Idol Chatter - Your Winner Revealed (5/21/08)

There was no Michael Buffer to open the show tonight—instead we were greeted with the two Davids standing nose to nose, on a pitch black stage, dressed head to toe in white, and Ryan building up the anticipation for what is sure to be two hours of painful duets, silly time fillers, and a general waste of everyone’s time while we await the results of last night’s record vote.

According to Ryan, over 97 million votes were cast last night for our Davids—breaking the previous record by 20 million votes, tonight was sure to be filled with lots of action—and maybe even a little music.

BTW: In the final tally, the Idol decision wasn’t very close for one David received 56% of the vote, while the other David got 44%. Pretty much a butt-kickin’ at least where I come from!

How about a Little Music to Soothe the Soul?

The first number of the night was a Top 12 sing along version of “Get Ready”—they sounded better than they looked in their all white outfits and flanked by some of the dancers from “So You Think You Can Dance” of season’s past. It was a bit awkward seeing some of the former Idol wannabes on stage again—like the skunk-haired, rock’n roll nurse Amanda and former pole dancer David Hernandez, as well as Brooke, Jason, and the rest of the cast offs from earlier in the season.

A Duet by the Finalists

When we came back from commercial, the Davids joined forces to sing a song for the masses. The song selected was “Hero” by Nickleback and not to take anything away from Archie singing talents, but Cook out sang him on this song—mostly because it fit Cook’s voice and style more than Archie’s.

Shameless Movie Plug

Ryan talked about all of the great musical mentors that helped the Idols through the weeks and then asked the guys about their spiritual mentor—who just happened to be Mike Meyers in his new movie role of “The Love Guru”. The boys were treated to a private viewing of the movie followed by a little one-on-two time with the Guru. It was all pretty much a waste of time…but they have two hours to burn, so what better way to do it than to fill the time with senseless filler.

Celebrity Duet #1

The first Idol/Celebrity duet was delivered by Syesha Mercado who teamed with Seal on “Waiting for You”. Syesha got to showcase the stage presence she waited too long to develop and exploit during the season, but looked great in a nice gold, wrap dress and certainly held her own with Heidi Klum’s other half.

Return of the Dreads

Jason Castro was invited back to the stage to deliver what turned out to be the high-point of his season, the singing of the Leonard Cohen classic, “Hallelujah”. I’m pretty sure that if Jason records an album in the near future, that song will certainly be one of the tracks—it might be the only one that is any good, but it will help him sell a few extra copies.

Medley—Girl Style

Dressed in sexy red outfits, the final 6 female singers were put together to sing a medley of Donna Summer songs starting with “She Works Hard for the Money”. Brooke White and Kristy Lee Cook got the first ‘solos’ and both did a nice job when they were in the spotlight. The same can’t be said for Amanda and Carly who took the lead next and a bit of a rough time keeping up with the other girls.

When the dust of that song settled the girls introduced Ms. Summer herself who hit the stage and sang “Stamp Your Feet” accompanied by the six Idols and select members from the SYTYCD troupe.

Then things slowed down while Donna sang the unforgettable intro to “Last Dance”—which brought back some serious memories of a fine late ‘70’s cinematic classic starring a young Bruce Jenner. Of course I am referring to “Thank God It’s Friday!” The best part of the song was the final few bars when Donna turned the vocals over to Syesha who brought it home like she should have done so many Tuesdays throughout the competition.

A Very Special Duet

Enjoying a bit of redemption from getting booted from the show a bit prematurely, the Idol producers provided an opportunity for Carly Smithson and Michael Johns to sing a duet. For some unknown reason they were forced to sing “The Letter” by Joe Cocker—a song that doesn’t really lend itself to being sung as a duet, but this is Idol and just about anything can (and will) happen. I like the song (“The Letter”), but it was not a good song for these two voices to sing together. When they sang solo, they sounded good, but when they sang together, it was almost embarrassing—and I really liked both of these contestants and felt they should have been allowed to stay awhile longer…guess I was wrong!

A Look Back

As he did during the “Idol Gives Back” show, Jimmy Kimmel was asked to come on stage and insult various members of the show both past and present. No one was safe from Jimmy’s salty attack—not Season 6’s Sanjaya and Chris Sligh, Ryan, Randy, Paula, or Simon…but it wasn’t funny, so I’ll spare you recap.

It’s the Boys Turn

Michael Johns, David Hernandez, Jason Castro, and Chikezie kicked off the boy’s version of the usual medley. They sang Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ‘69” and then they brought the Davids put to join them on a touching version of “Heaven”. Archie struggled to keep his eyes open, but sounded ten times better than any of the other boys—with the exception of Cook.

Bryan Adams joined the boys on stage—that dude die not age well! The whole gang sang “I Thought I’d Seen Everything”—a somewhat catchy tune, but it was no Donna Summer disco hit!

The final song in the medley was “Somebody”.

If it were a contest between the girls medley and the boys, the girls would be crowned the champs—the boys didn’t bring it at all which is somewhat disappointing since the boys group included the two finalists.

Looking Good with the Beards

David Cook redeemed himself by teaming with the boys from ZZ Top on “Sharp Dressed Man”—Paula and the rest of the crowd was lovin’ it! And David looked very comfortable alongside the legends of honky-tonk rock—he even showed some fancy footwork during the guitar solo.

Trivia: Can you name the only member of ZZ Top who doesn’t sport long facial hair?

Odd Pairing of the Night (so far)

Brooke White and Graham Nash from Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young performed a duet of “Teach Your Children”. Both singers sat on stools strumming guitars and tried their best to sing together—but Brooke was way out of her league and Graham seemed to know it because he tempered his lovely tenor voice so as to not over power Brooke who was clearly overmatched.

Tweeners Get Ready

David Archuleta wasn’t the only teen heart throb to hit the stage tonight. He had to share the stage with the Jonas Brothers—that randy trio who have all of the teenage girls swooning…when Archie isn’t making their hearts skip a beat on Tuesday performance nights. The Johas boys sang their hit single, “S.O.S.”—a catchy little tune that had everyone in the audience jumping up and down enjoying the show.

Guest Artist

OneRepublic (sans Timbaland) performed their smash hit, “Apologize”. David Archuleta joined the group onstage for the second verse and actually sounded good singing something a little closer to his age—although he still had trouble keeping his eyes open…but I guess that’s what big time singers do when they are really digging deep into their emotions to deliver a powerful song.

Final Night to Wear the Crown

Reigning American Idol, Jordin Sparks, took one last turn across the Idol stage as THE American Idol and sang “One Step At a Time” which I liked a lot better than “No Air”—the song she sang on elimination night several weeks ago with Chris Brown. While Jordin was busy singing on the stage, the Idol cameras caught a shot of last year’s runner up, Blake Lewis, who was singing right along with Jordin just itching for another chance to beat box-it up on the stage.

Idol Royalty Returns

American Idol winner turned Country music superstar, Carrie Underwood graced the stage on yet another finale. Backed by her band, Carried brought the crowd to their feet with a rousing rendition of “I Don’t Even Know His Last Name”—another in the long line of songs that pretty much puts to rest any myths that might still linger about Carrie being an innocent country girl who done made good!

The Top 12 Perform

Ryan brought out the top 12 for one last time on the Idol stage. The ladies dressed were all in lovely black dresses with one exception: Amanda was in black pants and a leather vest. The girls sang George Michael’s “Faith” followed by the boys, who were looking rather dapper in black evening attire as they sang “Father Figure”. Then the entire group got together for a spirited version of “Freedom”—which all seemed to be leading up to a surprise visit from Mr. George Michael himself (as a little birdie told me was going to happen earlier today).

And sure enough as the Idols finished up their singing, George strolled down the stage stairs, took his place on center stage, light dimmed, and sang “Praying for Time”—not for your votes, but for your downloads! It was a pretty song, but a bit melancholy given the tenor of the show to this point.

Ryan thanked George for his appearance and then allowed George (or GM as Ryan called him) to plug his first American tour in 17 years which kicks off in San Diego, CA soon.

Your American Idol Revealed

Ryan assembled the Davids on stage and asked the judges for their final thoughts—which were less than memorable—with the exception of Simon who admitted that he was a bit unfair to David Cook last night and publicly apologized to him…which is obviously too late to change the voting results, but it showed that Simon is actually human.

And the winner is…David Cook! And then my DVR quit! Can you believe it?—first Cook wins (YES) and then I paid the ultimate price because Fox put too much fluff into tonight’s show! Oh the injustice!

So with another season in the books and an unlikely Idol winner ready to take on his new life as Season 7 American Idol, it is time to bid all of you a fond farewell—until next season, of course, which will be back on the air in just over six months.

Until then, I will continue watching TV so you don’t have to…I just won’t be blogging about it—although if anyone cares to chat about other shows such as “So You Think You Can Dance” which premiers tomorrow night, I would be happy to share my thoughts with you…

So until we meet again, have a great summer, fall, and start to winter!

Charlie

Your Trivia Answer

ZZ Top drummer, Frank Beard, doesn’t have one—quite ironic, eh!