SEASON 7 - AMERICAN IDOL - THE BEST OR THE WORST?

Could be there best rating season for viewers or 2nd best. I just read this season it's the Number One rated show right now and costs around $700,000 for a 30-second commercial! It's reported that on their premier show in January, they draw 33.4 million viewers. It's not losing steam by any means. So far, 2006 was their biggest viewing year but it's been the #1 show since 2005

"A growing number of television executives have begun to regard American Idol as a programming force unlike any seen before. Jeff Zucker, the new chief executive of NBC Universal, said, "I think Idol is the most impactful show in the history of television."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_idol

I watch it semi-regularly and I think either David Archuleta or David Cook with the edge to David Cook right now. I picture David A doing musicals on Broadway..and Cook being more in Doughtry's echelon and genre - an original and a rocker! If he were to put together songs of HIS choosing and HIS arrangement, I'D BUY HIS cd right now!

Kind of like Carly Smithson, WHAT PIPES! She has a strong, lush sounding voice. But not so sure whether or not she's got the universal fan appeal cause she forces it a bit and loses that joyful, fun quality.

Michael Johns is a real strong contender right now, but it's too soon and depends on song choices to see what he's got in store.

Jason Castro is cool, sings well, but loses connection with audience now and then -- a deadly trait.

If they bring back people as a wild-card, look for Chikezie to be back again.

When I saw David Johns audition, there was just something about him - poise, looks, style, confidence, something - and I said there's the next American Idol.

Since then he has been disappointing until this week, mostly because of the crappola songs they've had to pick from I think, but he gave me goose bumps this week. I like to get goosebumps.

He and Syesha--reminiscent of a young Diana Ross--remain my favorites.

David Cook has blown my socks off the last two weeks, though, and I think he has to be a front runner to win it now. He doesn't have much presence when he is off stage, but put him up there to perform and he is amazing.

Agree about Chekezie. Somebody has to lose, but he is special.

i love david archuleta he´s great!

He is good, but I'm pulling for the other David to win it at this point.

I like cook but they are both goo its going to be close

Welcome to A2K Ghost.

Archuleta did well on all three songs last night and I thought all three song choices for Cook were not even good, much less great. He simply didn't deliver the 'wow factor' that many of us have seen in Cook.

So, I think only a miracle will make David Cook the American Idol this year. He's still my favorite but I don't think he did enough to win.

But we'll see. Strange stuff happens on American Idol.

David A wins
david A is a lock to win

However, I'm listening to a GREAT CD made for me by a friend of David Cooke's songs. Great singer...but David A..wins

David Cooke - won by 12 million votes...I thought David Archuleta as well....

Yes, who would have thought? More than 90 million votes last night--and they said the viewership for AI was off this year?

But I am thrilled for David C, a thoroughly nice young man, and who I think is destined to be at least as successful as Daughtry. David Archuleta is very young and brilliantly talented and he will find the niche he wants as well.

I thought cooke would win but it was pretty close it was 46% to 54% i think

I saw on TV and read that the total votes cast were 97 MILLION of which David Cooke won by a plurality of 12 million. That's 56% to 44% roughly.

I stand corrected from my earlier reply:

Yes, nobody was any more surprised than me when David C won, especially by the margin that he did. I thought after the finale, he was a dead duck.

I'm from the older demographics for the show, but I think I have a good eye and ear for what works for the long haul. Everybody, young, middle aged, and old love familiar songs with a beat, a compelling melody, and strong lyrics that a singer can really sell. This season got off to a rough start when the show put too much time and focus on celebrities, etc. instead of letting us get to know the contestants and their personalities. In the early years, all the Idol contestants were household names by the time the first ones were voted off. I bet most people couldn't give the names of most of this year's top 12.

Then early in the show, they had back to back Beatles weeks. Beatles songs were terrific for the Beatles but very few of them make good solos and that, along with some other poor song choices, turned off a lot of folks. Maybe its just our sound system at home, but it also seems like the staging isn't as good as it used to be--the band seems to overwhelm the singers too much of the time and instead of the great group songs we used to hear, the music and lyrics take a back seat to exaggerated choreography.

I agree whole heartedly about the excessive ad breaks. When you have time to go to the restroom, find your house slippers, make a telephone call, and pop popcorn during a break, that is a lot of time to expect folks to sit and wait for the program to reappear.

But I watch faithfully whenever I am able. I guess lots and lots of people still do.