And In The End

In the end, I think the best man won, and I do mean man. I also think that it helps restore at least some of whatever credibility American Idol has left since David Cook still qualifies as an “undiscovered talent”. The proliferation of professional ringers thrust upon us by the Idol producers leery of a repeat of Sanjayamania greatly diminished the appeal of the show. Perhaps that is why the producers decided to push Rocker Dude after all of the other amateurs were quickly eliminated. Perhaps it is also not a coincidence that Cook didn't emerge as a favorite to win until after Ramiele Malubay, Chikezie Eeze, Amanda Overmyer, and David Hernandez were all eliminated.

Since the Idol producers have already decided to cut back the results show to 30 minutes next season they should also consider making a similar cutback to the season finale. It seemed like they were really struggling to fill the two hours. Pretty much every Top 10 contestant except for Cheeky and Lullaby performed at least one song, and there were all those boy bands that the tweeners screamed for that I had no clue about. I also think that we could have done without Donna Summer, Bryan Adams, and George Michael all singing new songs that no one gives a damn about or will ever buy. While the video/subtle movie promo with Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., and a vintage 1972 Gladys Knight was entertaining, I think we could have done without the 20 minute promo for Mike Myers’ new movie even if Jessica Alba is in the flick.

I imagine I was not the only dude who noticed during the first group medley that Syesha wore a short skirted dress when all the other chicks wore pants. I also imagine that many of those same dudes also noticed that Carrie Underwood appeared to borrow Syesha's outfit for her number. And did anyone besides me noticed how stoned the Rock and Roll Nurse looked during the group medleys, and how all the male dancers during the chick medley were congregating around Trained Seal?

This year’s finale featured far fewer highlights from the season compared to the others. Jimmy Kimmel's “recap” consisted of a lame monologue and nothing else, though he gets some credit for having the cajones to mention Paula’s mental collapse three weeks ago. He also gets points for calling this season “19 weeks of karaoke singing.” Besides that there was a brief video of audition losers, Simon's cliched rejections, and a live performance by Birdman Renaldo Lapuz, who performed his famous “Brothers Forever” with the USC marching band and cheerleaders. William Hung must be jealous, especially after Birdman and the band started performing to different beats half way through.

It was nice of Captain Jack to apologize for being disrespectful to Rocker Dude last night, and may explain why Simon looked so relived when Cook was announced as the winner.

We also learned that Kansas City correspondent and self-proclaimed virgin Mikalah Gordon from Idol Season 4 has the IQ of a grapefruit, that Jordin Sparks sings pretty well for someone with a damaged throat, that Ryan is still surprised that Ringer Girl and Poser Mate were eliminated so early, that Wonder Boy’s grandpa is proud of his grandson and his Stage Dad son, that Drunk Chick “sees performances that no one else sees,” that Donna Summer and Bryan Adams are looking awfully old, that Cheeky has gained some weight since being eliminated, that Wonder Boy has seen his future and its name is George Michael, that there will be an American Idol theme park at Disney World, that they still give away cars to the winners, that Randy thinks this is the best season ever, that Paula thinks there is something wonderful about losing, that there was a winning song in the songwriting competition and it wasn't as sappy as I thought it would be, and that despite a down year in both the ratings and the vote counts 93 million people actually bothered to vote for the finale (either that or 10 tweeners voted 9.3 million times).

While the show has wrapped up for the season I still have one more task to perform before disappearing until January. Stay tuned for a comprehensive recap of American Idol Season 7. I hope it will be more entertaining than this season has been, though I can only promise that it won't be as long as this season has been.