Victory shows 'Idol' judges don't get it

Victory shows 'Idol' judges don't get it
Show’s staff often seems unsure about demographic of audience
COMMENTARY
By Craig Berman
MSNBC contributor
updated 11:02 p.m. ET, Wed., May. 21, 2008
Simon Cowell said on Tuesday night that David Archuleta had scored a knockout victory in the "American Idol" finale. Instead, the voters scored a TKO of their own, punching out the opinion of the "Idol" judges.

David Cook was crowned the winner of "Idol" on Wednesday, and it wasn't a nail-biter. Ryan Seacrest called the final margin of 56 percent to 44 percent a significant amount when it comes from a total of 97.5 million ballots. What had been seen as the closest competition in ages wound up being what appears to be the biggest rout ever, with Cook winning by 12 million votes.

Both were strong performers all season, with neither coming particularly close to elimination until the finale. This marked a big change from a year ago, when neither the winner, Jordin Sparks, nor runner-up Blake Lewis seemed a safe bet for stardom.

"For the first time ever, I don't really care who wins," Simon said on Wednesday. "I think you've both done terrific."

Judging by the vote totals, the audience cared a lot more than he did about the outcome. They just didn't share his opinion of who the winner should be.

Judges out of touch?
The judges declared Archuleta the champion-in-waiting on Tuesday, but their reasons for doing so may indicate that what the judges and producers are looking for in their "Idol" winner isn't what the audience wants.

Both singers excelled in their final performances, with Archuleta showing off his strong vocal abilities and Cook illustrating how he controls the stage and woos the audience. Neither did anything that would cause their supporters to lose faith.

But Simon in particular dinged Cook for picking a more up-tempo number for the "choose-a-random-song-by-an-unknown" portion of the event. It was true that Cook's choice didn't sound much like the usual sappy ballad that gets placed there. But it also might be true that nobody much likes the usual sappy ballads, and what they were looking for was something that sounded more like actual pop music.

Similarly, Simon criticized Cook's song choice of "The World I Know" by Collective Soul, since it wasn't a song Cook had previously performed. Archuleta, by contrast, chose to provide an encore of John Lennon's "Imagine," a song he'd done early in the season.

But hadn't everyone already heard Archuleta ace that song? He may have tried to remind the viewers of how he'd sounded when he was at his best, but Cook offered something other than the usual song selection. His fans apparently didn't think that he should lose credit for trying something new.

Perhaps sensing that the outcome was in doubt, Simon backtracked on Wednesday. "I want to congratulate both of you. I went back home to watch it, and it wasn't quite so clear-cut as we called it," he said.

The other judges agreed. "You dudes brought it down to the wire. I'm so happy that it's the two of you standing there," Randy said. "You're both winners, baby. Both."

And Paula, phrasing things in her own unique way, added, "You two are truly amazing. It's odd that it's called the finale when it's anything but the final — it's the beginning of the start of the destinies of your career. I'm so proud. And just remember sometimes you think it's all about winning but it's the things sometimes that we lose that remind us of how truly special we are as people."

Old-Timers' Day
Tuesday's erroneous prediction was easy to make for the judges, since the "Idol" staff sometimes seems to be unsure about which age demographic its winners will be targeting. At times, it seems like the show's production people and its fans aren't on the same musical wavelength.

Wednesday's show was more like an Old-Timers' game at Dodger Stadium than a celebration of the nation's newest pop star. Was anyone in the audience clamoring to see Donna Summer onstage for what seemed like forever? Or Bryan Adams? ZZ Top? Graham Nash? Apart from the person who booked Carrie Underwood, the Jonas Brothers and One Republic, does anybody in charge of scheduling the acts have a rolodex that's been updated since 1989?

Maybe the reason the youngsters aren't watching the show as much these days is because there's not much they can relate to musically, since the guest stars and themes are from their parents' and grandparents' day.


Between the veteran acts and the constant product placements for Fox movies and advertisers, it's a wonder that anyone was still tuning in for the result. The clips with Mike Myers alone served as a Scared Straight-esque video of the horrors that could await either finalist if they don't succeed in music … a lifetime of having to do shamelessly bad promotions for unabashedly bad films.

Finally, after two hours of forgettable television, the payoff finally came when Ryan Seacrest announced the winner. For David Cook, who originally went to the auditions only to support his brother, it was confirmation that he'd built a strong enough fan base to veto Simon, Randy and Paula and take the crown.

The "Idol" folks can only hope that after a season that featured mostly guest acts from the distant past, they found a champion who can become a top act in the present.

Craig Berman is a writer in Washington, D.C.


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