It was a big 3 hours of reality last night, though for the two-hour DWTS finale it was a good thing to time-shift and leave plenty of room to fast-forward, which we did quite a bit and "caught up" way too quickly.
But first, the final IDOL performances for Adam Lambert and Kris Allen...

Overall, I didn't think it was that great of a show. The problem being that the contestants had little choice, despite what Adam said, when it came the songs. It is no surprise that the best of the night IMHO was the first round where the guys encored their favorites from the season... and both picked the songs I would have picked for them. But I think, Adam had a little advantage with all that mood lighting and fog machine.
As far as the 2nd round with producer/creator Simon Fuller's choices, well I was not impressed... as he seemed to have forgot that the finalist were two white guys... and he deals them two soulful songs... with "A Change Is Gonna Come" being an iconic song of the civil right movement... so I just don't think it's a song that's particularly effective sung by a white person (there I said it!)... and I will say, I didn't love Adam's spin on it... i.e., screaming, but that's been my quibble with him the entire season and why thus far the only song I have purchased of his from iTunes is "Mad World." I thought Kris was similarly saddled with a tough R&B "power to the people" song of "What's Going On"... and I was a bit befuddled by criticisms that it was too low-key... it is a peaceful song to start (literally and figuratively) and we're talking Kris here, so I am not sure how Kris was supposed to make it "big" as this finale apparently deserved.
And, as usual, there is no words for the awfulness of the IDOL anthem... and how the same exact song is supposed to be a good fit for both these guys is just silly. As soon as I heard that the song was called "No Boundaries" there was no doubt in my mind who IDOL wants to win (not that we had to wait for tonight)... or heck, even for that matter it was a bit obvious with their choice of "A Change is Gonna Come" with IDOL thinking they would be responsible for a groundbreaking moment if a gay guy wins (which granted it kinda sorta would be).... though I am not sure if Adam does win that'll be the song he'll be wanting to sing that piece of dreck from Kara and friends (I suspect Kelly Clarkson doesn't have "A Moment Like This" on her concert playlist.. and does anyone else think Kara just got stranger and more cartoon-ish as the season went on?).
I think either guy could win. I thought Adam won the night pretty convincingly... but Kris is not the kind of "artist" that is going to deliver a knock-out punch... though he is my personal preference in the type of music I like to listen to... as mentioned, just bought 1 Adam song, 4 of them from Kris. Pretty much everything I read from the "pros" and friends, seems like this should be a slam-dunk for Adam... but I think Kris will get a lot of support from the middle of the country and he will certainly get more of the Gokey vote (which appears to be considerable given the bespectacled one's run this season)... so my guess, kind of like the DWTS finale last night, is that Kris will pull the upset.

And speaking of which, I was a bit surprised that Shawn and Mark pulled it off. I will not shy away from my Twitter status that I thought she "didn't stand a chance." While a very good dancer, I just didn't think she won it in the personality and charisma department. While there is no doubt that she is a very nice girl (unlike her snooty seeming US gymnastic teammate Nastia!!), she just seemed quite shy and not enough to pull off the win in that department against someone like Gilles, who pretty much had it all... except maybe that he wasn't American (not that I think that was the deciding factor, after all Helio won).
Samantha Harris provided the most offensive moment of the night... right before the announcement was made, she noted that Shawn "in the past few weeks you have risen to the level of a true champion"... now I shouldn't blame Samantha, she was likely just a victim of writer's joke to see if she would actually read what was written for her... but I am glad that after having that great and utter disappointment of winning an Olympic gold-medal in one of the premiere sports of the Summer Games, that Shawn finally had the opportunity to get a taste of what it feels like to be a true champion.
Anyhow, the Ballas-Hough DWTS dynasty stretches to 5 wins in a row!
So yes, Gilles would have been a more deserving winner (oh, so glad Melissa came in 3rd... as she really did stretch that definitiono of a "star" to the limits... you know I love my reality TV, but I place the romance sub-genre in an outer circle of oy!/oh brother!)... but I was fine with Shawn winning... and that's pretty much how I feel like the IDOL finale, pretty much fine with either way it shakes out... and then there's always that realization that none of this has any impact on my life.. at all!





