Wednesday, May 21, 2008

American Idol - The REAL Finale!

The REAL Finale where we find out who won the whole enchilada! The whole she-bang! The whole shootin' match! I apologize in advance for the length of this post. It's a 2-hour show, after all.
  • I love when Ryan reveals the audience at the beginning of the episode. So fun. I don't love when Ryan wears too much eyeliner. He wore too much last night too.
  • 97.5 million votes. Good grief. If we could only incite this much passion for the presidential elections.
  • Seacrest gives us a spoiler - one David got 54% of the vote and the other got 46% of the vote.
  • We have satellite coverage from the hometown of each finalist. Mikalah Gordon is in Missouri and Matt Rogers (who, incidentally, was one of my favorite early eliminated contestants during his season) is in Salt Lake City. The shot of Salt Lake is from the inside of the Delta Center (which has been renamed, but I don't know the new name, so I'm calling it the Delta Center) and it gave me the chills a little bit to see how many people are there.
  • The AI finalists with the Stars of So You Think You Can Dance?!?!?!? YES!!!!! The AI kids are singing "Get Ready" and Carly messed up a step. She's in the front row. They're swaying back and forth, so it wasn't a tough step. Michael Johns still has no rhythm. Finally....dancers. I see Lauren, Dmitri, Dominic, Anya, Pasha...the rest went by too fast. DA is also struggling to walk across the stage. Jason Castro and David Rodriguez couldn't hold the pose there at the end.
  • Audience shot of Janice Dickinson....seriously? No one more famous decided to come tonight?
Boo doop! Commercial Break.
  • DC is singing the Hero song that I believe is from the Spiderman movie.(?) Here comes DA. Nice harmony, boys. They just showed the prompter - I'm sure by accident. They have lyrics out there for them. That's nice. They have so many songs to memorize. This is an excellent duet. We should make this available on iTunes for people to download and listen to and love.
  • Are we really wasting time to pitch the new Mike Meyers movie? (Sigh.) Sitar Hero...seriously? You're better than that, Mike Meyers. This is costing Paramount a lot of money. What a waste. I may not go see this movie now. I'm that annoyed. Even though Justin Timberlake is in it.
  • Syesha is going to sing "Waiting for You" with....Seal! Nice. I really like Syesha's dress. Her extensions are also lovely. She's bringing the sass the last few weeks.
  • Celebrity shots going to the commercial - Cat Deely of SYTYCD and Joel McHale of The Soup on E! While I think both of these public figures are great, we're working the B list right now for our celebrity shots...
(Rather than type that a commercial break is occurring, I'm just going to leave a space between bullets. That way, you will know there is a commercial. Mmkay?)
  • Jason Castro is going to sing "Alleluia." This was one of his high spots in the competition. I'm going to watch it for as long as it takes me to type this sentence. (I didn't make it to the first chorus.) Audience shots! Melinda Doolittle! Teri Hatcher and daughter!
  • Ford commercial outtakes. Fun. DA and DC get their very own Ford Escape hybrids! Awesome! They both look very happy right now.
  • The six girls are going to sing a Donna Summer medley. This could be ghastly. Amanda Overmyer looks like someone is ramming bamboo shoots under her toenails. Or she's drunk. Kristy Lee kept her eyes open for two whole lines. The girls will need some more rehearsal before the tour starts. SYTYCD Dancers!!!! Donna Summer is coming on stage to sing her new single and she was just helped down the stairs in a painfully slow fashion by two of the SYTYCD ballroom dancers. Bejeweled microphone! I like this song! I love that some of my favorite SYTYCD breakdancers are bringing it over on the sides of the stage....except that Seacrest just tried to dance with Dominic and Hok. Not cool, Ryan. DISCO BALL! Donna is singing "Last Dance." I used to sing and dance to this song for hours in my room. Donna just gave Syesha the bejeweled microphone! They may have had to help Donna walk down the stairs, but she's still got the chops. Audience shot of Marisa Janet Winocur! And there's Fantasia!
  • Carly Smithson and Michael Johns are singing "The Letter." And now I understand why Carly was wearing black tights with her red dress in the last number. They bugged me. Man, they sound fantastic together. And Michael Johns looks like he is having fun instead of being boring. That was really great. I would buy that recording.
  • Jimmy Kimmel is back. He's going to review the show. He opens by hacking on Sanjaya and has won my heart. He also made fun of Paula "seeing performances that no one else sees." He just did an amazing montage of all Simon's negative comments set to "Pop Goes the Weasel." High-larious.
  • Top 6 guys are singing what I assume must be a rock medley because "Summer of '69" is the first song. Overall, I like the boys from this season a lot more than the girls. David Hernandez went home too soon. I actually like Michael Johns tonight. Here come DC and DA singing a duet on the verse of "Heaven." Young girls across the nation collectively swoon as the rest of the boys join in on the chorus. And here comes the pride of Canada, Bryan Adams. He looks terrible. The director isn't ordering many close ups. We close the medley with "Somebody." I like this song. I had forgotten about it. Audience shot of Bo Bice.
  • Disney has a new feature coming in January - The American Idol Experience. Jordin Sparks is in the commercial for it since she broke her vocal cords and probably can't sing tonight. I'm intrigued. Not enough information to really tell me what this new attraction is about, and yet enough to interest me and leave me wanting more.
  • David Cook is performing with ZZ Top. That's awesome. Paula is dancing. That isn't awesome. DC has a new logo for the initials on his guitar. They're singing "Sharp Dressed Man" and DC sounds great on the vocals. I really hope they flip their guitars. (They didn't. Boo.) Blake Lewis is in the audience!
  • They throw to the satellite in St. Louis. Mikalah is with David Cook's music teacher. I didn't cry this time.
  • Brooke White is singing "Teach Your Children" with Graham Nash. With children pictured on the TVs in the background. I didn't cry during this either.
Commercial....wait...is that David Cook in a Guitar Hero commercial? The one that was a takeoff of Risky Business? I just watched it again and it is definitely him. Is he allowed to do that? Make a commercial for a non-AI sponsor, I mean?
  • There is a lot of screaming from the female contingent in the audience, so I'm guessing this band I don't recognize is The Jonas Brothers. I saw them once on Hannah Montana and they look different than they did on that episode. Justin Guarini sighting!
  • It's time for the bad singing montage from the auditions. Blech. I'm not watching this. Wait. They brought back the "I am your brother" guy with the cape and he's being accompanied by the USC Marching Band. They get all the good gigs like this. I'm amazed someone took the time to transcribe this song so the marching band could play it. Randy and Paula are coming on stage to sing with him like they did during the auditions. They had to take it to commercial and the guy was still singing.
  • I fast forwarded through Ryan. I'm sick of hearing him talk. One Republic is singing "Apologize." This track is pretty old. I'm not sure why they're here. Never mind. Here's DA singing with them. DA sounds outstanding on this song. Good pairing! That was excellent.
  • Satellite throw to Salt Lake City. Matt Rogers is with DA's grandparents. Cute.
  • Wow! Jordin Sparks is going to sing her new single. We're going Miss America style and she's here to give up her title. I guess she just came off vocal rest. If I'm being honest, she's a little pitchy. Though, I do really like the lyrics to this song. (I just realized - if DA wins, we will have had back to back 17-year old winners. Interesting...) They just showed Blake Lewis singing along with Jordin. That was the cutest thing ever.
  • They're showing footage of Gladys Knight singing "Midnight Train to Georgia" from the 70's with Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey, Jr. as the Pips. Fabulous. Instead of wasting time on that stupid Love Guru movie, we could have more fun clips like this. I mean, if we have to have filler material, lets have quality filler material. Sis. Knight can SING! I love her. The money from downloading that video on iTunes will go to charity. I'm downloading that one.
  • Carrie Underwood! I love Kelly Clarkson, but Miss Carrie is a superstar. And she is so pretty. What a cool outfit. Legs for miles. I hate her. She's singing a fun country song about getting drunk, hooking up and getting married.
Okay. I feel better. DA is also in a Guitar Hero commercial. They must be sponsors. And here is what I love about DA. DC did the commercial Tom Cruise style with just the button down shirt and no visible sign of underwear. DA had boxers on that were longer than the button down shirt. Very modest. Good boy.
  • The AI girls are back singing "Faith" by George Michael. Now the boys are singing "Father Figure." David Hernandez just whispered "naked." And I just threw up in my mouth a little. Now all of them are singing "Freedom." And here's George Michael. Singing "Waiting for Time." He's going on tour.
Finally, some results.

The judges are giving final thoughts. Randy said something about it being a great season. I honestly don't know what Paula said. She rambled at the end and my eyes rolled back in my head. Simon is admitting that after watching it back, the competition is not so clearly cut as he called it last night. And he is apologizing for being disrespectful to DC last night. And he doesn't care who wins because they have both been terrific. I agree.

Ryan has a gold envelope.

And the American Idol for 2008 is....

David Cook.

Huh?

By 12 million votes. I'm glad - don't get me wrong. I liked him too. I'm just genuinely surprised. I really thought the teenyboppers would pull this one out for DA. I guess the producers don't have to worry about two 17 year olds in a row. I am most surprised by the margin of victory. I thought it would be closer. DA had the Vote for the Worst people voting for him as well as the entire state of Utah. But DC was strong all season and he did sell more tracks on iTunes by far.

And, Love Guru aside, that was one of my favorite AI finales ever. Some pretty excellent performances, only one flashback to the auditions, and two great finalists.

Well, it's been a lovely season! Good night everyone!

5 comments:

Katy said...

Thanks for your thoughts this season Macy

mylittlegems said...

I haven't finished watching it yet but I read your post anyway. I am bummed- I was rooting for DA. Both will have albums but I like DA much better because he appeals to a broader audience and he is just adorable. Oh well.... DC -the rocker- can have it I guess.

Nana said...

I read some site on the internet this morning that claimed to have the results -disappointed they were right. Not disappointed in the winner. I have to admit, I liked him better as a performer. Thanks for making the season fun to watch, even by myself. Maybe next year I'll vote.
Rhonda

Jen said...

I am so grateful you came through for me! I I read you on Monday and tonight someone videoed it for me and cut it short by 15 minutes! Not one late show I watched told me and either did AI online! So thanks for the play by play. I am shocked to I have to say!

Zoo Keeper said...

Macy- I am going to miss American Idol and especially your play by play posts!!! LOVE THEM! I have to say that I was very happy for DC! I like DA, however my taste in music sends me over to the "rocker" side! I loved the finale, especially "MIDNIGHT TRAIN TO GEORGIA!" LOVED IT!

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