Whats Hot On TV

I still have a favorite tonight, just like I do with every American Idol finale, even if sometimes it ends up being a worse of the two evils, but this year, it was just a very entertaining show all around, and one I thought was one of the better ones they’ve had. To test my theory out, I decided to rate the final 2s over the seven seasons of the show.

1. Ruben Studdard vs. Clay Aiken. This has to be one of the best showdowns ever in reality TV. Even though, again, we all had our favorites, it was just a stunning show of talent from both of these two guys. One of the most moving things ever has to be Clay’s version of Bridge Over Troubled Water. I thought for sure he’d win, and as we now all know, it was Ruben that was crowned the winner, yet looking back on it now, it really didn’t change the excitement of that show. It still stands as the closest race for an American Idol final 2, or at least that they’ll admit to.

2. David Cook vs. David Archuleta. While I hesitated putting them this high in the ranking in fear that my feelings are clouded by it being the most recent, I really do think this is a phenomenal matchup. Not just in talent, but in comparison of style as well. I could have done without the overuse of boxing analogies, but we have the rocker vs. the balladeer. I think both of the Davids were at the top of their game, with so much talent, it’s hard to pick a winner. I’m rooting for Cook, but just like with season two, I won’t be upset if he loses and Archuleta wins.

3. Carrie Underwood vs. Bo Bice. I’m a rocker by nature, so I was of course rooting for Bo. Not to mention the fact I really didn’t get Carrie back then, yet despite this, I could still recognize her immense talent. And since her win, I have gone on to be able to really appreciate her as an artist. Jesus Takes the Wheel is one of my favorite gut-wrenching emotional songs. Bo did great this night, but honestly, they did him a huge disservice with Inside Your Heaven. Had they given him a great rock tune, maybe a soulful bluesy thing, this matchup would have been phenomenal.

4. Kelly Clarkson vs. Justin Guarini. This one is never going to be held up to as high of standards as the others, simply because it was the first. At the point it aired, there was nothing for us to measure against. Reality TV as a whole was newer as well, so it’s not like we had catalogs of other things to compare it to other than Star Search. However, I’ve never found an Idol in the years since that I felt quite measured up to Kelly. Justin was a great matchup for her, and I’ve grown to enjoy him more so than I did then. However, he couldn’t match her level of talent, and throwing in a song such as A Moment Like This just sealed the deal. Even he admitted after it definitely wasn’t a song for him.

5. Taylor Hicks vs. Katherine McPhee. It was yet another matchup between two very separate artists, one definitely a performer, the other more a stylist of voice. Taylor was such a unique performer, and he pulled it all out for this finale. However, what has this finale down in fifth place is that I haven’t talked to many people since that talk about Katherine deserving to be there. I’ve talked to people that feel Taylor did, and all others think either one or both of Elliot Yamin and Chris Daughtry should have somehow been involved in the final 2. Everyone has a dream scenario for this season, and not one of them included McPhee when we reflect. I say this knowing it will bring McPhee fans out of the woodwork to disagree, but I’m guessing there are more Yamin and Daughtry fans that pop out agreeing.

6. Fantasia vs. Diana DeGarmo. At this point no one could deny Fantasia’s talent, yet no one talks today about I Believe. They all still talk about Summertime. Even after Simon’s hilarious wide-eyed stare at her performance last week, when people talked about it after, including during his appearance on Ellen, everyone mentioned that performances was nothing like her amazing rendition of Summertime. Diana was really good and a great talent, but she never had a standout performance like that. This all made the finale a little humdrum.

7. Jordin Sparks vs. Blake Lewis. The teenage songstress vs. the beat boxer. If the show hadn’t had five successful seasons behind it, people would have really been wondering what this was. Can you imagine submitting this as a demo of how great the show could be come finale time? We can debate what went wrong with this season forever, and we will, but regardless, in two words, it sucked. The coronation song sucked, and so did the overall matchup. No one cared. When Randy mentioned last night it being the Idol Duel of 2007, I think maybe he’d just woken up. I think he’d been sleeping since the first time he heard This Is My Now.

Tonight can go either way, unlike many of these other final 2, but just like Ruben vs. Clay. I think it will be close, but I’m feeling a Cook win. The water cooler talk I’m hearing is either thinking the judges were smoking crack last night in praise of Archuleta or they’re saying they “hate to say it, but …” regarding Archuleta being better than Cook. This means some people were probably still voting for Cook, even though they felt the other way. I certainly hope so, as I’d rather hear Cook’s coronation song than Archuleta’s for the next several months. Then again, I don’t listen to the radio stations that would play Archuleta’s, so maybe I don’t need to worry about it.

Photos Courtesy of americanidol.com

For more information on American Idol, see SirLinksalot: American Idol , and for a recap of Tuesday night’s performances, see Reality Shack.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS