Thoughts On the Idol Final

Please come to the podium to receive your award.

• Best Performance. The African Children's Choir was high energy and fun. A refreshing break from the usual pop music.
• Most Unexpected Appearance. Doug E. Fresh, a king of old school rap and beat boxing, performing on American Idol. I'll admit it was a guilty pleasure.
• Most Tear Inducing. Tie between Bette Midler and Sanjaya Malakar. From Jerry Springer's tears and that little girl, I don't know what else to say except that it brought me to tears to have to listen to it, too.
• Biggest Headscratcher. Joe Perry comes on the show to perform with Sanjaya? Wow.
• My Favorite. Gladys Knight, Melinda and Lakisha singing "Leaving on a Midnight Train to Georgia". It is a wonderful song and they chose the right group to sing it. Did you notice how much fun Jordin was having?
• Things I had Forgotten. Smokey Robinson has a unique sound that is great. I don't think anyone else sings like he does.
• Cheesiest Performance.Unbelieveably, it goes to Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul during "Wind Beneath My Wings". The judges were worse than any of the campy group numbers. Amazing.

I did not watch enough this season to have a strong opinion about the final. Well, I thought Melinda should have won, but you only had to watch one show to figure that out.