'American Idol' Tracker: Battle of the Davids

Wednesday night, the final night in the Idoldome, saw at last the journey reach its irreducible core.  After all the ups and downs, what the season was about was what it had seemed to be, what many hoped it would be for these last weeks –- the battle of the Davids, David Cook vs. David Archuleta.  Syesha Mercado, having dodged so many bullets for so long, was finally dispatched at the very respectable No. 3 slot on a night as tear-jerking as any the show has yet produced.

There are two crucial episodes in each "American Idol" season. The first is the Green Mile --  the show at the end of Hollywood Week in which the remaining 50-some aspirants learn one by one if they have been accepted into the Top 24, an entire episode of pure razor’s edge dramatic tension as each is hurled to the entertainment heavens or plunged forever into the abyss of anonymity.

The second crucial episode is the one in which the surviving Final Three return to their hometowns; the triumphal marches showcase in stark tear-jerking Technicolor the noblest heights of the "Idol"  phenomenon. Here is where it sinks in that a mere four months ago, Archuleta, Mercado and Cook were, in fact, a high school student, an aspiring actress and a bartender, and now, they go back home for the first time, their lives utterly and irrevocably changed.

For all the shots taken at "American Idol" this season, for all its ratings tremors, off-nights and tragic early losses of favorites (such as the greatest performer in "Idol" history, Carly Smithson), when its contestants come home, the entire town turns out for a massive parade.

Just to put that in perspective, America by and large does not honor people with parades any more. For those who think this has become just another TV show, please note: The finalists on "Survivor" don’t get a parade when they come home. Nor do the finalists on "The Bachelor," "Dancing With the Stars," "American Gladiator," "The Biggest Loser" or "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila."

The stars of "Lost" and "CSI," such as the stars of "Speed Racer" and "Iron Man" might get hounded for autographs when they come home, but a public undergoing an intense love/hate relationship with Hollywood-generated celebrity would not laud them like heroes.  And in any event, they don’t go home.  The majority of the entertainers whose faces adorn the covers of our magazines are there more to be reviled then worshiped. There are no parades when Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan come marching home.

Newly ascendant rock bands and pop stars certainly don’t get parades when they come home. With the fragmentation of music, they probably would not even be recognized outside their tiny demographic niches.

Politicians not only don’t get parades when they go home, they probably have to hide their faces from a substantial portion of their hometown slice of polarized America. Even the president of the United States (perhaps especially the president of the United States) doesn’t get a parade when he comes home.

Heroes of the Iraq war may not be spat upon, but they are not exactly celebrated either. Go ahead, try and name one. Astronauts have become humdrum. Inventors don’t leave their cubicles long enough to receive a parade.

A triumphant sports team receives a parade, but its members, like solo athletes from golfers to Olympians, so quickly license their likeness to every product in sight (our adulation of them is so harshly enforced by the marketplace), that a parade quickly becomes superfluous.

Which leaves "American Idol." Only this show can harness a broad enough swath of the nation to command crowds of this size. And whatever their futures may hold, while they remain in the rigorously protective "Idol" bubble, only these young people, nearly at the end of this epic, awe-inspiring journey, with one foot still just four months out of their roots, inspire the sort of unembarrassed, non-ironic affection that leads to masses of citizens weeping in the streets at the very sight of them.

Were "American Idol" to go away, would our culture have anything left to weep for?

For the last time in Season 7, I left the Idoldome on Wednesday night; in the parking lot, the disembarking tweens from the crowd were still shrieking themselves hoarse over what they had seen.  Between the presence of the entire original 12 and the drama of tonight’s show, there was an air of carnival-like jubilation on the lot, a sense that after a season that at times has felt rocky and uncertain, the show was now firmly on track for what could be an extremely exciting finale –- and certainly one with the most uncertain outcome since Fantasia vs. Diana.

As I walked out, I saw the giant elephant doors to the Idoldome were hanging uncharacteristically open.  Within moments, less than an hour after the show’s end, workers carried out and set down on the parking lot pavement the judges' table, the hanging logo and the death couches, all bound for the Nokia Theatre, home of next week’s finals. I gazed back into the rapidly dissembling Idoldome, for these last few months the scene of so much drama. When these couches had been brought on stage, the name David Cook was barely known, certainly never mentioned as a contender for the crown. 

And I looked on to the two velour-lined couches, sitting so innocently on the asphalt, and thought about all the agony that had been experienced on them in that room for these seven years. Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood, Chris Daughtry, Jennifer Hudson had all known sheer torment on these couches, as had so many others whose names are barely remembered today. A TV show, I thought, may be as much a matter of smoke and mirrors, of positioning the lights in a certain way and of a thousand little tricks as any business on earth, but whatever the craft behind it, I saw that as long as the Idoldome can be rebuilt on another day, our nation will still have one last cause for a parade.

-- Richard Rushfield

Photo courtesy of Fox

Comments

[lucie13]

What is this constant homage to Carly Smithson? She was terrible! Terrible!

[Simon Says]

They Promised The Moon, The Stars, And Heaven Above. And just like Charlie Brown I got a rock.

As a songwriter who's parents were songwriters, like them I write because I love it. It's never been about the money. But when the NUMBER ONE SHOW ON TELEVISION says they're looking for some amateur to write the Next Great American Idol Finale Song. Wow! The first thing that crossed my mind was.....MILLIONS! Millions of people. Millions of cd's. Millions of dollars. Millions. I'm betting I'm not the only one.......of Millions.

It's Time For Some Answers!
This is the second year in a row that American Idol has had a songwriting contest. Since the contest ended last year I've researched the contestants from last year and this year....FYI there were over 25,000 entries last year at $10.00 for each song. 20 songs were then chosen out of the 25,000 for an online vote. The winner's song is then performed on the American Idol Finale. The problem I have is that one of THIS years Top 20 Songwriting Finalist is a Co-writer of LAST years Top 20 Songwriting Winner. Somebody from American Idol has some explaining to do.

If you want proof of fraud.
americanidolexposed.weebly.com

[Anne]

Wow. What a good column. I agree with you - but it's so rare to read or hear anything as upbeat and positive as this. Thank you for writing it. I used to think Idol's main claim to fame was the auditions with their utter luck-of-the-draw plus the often harsh/nasty assessments followed by the relentless march of casting out 49 people one by one. But now I'm thinking that the about-faces from ordinary and sometimes desultory lives to triumphant and successful ones is actually at the core of its success. Thanks for pointing it out so clearly.

[Aminah Carroll]

GREAT COMMENTARY. vivid and heart-tugging reflective and a lot more intelligent than the show

[Michael]

It really wasn't necessary to spend SIX paragraphs illustrating your tangential point about parades. We would have stipulated it. And, oh my God, enough already with Carly Smithson (the most electrifying/astonishing/magnificent/phantasmagorical/supercalifragilisticexpialidocious -- whatever). She was fine, she didn't win, she didn't die, leave her alone. Thank you.

[Ray Pratt]

For the second week in a row my vote for Syesha Mercado was credited to David Archuleta .I very carefully entered the numbers. The mistake was not mine.
Is there a pattern where random votes are given to "The Chosen One" to insure his victory?

[Rich Gordon]

Very nice analysis of the show! Thanks for the (sometimes rare) positive commentary regarding Idol. No other show in recent memory seems to so masterfully interweave moments of disappointment, inspiration, and entertainment. Well done!

[grcooley]

Sorry, but if you're the "greatest performer in Idol history" your repertoire would be lit bit more extensive than MOR pablum from Bonnie Tyler, Heart and Queen.

[Lori]

Really, why do you have to talk about Carly Smithson in everything you write? It's getting extremely tiresome!

[NeneD]

I ALWAYS appreciate your AI analyses, Richard. It's cool to sort of read your heart regarding a TV show I've come to love, too. However, alright already with Carly!! She's a lovely young woman with a lovely voice, but hardly the best singer ever. Come on, let her go. I am sure she will not be forgotten. I imagine Clive has already signed the child up. Let's move on to David-squared.

[jamesincalifornia]

Yes, we know you thought Carly Smithson was great and that she got a raw deal. Personally, I think Syesha Mercado was far better, but the judges stacked the deck against her with their unjustifiably negative comments and the inappropriate song choices they foisted on her. I am saddened by her loss.

[Melanie]

Carly certainly was the best performer in Idol history. Her presence has been GREATLY missed these last several weeks. In fact, I'm not even sure why I'm still watching....oh yeah! Because every now and then Carly shows up in the audience to cheer on her friends!

[Housefrau]

I found it strange that the Idol producers finally decided to make Syesha sympathetic, with the reveal about her recovering drug addict dad and a view of her humble home. It was too little too late because the whole season Syesha was spun as the cold beauty who cared only for her own advancement. The David A. hometown visit was a non-event, filled with a torrent of tears that left me dry-eyed and bored. In contrast, the David C. hometown visit was a tearjerker-- the elementary school, the parade, the baseball game, all with his brother by his side. It was on the level of Elliot Yamin's visit back to VA. I am now rooting (and possibly voting) for David C. all the way.

[Al]

The top 3 are terffic performers and all will do well in the entertainment world. I believe David Cook will win.

[Vicki]

Poignant piece that, as I read it, washed over me a sense of nostalgia, bittersweet. The finale isn't here yet, but I know right now that this will be my favorite American Idol season ever. Many naysayers, critics, and anti-AI webmasters (you know who you are), gleefully punched this season's crop of young hopefuls (reminding us with every headline that the show's audience was waning, that we didn't know anything about the contestants so we didn't care about them, and the overall ho-humness of it all despite many changes to the show's format and set design), until "anything Idol" was rendered bloody and bruised... but it was never down. Nothing was ever good enough for these sadistic critics. To that, I smile, knowing how wrong (are they jaded? Unloved by their mothers?) they have been.

It was NEVER boring. There was not one Top 10-er that I loathed, not one undeserving contestant in the batch. Each one had talents, although some not as developed as those of others. The styles and personalities of each were distinctive and appreciated. And out of nowhere, a dark horse charged forward and surprised me with his gritty renditions of "Happy Together" and "Billie Jean" only to captivate me as a lifelong fan with his gripping "Eleanor Rigby" and "Always Be My Baby." Win or lose next week, David Cook can never go back to his life prior to Idol. He has become a star. This season has been everything that American Idol is suppose to be, and if I had to choose a particular season not to watch, this season would not be it. It's been a glorious ride!

[crabpaws]

I never watched AI before this season, and I'm glad I became enmeshed as it jumped the shark. The final four contained two with no interest in winning. Jason Castro bowed out on his own terms and he was right, competing further wasn't worth the stress.

David Cook (who has made the whole thing bearable for me) is left contemplating a prize with the approximate value, for him, of a warm bowl of spit, and thanks so much for the blood pressure pills. That tuneless song from Switchfoot -- a throwaway in the final three competition -- could be construed as his gesture of defiance to the star-making machinery:

Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone's here
Everyone's here
Everybody's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next?
What happens next?

I dare you to move
...

Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be

By this time, he must be feeling like the AI machine is bent on squeezing golden eggs out of him. And that Ford commercial -- is David C's dream really a Hollywood mansion surrounded by ... Fords?

Poor Syesha, she really wanted to be AI's golden goose. After seeing her homecoming, her determination is touching and the way she was set up to fail all the more offensive. Note to producers: If you want something "fresh" from the contestants, if you don't want them to sing like dinner theater or Broadway, don't make them perform in those so-last-century corny emsemble dance numbers, almost a parody of bad TV.

At the end of the decision show last night, David C seemed much happier and more relaxed. Maybe he's worked out a deal with 19 Entertainment so he doesn't have to win.

My money is on Archuleta.

[Juanita Yates]

I love American Idol and look forward to watching it every week. It is so much fun to watch these kids start out looking and sounding so immature and then all of a sudden they start to come into their own. My husband and I love to pick someone that to us has a great voice and hope they make it all the way. We do not always agree, but then thats what makes it so much fun. I personally love the voice of young David. He hasn't got the stage presences as yet, but as he matures I'm sure he will have. I think David Cooks songs all sound alike. He starts out slow and some times off key and then he goes into yelling the last part of the song. I guess thats what you call real rock.

[Sara]

I totally agree with you about Carly Smithson!!.. i'm glad that everyone recognize that she made history in AI and she will make history in the music industry!!...

Carly Smithson = SUPERSTAR!!!

[rea]

GREAT blog! no bashing on anyone particular. I have come to love this show so much because of DA..but after seeing all of their homecoming events. This show is definitely no longer becomes just a singing show...the judges no longer matters..things change after their homecoming. Their hearts are touched by the lives they have inspired. The American people LOVE THIS SHOW BECAUSE they can relate to all of them. These kids have made it..(atleast temporarily) They depict the fact that dreams are attainable!! Whereas, we americans cannot relate to politicians, atheletes, movie stars, famous artists and singers, because we did not watch them crawl and then start running, and eventually flying....but with the American idol contestants--WE FEEL THEM BECAUSE THIR LIVES ARE JUST LIKE OURS--waiting on our lives to progress into our own "dreams" instead of remaining stagnant and regressing in career-life, personal-life, emotional-life, and etc...THEIR DREAMS BECAME ours...the homecoming experience DEPICTED THAT!

[Robert Roberts]

Nice article. Am a father in my 50s, and this is the first time that I really enjoyed watching AI, and watch it consistently, because only of one contestant, David Archuleta. Honestly, I am very impressed with his voice, golden one and more honestly, I wish he has been my own son. A sweet, lovable, wholesome, charismatic and good looking kid. Who wouldn't like him to be their son. Not me.

[Xena]

My sister returned to her home last Tuesday just in time to see David Cook sing his final song at the end of the show. Her comment to me was that his performance was lackluster and off pitch but that both Paula and Simon seemed to love it! My sister is a an experienced singer, knows how to harmonize, etc. and has a very good ear for music. I value her opinion not only because of her experience but because she is extremely honest and would never seek to unduly criticize. Her statement validated what I have felt about David Cook's singing for quite some time, and I have been surprised that he is so rarely called out on it. If the producers want to pimp him to be the next American Idol, fine. He does have stage presence and charisma, but a great voice he does not. Last I heard, American Idol is a SINGING CONTEST. David Foster got it right on Access Hollywood when he said that David Archuleta deserves the Idol crown. In the beginning he actually preferred Cook over Archuleta, but now says that Cook has gotten worse each week while Archuleta has consistently improved from week to week. (By the way Richard, he loves Carly too!)

If the producers are trying to throw David Archuleta under the bus now because they have issues with his father, how sad is that? Are the supposed sins of the father to be visited upon the son? Who's the real abuser here? Down the road they will appear complete fools because win or lose David Archuleta, if he so desires, will become a worldwide phenomenon like Josh Groban. Since American Idol is broadcast in many countries, he is already becoming well known worldwide and is building a large fan base. Like Josh Groban, his style crosses boundaries of culture, race, ethnicity, and age groups.

[Jim Lacey]

AND SO IT GOES......

There is a huge difference in this year's Idol finalists.

When he is on stage, Cook's performances demand the
audience's attention. When Archuleta is on stage, his voice
commands their attention.

There is clearly a worldliness in Cook, 26, still missing
in the younger Archuleta, 17, though Archuleta will grow into
that unknown, as he should, in his own good time. His
performances will also grow and reflect that change. He'll
blow us away even more than he does now.

By comparison, Cook's performances and his voice
are pretty much going to stay where they are right now.

The real curiosity meanwhile is the motivation behind
what makes us more a fan of the one than of the other.
Comments suggest that most of us tune in to "watch"
the show. Fewer of us by far tune in to "listen." This
clearly gives Cook the edge because he's the more
intense performer.

On those grounds I think he will win because he's got a
great voice and is worldly, eliminating Archuleta -- but only
because the kid hasn't been around the block yet, despite
having the greater voice by far.

What this says about us as fans is that we seem to be much
more interested in seeing someone's emotions on display
than we are in hearing about them.

Yet, all said, the real Idol is Archuleta, and has been
since the day he auditioned. Ten years from now Cook
likely will have vanished from the scene, but fifty years from
now, excited throngs in Paris and London and New York City
will still be queuing up, in the rain, under umbrellas, willing
to pay top dollar for tickets to an Archuleta concert, much as
they do now for the 80-something-year-old Tony Bennett.

And so it goes....the kid has already won, even if he doesn't
know it.

Jim Lacey

[Jim Lacey]

There is a huge difference in this year's Idol finalists.

When he is on stage, Cook's performances demand the
audience's attention. When Archuleta is on stage, his voice
commands their attention.

There is clearly a worldliness in Cook, 26, still missing
in the younger Archuleta, 17, though Archuleta will grow into
that unknown, as he should, in his own good time. His
performances will also grow and reflect that change. He'll
blow us away even more than he does now.

By comparison, Cook's performances and his voice
are pretty much going to stay where they are right now.

The real curiosity meanwhile is the motivation behind
what makes us more a fan of the one than of the other.
Comments suggest that most of us tune in to "watch"
the show. Fewer of us by far tune in to "listen." This
clearly gives Cook the edge because he's the more
intense performer.

On those grounds I think he will win because he's got a
great voice and is worldly, eliminating Archuleta -- but only
because the kid hasn't been around the block yet, despite
having the greater voice by far.

What this says about us as fans is that we seem to be much
more interested in seeing someone's emotions on display
than we are in hearing about them.

Yet, all said, the real Idol is Archuleta, and has been
since the day he auditioned. Ten years from now Cook
likely will have vanished from the scene, but fifty years from
now, excited throngs in Paris and London and New York City
will still be queuing up, in the rain, under umbrellas, willing
to pay top dollar for tickets to an Archuleta concert, much as
they do now for the 80-something-year-old Tony Bennett.

And so it goes....the kid has already won, even if he doesn't
know it.

Jim Lacey