Territorial Bloggings

Now that was a results show!

If I’ve got to wait for 2 hours to get the final results (especially when I pretty much knew them going in…), then I certainly want to be entertained & have be worth my while, y’know?

And, all things considered, it was.

It was solid, from the opening number, with a whole host arrayed in white, to the very end when we learned that no one puts Taylor in a corner!
The duets were reasonably good, and we got to see just how good Kat & Taylor really are when they totally carried & outshone their celeb partners (Meatloaf & Toni Braxton, respectively). Paris & Al Jarreau were a delight, and Chris’ song with Live was appropriately rocking. Elliot’s duet with Mary J. Blige was good, but it was really more about Mary than the E-Train. Kellie’s duet, such that it was, with Wolfgang Puck, in the Puck & Pickler vignettes, was entertaining enough. It’s nice that both of them seemed to be in on the joke, so that no one’s feelings were hurt — sometimes mindless entertainment can be a good thing… Also nice was that they didn’t try to force group “duets” with the remaining finalists, like they did last year.

The all-boys & all-girls group numbers were quite good, once again proving just how talented this group of finalists truly was/is. IMO, it also proved that in the final analysis, the guys were better than the girls, as the guys sounded much better to my ear than did the girls. Although I must admit that watching & hearing Kevin belt out parts of Takin’ Care of Business & the bass vocal part of Tobacco Road was more than slightly off-putting…
The Bacharach medley was a wonderful treat, even in light of Chris singing Arthur’s Theme & Bucky singing Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. Even Dionne Warwick was simply fabulous reprising her classic Walk On By, and the appropriately cheezy That’s What Friends Are For was a treat as well (right up until that final money note that she just couldn’t get).

Prince’s performance was enjoyable enough, although it really had nothing to do with AI — at least nothing that a casual viewer (who didn’t know the insider story about the unsuccessful courtship of Prince to be the subject/object of a theme week…).

I was disappointed to see that the Ford commercial retrospective didn’t include any clips of the ultra-handsome French Bulldog.

The cheesy Golden Idol awards were worthwhile as fluffy entertaining filler, even before we got to experience the best moment in American Idol history. Sure, the redemption of the whole Brokenote Mountain vignette was heartwarming — even if it was contrived, it still had to be a once-in-a-lifetime rush for those three guys to get to perform in front of 200+ million folks! The topper, and IMO all-time best AI moment, was the Michael Sandecki & Clay Aiken “duet” of Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me! While Clay’s new shaggy look didn’t go over too well at Schloß TB, the way in which Sandecki was set up & blindsided by Clay’s arrival was such a real, funny, & genuinely joyous moment, that it’s hard to imagine it ever being topped.

Finally, at almost the very last minute, we got the results that we were waiting for, with the announcement that Taylor was the newest American Idol. Time will tell just how successful he becomes, but at this moment my take on things is that he’s quite possibly the best/most-deserving winner in the 5 seasons. Kelly winning AI:1 might — might! — have been more legit, but I’m not sure. Ruben wasn’t clearly that much more legit than either Clay or K-Lo in AI:2, Fantasia wasn’t clearly that much more legit than LaToya or Jennifer in AI:3, and (for all her success in Nashville) Carrie definitely wasn’t more legit than Bo in AI:4. But that’s an analysis for another time/posting…

Congrats to Taylor & the Soul Patrol for pulling off an improbable run! And congrats to all of us for surviving another season of AI!
Thanks for caring enough to regularly come by & read what I’ve written, and I hope you continue to do so even though we’ve now got around 8 months to go until AI:6 hits.

-ghp