American Idol Finale- Running Diary

Here we are, another year of American Idol. A couple of years ago I did a running commentary on the American Idol finale. I haven’t posted anything on the blog in quite a while and a running diary is an easy filler.

I haven’t been a loyal follower, more like a casual fan. To some people that means I need to turn in my man-card, but I’m comfortable enough with myself to admit that I watch American Idol.

I didn’t watch any of Season 1 and very little of Season 2. I think Season 3 (Fantasia winner) was the first time when I watched most episodes. Season 4 was pretty good with Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice. Who could forget the week that Carrie Underwood became a rocker (including the big hair) and sang “Alone” from Heart.

Season 5 was messed up because somehow Taylor Hicks won where Chris Daughtry was clearly the best on the show. This always begs the question of whether the show is to find the best singer or the most popular. The problem is, is that Taylor Hicks was only popular because he had gray hair. This is where American Idol loses some of its legitimacy.

Season 6 was underwhelming with a Blake Lewis/Jordin Sparks finale. The only “redeeming” part of that season was Sanjaya and the joke he made of the whole process of finding a good singer. Once again openly mocking the system of finding the best talent. America might choose who advances, but America struggles to figure out who the best singers are.

Season 7 was good because the two David’s were both really good. It might have made the finale a little anti-climatic because you knew that both singers were going to be making an album. That season also had Brooke White who was Becky’s favorite. I’ll have to admit that David Cook’s originality and his willingness to put a rock spin on his songs is what won me over. David Archuleta was the home town Mormon boy and he sure seemed like a nice kid, but you wouldn’t see me buying any of his albums.

Which brings us to Season 8 and the battle between Adam and Kris. Adam has been my favorite this year because he sings songs that I like. His rendition of “Mad World” (first performance, not last night’s) was probably my most favorite performance in all of American Idol history. The sad thing is we almost missed it because our DVR stopped recording. Fortunately our second TV DVR ran a little longer and captured the performance.

Kris sure seems like a nice guy. I don’t mind his stuff either. His performance of “Heartless” by Kanye West was pretty cool and probably is what got him in the finals over Danny Gokey. Gokey getting voted out was a minor upset, but I always liked Kris over Danny. Danny seemed a little too cocky for me at times.

Up until about a couple of hours ago I was convinced that Kris was somehow going to pull off the upset and win the whole competition. Now I’m not so confident. I guess DialIdol.com has it too close to call. In fact I’m going to predict Adam wins it. After Kris’ first performance I thought he had all the momentum and had the look of an underdog that was peaking at the right time. Then his last two performances last night were good, but received lukewarm praise from the judges. I thought he might have overcome it, but now I’m not so sure. Look for Adam to be drowned in confetti.

The Judges

American Idol went to four judges to mix things up this year. My personal opinion was that they are trying to find a way to push Paula Abdul off the show, but they are hedging their bets by trying out a new judge. Kara DioGuardi is a major upgrade to Paula and I can only hope that Paula gets booted and Kara stays on.

Paula’s erratic behavior is a major issue with the show. She hasn’t been as bad this year, but she has had times when she has been very incoherent. It’s clear to me that she is under the influence of something. When she seems to be coherent she still rambles incessantly and has scripted replies because I know she’s not smart enough to make some of the analogies she makes off the top of her head. Because of this she has absolutely no credibility. Even the contestants know that. Her comments are pretty much a waste of everyone’s time. (In retrospect, this paragraph was a little harsh, but I’m just not a Paula fan.)

Kara is pretty good. I think she has credibility and provides good feedback. She’s not as mean as Simon and not as cool as Randy, but she’s solid. The show would do itself a favor by replacing Paula with Kara. It would help with its legitimacy. Just a little side note on Kara. Pay attention after she makes a passionate comment. To make her point she kind of hurriedly sits back in her chair when she’s done talking. Just a little insight you’ll find only on this blog.

Randy is solid and I like him as a judge. His laugh cracks me up. He’s got his own little schtick, but I buy it and it works. He’s not going anywhere.

Simon is American Idol. He has contemplated leaving the show after the 2010 season when his contract expires. If he leaves then the show will cease to exist in its current form. Simon has the most credibility on the panel, but my major beef with him is that he can be rude and obnoxious when he really doesn’t need to. I’m sure that’s why some people watch the show, but you can be critical and “keep it real” without demeaning people in front of a national audience. Unfortunately Simon knows the show revolves around him and he acts accordingly.

The other problem is that the singers and audience really cue off of him. The singers rarely mention feedback from other judges, only Simon’s. They only seek to please him. If a singer were to get positive feedback from the other three judges and Simon rips them, then everyone thinks they did a poor job because Simon’s opinion trumps everyone elses. I think that’s kind of dangerous for this show to be in that position. If they worked to even out the power and credibility of each judge then the show wouldn’t collapse when one judge leaves. Because American Idol has put all of their eggs in the “Simon basket” then they’ll pay the price when he leaves the show.

Enough of that stuff, let’s get to the show.

7:01 Ryan Seacrest (Standing between Adam and Kris dressed in white): “This is the finale. This……is American Idol.” The show has officially started.

7:02 Seacrest: “Just under 100 million votes yesterday.” Zero votes from Scott and probably 30 from Becky, all for Kris. I have vowed to never cast a vote on this show. Unless Aubree or Sydney are singing on this show, I will not vote.

7:03 Montage of Randy with one of latest sayings: “That song for me for you wasn’t the right choice.” Or some variation of that. It was something that Becky actually picked up on over the season.

7:04 Montage of Kara calling everyone “Sweetie”. It gets kind of annoying when they show her say it about 50 times in a row.

7:04 Montage of Paula and her enormous vocabulary. See, I’m not the only one that thinks that she doesn’t make sense. Her big words were all scripted. I’m telling you.

7:06 Enter Kris and Adam dressed in white. They must be hitting a temple session after the show.

7:07 It’s a Mikalah Gordon sighting. She was an annoying former contestant from Season 4 She’s doing an interview from Conway, Arkansas, Kris’ hometown. Total waste of time.

7:08 It’s now Carly Smithson’s turn in San Diego, Adam’s hometown. Just a bunch of yelling and screaming. Just another few minutes of filler for this two hour finale.

7:08 First group number. “So What” by Pink. The Top 13 is all dressed in white. Is it a Mormon that is coordinating these numbers?

The group numbers are a great time to remember those that we hardly got to know: Michael Sarver, Jasmine Murray, Jorge Nunez, etc. etc. It’s 14:59:45 for their 15 minutes of fame.

It was kind of nice to see Jorge again. It was sort of sad seeing him getting voted off because you could really tell that he wanted it. Most contestants want to win, but some wear their emotions on their face. Jorge was one of those.

I would have to say that Anoop Desai was probably my favorite non-finalist in the Top 13. Anoop was a likable guy who thought he was cooler than he probably really was. If he would have embraced his nerd persona and played it up I think he would have endeared himself more to the audience. Instead he tried to play cool, but he couldn’t pull it off. But he was still likable to me.

7:11 Commercials by Ford and Coke. Who sponsors this show again?

7:12 Becky gets her second bowl of ice cream. She “didn’t want the little bit left to go to waste.” Thanks for taking one for the team, Becky.

7:15 David Cook is back. He sings his new single “Permanent”. I would give anything for the judges to judge some of these former winners. Just curious how harsh they would be now that they are an established star. It’s a lot easier to pick on some amateur that’s trying to prove themselves.

Cook had a good song choice and you could feel the emotion. He was pitchy in spots, but he found a way to make the song his own. Yes, I could be a judge on American Idol.

7:19 Golden Idol Awards (or time to make fun of some of poor soul who thought they could sing in tryouts) Best Male Performance: Nick Mitchell aka Norman Gentle. He’s kind of hard to describe except for the fact that it’s absolutely ridiculous that he made the Top 36. Norman Gentle gives us an encore performance and reminds us that we’re very glad that he didn’t make the Top 13.

7:25 First Duet Performance: Lil Rounds and Queen Latifah “Cue the Rain”

Lil looked like a lock for the Top 5 when the show started, but she seemed to lose her confidence more and more each week. Simon in particular constantly ripped into her. The judges kept giving her conflicting advice and she kept trying to please them and she eventually lost her identity and was soon voted out. She would have been better off to just ignore the judge’s feedback. She could sing though.

7:29 Commercial: Movie trailer for Terminator: Salvation. Looking forward to this show except it’s getting ripped by the critics. Having McG direct it was a mistake. It’s just so hard to meet the expectations set with the first two in the series and particularly Terminator 2. Where are you James Cameron? Please come out of retirement just to finish the Terminator series.

7:30 Becky’s favorite commercial comes on. That’s right, it’s a Lagoon commercial. Don’t ask.

7:33 Anoop is back! With Alexis. Jason Mraz joins them singing one of his songs that I think Becky has somehow snuck onto our IPod. I don’t know the name of it, but it sounds familiar. Becky says it’s called “I’m Yours”. I think it should be renamed "Up....." Nevemind, this is a family friendly blog.

7:36 They show a Kris Allen montage of his journey through American Idol. He wasn’t one of the featured singers in the early shows, but was able to overcome that. He does seem genuine and very likable. If he wins this he would definitely deserve it.

7:37 Kris Allen performs “Kiss a Girl” with Keith Urban. Where’s our remote again? Time to fast forward. County music and a DVR go real well together.

7:44 Wendy’s has some commercial about a coffee frosty. It’s a spoof on boy bands. Are boy bands about the easiest target out there? Nice touch, anyway. I like it.

7:45 The girls from the Top 13 perform “Glamourous”. What the heck is Megan Joy wearing? I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, she always was eccentric which is code for weird. Fergie joins them on stage. I’m assuming this is her single, but I don’t really know. I guess I’ll need to check Wikipedia or Google.

Black Eyed Peas then come out and break into some rap. I have to admit that Will.I.Am is one of the coolest/cleverest names I’ve ever heard. The performance blanks out for about 5 seconds causing me to think that something happened in the live show and they edited it out for our “live” version of the show. Fergie really could use some more clothes. Just my humble opinion. Now Becky can’t fast forward this song fast enough.

7:50 Golden Idol Award: Best Attitude: Bikini Girl. Bikini Girl was one of the more controversial people to get out of the initial audition rounds. In her audition she sounded pretty crappy, but Simon and Randy put her through to the next round for “other reasons”. At this point Kara and Bikini Girl have a verbal duel about who can sing. To which Kara breaks out in song (first time I’ve heard a judge try to use their own vocal abilities to show a contestant “how to sing”. I’d like to see Simon try this.) and Bikini Girl rips on her vocals.

This leads to some harsh feelings between the two. Then Paula inexplicably votes for her to go to the Hollywood round which gives her the necessary 3 votes to advance. During the Hollywood round she’s exposed as a vocal fraud. However for the purposes of the finale they invite her out to reprise her song. At this point I’m really curious to hear how she’s going to sound. The problem is that Bikini Girl is not only wearing a bikini, but it’s a scanty one at that. Therefore it leads to this exchange:

Becky: “Fast forward.”

Scott: “I just want to hear her to see if she can sing.” (Honest truth)

Becky: “Fast forward!”

Scott: “But, I want to he-“

Becky: “FAST FORWARD!”

Scott: “Look, I’ll turn my back to the TV because I just want to hear her sing.”

After a couple of seconds I think to myself “What’s the point?” and I fast forward the rest of the performance.

During the performance Kara joins Bikini Girl onstage in her own bikini, but being somewhat covered by some sort of sheer robe and they sing a duet. Becky has always made the comment, “I like American Idol because it’s a family show.” Well, apparently it isn’t.

8:00 Allison and Cyndi Lauper perform “Time After Time” This is from my generation and a song I like. It’s kind of a nice touch. I’m a minor Allison fan as well.

8:03 Seacrest has a quick interview with Kris’ parents. His mom’s dress isn’t very flattering. Not to worry, it’s only national television with 30 million people watching.

8:04 Seacrest shows off his interview skills with questions like “How proud are you?” and “How are you doing tonight?” “Are you excited?” Pretty hard hitting stuff. I guess this isn’t 60 Minutes or 20/20.

8:05 Danny Gokey performs “Hello” by Lionel Richie. Lionel Richie joins him on stage for some other songs. I’m waiting for someone to confirm a popular Mormon urban legend that he’s (Lionel Richie) LDS.

Still trying to figure out in my own mind if Danny got ripped off by not being in the final or not. He is a good singer and as they always say on American Idol, “After all, it is a singing competition.” Well sort of. If it was then they wouldn’t bother asking America who they think should win. Because then guys like me who have no vocal training are deciding who is the better technical singer. If I were to ever vote.

After the song’s over, I’m reminded why he isn’t in the finals. He’s way too cocky.

8:15 Adam Lambert Montage: The not-so-spoken undercurrent with Adam is his sexuality. Black nail polish and eyeliner and all. Adams breaks into some song (wearing some funky outfit which Becky deems “freaky”) and is then joined by KISS onstage. Now we’re finally getting somewhere. They sing “Detroit Rock City”. Becky gets up and leaves the room in disgust. So much for her “family show”. Not quite as cool as Green Day and “Working Class Hero” a couple of years ago, but at least it was better than some sorry ballad that they usually have on this show.

8:22 Commerical: They show the Harry Potter trailer for Book 6. All the books have blended into one for me so the show should be all new. All I can remember is Horcruxes and (SPOILER!!!) Dumbledore taking a dirt nap. The show is rated PG. I’m flabbergasted.

8:25 Carlos Santana performs. The Top 13 join him. Who cares. Next.

8:29 Last Ford Commercial of the year. I actually kind of like the Ford Commercials. Becky thinks that they were more weaker this year than in years past. The commercial ends with Adam and Kris getting new Ford Fusion’s. Paid for the by the U.S. Taxpayer and the government's bailout money.

8:30 Steve Martin (yes, the comedian/actor) joins Michael Sarver and Megan Joy onstage for a song. Steve Martin’s playing a banjo. Is this American Idol or Hee Haw? If I were making all this up to see if you were actually paying attention to this blog then this is the point where I type “just kidding”. Unfortunately it’s all true.

8:39 It’s a boys number. They start off by singing “If You Think I’m Sexy”. For some reason Becky doesn’t have the same passion about fast forwarding like when Bikini Girl was singing. Of course Rod Stewart joins the group. He looks almost exactly as he did 20 years ago. If he only would have broken out “Young Turks” then my night would have been complete. On second thought he looks about 128 years old. If we had HD I’d probably have to up that to 148 years old. Plastic surgery can’t save him now.

8:44 Golden Idol Award: Best Female Performer. Of course Tatiana wins it. Tatiana was singly the most annoying contestant this year. She was television gold, therefore she made the Top 36. She performs an encore as they chase her off the stage. All scripted of course.

8:52 Adam and Kris perform “We are the Champions” Now this is cool. Queen joins them onstage with a big ol’ choir and the Top 13. Way cool. Smoke machine and everything. I’m assuming that sometime tonight they’ll eventually name a winner. I just hope it’s before midnight.

9:00 They decide that they are going to name a winner. Mr. Edward Bottington brings out the results. He has a British accent. I guess they don’t trust anyone in America to actually count the votes.

9:01 KRIS ALLEN WINS!!!!! What an upset! It has to make you wonder if Adam’s eccentricities eventually were his undoing. Kris handles it like his usual humble self. He’s not sure what to even say. I think Becky's 30 votes must have pushed him over the top.

9:03 Now he gets to sing the finale song “No Boundaries” which is the same song that he struggled with last night that almost cost him the competition. Still waiting for the confetti shower but I’m not seeing it.

9:05 The confetti arrives. American Idol is officially over for another year.