AI7 - FINALE!!

Wow, what a great show!! Lots of great entertainment... and a great ending.

97.5 million votes, a new record. 56% vs. 44%, a difference of 12 million - pretty big margin, actually!

Mikalah and Matt Rogers are hosting the home town parties.

While we don't get the "2 contestants from each season" back to perform, I spotted lots in the audience. Melinda, Sanjaya and Blake from last year; also Kim Caldwell & Justin Guarini, Bo & Caroline Bice, and red-haired Fantasia. Other celebs I sighted FWIW were Lori Loughlin, Cat Deeley, Marisa Jaret Winokour, Jeri Ryan, and Camryn Manheim. (And I think I forgot to mention it but last night I saw Luke Perry w/his kids - awwww!) Lots more were there of course and there are some good photos on the Fox site.

Top 12 (yay!) get the first performance number along with some SYTYCD dancers on "Get Ready, Here I Come." Would have been nice to *see* the dancers, though, dear Mr. Cameraman and Mr. Director. Awesome to see David Hernandez again even if he is stuck in the back. But he's one of the few in the Top 12 who can actually do this choreography, he should be up front! Hee. Oh and Chikieze sounds awesome!

Davids duet on "Hero" - nice!

Movie plug for The Love Guru... Davids got to see the movie (a month early) and went to meet with the lead character. A bit long and not that funny. However, Ryan then took a ride on the "magic carpet" and almost catapulted off the stage - that was funny!

Now we start performances by the rest of the finalists, starting with 3rd Place Syesha - duet with Seal on "Waiting for You." Good!

Jason Castro (4th Place) solos on "Hallelujah" and it's awesome.

Next we get a Ford video montage to "Let the Good Times Roll." Cut to Ryan on stage with the Davids. Ryan starts talking about the Hybrid and asks David Cook if he'd like to drive one... Cook, hesitant but smart, says "Yes..." and the screen shows 2 new shiny cars as Ryan pulls out 2 sets of keys. Both Davids are overwhelmed and of course very excited (and cute!)!

Top 6 Girls' Medley - Donna Summer songs, complete with SYTYCD breakdancers. Then Donna herself comes out to sing a new song and all of them do "Last Dance", with Syesha up front dueting with Ms. Summer.

Skipping 5th Place for now (and 7th for the whole show - poor Kristy Lee!), we have #6 Carly and #8 Michael singing a strange but ok arrangement of "The Letter." Ryan introduced them as "shocking" eliminations; hence the treatment as if they placed higher than they actually did. They definitely enjoy singing together though.

Jimmy Kimmel does a short bit.

Top 6 Guys' Medley - Bryan Adams songs. Enter Bryan, doing a song I don't know ("I Thought I'd Seen Everything"?), then finishing out with the group doing "Somebody Like You." Fun!

Jordin Sparks, our reigning champion! Promos the upcoming "Idol Experience" at Disney opening in January.

David Cook with ZZ Top! Doing "Sharp Dressed Man" - with David singing lead through the entire song. I'm sure that was fun for him!!

5th Place finalist Brooke duets with Graham Nash on "Teach Your Children"! Both are seated on stools, playing acoustic guitar. Very, very nice. Oh and there are video clips from Idol Gives Back in the background.

The Jonas Brothers do SOS.

Clip of bad auditions from the season, ending with Reynaldo ("I Am Your Brother") coming out live to perform, along with a marching band, and toward the end Paula and Randy as well. At least this was the only one of these this year (no more "Golden Idol" awards, yay!).

David Archuleta with One Republic on "Apologize"! I LOVE this song. OR does the 1st verse & chorus, then David comes out for the 2nd. Very nice, even though they have extremely different voices.

Now Jordin gets to perform - "One Step at a Time" Not a bad song (hee, Blake is shown in the audience at the end, singing along!), but the dress was hideous.

Best. Skit. Ever. Introduced as Gladys Knight doing auditions for the Pips, we get footage of Gladys singing "Midnight Train" (which I LOVE) and Ben Stiller (love), Jack Black, and Robert Downey, Jr. (LOVE) as the Pips! Complete with singing and choreography. For the whole. entire. song. That was awesome!

Carrie is back to sing her latest hit, "Last Name". And earlier she was in a commercial for a video game.

Which brings me to the Guitar Hero ads. Apparently there were 2, though I missed the first (I'm sure it'll be on YouTube tomorrow). Each David played Tom Cruise in Risky Business - yes, the dancing-in-underwear scene. I did a double-take as I caught Archuleta's version half-way through. Can't wait to see Cook's!

And our last performance - the whole Top 12 again, doing a George Michael medley!! Which is awesome for several reasons - I love G. Michael songs, and with the other medleys we got the celebrities too... could this mean we'll see George Michael?! (Sorry but in my book that's even better than Prince!) The girls do "Faith" (edited: she mumbled, but I guess Amanda didn't flub the words), then the guys do "Father Figure." I'm in heaven. And the 'casting' for the lines was brilliant... Chikieze sings about clothing... and David Hernandez gets the "bold and naked" line!! And does it totally tongue-in-cheek: whispers "naked" with a big grin afterward! Hilarious, and nice for him showing he's a good sport about the whole thing. Sigh, I *so* wish he were going to be on the tour. Oh well. Back to the medley... all 12 do "Freedom," and then yes, we get George Michael himself!! He sings "Praying for Time," the song Carrie did on Idol Gives Back. I didn't know the original so I was glad to see how he did it - very powerful (lyrically if not vocally - he said he had a cold but it's a 'soft' song anyway). What a great way to end this part of the show!

Time for results. Both guys are wearing jeans and black jackets over white shirts. Ryan goes to the judges for comments. Simon says that after re-watching the show last night, things weren't as "clear cut" as they first seemed, and he actually apologized (!) to David Cook for his comments that "bordered on being disrespectful." He also said "For the first time ever, I don't really care who wins!" Shortly we see that his apology was backpedaling in part to make himself look better, because...

The winner, by 12 million votes, is...

David... (and this is exactly where I'm told Tivo cut off because the show ran over - really bad timing, people!)

COOK!!!!!!!!!

Wow. I'm in shock! Happy, but in shock. Of course he's all classy & acknowledges Archuleta for a while, but then breaks down... awwww! His folks (or mom, at least) and younger brother ("It's all your fault!" David tells him) come up on stage which doesn't help reign in the emotions. ;-) But he pulls it together just fine to sing the coronation song "Time of My Life." It's not too terribly puppies & rainbows sappy, or maybe he just makes it seem that way. I'm so happy for him! Archuleta doesn't really seem upset (though his father - and grandfather, from the soundbites Matt got about how this was such a "great opportunity for the whole family" - may be). Cook goes out to the judges' platform in the audience & ends out there, with all of the finalists.

Awesome show!!