Soul Patrol!

We’re finally at the end of American Idol…did time fly or what? Anyways, since they’re going to drag this out for two hours, well…who knows what they’ll do until the results at 9:55…

Of course, we’ll have a bunch of group songs. I guess this is why I shouldn’t go sing the AI tour…I can barely sit through these while on my couch. The first one wasn’t too bad (although what were they thinking dressing Mandisa like that?) But the guys all dressed in black singing? Thank goodness for the fast forward button on my tivo. The girls weren’t much better…this is exactly the type of “you can see it on any cruise ship” entertainment that Simon always complains about. The Burt Bacharach medley was even more cruise ship-esque. Ugh.

Apparently we’ll also have some awkward duets as well. Paris singing with Al Jarreau was actually pretty good, but then again, we always knew she was a good singer. And Chris singing with Live was excellent – I would so buy that CD! (yeah, it might just work out best for Chris that he didn’t end up winning after all…) But Katharine and Meatloaf? I just can’t believe that when Katharine sat down with the producers to decide who she wanted to sing with, her first response was “oooh! How about Meatloaf?!?”.(and how sad is it that she sounded better…actually a LOT better…than Meatloaf?) It picked back up with Elliott & Mary J. Blige (another single I would actually buy), but did Toni Braxton not understand the words of “In the Ghetto”? Her performance certainly was inappropriate at best. And what was the point of the Prince performance?

How about some running bits? “Puck ‘n’ Pickler!”How can you go wrong! (seriously, can you imagine the guy pitching this one in the production meeting?) Kellie eats snails! Kellie faces live lobster! Comedy genius!

And some Golden Idol awards! Sure, it’s a different way to show all those hideous audition tapes again. But what would make these people show back up on stage when they know that they are being made fun of? Of course the moment with the Clay Aiken wannabe was worth watching…I guess he really didn’t know that Clay would be there. And aside from the fact that I don’t like his new look, he sounded really good (and I loved that it seemed like the producers really dropped the wannabe’s mic out so we could only hear Clay…thank you…)

And who can forget some airtime for Carrie Underwood? She sounded good, but just pointed out the fact that I really don’t like country music.

Finally, a duet with Katharine and Taylor, which they really should have done more of. They sound really good together. But, alas, still no results. This is the point I’m actually starting to panic. I watched the finale on tivo (thanks to the Red Sox…go Sox!), and they didn’t start the duet until 9:55. 9:55! Oh, how I feel for those of you who were sitting through this live! With one minute to spare, Ryan actually share the results (but not before sharing how many votes were cast and introducing the accountant…oh, I’m really checking my watch…). And no surprise, Taylor is the winner. Soul Patrol!

So, overall, this was a really good season. The show got crazy ratings each week, and somehow there is still a sizeable pool of undiscovered talent out there. And I think that a few of this season’s contestants have an actual shot of being successful in the music industry (Taylor, Katharine, Chris, Paris, Elliott…). And don’t forget that Ace is rumored to be mulling over an offer to pose in Playgirl. Yikes.

This also is the end of this season’s run of reality shows. Of course, any day now the “summer replacement” shows will start. And while they usually aren’t as good as the “regular” shows, let’s not forget that the very first season of Survivor was shown the summer of 2000. So I’ll still be around for the summer, but definitely waiting for the fall!