Channelup

Tonight wrapped up a down year for Idol in terms of talent. I know that's been written about ad nauseum, but it's true. Thankfully, the best two made it to the finals and had decent performances tonight. Read my reaction at CinemaBlend where I break down each song.

And it only took us two hours to get there. What a freaking bore. Click here to read the rest of the reaction on CinemaBlend.

Kris Allen. Channelup called it. We are geniuses!!!!!! Pop the champagne.. Kris Allen wins American Idol. Channelup's own James Davis called it here. Bow before the intelligence. All kidding aside, this still seems a bit of a shock. Both these guys have careers ahead of them but I think Kris had slightly more to lose than Adam. Interesting result that I am sure will be talked about ad nauseum.

The final vote-off. Or the most important moment in the history of the world. (sorry Jesus). final flurry of thoughts before vote off: "Maggie May" is my favorite Rod Stewart song and definitely in my top 500 songs of all time. (that isn't a knock. I love music.) Mrs. Channelup called the Tatiana reappearance. She defines trainwreck (Tatiana, not my wife). Idol though did a great job tonight of self-deprecation (or the losers from early in the season did a great job). The final Kris and Adam duet accompanied by Queen (minus Freddie) was an instant classic. My god. Queen?! I am speechless.

Here is the 2nd part of my semi-live blog about Idol. Mrs. Channelup explained to me why I should like the Bikini Girl - Kara duet while she wrestled the remote out of my hand as I tried to change the channel. Look Kara is a disaster, we all know this. But she got up there and sang decently well and exposed her bikini body for charity so I can't kill her for that (even though I might kill her in real life). \ Alison and Cyndi Lauper singing "Time After Time." Mrs. Channelup says that Lauper looks like a Tim Burton character. That being said, what a great rendition. I love that song and their voices were perfect matches. Then my favorite contestant Danny Gokey performed. I don't know what kind of career path this guy has, but he is just a guy you root for. Choir director, wife passes away and he goes on the show with his best friend (who got a bum deal by not making the top 24). I am not going to comment on what Adam is wearing because I don't have the k...

With all of the glitz and glamour associated with Idol isn't it apropos they sent the two finalists out there in their virgin whites to signify the purity of the whole thing? No, it was stupid and they looked like idiots. So begins the finale. Couple of highlights from the first hour: I know my manhood will be brought into question over this but I really like the song Rockstar by Pink. When the top 12 sang it seemed as weird as can be. I kept thinking that at least half the people up there would rather be anywhere else but probably had an agent (or Simon Fuller) in their ear saying, "Get the F#$% out there and dance and sing your ass off. You need to start earning." The whole thing seemed odd. Giving Norman Gentle an award was a nice way to get one of the truly entertaining and disturbing contestants ever back in to the fold. I can't believe this guy is married to a woman, but hey maybe she just hasn't realized yet. By the way, I said to Mrs. C right befor...

For the first time this season, Kris Allen is now favored by the major online gambling sites. Was America so moved by his performance of "No Boundaries," or might I have been right in stating that the state of the competition actually favored him before last night's performance? Before the finale last night, you could have bet 100 dollars on Kris Allen and stood to win 300 if he won. In the hours after the finale, you had to bet 170 just to win 100! Now I'll go on record as saying that last night's performance looked to be a wash to me. If you liked Adam before this, you probably still like him - no matter how awful his performance of Kara's song was. And can we take a quick second and discuss that? Is Kara really a worse song writer than the fledgling millions who produced such classics as "This is My Now!" and "Whatever that David Cook Song is Called About the Time of His Life That is Also Doug's Wedding Song?" Isn't she ...

Well its Adam vs. Kris and I must say Idol has proven over the last two years that the most talented and current can make the finals. Idol has progressed. Can you imagine Taylor Hicks getting out of Hollywood week at this point? It would be a laugher. Even Ruben Studdard would be nowhere to be found this year. The fans got it right. The ostentatious rocker vs. the acoustic guitarist. Before we get to the performances I need to ask one question: What the hell were the stylists thinking when they dressed the judges tonight? Paula reminded me of the Green Goblin from Spiderman, Simon looked like a Saturday Night Fever reject, Randy looked like Steve Urkel put on 400 pounds, and it wouldn't matter what Kara wore because I would still hate her. The format for tonight was 1. Song of Choice from this season 2. Song picked by Simon Fuller 3. The Song that Must Not be Named co-written by Kara Adam - Mad World . James wrote earlier that this was probably one of the best Idol performa...

Guest and possibly soon-to-be semi-regular contributor James Davis explains why Kris Allen will win American Idol . Ready to put your co-workers to shame and maybe win a little money in the process? Danny Gokey was seen by many as the only possible threat to Adam Lambert's march to Idoldom, and now he is eliminated. Radio stations across the countries are already crowning Adam and proclaiming him as one of the best Idol 's in history. Bloggers are declaring that it would be a catastrophic upset if Lambert doesn't win in a landslide, and once again dragging the dreary cliché of Chris Daughtry's elimination through the mud for yet another season in anticipation of such a shocker. Meanwhile, Kris Allen has quietly chugged along with some truly elite performances, mixed in with some clunkers. It's tough to quantify the chances of winning for a candidate who can pull off an acoustic version of "Heartless" or "All she wants to do is Dance" while a...

Some quick, nitty-gritty Idol thoughts as I see one of my all-time favorite contestants go home. I am not sure I rooted for anyone as hard as I rooted for Danny. Just watched the vote-off on warp speed replay. I rarely like the vote-off as it is an hour ratings grab for two-five minutes of actual entertainment. I do, however, enjoy this week in the season when the top three head back to their hometowns for some family time, keys to the city and mobs of adoring fans lining the streets in the their honor. The return-home week always comes off as the first time each contestant begins to fully grasp what their lives have morphed in to. Last year, David Cook's entrance to his high school football field where thousands waited to cheer is something I always think about. He got a little choked up at the idea of, "Wow. They are all here for me." It is a special moment that seemed to hit Danny and Kris especially tonight. Where I think Adam believes he truly was meant to do no...

It's the 300th episode, my three favorite contestants are all still in it, Kara's approval ratings are way down and its the "going back to our hometown" week. Oh its a good night in the Channelup household. Tonight each contestant sang twice. One judge's choice and one song of their own. Will do this in recap format tonight for speed. Let's go to the top 3. (blogging note: I am typing my comments in real time, but am posting as soon as the show is over) Danny Gokey - Paula picked Dance Little Sister by Terrance Trent D'arby. Danny had never heard of this song and neither have I. Neither had anyone else I have ever known. I'll be honest, I had to look up TT D'arby on wikipedia just to make sure I spelled his name correctly. Guy is kind of famous. Who knew? Anyway, Danny made due with what Paula gave him. The song was a little corny, but at least it was Paula's fault. Kris Allen - Randy and Kara picked Apologize by OneRepublic. This...

The writer who usually covers the Idol vote off G-chatted me in a panic. "Are you watching Idol? I need you to do the running recap!!!" When there's trouble, you call Channelup! Read more to learn how I saved the internet! Click here to read my running recap on Cinemablend .

Slash was the hired help for rock night. Idol saved the relevant stars for the end of the season. I was kind of hoping he would go on stage and play with each performer, but that may have overshadowed the contestants. A fairly standard night with the performances all well above average. Adam stood out but I am getting tired of talking about him so we'll just leave it at that. The other performances were good, but had flaws. That isn't saying much at this point as all four remaining contestants have some kind of career waiting for them post-Idol. Tonight, though the top four performed duets to a couple of different rock songs. I love the idea and it made the hour full of performances without feeling rushed. The duets sounded great and the rock format worked well. What I absolutely hated was the judges critiques of the duets. Why? Why not just leave them as entertainment and move on? Having each judge break down the positives and negatives of a duet was overkill eviden...

I have to be honest. My attention was not totally in the Top 5 at the onset. Mrs. Channelup was out for dinner with her sister. I had the Red Sox game going on the computer, the Yankees and Mets games just a click away and was monitoring my fantasy baseball team. Notice a theme here? My focus was drifting until Jamie Foxx came out as the celebrity mentor. Nice job Idol. Nice job. I got legit excited. Jamie Foxx is one of the few entertainers that, to me, can seemingly do no wrong. On In Living Color he was awesome, great in action movies, transcending as Ray Charles, and even though I don't particularly care for his music, I can't deny he has crazy talent. He also came across as a great mentor. Unlike other celebrities (Tarantino) Foxx appeared to be as excited as the contestants in coming up with strategies for quality performances. That being said. This was an hour long show with 5 songs. From a programming standpoint that is simply not acceptable. This episode...

Thanks to Lost airing some sort of recap (ratings grab) the Channelup house was forced to watch the Idol vote-off. I have successfully avoided these all year. Tonight confirmed that I haven't been missing much. What a disaster. (Spoilers ahead) Many many many many awkward moments in this. The disco-dance/ medley-Paula Abdul-choreographed mess was tough to watch. The contestants looked like idiots, the dancing was terrible, the music worse but I grinned and bared it. Highlight of this whole thing was Matt Giraud "being surprised" to find out he could download his own songs as a ringtone on his Blackberry. WHHAAA?!! Is this the future or something? Phones can play songs?! I suppose next you'll be telling me they can take videos or something crazy like that? Idol is always ahead of the technological curve. Then Lil Rounds gets voted off and sings fantastically. I kind of wonder if the nerves just never left her all season. She always seemed to under perform ...

Matt got saved last week which had all the suspense of reading the dictionary. Tonight the producers chose everyone's favorite genre of music: disco! I wish we could vote off the idea people for Idol . As stated last week: there is Adam Lambert and everyone else trails by a pretty wide margin. That isn't necessarily a knock against the other performers. Some of them are really, really good and in another season would be front runners. Unfortunately they got lumped in with an actual juggernaut of talent. Adam slayed it again tonight and proved that he could hit the big time very very soon after the ridiculous cash grab called "The Idol Tour." Most of the performances were above par tonight. Fairly predictable (isn't all disco?), but really good. Besides Adam, I think two performers stood out tonight. Kris Allen was clearly out in front of the rest of the crew with his song choice and arrangement. His version of "She Works Hard for the Money" sou...