Here we go!
I missed the first minute or so; according to Idol Chatter, Ryan announced that one David got 56%, and the other got 44%.
Fans cheer in each David's hometown.
And the spectacle begins... the top 12, singing "Get Ready" and dancing, all in white. (Not much white, in the case of some of the girls.)
David and David sing.
Love Guru movie tie-in. [eyeroll]
Syesha sings "Waiting for You"... and is joined by Seal.
Jason Castro sings "Hallelujah."
Ford commercial, over a montage of footage from Ford commercials past, I think: "Let the Good Times Roll."
Each David gets a Ford Escape hybrid.
The top 6 girls do a Donna Summer medley... and are joined by a dance troupe and Donna Summer.
Carly Smithson and Michael Johns perform a jazzy version of "The Letter."
Jimmy Kimmel makes a Sanjaya joke. (Hey, Sanjaya's in the audience!) ...and a bunch of other jokes, followed by a montage of Simon comments set to "Pop Goes the Weasel."
The top 6 boys sing a Bryan Adams medley. Gee, I wonder who's going to join them? ...why, it's Bryan Adams! I did not see that coming.
Jordin plugs the upcoming theme-park American Idol Experience.
David Cook and ZZ Top perform "Sharp-Dressed Man."
Graham Nash and Brooke White perform "Teach Your Children."
...is that David Cook in a Guitar Hero commercial, or am I hallucinating?
The Jonas Brothers sing "S.O.S." (Ah, I miss having the Disney Channel.)
Montage of bad auditions. (Don't let me down, guys. I want Renaldo!)
YES!!!
With a marching band!
...slowed down a bit, though. Hmm. That's getting in the way of his groove.
Cheerleaders! And Paula!
...and they cut it off and went to commercial. Awww.
Still, a valiant effort. Thank you, producers.
One Republic performs "Apologize"... joined by Archuleta.
Jordin sings "One Step at a Time."
...I've gone ahead and gotten the spreadsheet all filled out for an Archuleta win, that's how sure I am of the results. (I did not vote last night, myself. I couldn't vote for Cook after those performances, and I didn't want to vote for Archie.)
Supposed 1972 footage of Gladys Knight auditioning Pips... Ben Stiller (?), Jack Black, and somebody I don't recognize. (Robert Downey Jr., says Ryan.)
Carrie Underwood sings "Last Name."
The top 12 perform a George Michael medley. One supposes George Michael will be out shortly. One is right, of course.
And on to the results!
Randy thinks season 7 was great.
Paula notes that it's not the finale, it's the start of a great career.
Simon congratulates them both, and notes that the difference between the two didn't seem as clear-cut when he got home and watched the show. He apologizes to David Cook, and says that for the first time ever, he's equally okay with either David winning.
The winner... by 12 million votes... is... holy crap. David Cook!
Clearly last night's performances didn't sway many people.
[hurriedly begins revising the spreadsheet]
Final pool standings:
Mo Pie and I tie for first place, with 20 points each.
Jesse's in third, with 13 points.
TeKay has 11.
Pam has 10.
Those standings would have been turned upside-down if Archie had won. Man.
Thanks for playing, everyone! Let's do it again next year!
I've been meaning to write this for weeks, but have put it off till the last minute... nevertheless, it is possible that you are still juggling the lineup for the Idol finale. (Given the Top 5 debacle, it may even be probable.) And so, these words.
I assume that you are going to bring Renaldo Lapuz back to reprise "We're Brothers Forever." You guys must be aware that you struck gold with that audition; you devoted almost ten minutes to it, and chose it as the free HD download on iTunes promoting the rest of the Idol videos. (Thanks for that, by the way; the full majesty of his outfit could not possibly be appreciated on my standard-definition television screen.) The song is catchy, and unlike William Hung, Renaldo is actually capable of carrying a tune in a bucket.
But perhaps you are having cold feet. Perhaps you are thinking that it would be tacky to bring him back, or that you shouldn't make too big a deal of it. Perhaps you are thinking of having him come on stage, wave, sing a chorus, and leave. I hope not. You need to think big. This is the one, the only chance anybody has to legitimately make this song a hit single, and I for one really want that to happen.
This is the key: do not be afraid of taking it too far over the top. It can't be done. Ideally, this should be the biggest production number in American Idol history. Have Rickey Minor arrange the song for the entire orchestra. Bring in a full gospel choir to sing backup. Have Cirque Du Soleil dramatize it. Think big. (Just make sure to keep Renaldo in the mix; he is the lead singer.)
If you can get him to add a bridge, that probably couldn't hurt, but don't even think of trying to write one yourselves.
Think big.
It's the battle of the Davids!
(They brought Andrew Lloyd Webber back as a coach?! Oh noes!)
Archie won the coin toss and gets to be the last one up.
Round One: Songs Chosen by Clive Davis
David Cook: "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," U2
Eh. Okay. For karaoke.
David Archuleta: "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me," Elton John
...but... but this is Clay's song!
Dude. He actually worked this out.
Simon awards Round One to Archie, and I agree. Darn it.
Round Two: Contestant's Choice from the Top 10 Songwriting Entries
(Ooh. That's better than one-size-fits-all, at least. A choice of crap!)
David Cook: "Dream Big," Emily Shackelton
S'okay. Sounds like a Hannah Montana song, really.
...meanwhile, I did the math. Assuming that I continue to back David Cook tonight, and that Pam continues to back David Archuleta, then one of us will win the pool tomorrow night, just barely ahead of Mo Pie or TeKay. And the other of us will come in dead last.
David Archuleta: "In This Moment," Ryan Gillmor
...I may be toast. This is a much better song choice. Round two to Archuleta.
Simon agrees.
Round Three: Contestant's Choice
David Cook: "The World I Know," Collective Soul
S'okay. But it's not gonna be good enough. (Granted, I'm not familiar with this song.)
David Archuleta: "Imagine," The Beatles
...he's doing "Imagine" again? Man, this isn't even going to be close. Congratulations, Pam.
Round three to Archuleta. Archuleta wins by third-round knockout.
The only way Archuleta doesn't win is if the underdog vote comes through, and none of Archie's fans bother voting. Which is not going to happen. Gotta give him credit; the kid picked the right night to peak.
(And Simon agrees.)
Edited to add: ...hey, wow, it's Ruben! After I hit "post" and probably after everybody's TiVo cut off! He's singing "Celebrate Me Home" over a montage from the whole season.
Will Syesha be this year's Diana DeGarmo? Yeah, I don't think so either. Results after the cut!
Group sing.
Ford commercial: "Heaven"
Recap of last night.
(Apparently, I am the only person in the universe who thought Archuleta's "With You" worked.)
Fantasia performs "Bore Me (Yawn)."
I haven't been able to say this in ages, but... Fantasia was Fantasia.
(And Simon looks shell-shocked.)
David Archuleta is called out. Homecoming trip montage. Recap of the judges' reactions to last night's performances. Archuleta season montage. I guess this is gonna be the pattern for all three finalists.
Next up: Syesha Mercado. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
And on to David Cook.
I just typed out all the contingencies, and I think I'm gonna go ahead and include 'em, for your amusement.
If Syesha goes: TeKay gets four points; Mo Pie, Pam, and I get two; Jesse gets one.
If Cook goes: TeKay gets four points; Mo Pie gets three; Pam gets two.
If Archuleta goes: I get four points; Jesse gets three; Mo Pie gets two.
The two finalists are: Archuleta... [looooooooong pause] ...and Cook.
See above!
I am still at work, but I am recording the performances, and I may update this later (tomorrow?) with reactions. Meanwhile, pool predictions go here...
It's the next day, I've got it at work. I'm also primarily focused on doing my actual job, so I'm mostly just listening, with occasional glances at the 2-inch image in the corner of the screen.
Judge's choice:
David Archuleta: "And So It Goes," Billy Joel [Paula's choice]
Pleasant.
Syesha: "If I Ain't Got You," Alicia Keys [Randy's choice]
Nice.
David Cook: "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," Roberta Flack [Simon's choice]
Cool.
Contestant's choice:
Archuleta: "With You," Chris Brown
Ooh. This works. This works well. Excellent choice!
Syesha: "Fever," Peggy Lee
Hmm. Good performance of a challenging song, but she didn't really bring anything new to it. I dunno.
(was too busy working to finish, and I'm going home now... will watch the rest later)
Cook: "Dare You to Move," Switchfoot
Eh. S'okay.
Producer's choice:
Archie: "Longer," Dan Fogelberg
Pleasant. Again.
Mercado: "Hit Me Up," Gia Farrell
Not bad. But probably not good enough to carry her to the finals. She needed to hit one out of the park this week.
Cookie: "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," Aerosmith
Not bad!
I would so like to predict that Syesha will hang on another week and send Archie home, but the odds seem stacked against it.
The cable guy's going to come down on Saturday, so I missed this too. (And, indeed, I just got home.)
But, anyway, Jason is gone. Time to add up the points...
Mo and Yours Truly get three points; Pam and TeKay get two; and Jesse gets one. Very tight pack at the moment...
The new landlord is remodelling the house. It would seem that earlier today this had the side effect of knocking out my cable, and thus my TV, Internet, and phone service. Comcast says that there's a wider outage in the Boston area, and even though I can actually see where the cables have been ripped out of the place, their computers won't let them register this as a separate issue; If I still lack service in the morning, when the wider outage has been solved, I am instructed to call back then.
Upshot is that I'm missing Idol tonight. Fortunately, one of my neighbors has an unsecured wifi network (and either his cable is working, or he has DSL), which is how I'm getting this message out. Pool picks go here, as usual...