Review: Our New American Idol, David Cook

The season finale of American Idol has come and gone. With more than 97.5 million votes, beating the previous record by more than 23 million, David Cook took 56 percent of the votes while David Archuleta sat at 44 percent. This was pretty close to the internet polls. The producers kept the viewers waiting anxiously for the results. The entertainment was spectacular. It was great to see David Cook perform "Sharp Dressed Man" with ZZ Top. Cook was looking very comfortable on stage. It was also nice to hear Simon give a heartfelt apology to David Cook for being so hard on him after his performances the night before.

Previous contestants continued to show off their talents during the season finale. With Kristy Lee Cook, Carly Smithson, Brooke White and the others, it was a great show to watch. Others featured on the finale were Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Jimmy Kimmel, and George Michael.

I do not believe that David Archuleta could have done anything more to come out as the winner. Viewing his performances the night before, he put more effort into his music than he did in previous episodes. The entire problem was the type of songs that he chose. Every song that he sang was a ballad. If I listened to an entire CD of ballads, I would be sad and depressed.

How did David Cook take the win? One fact that slipped my mind was even though the teens and tweens were voting for David Archuleta, they had a bedtime. As a matter of fact, to be sure David Cook got his just deserve, I was hitting redial on my phone until 1:00 A.M. Also, the David Cook fans were outraged by Simon Cowell's ugly statements from the pre-finale performances. This encouraged me even more to vote as many times as I could to give David Cook the win.

I even emailed the phone numbers to friends to make sure they voted. Posting messages in Yahoo Answers and other message boards, I wanted to see who was getting through to the David Cook numbers. I was constantly receiving a phone message that stated, "Due to network difficulties your call cannot be completed at this time. Please try your call again later." I was not sure if that message was a good thing or a bad thing. What if David Cook's phone lines were not working? I waited about two hours after the show to continue calling again. Even thirty minutes before the vote cutoff time I was having a hard time getting through to David Cook's numbers.

Overall, I think David Archuleta took the news very well. I hope that his dad did as well. He should not see his son as a disappointment. Coming in second on American Idol is a great compliment. I think adult Americans really wanted David Cook in the picture. The teens have Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers and others alike.

David Cook's recordings will fly off the shelves and digital downloads will be numerous. I am extremely happy for David Cook. He worked hard, has what it takes, and will be very much successful in his endeavors.