Idol Final - And the Winner is...

The night we have all been waiting for has finally arrived--tonight we find out who America chose to be their American Idol. Will it be the eyeliner wearing Idol wannabe from Southern California or will America chose as their Idol the under the radar flying Southern charmer? Whoever it is received the majority of the more than 100 million votes cast last night (a record number of votes!)


So sit back and read what happened over the two-plus hours of the Idol finale--and, yes, you can thank me for watching TV so you don't have to one last time this season.


To start the night, Ryan introduced the judges which took over 5 minutes to complete as we watched clips of the judges delivering their special brand of critique. Randy was shown talking mostly about himself; Kara kissing would-be Idols off with terms of endearment; Paula playing the word of the day game; and Simon not being able to hear what is happening on the stage. The first in a series of time wasters.


Next up was a quick check in with first Mikalah Gordon who was with Kris' fans in Conway, AR and then with Carly Smithson who was hanging with Adam's peeps in San Diego.



Eight minutes into the show, the entire Idol Top 13 donned white outfits and sang P!nk's "So What". About the only thing entertaining about the performance was watching a group of mostly pop singers trying to get all "street" with the somewhat edgy song.


David Cook was welcomed to the stage to perform his new song "Permanent". David sounded great accompanied by someone from his band on the Idol Baby Grand. When he finished singing, Ryan spent some time chatting with David about the recent loss of his brother to cancer. Idol is going to put this song on iTunes and all proceeds will go to a fund for finding a cure for cancer.


In what has become an Idol finale staple, Ryan took his place behind a podium and began to dole out awards to Idol wannabes who didn't make it to the big stage. The best part of the skit was reuniting the Idol fans with Nick Mitchell--aka Norman Gentle who reprised his rendition of "And I'm Telling You".


In an effort to get things back into a more legitimate place, Ryan introduced Lil Rounds and Queen Latifah who were there to sing a duet of the Queen's "Cue the Rain". Lil was looking good in a black and white top with black stretch pants and 6" heels, but Queen Latifah still drawrfed her in what looked like a black pant-jumpsuit and rather high heels herself. The girls sounded great and it was a pleasure to see Lil back on the stage singing something in her wheelhouse.


The next group sing featured Anoop "Dogg" Desai and Alexis Grace singing "I'm Yours" with Jason Mraz. Just as the trio was hitting their stride, the rest of the Season 8 Finalists joined them on both sides of the stage.


To help us catch our breath from all of the excitement through the first 35 minutes of the two plus hours of the Finale, we traveled back in time to follow Kris Allen's Idol journey. Kris auditioned at the Louisville, KY tryouts. What stood out to the judges was his humble nature--something that is certainly going to take him far...especially if he finds himself wearing the Idol crown in about 90 minutes.


After traveling down memory lane, we were brought back to the present time and were treated to Kris and Keith Urban dueting on "Kiss a Girl". Listening to Kris sing with one of the best male voices in Country music, it was pretty obvious that the 23-year old Idol is destined to be a superstar. There has been some question about whether he has been versatile enough to win the title, but watching Kris slay Keith's song with Keith I was sold--and will probably buy his album when it comes out later this year (or whenever they it's released).


. The five female Idol wannabes--Megan Joy, Alexis Grace, Lil Rounds, Allison Irahetta, and Jasmine Murray warmed up the stage for Fegie by singing her song, "Glamourous". Then the Duchess joined them on stage and sang "Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal)" before the rest of the Black Eyed Peas entered the staged and entertained with "Boom Boom Pow".


Back to the Golden Idols (the aforementioned mock awards show that Ryan is passing off as comedy)--BTW: I'm pretty sure they stole the "Golden Idol" from my blog name. Ryan presented the award for "Best Attitude" to Bikini Girl who strolled across the stage in her trademark bikini which was filled out a bit more than during her audition. After receiving her award from Ryan she took the mic and "sang" her version of "Vision of Love" only to be joined by a similarly bikini-clad Kara DioGuardi.


Half-way through the show, Ryan welcomed Allison Irahetta and Cyndi Lauper to the stage as they sang "Time After Time". Allison sounded great and Cyndi still possesses one of the most unique voices in the music industry--kind of a mix between Rod Stewart's whiskey sound with a Valley Girl from the '80's. Together they blended nicely and could probably have a hit if they decide to add the song to Allison's album which she will no doubt record within the next year.


Ryan spent the next few minutes interviewing Kris Allen's parents who were just as humble and unassuming as their son.


In the spirit of fair play, Ryan made his way to the other side of the aisle to chat it up with Adam's parents.


And then he introduced Danny Gokey who we found seated on the Idol steps at the back of the stage. With what looked like a couple of 5 O'clock shadows, Danny lent his wonderful voice to Lionel Richie's "Hello" and then brought out the man himself to duet on "Just Go" before slipping into "Dancing on the Ceiling"--Lionel's wildly popular Jamaican-inspired song from the mid-80's. I have always been a big Lionel Richie fan dating back to his days as the front man for the Commodores, but I have to give the edge tonight to Danny. Danny sounded so good--I guess I'll be buying his album too!


You know, we're almost an hour and fifteen minutes into the show and we have seen, nor hear little from Idol front-runner, Adam Lambert! But I have a feeling that is about to change as Ryan just introduced the video package taking us on Adam's journey to the finals. We first met Adam at the San Francisco auditions and as the weeks went by, Adam's star flew higher and higher. I, along with millions of others watching the show, have every expectation that Adam is going to be a huge recording star whether he wins tonight or not.


To give America the opportunity to watch this consummate performer do his thing one more time, we found Adam dressed in black leather from head to toe, wearing something that resembled metal shoulder pads, and KISS-style boots. With an outfit like that, you better believe he was going to sing something from one of the greatest Arena Rock bands of all time. First Adam soloed on "Beth" and then was joined on stage by KISS--I'm not sure if Gene, Paul, Peter, and Ace were behind the makeup, but whoever they were, they did it up right on "I'm Gonna Rock and Roll All Night" with Adam taking center stage. It was truly a spectacle worth watching.


How do you follow up a legendary group like KISS? Well, for starters you invite Carlos Santana to the Idol stage and turn him and his guitar loose on "Black Magic Woman". Matt Giraud sang a few bars of the song and then was joined by the rest of the Idol cast on "Smooth".


After watching the final Ford music video of the season and witnessing Kris and Adam receive the gift of their own Ford Fusion Hybrids, we were treated to an interesting musical number by Megan Joy and Michael Sarver and accompanied by funnyman and banjo expert, Steve Martin. The song was called "Pretty Flowers" and was written by Steve himself and can be found on his new album.


When we returned from commercial we found the Idol boys assembled on stage and singing Rod Stewart's '70's anthem, "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy". As you can probably guess, the next performer coming to the stage is none other than Mr. Rod Stewart himself. Rod sang "Maggie May" and the camera found celebrities dotted throughout the Kodak who were singing along with him. Unfortunately, Rod was one and done--as soon as he finished the song, he exited the stage without any fanfare.


Which left time for Ryan to "entertain" us with another round of the Golden Idols. This time the category was "Best Female"--and the winner was Tatiana Del Toro the Idol Wannabe who just missed the Top 13. In what was obviously a staged event, Tatiana ran from security as they tried to keep her from the stage, but as she did during her time on Idol, she used persistence and an annoying "can do" attitude to make her way to the stage for one last rendition of "Saving All My Love for You"--and then Ryan sent us to commercial.

When we returned, Adam and Kris were standing together and sang "We Are the Champions" accompanied by Queen. It was a moving performance and fun to watch the two finalists play off of each other knowing that regardless of whose name was to be read in the next few minutes, these guys as well as the rest of the Idol finalists are indeed champions. Out of over 100,000 who auditioned there were but 13 who made it to the Idol stage and out of those 13 only Kris and Adam remain standing--so calling them champions is quite accurate.

But enough of all of this filler stuff, let's find out who received enough votes to call themselves THE American Idol!

With nearly two hours of the finale in the rear view mirror, Ryan gathered Adam and Kris onstage one last time and was handed the envelop with the voting results safely tucked inside--seen only by the folks from Telescope (the outfit who verifies the voting process).

Ryan asked for the lights to be dimmed for the last time during Season 8 and announced Kris Allen as the winner of the show. No one looked more surprised than Kris--Adam was gracious and gave Kris a big hug before moving to the side of the stage to join the rest of Idol cast offs. Kris admitted that he felt Adam deserved to win the title--but I think that was only because he knew he was going to have to perform the lame song that Kara co-wrote for the Idol winner.

So, as we watch Kris perform the last song of Season 8, I thank you for joining me on the journey we have all taken with our Idols and congratulate Kris and all of the rest of the Idol finalists for a great season.

Until next season, I will continue watching TV so you don't have to...

Peace!