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I haven't been a dedicated viewer this season. But I did watch this evening. I get my major networks East and West so I got to view it with all you East Coast Members on MMC here. I enjoyed it! And I liked seeing ZZ top too!
 
Our AI Crisis

Too bad I had to be on the road for this tonight. The finale for AI caused a bit of a crisis in our house because my youngest -- who is 6 -- is so devoted David Archuleta. My wife blogged about it -- but I really wish I could have been there for poor Emma.

That's really been the value of AI for me, watching it every week with my little girls, one on each side of me. It was hilarious to watch them go through all their little opinions -- liking those who were princess-like to not like some of them at all. Very cute and fun to watch with them

But with Archie being from nearby and I think being younger, well, Emma was quite convicted that he would win and felt really betrayed that he did not.

So, while I should have been here chatting I was on the phone a bit dealing with the crisis at hand.

I couldn't share with them what I really thought. Personally, I just didn't care. Seven seasons of this and I'm still yet to cast a vote or buy a CD.

If David Cook sticks with ZZ Top-like material, I could very well be sold.

And no doubt about it -- when Archuleta comes out with a CD, I'm buying it -- for Emma.
 
I do and don't understand why they stretch it out to a two hour show. It is May sweeps. Plus they don't want to "trivialize" the "importance" of the search for the next American Idol by just a half hour or hour announcement show. That being said, I have to say that they out did themselves last night. It was so good to see Bryan Adams, Donna Summer, Graham Nash, George Michael and ZZ Top.

As for the results. I am extremely happy with the outcome. I actually think that both Davids are excellent. I know that David Archuletta will do very, very well. He's young and will have a chance to grow into something B-I-G! David Cook, whom I did not like at all in the very beginning, won me over with his versions of other peoples songs. He didn't just try to sing it the way that the original artist sang the songs (most of the time). The songs were still recognizable, but they had a David Cook twist. If he is allowed to keep that part of himself after winning, I will be first in line for his CD.

And did you see Simon?? He actually SMILED!!!
 
I agree...What a great show!!! And while I was an Archuleta fan I was happy to see Cook win too...It was a fun run...I miss that show for a week or two after it's over...Oh well...They'll be back in Hanuary just in time to lift my spirits after Christmas is over...ZZ Top was REALLY great! I love those Texas boys...Did you know that they are the longest running group without a line-up change in Rock & Roll? Same three guys since they started...Anyway...Sorry it's over but they went out with a real bang!

jay
 
THE commercial is on youtube and mother found it just before i turned out the lights so i got to see it. M A M A!!!!!!!!

i need a DC tshirt!

xo
 
Christina(da Mrs.) is gonna be out shopping for one of those DC shirts first thing this morning...She was jumping around a hollering like a kid...It was a really fun year for that show...
 
I just now found that we had an American Idol thread. My kids got me hooked on it 3 years ago. I enjoy the show but the best part about it is the way it has become an unmissable family night. It reminds me of when I was a kid and my family would gather around the TV and watch the different variety shows
 
This article about nails it....

NEW YORK - "Cougars 4 Cook."

There it was, on a poster in the "American Idol" audience last week, after David Cook belted Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" in the Key of Emo. And that slogan — not to mention the woman who hoisted it — speaks to the 25-year-old singer's popularity with, ahem, women of a certain age.

Maybe it's his edgy-yet-mainstream appeal, sly grin, sparkling hazel eyes, facial scruff, love for crossword puzzles, love for his mom and brothers. Or perhaps it's the way he broke down in tears after his final performance, a rock-anthem arrangement of "The World I Know," which he rebelliously defended from Simon Cowell's criticism.

Somewhere down the line, the Midwest-raised former bartender became a sex symbol for scores of women who are practically old enough to be his mom. And clearly, they voted.

Linda Sharp, smitten as a schoolgirl, voted 473 times for Cook after Tuesday's final performance show. The 42-year-old married mom used her land-line and cell phone — as well as her three daughters' cell phones — to show support for the singer.

"The biggest thing: He's legal, and that goes a long way," said Sharp, who's from Austin, Texas. "He's 25. That's old enough that we can openly ogle him, and we can drool over him, and it doesn't make us feel like we could be his mother."

The same couldn't be said for 17-going-on-13 David Archuleta, the kid from Murray, Utah, whose booming, mature voice belies a youthful innocence and humility that, at times, bordered on painful to watch. Cook, by stark contrast, was increasingly self-assured as the year wore on.
Sharp writes "Idol" recaps on her blog "Don't Get Me Started," which attracts the soccer-mom set, who've praised the various talents of Cook.

After she posted the "Risky Business"-inspired "Guitar Hero" commercial starring Cook, one commenter said: "Mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Need I say more?" Another wrote: "Have I died? Is this heaven? I'll take it!"
Apparently these women weren't just smitten with a younger man, they were motivated, too: In a landslide victory, Cook, from Blue Springs, Mo., beat Archuleta by a margin of 12 million votes out of the record 97.5 million cast by viewers.

"American Idol" had slipped in the overall ratings this season, but Wednesday's finale was seen by 31.7 million people — about a million more than the year before, according to Nielsen data — suggesting the show swiftly gathered momentum after it boiled down to man vs. boy.

And the biggest viewer erosion in season seven was right in Archuleta's voting bloc. Ratings fell 18 percent among women aged 18-34; and 12 percent among teenagers 12-17. Also apparently in Cook's favor:

Viewership has risen among people aged 50 and over, and the median age of an "Idol" viewer, once in the mid-30s, is now up to 42.

"I'm exposed to the Jonas Brothers and the `High School Musical' crowd and all of that, but as cute as I might think they are, they do make me feel maternal — not hot," Sharp said. "So watching David Cook, I think that's been a huge appeal for thirty/forty/fiftysomethings that 'We're not dead.' We might drive the soccer minivan, (but) we're just picky about what perks us up."

Apparently, they can be picky about hair, too.

Michael Slezak, a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly magazine, said Cook became "almost unstoppable" after getting rid of that unfortunate comb-forward haircut in the middle of the seventh season.

"If someone had told me 14 weeks ago that David Cook would turn out to be this season's sex symbol, I wouldn't have believed it," Slezak said. "He had this hideous mop of hair and he looked a little schlubby and, you know, he was just a very average kind of guy with bad hair ... . Getting that side-part during Dolly Parton week was possibly his best strategic move of the season, even more so than his rearrangement of 'Always Be My Baby.'"

With Cook's makeover came growing confidence on stage — and tears. The grainy-voiced rocker recently wept during a show while his older brother, Adam, who is battling advanced brain cancer, sat in the audience. He cried during his hometown visit and the two-part finale.

"Another reason women really dig him is he's an emotional guy and he's not afraid to show it," Slezak said. "It's hard to resist the appeal of a grown man crying tears of joy and not trying to hide it."


Anne Ward, 50, of New York City, said she impressed by Cook's "brotherly relationship" with Archuleta and the humility he showed when he didn't react to Cowell's acid-tongued commentary. Also: his frontman mystique.

"Here's this guy who sings so great, he crosses genres, and he's vulnerable, but yet, we didn't know a lot about him. And he's sort of soulful when he sings," said Ward, who has downloaded almost all of Cook's "Idol" songs.

Ward, a longtime fan of the show, said Cook "looks like a man, and he acts like a man," and knows how to milk the camera — but not in an overt, smarmy way (think Constantine Maroulis in season four). She was initially wowed by his musical skills, but didn't "feel the sex appeal factor" until his emotional performance of "Music of the Night" during Andrew Lloyd Webber week.

"It's almost like a courtship," Sharp said of gradual allegiance from other contestants to Cook. "It's been like this slow burn, and all of a sudden our internal 16-year-olds got ignited."

The icing on the cake, Sharp said, was Cook's finale duet with ZZ Top — and the "Guitar Hero" commercial aired during the finale, an homage to Tom Cruise's pants-less lip sync to Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" in "Risky Business."

"We're the ones that salivated so heavily over Tom Cruise in `Risky Business' that he really slid to superstardom on a trail of our spittle," she said. "So to see David Cook — who we're firmly in love with — put into those two things ... I mean, it was just a gift. It was a present."

Archuleta did the exact same spot with similar choreography that aired later in the telecast, but it lacked the feral energy and intuition that Cook brought to the role. Cook looked like he knew what he was doing — but the would the angelic Archuleta really rock out in his skivvies if his parents left him home alone?
"They're both very talented, but it really boils down to what does it for you: A sexy hot man or Webkinz come to life?" she asked. "Is your cell phone studded with glitter, or do you just have a regular cell phone like I do?"
 
Regarding David A in the Guitar Hero commercial...it made me feel kinda nasty because he was dancing around in his skivies and he's only 17.

Now David C in the Guitar Hero commercial.... different story
 
i just hope, jeff, that you do eventually see that DC is in fact, a talented singer with stage presence. he is not just some hottie all the old chicks put thru. he can sing he can belt it out or ladle it out.
david a is a great kid and has some seriously fab pipes working in there and i understand that as "dad" you do feel bad for the girls, but david a isnt exciting. he has no presence. i am betting he will in about 5 years, but for now, i am glad us old gals beat out the teeny boppers FOR ONCE!! (kinda reminds me of the scene in FRIED GREEN TOMATOES, where kathy bates is looking for a parking place....)

david cook is the winner for a reason, mother knows best.............

:D

xox
 
Are you kidding me? I LOVE DC. Like Daughtry (or Bice), he's one of the few whose album I'd consider buying. I totally agree he's got a magnetism about him that DA lacks. I actually forsee him being one of those who not only sings but also ends up in the movies or on television.

DA is technically a better singer -- he has much more control, a gift for dynamics, etc. He'll go the way of Buble or Groban... a fine sound and one that will be a studio success.

But DC is a performer, very watchable and one who most definitely connects. The dude is going to be fabulously successful.

I enjoyed AI this year because my kids were into it. I enjoyed the talent (for the most part) -- I thought it was much more plentiful this year. I really don't think there was a loser there at the end. As soon as Jar-Jar and Syesha went, there went the element of competition for me.
 
Regarding David A in the Guitar Hero commercial...it made me feel kinda nasty because he was dancing around in his skivies and he's only 17.

Now David C in the Guitar Hero commercial.... different story

Those commercials made me feel old. I had to EXPLAIN to not only to my kids but also to my wife why they were funny. And it was perhaps those commercials that showed the real big difference between DC and DA.
 
DC and DA are on larry king tonight. cook was on leno but i slept thru it!! alas.

xox
 
the gang is on larry king again tonight.

xo
 
The AI thread is hereby unofficially resurrected...due to this breaking news:


What did the judges think after the beginning of round two of the American Idol auditions here in Salt Lake?

Host Ryan Seacrest said, "This is one of my favorite cities." [He says that in every city]

Judge Randy Jackson added, "I actually think Salt Lake City has been one of our favorite cities so far." [So does Randy]

Seacrest and Jackson noticed a few standouts, one woman in particular, who will remain nameless for now. New judge Kara DioGuardi seemed to agree.

"[There were] some good ones," she said. [What was she going to say...they were all crap?]
While there was a lot of celebration, naturally not everyone got a golden ticket. Some people who left the building after they were rejected were asked to go back to give a confessional-style interview about their rejection.
 
Ah, they still have Paula. She must not have liked Salt Lake, thus the silence. But AI has added a fourth full time judge this year. I don't recall her name because I've never heard of her. I guess they are doing all they can to spice things up. Will it be a new love interest for Simon? Perhaps a new love interest for Paula? Maybe someone to sing a new verse between Paula's "If I Only Had a Brain" and Simon's "If I Only Had a Heart"...???
 
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