Thursday, May 22, 2008

And The Winner Is ...

SEACREST OUT

I know. It is not a huge surprise. Although it is disconcerting that a newcomer could be so dominant, it does make me feel a little better that it is the one music business person we have stayed with for the last decade. He must know what he is doing. Thanks to Seacrest Out's prediction picks, he jumped to a huge lead in the Top 12 competition as well.
There were a few other people who took huge leaps on this last night as well. Sanjaya Rocks jumped into third place overall and 2nd place in the Top 12 by putting all his money on Archie and getting an extra 10 points for picking Archie to go at the #2 spot. I will get to the actual scores in a bit, but first there are a few matters of business since this will probably be the last post you will read on here for the next 8 months or so.

1. Recap of Finale
2. Awards
3. Exit Interview
4. Standings

1. RECAP
I never knew last night's show would be such a shocker. Not really because of what happened in the show - but because my TiVo was saying there was less than one minute left of recorded show and they hadn't announced the winner yet. Then Seacrest said ... "David ... Cook" and it cut off. The only thing I was watching for was to see who won and what the reaction was. I was robbed of the reaction and only saw the winner in the last 5 seconds of my TiVo recording. Why were they running out of time in a two hour show? Because they were busy whoring the show out for the first hour and 59 minutes to anyone who needed some publicity.

Mike Myers reached a new low in a video promoting his movie with Archie and Cook. He then reached a new new low when he came out live on stage to make predictions about the winner. "His name will be David." Gee. We didn't see that coming from a mile away. How did the man who brought us So I Married An Axe Murderer and Wayne's World become so much like Bob Saget. Other than that shameless shameless promotion, they had to add the usual Ford bits, Archie dancing in his regulation mormon underwear for Guitar Hero (I actually thought he did a good job except for his gaspy smile on his face the whole time) and guest appearances from more than a handful of artists who haven't even made it out of their nursing homes since Clinton was president.

The "big" special guest at the end was George Michael. Not only did he look kind of weird, he sang a song that not only made me long for a 90 second version like they normally sing on this show, but it made me want to slit my wrist - with a chainsaw. When it was over of course Seacrest had to talk about his upcoming tour because what would a performance be without a commercial? George Michael had time after the plug to say that he had a cold - which must have been the reason that he sounded off. I thought the judges said early on in this competition that real performers don't blame their sickness - they push through it. So it was finally clear that George Michael is not a real performer. (Of course Mrs. Commish was loving it. She used to write him fan mail. She didn't know then that he was far from interested in her.)

There were many other performances from all of the top 12 contestants.
It was good to see that Amanda Overmyer was back on the sauce. Her drunken stagger was just right.
We saw David Hernandez whisper the word "naked" while singing Father Figure. When he said that word he looked over at Johnsie and smiled. It was a little awkward.
In one of the early songs we saw that Castro sounds great as long as he stays in his range - but when he gets outside of those four notes he starts to sound questionable.
I rewound the TiVo at least six times to watch Brooke attempt her dance moves. I kept looking for the marionette strings from her elbows but they were hidden pretty well.
Syesha seemed much better than she ever was in the competition when she was singing with Seal. For that matter - same with Carly. The pressure must have been too much early on.

All in all, one thing I realized last night is that iTunes has changed the face of American Idol forever. It seemed like they were cranking out all of these songs last night just to have more to sell. Now that they know they can make millions every week on iTunes - it seems like it will drive every thought making process in the whole show.

So the show ended with David Cook winning by a whopping 12 million votes. We didn't get to hear him sing the finalist song - but I know I could look it up on YouTube if I really cared to see it. Fact is - I am over it. I am looking forward to next year - as you should be as well. The competition seems to get more fierce every year and next year we should have our own website. If you know folks who should be in the league, e-mail me and I will add them to my mailing list for next January.

2. AWARDS

Full Season:
First Place: Seacrest Out
Second Place: ProfB
Third Place: Sanjaya Rocks
Last Place: BadNewz

Top 12 Season:
First Place: Seacrest Out
Second Place: Sanjaya Rocks
Third Place: ProfB
Last Place: The New Last Place

White Trash Talker: (most trash talking) ProfB - he is always good for some sass.
Moster Poster: (the award for the most posts - 86) IdolSmith - I loved getting the notifications in my e-mail everytime Mrs.Idolsmith left a comment. The time stamps would be 10:23 pm ... 10:27 pm ... 10:30 pm ... 10:55 pm ... 1:25 am ... 6:50 am. As a creator of this monster, it brings me great joy to see someone so dedicated to the game.
Early Bird: Thaddeus Glapp - Good old Thaddeus was usually the first to post his picks. He was a pioneer - not afraid of anyone else stealing his good ideas.
Fall From Grace: Zebra Fight - he was doing so well early on and then just tanked - finishing just above the Three Amigos in the top 12 competition.
The Three Amigos: Team Hasselhoff, BadNewz and YoYoDawg - these teams stuck together at the bottom of the barrel. Even if they guessed the winner before Hollywood and predicted the top three finishers in order before the final 12 started, they still would be about 40 points behind the leader. There is always next year.

My son's kindergarten teacher made awards for every student so they felt special - I don't have the time for that so I am going to stop there. I do want to give a special thanks to Team35 for hosting the awesome party and getting the contest prizes. I want to thank IdolSmith once again for donating the food (including the cookies) for the party. I want to thank Rickey at Rickey.org for an easy place to steal photos from for this blog. I also want to thank Mrs. Idolsmith for raising the bar for commitment to American Idol. And thank the rest of you for making it so fun.

3. EXIT INTERVIEW
This league was formed back in 2002 during the first season. It was just us and Team 35 sending Word documents back and forth. Last year was the first year we utilized a website and invited other teams. This year we had 20 teams. In all that time - the scoring aspects of the game have had to adapt quite a bit.
If you have any suggestions on how to make the league better - I am all ears. Any of you who know me know that I love math, spreadsheets and making up rules for stuff like this - so I would love to find ways to make it even more fair and accurate - you know, like Fox News.
For example, I don't think I set the point values for the Pre-Hollywood picks quite high enough. ProfB deserves more than 10 points for picking David Cook to be the winner 15 weeks ago.
Or for another example, we started out having three bonus picks worth 8,5 and 2 and then switched to an "assign your own points" method after the top 12. Should we do it that way throughout the competition - or keep it like it was this year.
If you have any ideas - just leave them as comments on this post.

4. STANDINGS
Congratulations once again to Seacrest Out. Here are the final standings ...

FULL SEASON
1. Seacrest Out
2. ProfB
3. Sanjaya Rocks
4. JC
5. PaulaTics
6. (t) Bessie Moo
6. (t) Team 35
8. Thaddeus Glapp
9. Fire & Ice
10. The Indiananans
11. Team Shivers
12. Simonsays
13. Zebra Fight
14. IdolSmith
15. Team Hasselhoff
16. BadNewz

TOP 12 SEASON
1. Seacrest Out
2. Sanjaya Rocks
3. ProfB
4. Fire & Ice
5. Bessie Moo
6. Team 35
7. AMightyWin
8. Thaddeus Glapp
9. JC
10. (t) Paulatics
10. (t) The Indiananans
12. (t) Simonsays
12. (t) Team Shivers
14. Leftcoaster
15. IdolSmith
16. Zebra Fight
17. Badnewz
18. Team Hasselhoff
19. Yo Yo Dawg
20. The New Last Place

10 comments:

TJ Smith said...

Well, since I was given an award for the most posts, might as well jump in and give my last. I will say, that somewhere along the way I noticed the trash can at the bottom of the screen and since I rarely preview my post, I started deleting them if I misspelled something or forgot to say something, etc. SO that accounts for many of the closely timed post, Mr. Now that I know you watch every move as the Commish, I will use the trash can with more caution next season.

Now, as far as Jason not singing out of his 4 bars..he's not a pageant guy and not used to singing on the move, that's all. I think he sounds good at all times and that's a fact. I am glad they gave him a solo, but could have done with less Mike Myers or Renaldo and heard JC sing the whole song this time.

I didn't really like Carly and MJ's duet that much. Bo Bice and Constantine sang it the way its supposed to sound back in Season 4 auditions. MJ and Carly kind of lost me and bored me. Sad to say.

Today I felt like the weight of the world was off of me. I actually focused on projects I had planned to do back in January. Its not easy having OCD. I never know what is going to grab my attention and take hold of my life. So thanks for the fun and stress all in one. I almost split teams with the Mr. midway through because of his careless gambling ways with our points. It felt good to put my foot down last night and vote ole Archie off despite my kids chanting "David A all the way" as I typed.

Commish, you do need to watch DC sing the winner's song, because he actually did a really good job. He could have a hit, even though I think there was line about a magical rainbow - he still made it great.

Thanks for a great time, I loved Idolschmidoling!

TJ Smith said...

Okay, so I am back pretty soon..but see, I forgot to say something.

Prof B...if you read this, I need to get your address. Send to Commish via email so crazy lurkers won't visit you. I am going to send you something that you are going to LOVE being an Aggie and all. I promise its not anything from a cow or a rodeo. Trust me. Commish, you get a present too.

profB said...

Lol--this will be followed by 3 more Idolsmith posts, doubtless. Will have Commish send you my address.

Prof B agrees that he deserves more than a mere 10 points for correctly, sagely predicting the winner nearly four months ago--and so declares himself the real winner of this competition. He is having his own great big trophy made.

Team Seacrest, ever been snipe hunting??

Had fun--

B

Olf Arts said...

Enjoyed watching the fun and insanity. Fair warning to all. We are set to challenge you NEXT year! The Olf Arts are headed your way.

TJ Smith said...

Commish! I'm scared..who are the Olf Arts? Friends or spies?

Bessie Moo said...

I will write more later...

For now, my husband and I are heading to Baja Burrito for our 10th Anniversary! ;-)

(We're staying at a swanky downtown hotel tonight... sans kids! Feeling a little geeked tonight.)

TJ Smith said...

Of course I checked this blog again..one last time...its harder transitioning back into the real world than I thought. BUT by this weekend, I should be good to go. Hopefully. Good thing American Idol forums are still hopping.

Bessie Moo, how flattering that you chose Baja Burrito for your anniversary dinner! I hope you will not be disappointed. Since Troy is not working tonight, you must tell me if people aren't behaving there.

Email your address as well. I am feeling generous and since you know someone who kind of knows Jason, then you are kind of famous yourself and deserve a present. You will love it too.

I am taking my kids to see our American Idols this Sept. in Indiana. Closest one to Nashville! Can't wait!

Unknown said...

I'll just go ahead say this: For not actually watching the show all season, I came in fourth place. Who needs a TV? I think I'll go buy myself a cookie to celebrate.

Bessie Moo said...

Oh, I am in burrito heaven. That, my friend, was an AWESOME way to celebrate. I'm sated.

We went to a B&B last night in Smithville and had a 5 course meal. My hubby is from Texas so he had to cap anniversary celebration off with something that had chips and salsa in the mix. ;-)

Hey, JC - how do we know that you didn't just sneak on over to the LIVE show? Huh? Huh? Oh, you're in Seminary. Right. Enjoy your cookie.

I'd like to point out my rousing comeback. I'm proud of my 4th place finish. Very respectable considering how I was stinking up the place the last month of the competition.

Alright - going back to enjoying my swanky hotel. :-)

TJ Smith said...

I know no one is going to read this, but I am going to post it just the same. We took the kids to Dollywood yesterday and I proudly wore my "Certified Castronaut" shirt much to the Mr.'s dismay. (I know its pretty sick, but I was just having fun, so be quiet).

In line for a ride this man tapped me on the shoulder and asked me what a Castronaut was. I said it was a fan of Jason Castro on American Idol (duh). He said "Whew! I wuz skeered you wuz promoting castration or sumpin" And his wife said "Either that or you wuz a communist". WHAT?! They both seemed relieved to be wrong.

This happened not once but TWICE! Seriously, another person asked if I was wearing the shirt to keep my husband in line. I saw several onlookers questioning what it was but they weren't brave enough to ask. One guy for no apparent reason let me in front of him to ride Mystery Mine and there was a really long line. Hmmm

Although I was a tad disappointed that my devotion to Jason wasn't obvious to the masses, it was funny making grown men squirm.

Now I have the perfect shirt to wear when I need to crack the whip on handymen and such.