TV Show Geek

Welcome to TV Show Geek, a blog which I'll ostensibly use to review TV shows, movies, books, and video games, though many times said reviews will undoubtedly wax ineloquent (wane eloquent?) into angry diatribes. Anyhoo, there's a comment section under each post, so feel free to have at it. One rule: be respectful of other posters. You can disagree as much as you want, but don't make it personal.

So, without further ado, enjoy TV Show Geek!

American Idol Season 9 Finale

First off, I’m not going to get into why Lee won over Crystal; the always-great Alan Sepinwall goes in to detail here, and it’s definitely worth reading if you’re crying foul at the results.

So the producers at Idol are always wont to heap special guest performances on us during the finale, and last night was no different. To see on the same stage in one night Janet Jackson, Barry and Robin Gibb, Michael McDonald, Alice Cooper, Bret Michaels, Chicago, Alanis Morissette, and nine seasons’ worth of Idol contenders, you’d have to go to…well, I’m not exactly sure where. Suffice to say, eclectic barely begins to cover it. But if you were hoping for some sort of nostalgic, trip-down-memory-lane performances, you might have been disappointed.

Let’s start with the worst, which for me is a toss-up between Alice Cooper and the Bee Gees. One isn’t that surprising: I can’t remember the last time I saw Alice Cooper, and now I know there’s a reason for that. His growls during “School’s Out For Summer” were cringe-inducing—if you’re going to growl, at least try not to be an atonal mess—and he ruined what could have been a passable performance. The Gibbs, on the other hand, surprised me. They sounded terrible…I had seen them maybe three weeks ago on Jimmy Fallon, where they harmonized with Jimmy for a few minutes, and I remember thinking, “Wow, they’ve still got it.” I suppose we can chalk that one up to an off-night, which is sad; the Bee Gees are one act that never feels dated. When I see them, I don’t feel that smirking, remember-when-this-was-cool kind of half embarrassed/half gleeful reminiscence; I still truly enjoy watching them, and last night was a bit of a letdown.

The top boys performed with Hall and Oates. This was a great time to take a break, for a snack, a drink, a bathroom run…or (if you listened to this, like I did) to shove a pencil into your eardrum. I don’t want to say that Hall and Oates sucked. So I won’t, and we’ll just leave it there.

Big Mike and Michael McDonald were enjoyable, if unremarkable, on “Taking it to the Streets,” as were the girls during their Christina Aguilera number (the woman herself sounded fantastic).

There seems to be dissention among viewers regarding Kris Allen singing “The Truth.” I personally found it underwhelming, especially on the heels of his last performance on the Idol stage, during Beatles week (I thought that his cover of “Let it Be” trumped every performance of the contenders). Same with Carrie Underwood, though she sounded perfect, as always; again, maybe it’s just me, but “Undo It” doesn’t seem to be as big a song as some of her other chart-toppers, and I felt like the song itself just isn’t as explosively intense as “Before He Cheats” or as powerful as “Jesus Take the Wheel.” Again, it’s probably just a personal preference, for what it’s worth.

When Casey began singing “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” I’ll admit that I spent a moment saying, “No way, there’s no way he’ll show up…” only to have Bret Michaels saunter onto stage, guitar strapped on, to sing along on the song that shot him to superstardom. It’s kind of a weird thing, because the performance was just okay, and I’ve always kinda hated Bret with that whole Rock of Love thing. But ever since he was hospitalized, I find myself (twice, now) surprised that he’s still out and about, first at the Celebrity Apprentice finale (which I admit I didn’t watch, but was informed of by my fiancée), and now on Idol. I don’t know, there’s just a little part of me that wants to root for the guy, despite the sundry STDs that probably call Bret Michaels “home.”

For me, the clear performance of the night was the Crystal duet with Alanis Morissette. That was some kind of geeky explosion of awesomeness, and they certainly picked the perfect person for Crystal to sing with.

And finally, we get to the farewell to Simon part of the night. Through the night, various montages played “Best Of” Simon Cowell moments, leading up to the introduction of Paula Abdul, in her first appearance on Idol since last year’s finale. What followed should have been a sweet and gently-ribbing goodbye, but instead (due to Abdul) turned into an awkward mess. Then again, whenever she opened her mouth in seasons past, she normally sounded like a stoner trying to read Coleridge, so I suppose that was in keeping with the Abdul tradition.

Unlike Paula’s speech, Simon’s goodbye was wonderful, in that it was clearly off the top of his head, unrehearsed, unscripted, and most importantly, sincere. More than even Crystal and Lee, what I will take away from this season of Idol is that it was Simon’s last year, and the show will be the worse for it.

As for Lee winning…I think it’s worth pointing out that, while yes, Crystal was a much better singer, Lee was a great singer in his own right. And the Idol crown is going to be a much bigger help to Lee than it ever would be to Crystal, so there’s that.

And with that, reality talent competitions come to an end for the year—wait, what? What do you mean, America’s Got Talent? AND So You Think You Can Dance? My God, it never ends.