That was a surprise

Although I felt David Cook had been the stronger and more interesting singer throughout the season, I figured Archuleta, who was the strong favorite since the first competition show of the season, put it away on Tuesday night. But instead, we had what probably has to be considered the first upset, or at least surprise result, in Idol history. Even more surprising than the result, though, would have to be the 12-point margin that David Cook won by tonight. It wasn't even close, which I guess means that while Archuleta might have had a strong fan base all year, all the fans of eliminated Idols ended up choosing Cook. (That's, of course, if American Idol can be analyzed like a presidential election, which it probably can't, since presidential elections only allow you to vote once and there's no text messaging in your ballot.)

As for the typically way too long show--imagine, it's a two hour show to announce one name, and they still couldn't announce that name before 10:00--there was good and bad.

First the bad: The absolute worst was that endless, unfunny promo for the Mike Myers movie "The Love Guru." Those 10 minutes were everything that's wrong with this show: advertising over entertainment. And most amazing was the fact that in a week where they had to prepare a ton of songs--both for Tuesday and Wednesday nights--the Davids were forced to spend a couple hours watching what looks like a terrible movie and hanging out with Mike Myers. Just insane.... That Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. bit as "The Pips" was almost as bad. It was a one-joke sketch that went on for what seemed like a half-hour and was also essentially an advertisement--since all three of those guys are in a movie together, Tropic Thunder, later this summer. Despite what Ryan said, would people actually download that for I-tunes, even if the money is going to charity? I'd donate more to charity if I never had to see that sketch again.....Jimmy Kimmel was pretty funny on "Idol Gives Back," but that appearance tonight was not impressive...That Renaldo Lapuz "You Are My Brother" thing was very funny in the auditions, not so funny with a marching band and cheerleaders...Did Jordin Sparks' last song onstage as American Idol have to be some melodyless bore? It was cute that Blake Lewis was singing along, though. And finally, we should never have to hear Amanda Overmyer sing any part of the song "Faith" ever again. That was just completely wrong.

What I liked: David Cook with ZZ Top--not bad. Brooke White with Graham Nash--also enjoyable. Seeing Matt Rogers and Mikalah Gordon again--and Mikalah's jumping up and down and screaming with David Cook's music teacher was hilarious. Also hilarious was having Jason Castro sing an encore of his best performance of the season--not usually done on the final results show, but they obviously didn't want to make Jason actually have to learn a new song.... Donna Summer and Bryan Adams were both fine, but unfortunately we had to sit through medleys from all the singers before they appeared.... I liked that they put Carly and Michael--the two contestants eliminated too early--together for a duet, but I won't be looking for it on Youtube tomorrow... Seal was good, but I wish Syesha wasn't there to slow him down...I didn't like or dislike the Jonas Brothers, but aren't they basically a less talented Hanson? George Michael was very good, but if he was the "biggest star in the world" promised by Nigel on Ryan's radio show the other day, as I read in the press, then Nigel is even more confused than I thought he was. Finally, I'm a sucker for emotional displays, so I liked to see David choked up, and the whole "Give it up for Archuleta" stuff was nice to see too.

So we've come to the end of another year of American Idol, a year which has, until this week, almost made me lose my passion for the show. By January, that passion will probably return--but we'll have to see. Until January--although I will be blogging on other things--Fingerhut out.