American Idol - FINALE!

It started out with Cook and Archuleta facing off, dressed all in white. Archie looks so awkward standing on stage there. There were apparently 97.5 million votes last night. Wow. 56% vs. 44%. Ryan says that Ruben even got some votes. I doubt that. A rueben is one of my favorite sandwiches, but not one of my favorite Idols.

We check in with Mikayla Gordon in Cook's home town, and Matt Rodgers in Archuleta's home town. Wow. I'd almost forgotten about both of them. Matt is surrounded by a bevy of screaming blondes.

The Top 12 are saved from too much dancing by the stars of So You Think You Can Dance making an appearance. (Who's excited for that show???) The Top 12 don't sound too bad together, singing Get Ready, Cause Here I Come. Their choreography consists of flailing arms and shimmying a little. Brooke is really weak on group numbers. Her voice doesn't meld well. Amanda Overmyer looks particularly uninterested on being on stage in this cheese fest. I can't blame her.

After a break, Cook enters and sings Chad Kruger's Hero, and is joined Archuleta, who kind of ruins the feeling of the song. Cook takes the lead in the beginning, and it is phenomenal. Archuleta adds his signature plodding intensity, and it is not as good. Cook takes the high notes in the harmony, and he's fantastic. Why didn't he sing this song during the show? It is wonderful for his voice. Try as he might, Archuleta did not succeed in turning it into a Christian Rock Anthem. After they are done singing, Archuleta looks like he wants to say "Gosh, that was fun."

There is a strange promo for Love Guru. Very odd. I fast forwarded. (Sorry, it's late)

Syesha sang Waiting For You next, joined by Seal. Cool! She was significantly better in the beginning of the song than in the middle, though she picked it up at the end. I wonder if singing with Seal distracted her...

Jason Castro does a reprise of Hallelujah, after Ryan ribbed him for being uncomfortable in interviews. This was really Jason's strongest point in the entire season. He seemed to be very emotional singing it tonight, and he sounded great. His falsetto at the end was just this side of perfection. He wandered off stage without the painful interview after singing.

The Final Ford Commercial is a montage of outtakes from the other ones. Nothing new, but cute. And both the Davids are getting a new Ford Escape Hybrids. David Cook was psyched, and Archuleta said "Gee, Gosh."

The top 6 girls got to do a group sing of Hot Stuff, and Amanda looks like she never wants to be on this stage ever again. Brooke sounded good, but should not attempt dancing, she's a really weird dancer. When she had her little solo, Amanda sounded pretty bad, and then Carly took over with some hot stuff of her own. Donna Summer then came in with a new single. She's 58. Her eyes looked weird. The song is called Stamp Your Feet. I didn't like it, and fast forwarded halfway through. (again, it's very late)

They all then broke into Last Dance (also known as the bane of Ryan Starr). Syesha got a starring moment along with Donna, and she did it proud. Donna hit a very nice final high note. She still has it, even though I didn't like her new song much.

Carly and Michael Johns got to duet on The Letter, as an apology for being voted out too soon. They sound great together. Michael is not a very good mover on stage, either. Carly's dress is almost scandalously short, but she moves better. Ugh. Michael Johns threw in a Come-on-y'all. Why do they do that?

(Plug for the tour, so you can see more)

Jimmy Kimmel came in for a season highlight. He threw in an obligatory dig at Paula's premonition a few weeks ago. There was an amusing musical montage of Simon's best one-liners. Randy's outfit gets picked on by Ryan, deservingly.

The top 6 guys got to sing Summer of '69. Michael Johns started it off, with "I Wasn't a Stripper" Hernandez coming in next, and then a short spot of Jason, and the Chikezie, who had more fun than Jason. The Davids entered like Rock Stars and we didn't get to hear them sing the song. Instead, they broke out into Brian Adams' Heaven. Hearing them sing side by side really showcases how much Archuleta makes everything sound the same, and Cook makes it sound different. They are then joined by Brian Adams himself (with, of course, his newest single, no one comes onto this show if they aren't pimping something).

Oh, yay. There's an American Idol Experience coming to Disney. Another reason to never go there.

David Cook gets to sing Sharp Dressed Man with ZZ Top. That's awesome. He even gets to play the guitar with the Mighty Bearded Ones. He looked so happy to be up there (and not in a "Golly Gee, shucks" kind of way - more in a "Dude, I'm singing and playing with ZZ Top" kind of way). Blake Lewis was in the audience. Woot! That was a great performance.

Cut to Makayla, with Cook's music teacher, for an awkward interview.

Brooke gets to sing with Graham Nash in Teach Your Children. It's a great song for her to sing. I bet she used to sing it to herself as she was working as a nanny. I wish that she had sung the melody instead of the harmony, because I couldn't really hear the melody well, and it would have been nice to. (I fast forwarded through the end - yup, late. I also fast forwarded through the Jonas Brothers because I think they are nasal and kind of annoying. I also fast forwarded through the Bad Auditions Through the Ages clip). They brought back the You Are My Brother Guy, with a giant band and cheerleaders. I could have predicted that.

One Republic is next with Apologize, which I first heard on SYTYCD last year to a wonderful routine, and I like the song, but ... yeah, fast forwarded, until Archie joined them. It's a good song for his voice. He tried to keep his eyes open, but he just couldn't do it. The temptation was too strong. He even threw in a few lick lips for good measure. This was a pretty good song for him, though. I think he wanted to say "Gosh, guys, it sure was great to sing with you. Golly, thanks." I bet he was thinking it.

(I caught a glimpse of a couple non-commital ladies in the audience with "Team David" t-shirts, and that was amusing)

Cut to Archie's hometown, to his grandfather, who's interview is cut off. Archuleta's other grandfather is there too. Archie replies to the interview with a "Gee, thanks, guys."

Jordan Sparks gets to pimp her latest single wearing a very bad gold lamee dress. The shape is all wrong for her, and it was not suited to a kind of r&b song. Jordan needs a new stylist. OTher than the bad dress, she looked very nice. Yup, fast forward.

Next up is an audition video for the pips with Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr (I love love love him), and Ben Stiller. Amusing, but fluff. Fast forward.

It's time for Carrie Underwood (pimping her latest single). Her sleeves are quite something. She sounded good, and had the Carrie Underwood Strut down to her perfect science, and her skirt was scandalously short... I want results. Fast Forward.

(I caught a very weird commercial with Archie playing Guitar Hero - boy should NOT try to act)

The girls get to sing George Michael's Faith, and no one can quite get it right. Especially not Amanda. Kristy Lee Cook was really bad. The guys take over with Father Figure. They sounded much better. There was an attempt at choreography. Why do they keep trying? They all then break into Freedom. Archie gets to sing a song about being young and knowing heaven. Cook gets to be every little school girl's pride and joy. Appropriate. I have never seen a less coordinated Top 12. It's really embarrassing.

As if we didn't see it coming, George Michael himself comes out to ... yup, pimp his latest single. He sounded a little weird and froggy in the beginning, and ... I want results. Ahhhh, according to the post performance interview, he has a cold. I forgive his frogginess.

FINALLY - time for results.

Randy in his wretched suit says it's a good Final Two, and Paula blathers on about losing being good, too. Simon apologizes for being so mean to David Cook. Good. He finishes by saying for the first time ever, he is happy with whoever wins.

And the winner is....

(Get on with it)

DAVID COOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cheered, I hope I didn't wake the kids up. Wooooooooooooot. This is the first time in a long time that the person I wanted to win actually did. Cook ended up losing it a little at the end, and who can blame him.

The winning song is Time Of My Life, and it started too low for Cook. My DVR cut off the end (boo) - was the song any good?

I'm so happy right now. Yippppppeee!!