Now that David Cook is the Season 7 American Idol, Will He Go to Disneyland?

By the time Ryan Seacrest announced that David Cook was the new American Idol for Season 7, it was almost anticlimactic.

Except that the right David won. Or -- to clarify -- the David everybody thought was going to win did not.

It is doubtful that many people expected David Cook to defeat David Archuleta in the American Idol finale. Especially if they watched the one-hour singing run-up to the two-hour finale. All of David Cook's performances were a bit ... sedate. The Clive Davis choice for Cook, "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" was too boring. The song no one had ever heard, something about dreaming big, was a bubblegum throwaway. And his personal choice, from Collective Soul, was a great version of a great song, but it had no power and that's what you want to end the show with -- power. Something to be remembered by. David Cook was the rocker and he didn't rock out.

Archuleta's performance was on the money. The only thing that Archuleta did wrong was sing John Lennon's "Imagine" a second time (although I think he did it even better the second time, which is amazing). His never heard before song, "In This Moment," was simply excellent.

And the judges loved Archuleta. Simon Cowell, sticking with the boxing theme of the show, kept saying, "Round ____ goes to Archuleta." He even said at the end of the show, "Archuleta by a knockout."

And then the phone lines were open for people to vote.

The final results show was great. The Final 12 finalists came out and sang. Syesha Mercado sang with Seal. All the girls sang with Donna Summer (and Donna Summer even passed the mic to Syesha to sing a verse -- how cool is that?). Brooke White sung with Graham Nash. Jason Castro did "Hallelujah" for everybody again (the first time he did it, the song jumped to #1 on the digital download chart). Carly Smithson and Michael Johns sang "The Letter." David Archuleta sang with New Republic. David Cook sang and played guitar between ZZ Top's bearded boys (how very cool is that?). All the guys got to sing with Bryan Adams.

Both the Davids got a new car. Ryan Seacrest asked David Archuleta if he had a license. (He answered "yes".)

And Simon Cowell apologized to David Cook for shutting him out the night before. Cowell said that after watching the performances on television, the performances seemed a bit more even. That was a nice gesture, although a little late, considering the voting had already been tabulated.

But when Ryan told the crowd, the millions in the viewing audience, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, and the two Davids that after 97.5 million votes, David Cook won by 12 million (56%), no one looked more surprised than David Cook.

Yes, it was almost anticlimactic.

But the right David won (see other articles on David Cook and American Idol by saul relative). And that is what really matters.

Television critics and analysts have bemoaned the fact that the #1 show in the United States, American Idol, has lost 7% of its viewers. Still, they should feel heartened by the fact that the final vote count tabulated 23 million more votes than last year's final. They might also take heart in knowing that television viewership is down 13% across the board (blame it on the writer's strike and the Wii).

As talk show host and comedian Jimmy Kimmel said just before he informed us that Simon Cowell was fathered by Satan, "Nineteen weeks of karaoke has brought us to this." (Sounds like Kimmel read saul relative's "Boring Karoke" article.) Another successful season of American Idol gone.

David Archuleta said in follow-up interviews that he was happy for David Cook (he genuinely looked happy about it, too), and he was ready to start work on an album.

You get the feeling that everybody in the Top 24 this season will be putting out albums within the next couple years, the season's talent was that good.

And David Cook now has an album to make as part of his guaranteed album deal for winning, as soon as he gets over being "overwhelmed" by being chosen this season's American Idol.

Source:

FOX Television