FINALLY, after 317 weeks of vegetating in front of the TV for 11 nights each week, we are down to the finale….David A vs David C or Archie Vs Cookie…….live at the Nokia theater in LA, 7000 seats….cavernous!

I liked the opening with the Let's Get Ready to Rumble guy and the boxing theme, although I was hoping to see Cook pop Archie one for effect. Also thoroughly enjoyed the absence of Ryan for the opening….even if he didn’t get to say THIS …is A..MER...ican Idol for once.

Celeb sightings: Luke Perry in the audience with kids….Clive Davis, Andrew Lloyd Weber (the supreme being of Idol, apparently)…and no one else??

Randy and Simon both dressed nicely in open-necked shirts with jackets, and even Paula did not look as tarty as usual…..the evening is off to a promising start….

Cook is clearly much more at ease, much more confident, and Archie is just a little boy nebbish who looks likely to faint at any moment. Simon advised them they have to “hate your opponent” and yet they both were very complimentary to each other-no joking, not jibes…BORING.

Round 1-Clive Davis song choice

Cook-I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

I liked it-fun to watch, sounded good..all 3 judges loved him…good start

Archie-Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me

Very emotional, sitting to being the song, squinted the whole way through the song, sounded slightly off key on some of the low notes and was not fun to watch-he made me feel anxious.  And the judges LOVED LOVED LOVED him and gave him round 1….HUH? and Archie looks unsteady and likely to faint-OMG, just DO it-quit faking it!!! Drop over and I’ll muster up some sympathy, but not for the phony humility.

I didn’t think it was a clear win at all……would have called it a tie, at best.  I’m not happy about the direction this is taking….the Machine is pushing for Archie….already….

Round 2-New song chosen by contestant

Cook-Dream Big-as Idol songs go, this was not as cheesy as the past 7 seasons, but it wasn’t great, either.  He sang it well, but the song kind of stunk.

Archie-IM this Moment-as cheesy an Idol theme song as was ever written…and Archie lived up to the expectations as the cheesemaster  (insert breathy gasp and slight sob here)  Very much a ballad, so this was right up the child’s alley.  Judges LOVED his performance, and we were treated to the theme of ‘you can sing the phone book” one last time by Randy….and the judges call it another victory for Archie….

Again, I’m not happy.

Round 3-Contestant Choice

Cook-the World I know

I thought it was a nice soft-rock kind of performance and he did a great job. He actually got a bit weepy but composed himself quickly and it was not a “moment.”  Wacko Paula rambled on some crap about “Standing in your truth” and Randy and Simon both complimented him-Randy liked the performance and his sensitive side, Simon says he is one of the nicest and most sincere contestants they ever had on Idol, but told him he should have repeated Billie Jean or another standout from this season…uh oh….

Archie –repeated performance of Imagine and the judges went nuts. He sang it with his eyes closed again.  It was good, but he did it before!!!  Judges went nuts and essentially told him he was the winner, Simon saying it was a knockout night for him.  Not sure about anyone else, but I was seeing red and felt like the decision had been made without any input from America, or more importantly, from ME.

I was irritated enough to vote for Cook 55 times. Thank God I have AT&T and can text-it only required 45 second of my time. 45 seconds was just about the exact time that I lost interest and so it worked out well.