About last night ...

Some good reading from last night's Idol finale ...

... Allen throws a wrench into expected `Idol' outcome

Conversely, Lambert's commanding vocal range and stage presence _ and the judges' lavish adoration _ at times turned "Idol" into "The Adam Lambert Show," with the other contestants mere guests. But it turned out that "Idol" viewers could embrace a gifted performer like Lambert, one who sported black nail polish and bold self-assurance, only to a point.

... ‘Idol’ Machine Cranks Out a New Star

“American Idol” matters not just as a pop culture phenomenon, but as an institution that works — with scary efficiency — at a time when so many other American enterprises seem flawed or imperiled. It stands out this season in particular: “American Idol” is a money-making machine in the middle of a worldwide recession, an old-fashioned must-see television hit at a time when the Internet and cable have eaten away at the networks’ hegemony.

... Sealed With a Kris

Today, there'll be more talk about this being the latest red state/blue state battle -- such as Republican strategist Todd Harris did on CBS's "The Early Show" yesterday morning, as in: "You've got these more liberal elites who live on each coast, represented by Adam, and then Kris represents what those on the coast refer to as the flyover states."

... And for good measure here's EW's Michael Slezak's live blog of the finale and his final show wrap.

Idol finale time!

It’s “American Idol” Finale Night people!

The anticipation has been building all day. Let’s do this folks!

Forgive us, though, we’re starting about a half hour late tonight. But that’s the way we roll these days …

Quick dinner. Clean up the kitchen and wash the dishes while Phoebe plays. Get her ready for bed. Go outside to water the plants. Clean up Phoebe’s toys …

And here we are. Man, DVR is great.

7:32 … Ryan just opened the show with his classic THIS is American Idol! … Man, as much as we love to hate this show. That line and this night still gives me chills.

7:35 … From me to you, I’m loving the judges montage. Randy’s was the best

7:40 … We interrupt this program to rescue Phoebe. Apparently she hears us having fun with out her and she wants to watch American Idol too. … And now she’s playing with her music table. We’ll see how long she lasts …

7:42 … The top 13 are singing the big Pink song. I like it! … It’s always fun to see the old gang together again and looking good in the cool white outfits … Ah, thinking what could have been for Alexis Grace. And Megan Corkrey. ... And there’s Jorge, who’s probably thinking (with his giddy accent) ‘Oh my God! I can’t believe I’m up here again with all these people!’ ... Nice solo Jasmine Murray!

7:46 … David Cook is on the stage now. Soooo last year. ….Phoebe’s pressing the buttons on the DVR and threatening to pull the plug on our Idol-dom. Maybe she’s on to something …

7:50 … The awards portion! Yes! We missed this last year! … (Hey remember my personal fave -- guy with the really low voice -- Let my PEO-ple go!) … Geez, I barely remember any of these people. Still so funny, though! … Except for Nick Mitchell! Still bitter they even gave him a chance to perform beyond Hollywood week. … And of course he wins the award. This was probably so planned. … Oh, yep. It was planned. … Phoebe’s doing laps in front of us and waving pieces of paper. That’s more entertaining than Nick … Ah! But Ryan with Nick’s glasses and headband -- that’s good!

7:56 … Lil Rounds with Queen Latifah. Eh. … I enjoy Queen Latifah, but she makes Lil look like a 12-year-old. Kates just said: She could pretty ch eat her for dinner. …Whoah, Kates!

8:00 … Alexis Grace and Anoop on Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours!” Nice!! … Oh! And there’s Jason himself!! (I saw him!!) Awesome!! … Great stuff! We’re only a half hour in, but that may be my performance of the night.

8:05 … Kris Allen is up with Keith Urban now. Cool, I’m liking this …Nice guitar solo Mr. Urban … Phoebe just laid flat on the floor. I think that mean’s time for bed … Commercial break!

8:13 … The girls are singing Fergie now … They look better than they’re singing. Doesn’t look like they got very much time to rehearse their dance moves either. Yikes! … Oh, Fergie dear, I liked you better with lighter hair … Hey, and it’s the rest of the Black Eyed Peas! Nice! … Did they just bleep Fergie with the blue American Idol screen!?

8:17 … Ah, the awards for the girls. Can you say Tatiana!? … Oh, and Bikini Girl! Another one that never should have gotten as far as she did … Alexis Cohen, ah yes … Tiffany Shed, yep. And her mom ‘feeling it’ Oh, I forgot how good that was! …. No Tatiana!?! … And the winner is: Bikini Girl. Oh, lord. You think she had some work done? … Ryan says: “I was going to ask you what’s new, but I think I know.” HA-larious!!

8:22 … Taking a Phoebe break again. Maybe she wasn’t ready for bed after all. … Reviewing earlier A.I. posts while I wait for Kates to get Phoebe settled down. Here’s my opener for the season -- when I actually thought Kara was enhancing the show.

8:37 ... Phoebe's still wailing. This isn't like her. Something's not right tonight.

8:43 ... Ok, we're back. ... Back to Bikini Girl. And they're letting her sing -- it's stil awful ... Just when I was going to wonder out loud why they weren't showing Kara, and out she comes ... Nice, Kara. Nice.

8:47 ... Allison with Cyndi Lauper! Love it!! ... Reminsicent of Brooke White with Graham Nash at last year's finale. What a moment for Allison. ... Mmm, awesome.

8:52 ... Here's Danny singing Lionel Richie's "Hello" -- which will forever remind me of David Cook's stellar Season 7 version ... Now Lionel's joining Danny ... ALL NIGHT LONG!! I'm getting up to dance in the middle of our living room, or maybe I'll dance to the kitchen for a drink of water. It's hot here tonight ...

8:56 ... We've hit the 1:15 minute mark now in the show -- on our DVR. Meanwhile, in real time the Idol could be announced at any moment ... Then again, it'll probably be another 20 minutes since Ryan warned us last night that the show was going to go over-time. I just set our DVR to record an hour extra to be sure ...

8:59 ... Adam's singing. What's more, what is he wearing?

9:00 ... One word: Kiss.

9:05 ... Not really a fan of Carlos Santana .... Until he pulls out "Smooth," of course! Aw yeah!! ... Hey, it's all the idols again. Cool.

9:09 ... I knew Kris and Adam were getting cars. ... Megan, Michael Sarver -- and Steve Martin?! Nice! ... They sound good. ... I just noticed that they put Megan on a stool -- so she couldn't do her crazy little dance.

9:12 ...The guys doing "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy." Eesh ... This is like something you'd see at my alma mater's Homecoming Variety Show. .... And here comes Rod. Gotta love the mandolin opening for "Maggie."

9:16 ... It's dragging Rod. Now I'm really getting that glass of water ... And a bowl of ice cream.

9:18 ... Oh good, more awards! ... I don't remember any of these girls, either ... Ah, there's Tatiana! ... TATIANA gets the award!! ... The 'Saving All My Love For You' bit -- nice!

9:25 ... Kris and Adam together on "We Are the Chamions." Really? ... Aw c'mon Queen is there!?! Ok, this is pretty sweet.

9:29 ... Ok, here we go. Ryan says this is it. But how much do you wanna bet, it's another 20 minutes before he actually announces the results.

9:30 ... Wow. My heart's racing ...

YES!!!! ... I knew it!!!!

9:33 ... Whoah, man. ... Now we're being subjected to Kara's "No Boundaries" hurricane song again -- but at least it's Kris's version!

Ah, bliss. ... I think Kates and I seriously lifted our roof with our unison YES! and high fives when the winner was announced.

I tell ya what, you Americans. You know how to get it right. Last year David Cook over David Archuleta. And this year Kris Allen over Adam Lambert.

Idol finale: Night one

I'm counting down the hours now ...

Tonight we'll finally have a new "American Idol." We can finally put this whole mad world of a Season 8 behind us and get on with our summers ...

In that vein, let's cut to the chase. Last night's show ...

I was thrilled Adam picked “Mad World” as his favorite performance of the season; it was mine too. And it was as pure and terrific last night as the first time he performed it … I did agree with Simon on the whole “Phantom” comment, though. The long coat and smoke were too much.

For his second performance, “A Change is Going to Come” … More of Adam screaming and being theatrical. Seen it, getting sick of it.

On the other hand when Kris picked “Ain’t No Sunshine” as his season favorite, I couldn’t say I remembered his original performance, which couldn’t have been a good sign. For that matter, I was racking my brain to come up with any performance of Kris’s that I really liked, and I couldn’t do it. I mean, overall, I've liked his stuff -- but each week it seemed as though there was always someone better than him.

And I loved Kris’s second performance of “What’s Going On” … Which made me 0-for-2 in agreement with Simon for the night. Where I liked Adam in Round One, Simon liked Kris; and it was the opposite for Round Two.

I thought Adam’s third performance was atrocious. It was pitchy, whiny and, once again, too theatrical.

Don’t get me started on how cheesy the song was. I burst out laughing when Simon rolled his eyes and mountains and whatever other naturalistic smack Kara & Co threw in there … But if we've learned anything in watching Idol over the last few years it's that the "winning" songs are always loaded with happy-shiny-you-can-survive-the-pain-and-go-for-it! schmaltz.

Then Kris, I thought, stepped out and did a wonderful performance of the song -- schamltz aside, of course. Kris sang it like a pop song that I’d expect to hear on a top 40 radio station …

Leave it up to the judges to write him off and basically say, Hey, you did a great job, kid. Congratulations on what you did this season, but we want Adam to win tomorrow night.

I’m rooting for Kris.

Good reads ...
a ‘Idol’ Final Raises Extra Question
a Kara DioGuardi warms to the hot seat
a And the winner on 'American Idol' is sure to be...
a Who'll Win 'Idol' Title? Adam Lambert, Kris Allen Present Study In Contrasts
a Kris Allen & Adam Lambert: Ricky Nelson meets Elvis