At the beginning of the American Idol finale, Ryan Seacrest announced that over 97 million votes were cast. That is stunning. 97 Million! He said the results were 56 percent to 44 percent.
We wouldn't know the winner until two hours later.
Because the vote wasn't close, I thought David Archuleta won. I was certain. I thought the bubble gum voters had given Archuleta a landslide.
Wrong.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The grown-up rocker triumphed over the smooth-voiced kid as David Cook claimed the "American Idol" title Wednedsay, and it wasn't as much of a surprise as it seemed.
While 17-year-old Archuleta was heaped with praise by the judges the night before, the voters decided otherwise — and did they ever. Host Ryan Seacrest said during Wednesday's show that 12 million votes was the difference, and they broke in the favor of the 25-year-old from Blue Springs, Mo.
Cook was overcome by emotion, bending toward the stage after his name was announced.
"This is amazing," he said. "This is all your fault," he added, addressing the brother who Cook had accompanied to the "Idol" audition that started it all.
Cook immediately took the microphone and began to sing "Time of my Life," which won the annual "Idol songwriting competition, to close out season seven.
Cook refused to bow to the conventional during his three-song set Tuesday, with Collective Soul's "The World I Know" as his pick for a closing performance. He also sang U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and the power ballad "Dream Big," his choice from the songwriting competition's finalists.
"If I had to choose between playing a song that not a whole lot of people know that I could get behind, or the opposite, I'll choose the lesser-known every time," Cook told The Associated Press backstage Tuesday.
Judge Simon Cowell said at the time that the song choices sunk him, and told Archuleta that he'd scored a "knockout" performance in the boxing-themed performance finale.
There's no question that last night the judges were in Archuleta's corner, especially Simon.
Archuleta looked confident tonight. His dad looked even more confident.
Even when Simon apologized to Cook for being too rough on him the previous night, I didn't think that was an indication that Simon was trying to save face, signaling that Cook was the winner.
Did Simon Cowell know David Cook would win? Or was he, for once, just being nice?
Right before host Ryan Seacrest announced Cook as the next "American Idol," Cowell issued an uncharacteristic apology to the sincere 25-year-old rocker for skewering him during Tuesday's final performance show. Cowell went so far as to say that the remarks he made the night before to the future "Idol" winner were "verging on disrespectful."
"When I went back home and watched it, it wasn't quite so clear cut as we called it," he said to the final two.
Cowell congratulated and praised both Cook and runner-up David Archuleta, the smiley 17-year-old crooner from Murray, Utah. Cowell even revealed that "for the first time ever, I don't really care who wins."
I think Simon was too hard on Cook and I think it was appropriate for him to apologize.
It's possible that it was Simon's remarks that caused the explosion of votes for Cook. As Simon goes, so DOESN'T go the nation.
Cook won by 12 million votes.
I'm glad he did.
Random notes:
I didn't notice Bill Maher in the audience this year.
Mike Myers did a bit at the beginning of the show. He was in character as "The Love Guru." That just happens to be the name of his new movie.
I liked Brooke White and Graham Nash singing "Teach Your Children."
I was surprised Bryan Adams performed.
I thought it was a little odd to have George Michael as the last professional performer of the night. He was there plugging his upcoming tour, but he's not a superstar sort of performer to close the night out. Maybe twenty years ago it would have made sense.
The Pips comedy bit was funny, a little long but funny.
David Cook looked very comfortable performing "Sharp Dressed Man" with ZZ Top.
When Cook's name was announced, he cried. His mom came on stage and they hugged and Cook cried some more. I was thinking of Laura Ingraham slamming Brett Favre for crying during his retirement press conference. I have no problem with men showing emotion. It's not like he couldn't get it together to sing the final song. It was a genuine moment, not an act.
Other than the crowning of the Season 7 idol winner, I did get the feeling that the finale was one big promo.
That's show biz, I guess.
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