"American Idol": Finally the Finale

We are finally here. Can you believe it? The finale of “American Idol”!

But before we crown a winner, there’s some singing to do. It was such a big night Simon wore a jacket. Personally, I like the t-shirts.

And why was Ben Stiller hiding behind that Middle Eastern woman?

For the final time this season, we go to the scorecard…

Round One
Katharine McPhee, “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree”: 23
As much as I dislike Katharine, I really like her doing that song. I think it was her best song choice of the season and it was a good choice tonight, even if the judges didn’t think so.

Taylor Hicks, “Living for the City”: 24
I was worried about him going with this one, but he brought it, way more than he did the first time he performed it. He showed absolutely no nerves and even went to a higher key. The only reason I didn’t give him a perfect score was that hideous jacket. Purple?

Round One Winner: Taylor

Round Two
Katharine McPhee, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”: 24
I have to give her kudos for finally toning it down. However, she seemed kind of uncomfortable. She told Ryan her ear monitor that gave her the key didn’t work. That would explain it.

Taylor Hicks, “Levon”: 22
How was this Taylor’s favorite song of the season? This was a lousy choice and he came nowhere near totally nailing it.

Round Two Winner: (As much as it pains me) Katharine

Round Three
These scores are out of 20 since they didn’t choose the song.
Katharine McPhee, “My Destiny”: 16 (and that’s probably generous)
Is this the song Chris would have had to sing if he had made it to the final? It was definitely not written with Katharine in mind. I think this is the worst “Idol” single ever! Even the glory note got a horrible transition. And of course, we’ve brought back the gospel choir. In the song’s defense, though, Katharine didn’t nail the notes it gave her, but they were few and far between. Hope the recording is much better.

Taylor Hicks, “Do I Make You Proud”: 19
I think this one was written with Taylor in mind (or possibly Chris). Yes, it was terribly sappy and the lyrics were pretty stupid, but it still worked, maybe more because of Taylor than the song. He nailed his glory note, though it had a bad transition as well.

Round Three Winner: Taylor

So who is our next “American Idol”? If it’s not Taylor (as Simon predicted), then there’s truly something wrong with the voting. For you conspiracy buffs out there, I would say that this week’s conspiracy was against Katharine since she got the raw deal on the singles. Did they purposely give Taylor the better song so he could come off better? Maybe Katharine’s song was better than she sang it? Yeah, right…

But just to be safe, I voted for Taylor six times. It may have been seven. I think at least one of them failed.

Don’t forget the two-hour finale begins tomorrow at 8 p.m. Unless they decide to mess with tradition, they’ll crown the new “American Idol” around 9:50 p.m.

And poor Daniel Powter. He sounded great, but no one paid any attention because they were too busy screaming at the video playing behind him. Wow, Kevin’s got a big fan club.