I got in from a long day at work, and lots of last-minute errands, and immediately fell asleep on the couch; a little trick I learned from my cat. But I woke up just in time to catch the last 20 minutes of the amazing, superspectacular, blowout final American Idol show. So I feel quite fortunate, in not having missed the most important moment in television history.Or so they said, anyway. By now your local emergency broadcasting service will have notified you, but Carrie was declared the winner, and wept and celebrated in the manner of a Miss America contestant - which of course she was. But I reflected last time, many of the other contestants have contracts to record and perform, and they were here for the big show. Before the announcement, we were favored with a medley of songs featuring the various "Idols" booted off over the past few months, performing with some of the original artists (who became famous the old, tedious way.) I didn't catch all of it, but it was neat to see George Benson reprising "On Broadway", and I genuinely enjoyed hearing Vonzell again performing with Billy Preston; she sounded terrific. Bo performed with Lynyrd Skynyrd, appropriately enough, looking like a 20-year younger member of the band.
So here I end my brief tenure as a Fox viewer, and my reports on this season's Idol competition. Er, "competition". Carrie is presumably off to a good start on her country-pop career, and I'm sure that more will be heard from the other contestants as well. (Heck, ten of them are coming to my local arena this summer!) Personally, I hope Vonzell and Bo get a good ride too; they added a little soul to this enterprise, which otherwise might have been a little - dare I say it - contrived.
Good night, America - Fielding out.
