And The Winner Is...

David Cook!

I must admit I was a little surprised. I thought Arch would win, but I think the better singer/performer won this year for sure. I was glad Simon apologized to Cook for being a snot last night. Archuleta really wasn't better than Cook last night; I thought it was too close to call.

I also DVRed the Fox news here after the finale. It was hilarious, I must say. Almost the whole program was about American Idol and all they did was boo-hoo over the Archuleta loss. The faces of the teeny-bopper girls in the ESA in SLC were hilarious. They bawled and threw fits after Ryan's announcement of Cook's win.

Then the news anchors here {Bob Evans (yes, like the restaurant, "down on the farm") and Hope Woodside} came back from a commercial break and said, "We were just talking and it's better that David came in second because now he will have more freedom because he won't be under an American Idol contract." And then I said to the TV, "Um, you are wrong. The top two BOTH have to be under AI contract. The only difference between Cook and Arch at this point is the title of American Idol." And then after the next commercial break Bob and Hope came back on and said, "Oh, our producers just handed us this paper - turns out David does have an American Idol contract." Yeah. That's what I told you. Aren't reporters supposed to check facts before spurting out verbal diarrhea?

Archuleta was very gracious about the loss. He told Fox 13 that he knew Cook would win and that he had learned so much from him. Sweet. Also, Cook seemed to really be surprised and touched.

Overall, I thought it was a great night and a fun finale show. I loved Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. being The Pips.

Well, AI fans, I'll catch you next year! Don't worry, though, I will be posting about So You Think You Can Dance every week as soon as they get down to the top 24. ;)