Random Notes (Post American Idol Finale Edition)

If I had cared enough to vote, I still would have voted for Bo.

That said, I have to admit that Carrie won fair and square if you go by the final competitive performances...she was poised and steady on the big Kodak Theater stage while Bo seemed a bit flustered and off his game (if we take the season as a whole, I'd still give the overall edge to Bo...I hope Clive Davis still wants to make a record with him.)

Simon's assertion that Carrie will sell more records than any previous Idol contestant seems dubious to me. I'm sure she'll move a lot of CDs but my guess is that Clay and Kelly don't have to start looking back over their shoulders just yet.

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The way the season began...with the girls being picked off one after the other...it is a wonder that a girl still won this thing for the third time.

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They really need to cut the final show down to an hour. Once again, the first hour was superfluous and annoying...too much of the runners-up butchering Beach Boys songs in that endless opening medley...too much "witty" banter with the judges...too much Mikalah Gordon trying to be the cute red carpet reporter...too much Seacrest...it was all just too much.

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If the second hour had stood alone, it would have been a relatively taut, relatively entertaining, and sometimes playful show...starting from that tortured version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" by a good sport (and would-be William Hung successor) whose name escapes me now.

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Interesting that none of the former Idols...or noteworthy runners-up like Clay...showed up for the extravaganza this year.

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Going just by the performances in the all-star medley, anybody who hadn't seen any of the other episodes would agree that the best 2 contestants were in the finals. Carrie was more relaxed than I'd seen her during her song with Rascal Flatts and Bo was equally comfortable fronting Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The rest of them were a decidedly mixed bag. Vonzell was in fine voice during her duet with Billy Preston (certainly in better voice than he was) on "With You I'm Born Again".

Teaming Anwar, Anthony, and Kenny G wasn't the slice of MOR hell that it could have been...but it came perilously close.

George Benson was patient with Scott and Nikko before schooling the kids in how "On Broadway" was supposed to be done (Nikko...bless his heart...came out doing his George Benson impression which I guess might have been somewhat interesting...if the real Benson weren't standing right there, dude!)

One hopes that no one from Aerosmith (or Run-DMC, for that matter) was watching as Constantine, Jessica, Nadia, and Kenny Wayne Sheppard massacred "Walk This Way" (okay, okay, we get it, Constantine, you're a "rocker"...now please take your pouty face back to your band and leave us alone.)

And I guess poor Babyface drew the short straw and ended up having to try salvage some dignity while "harmonizing" with Mikalah and Lindsey.

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The "we-believe-you-Paula" bit slamming Corey Clark (without once mentioning his name) was too long and too easy (taking Clark to task is like shooting fish in a barrel)...but hey we got to see Constantine "acting" wearing a cheesy moustache and using a cheesy accent so that was something...

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I'm not accusing the producers of anything untoward...BUT that song that's going to be the single seems like it was tailor-made specifically for Carrie. I'm just sayin'....

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The fourth season was definitely not the best season (I don't care how many times Seacrest, Jackson, and Abdul declared that it was) but hey let's do this again next January anyway :-)