One Hundred and Thirty Million voters for American Idol Finale!

 Really?  Obviously People are voting more than once.

 I wasn’t able to watch the entire two hour finale extravaganza because I have a life, okay not really, because I had to brush Truman and entertain him with a catnip mouse, but I did a see a lot of the most important parts.

 One of my favorite parts was the “You could sing a phone book” segment. To emphasize the lack of original syntax and commentary that Randy spews, some of the finalists sang from a phone book.  Using big yellow phone books, with the blue AI logos on it, opened like choir books, the AI contestants to prove, that indeed they could sing like a phone book.

 Although Randy seemed to take the ribbing in stride, there seemed to be the slightest attempt to have him absorb the kidding into some useful criticism. It was using humor to get a point across. I hope Randy adheres to this, as everyone is getting tired of the two or three phrases that he uses over and over again. Of course you can argue that he isn’t a writer, so why get on his case?  This is true, but he is supposedly an entertainer and the repetition of the same phrases over and over and over again is not very entertaining. Also he makes so much money couldn’t he buy a Thesaurus and keep a list of superlatives at his desk or maybe have them piped into his year with a secret earpiece?

 Superb! Stupendous! Spectacular! Sublime! Those are just the S’s.  You are so talented you could sing, “The back of a cereal box! A traffic ticket! A high school Algebra textbook! Former President Nixon’s hate list- and it would be the bomb.

 Rihanna sang her new number one song, “Where Have You Been?” I have to admit that this was a superb production; everything worked.   From the Pseudo African theme, with the back up singers dressed like natives to the pyramid that Rihanna came out of it. In the front there were two massively muscled men playing bongos, which seemed to actually be part of the music and not just tacked on beefcake.  The beefcake seemed fairly agile at dancing as well, usually guys that that muscular jump around and don’t dance. I also loved the thirty foot girl in the background which turned out to be someone suspended from the ceiling with material draped up to her from the ceiling.   It was like a well oiled circus, only hotter.

 No one was dancing in Jennifer Lopez’s number.  Well no one was dancing well. What a mess this was compared to Rihanna’s number.  Has the infatuation that has taken over her personal life affected her ability to pull together a well produced number?  Rumor has it that she is creating and producing a reality show with her new boy toy boyfriend, Casper Smart. 

 Let’s face it Jennifer Lopez has never been a great singer, but she has always been a great performer and dancer.  I just don’t understand what happened last night. It was a lip synching, hair blowing, jumping around mess. Furthermore, her outfit was ill selected and didn’t flatter one of her greatest assets, her body. There didn’t seem to be any cohesion to this number.  When she added dancers it got worse.  Her beefcake wasn’t graceful and they seemed to bounding around like they were on (invisible) pogo sticks.  Apparently they had forgotten how to move their arms.

 American Idol redeemed itself with the smashing, if over the top duet of Jessica Sanchez and Jennifer Holiday singing, “And I Am telling you I am not Going” from Dreamgirls.  The big song anthem that made Jennifer Holiday famous and for which she won a Tony is almost operatic in its melodrama, and no one, no one belts it out quite the same way as Holiday. Jennifer Hudson, (Oscar Winner, former AI contestant) does her own stellar version, but it isn’t as big as Holiday’s. It also is more controlled.  Holiday has mad a living from this song, and although it seems so overwrought you clearly need a spit shield if you sit in the front row, it is a spectacle.  People stood and clapped and were in awe.  I was in awe as well as she looked like she would either eat the mic or her head would spin off in a flurry of activity. Jessica, only 16, by the way was great and held her own.

 I am not the slightest bit surprised that Phillip Phillips won.  This outcome was clear for a while.  Although I was happy to see Jessica make it as far as she did. Jessica is very young, and at only 16, she isn’t perfect, but she held it together and did a great job keeping up with the older contestants. She didn’t seem the slightest bit upset or surprised that she didn’t win.

 Do you think American Idol used enough confetti in that finale?  I am thinking if you are a confetti picker upper that you all the job security is in Hollywood.  I loved it when Phillip accidentally ate a piece of confetti while singing.

 Another year down and the singers this year were definitely better than last.  I certainly like the winner this year over last year.  Rumor has it that Jennifer Lopez won’t be returning next year. We went though this last year as well.  She is probably too expensive, and to busy.  I would rather see them ditch Randy and keep both Jennifer and Steven. 

 Idol isn’t the must see show it used to be, but they still know how wow when necessarily.