American Idol

Tempers are flaring.  Last night's final performance episode of American Idol's seventh season was as divisive an episode of television as I can remember.  David Archuleta has been the ultimate love him/hate him contestant on American Idol – it's hard to find an Idol fan indifferent about the Archuleta experience.  David Cook, on the other hand, hasn't been nearly as hated, though he has inspired a lot more “meh” reactions from fans.  However, the major complaints regarding last night's performance show stem not from the contestants themselves, but from the judges' reactions to those contestants.  To the objective viewer, it appeared that David Archuleta received a plethora of undue praise, while David Cook wasn't given the love he should have.  This viewpoint is obviously somewhat biased, but considering it appears to be shared by a significant percentage of American Idol viewers, it can't be that far off off base.  In our final podcast of the season, John Kubicek and I discussed the judges' performance last night, the overall quality of the songs, and who we believe will be crowned the American Idol winner tonight. 

John is predicting David Cook will win.

I am predicting David Archuleta will win.

We are both rooting for David Cook.  My belief that Archie will emerge triumphant is a cynical one, seeing as the Idol production team clearly wants Little David to prevail, whether he deserves to or not.  John's belief comes from the fact that Dial Idol is predicting Cook to win, and the fact that Archuleta backlash has been building for the better part of two months.  Regardless of what eventually happens, tonight should be a very interesting show. 

There's an important distinction to be made here (if you choose not to listen to the podcast, though we advise you do): we are not bashing Archuleta's performances last night.  He was as good as he's always been.  There was nothing surprising about his output last night – it was what he's done all season.  Our ire is instead aimed at the judges, who we believe had unfairly inflated reactions towards his performances, and in turn downplayed the quality of Cook's.

As always, we suggest you listen to the podcast to get the full gist of our views.

Also Read
Finale Performance Rankings
Finale Performance Live Thoughts
Why David Archuleta Will Win
Why David Cook Will Win
May the Best Man Lose
Best Performances of Season 7
Worst Performances of Season 7

-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of FOX)