http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HByINm6Bgbs
Your new American Idol is (as I told you!) DAVID COOK.
I don’t think this was surprising at all but it really seemed I was in the minority. (I got a lot of emails from people saying they hoped David C won, but thought David A won. I thought that was funny as it proved my point. More people liked David C.) I thought David C won this competition a few weeks ago, and clichéd it during the Top 3 when it became apparent that David A was unwilling or unable to sing anything that reached beyond adult contemporary. I think the Chris Brown song made him seem such and old soul (it seemed so out of place) that it hurt him. It also became apparent that David Cook could sing anything and not be terrible, he did Broadway, he did Roberta Flack, and he was fine.
David Cook is probably my favorite contestant of all time on the show, at least one of them. Unlike previous rockers, he didn’t have weeks where he was totally out of place or totally disinterested. (Daughtry had weeks, specifically his last week, where he didn’t care about the show at all and looked bored.) His body of work actually sounds like an album, probably more so than any artist since Clay way back in Season 2. (We actually put all of Clay’s songs on a cd that my sister listened too for like a year. She might still be listening to it.) The finale was good, although not as good as previous years. It didn’t hold my attention like those did. (Note: Is Amanda just a spoilsport, or drunk, or what was that? She was incoherent, and had trouble moving back and forth). And to totally shred any opinion that anyone might have of my musical tastes, I actually LIKED the final song. Maybe the moment helped. There was actually real emotion. David Archuletta might be better off as 2nd place, being 1st would make him more in the open, more interviews, etc. For a shy kid, that could be real hard. He seemed happy for David. It’s rare the person I want to win actually wins!
The order was definitely terrible, and the top 4/5 probably wasn’t the top 4/5 in terms of talent. We have some terrible performances, and two consistently good performers, and the better one wound up winning. Can’t complain about that too much. Congratulations David Cook, and I look forward to your cd.
BTW, Idol has a bit of a problem for next year. It’s not ratings in the sense people think, it’s still easily the highest rated show. The problem is they charge ad rates for a higher rated show, and they can’t reach that now. One of the people working here has someone he knows in marketing at Fox, and some of the things they are considering are very similar to thoughts I have (transparent data, a new judge, and shorter results shows). This is what I think they need.
1) Change the voting to something more manual. (Joel suggested something such as choosing a 1st and 2nd favorite, this would help mitigate the type of eliminations that have turned Idol into something similar to survivor at times, because people who are so-so but have decent fan bases creep along endlessly, not by being first, but just not from being last.) It would also cut down automated votes. Win-win all around I think.
2) Remove Paula. (Simon voiced some similar read between the line comments on new judges recently.) She’s always been a joke, but if she’s not even really paying attention, she needs to go. She marginalizes the judge’s role on the show by being so ridiculously bad.
3) Release voting data. (If you don’t want to release totals you can do percent, etc. Anything..) TV shows have limited shelf lives. Sports do not. What do sports have that this show does not have? Replaceable judges (refs, umpires) and tons of data to look at. Make Idol this once a year competition, not a once a year TV show. It might even outlast Simon like that. This would also allow Vegas to post real odds, not the odds that they post now that they will only take limited action on.. (They’ll take like $100 bets at most.) Betting increases interest.
4) Revamp what they show for auditions and Hollywood week. They reduced it a bit, which is fine BUT the problem is they reduced it and showed more people at the same time. Therefore, you had less connection with the Top 24/12 once we got there. Seriously, there should not be people in the Top 24 we never have seen considering the Top 24 is known through the editing process. Yes, it probably spoils some of the surprise, but if you ask “who is that?” about someone in the Top 12, that’s just wrong.
The way Idol is going, it’s basically on its last legs, even if it has a great contestant next year that makes it seem like it’s healthier than it is. Let’s see if anyone has the wherewithal to actually go through with some changes, or if they are content to milk it a bit longer as is,
As for the pool winners, the checks are literally in the mail for those of you who did not receive the money in cash yet…next year the pool will have a bonus for picking the winner I think. I need to work through the math a bit more.
I’ll probably discuss a bit more here for a while…
http://idol7pool.blogspot.com/
See you next year….it will be boring without Idol! Lol
JUAN
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