funny to see Mike Meyers make fun of Cook's facial hair (he tries to shave him at one point) and Archuleta's age.

Syesha Mercado sang Seal's "Waiting for You" with Seal. The performance falls kind of flat.


American Idol:

97.5 million votes came in. A record for the show by more than 23 million.

56 percent to 44 percent is the way the voting went.

Randy Jackson's jacket looks like Captain Kangeroo's

The top 12 returned for a group sing. The Temptations' "Get Ready" is the song and the kids all look wholesome dressed in white.


American Idol: Dial Idol and other sites weigh in

And call it for David Cook.

Archuleta fans shouldn't lose hope, though. Many of those same sites had Syesha going home several weeks before her actual departure.

May 20, 2008

American Idol: The final round

Cook picked "The World I Know" by Collective Soul. It's groovy and easily his best performance of the night. He tears up at the end.

"One of the cool things about you is that you're showing people tonight a lot of different sides of David Cook," Jackson said. "This is the kind of record you could make and get by with."

"It was a beautiful song, but I'm going to be honest with you it was completely and utterly the wrong choice for you on the night," Cowell said.

Cowell thought Cook should have gone with this:

or this:

Archuleta went with reprising "Imagine." The song sounds even better with a string orchestra.

"Dude, you are so good tonight," Jackson said. "You are exactly what this show is about: finding the best singer we can find and the best singer is right there."

"You were stunning tonight," Abdul said.

"We've taken a little bit of stick this year in the competition, but at the end of the day this show is about finding a star," Cowell said. "Tonight, we've witnessed one of the great finals, but here's the difference. In my opinion, David, you came out here to win and what we witnessed was a knock out."

American Idol: Archuleta in his moment

Archuleta's second song is "This Moment."

"You definitely, definitely chose the better song there,. "Much more in keeping with the night," Cowell said. "Round two goes to David Archuleta."

American Idol: Cook dreams big, Cowell thinks otherwise

Cook picked "Dream Big." It's a smart choice that highlights both his vocal ability and talent that has taken him to the finales.

"You were singing your face off," Jackson said.

"A song in your heart, a guitar in your hand and we millions sit in awe, mesmerized by you," Paula Abdul said.

"Using the boxing analogy, it was a bit of a lightweight, I thought" Cowell said. "Bearing in mind this is supposed to be like a winning song, it didn't feel like a winning moment for me."

American Idol: The sun rises on Archuleta

David Archuleta picked Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" and actually made an attempt to win the contest with it. His best performance in the past six weeks.

"[That was] one of the best performances of this whole season," Jackson said. "You picked the right time to peak. That was flawless."

"Tonight's performance was arguably the best you've done so far," Cowell said. "Taking everything into account, round one goes to Archuleta."

American Idol: Cook dishes up his first song

I'm guessing this sports metaphor is going to go over many "Idol" watcher's heads.

Cook forgoes playing the guitar on U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." It's all gaspy. The arrangement isn't too far off of the original.


"I think it was a great way to start off this duel of 2007," Randy Jackson said, not realizing it's actually 2008. "Very nice song choice. I don't think you did everything you could with it, but I loved the scoop up at the note at the end."

"I thought it was phenomenal," Cowell said.

American Idol: the death of street cred

Prepare to sacrifice all artistic integrity and any street cred if you ever go on "American Idol," kids.

Producers had the Davids enter the theater dressed in robes and boxing gloves to the theme from "Rocky."

The camera panned over the crowd. All the top 12 fallen "Idol" contestants from this season appear to be in attendance. Amanda Overmyer looks a bit bored, but claps politely. Overmyer and Danny Noriega were the highlights for me this season.

Paula Abdul appears to have borrowed Mariah's bedazzler and has outfitted her sun dress with sparkling, fake gemstones. Of course, for as much as she is over-paid, the gems could be real.

Is it me or does Simon Cowell's hair look more "Dagwood Bumstead" today?

Both Davids are singing three songs each.

Again with the boxing analogy. HBO boxing analyst Jim Lampley handicapped the "three ring" event. Ugh.

Archuleta won the coin toss last week and opted to go second. Cook is first up.

American Idol: rumors and facts swirling

Some updates before we start tonight's show:

Fact: The "Idol" results show will be reduced to 30 minutes next season. This probably means the viewer call-in segment is gone.

Rumor: Paula Abdul told "Extra's" Terri Seymour she had "a sneaking suspicion" that tomorrow night's top secret performer is none other than the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.

May 14, 2008

American Idol: Finally! The Results


Mercado is gone. It's David vs. David.


See y'all next week.

American Idol: and finally, David Cook

Yeah! More screaming girls.

Cook didn't originally plan on auditioning. He was there to support his brother Andrew (who was not as fortunate).

And Cook also cries over the reaction of his hometown.

Judging from the absence of a screaming fan base, I think Mercado is toast.

American Idol: Syesha Mercado is the second person called out

There's less screaming in the montage showing her trip home last week. Some crazy fan thrusts her baby into Mercado's arms and snaps a few photos, though.

Like Archuleta in the last clip, Mercado is overwhelmed by the hometown response and also breaks down in tears.

Ok, they just showed the "Celebrate" clip for Mercado. All bets are off as to who is going home (though I suspect it's still going to be Mercado).

American Idol: David Archuleta and the five minute montage of screaming fans

My ears are bleeding. Seriously.

And now they're playing the clip they play when they "celebrate" someone home. Which means Archuleta isn't going anywhere (otherwise, they'd have to play the clip twice, no?)

American Idol: Fantasia's return

56 million votes cast, but we have to wait until 8:45 or so to get the results.

Meanwhile, former Idol winner Fantasia returns. There was a great shot of Simon Cowell starring in disbelief over her mess of a performance:


Look for a higher resolution version of this clip on "The Soup" this weekend, no doubt.

American Idol: It's the last group sing!

Oh, the irony. Tonight's group sing (trio?) is "Aint No Stoppin' Us Now" by McFadden & Whitehead.

Well, it's ironic for one of the three. Enjoy your time front and center while you can, Syesha.

A question to start us off tonight

How much of an impact did the back stage absence of David Archuleta's father have on the "Idol" finalist?

Discuss.