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.
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.
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: 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."
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."
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."
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.
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.
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?)
