American Idol Recap - Who Won Season Four
Seacrest is in under a dramatic spotlight as our finale begins. And, just like that, the bad medleys start. It's the Beach Boy. Our rejected Idol contestants come on out wearing crisp white pants. I hope no one spills anything!
A quick review: Lindsay sounds awful, Jessica sounds amazing, as do Vonzell & Nadia. Federov, who is spared from the curse of the white pants, gets a nice solo on "Surfer Girl". Nikko gets a solo too, but let's just say that it's not so nice. Yikes! Constantine? Oh baby, he gets around, dontcha know?
Seacrest hypes the rest of the show and the "stars" in the house and introduces the red carpet host: Mikalah Gordon. Hmmm, okay, this could be fun.
Mikalah has lightened her hair and looks completely different. She actually does a great job. She's like a young Joan Rivers, only cuter and more coherent. She'll never make it as a singer, but she could certainly be an MTV personality. I guess that's something.
A season review commences: bad singers across the USA, Hollywood, semis, final 12. You know the drill.
Random question: McDonalds spends millions and millions of dollars on advertising. Why is it that they never have decent commercials?
Seacrest visits Bo's dressing room (get your mind out of the gutter!) and shows a clip of Bo's fans live in Alabama. LaToya London (who was robbed, by the way), is in Birmingham with Bo fans. Oooh, yesterday was apparently "Bo Bice Day" in Alabama. Take that, Underwood! After that, Bo performs "Vehicle" again. I've liked this song ever since I "discovered" it on my sister's Have A Nice Decade
After the break, it's Carrie Time in Oklahoma. The first lady of OK, who looks like she just stepped off the stage of the 1986 Miss Oklahoma pageant, declares that Carrie will win. Nasty Matt Rodgers from last season tries to hit on her. Blech. Speaking of blech, Carrie sings "Angels Brought Me Here" again. Oh dear, once again I just have to say what a horrid song this is. Idol should ban songs about dreams for a year or so. Don't worry, they could still sing about miracles. And heaven. And believing.
Now Ryan's skulking around outside the judges' dressing rooms. Oh look, there's Corey Clark. Just kidding ;-) Randy thinks Carrie won the night. While I tend to agree with him, I think Bo will win this easily and the judges are just trying to make it more dramatic for ratings purposes. Speaking of drama, we are "treated" to a clip of the dramatic Season One kiss between Paula & Simon. My eyes!
Back in Birmingham, LaToya interviews some of Bo's friends (the two that look like the hicks from the Dodge Hemi commercials). Hilariously, we can hear Simon and Ryan commenting on how "they're all drunk". I don't think they realize we can hear them. What a disaster. Not to whine, but couldn't this just be an hour long show? Why must they torture me?
WTF? As the second hour kicks off, they have some terrible singer making a mockery of the National Anthem. That really ticks me off. You don't purposely make fun of the National Anthem. Fox should know better.
It's a duet! Carrie & Bo join together to sing "Up Where We Belong". Oh no. They don't sound good together. Their voices just don't seem to mesh. People make fun of Season One's Justin Guarini now, but he and Kelly really did sound fantastic together. But, Bo is wearing leather pants!, so does any of it really matter?
This episode is mostly filler and a review of all the bad auditions. We see Dirk from St. Louis again. I think Dirk is mildly retarded. He's obsessed with David Hasselhoff and as a reward for being a good sport, the show has not only brought Dirk to the finale, they have also seated Mr. Hasselhoff right next to him. On one hand, that's cool. But on another hand, why are they continuing to make fun of Dirk? Are they trying to break all kinds of taboos tonight? First the National Anthem, then the mentally challenged. What's next?
And the answer is, nothing is taboo, as the show rather shockingly mocks ABC's Idol Expose with a canned piece that claims Simon's affair with himself has damaged the integrity of the show. Heh, okay that was kind of cute, even the inevitable William Hung cameo.
Medley #2 features the contestants with their idols. Carrie sings with some paunchy country guy. Roscoe something (not P. Coltrane). Whoever he is, he sounds so much better with Carrie than Bo does. This is the kind of music Carrie should sing. It's quite lovely.
Anthony and Anwar sing with Kenny G. Seriously. I'm not even making that up. Heh, it gets worse, they're singing "I Believe I Can Fly". With Kenny G. The wussiness is so overwhelming, it's actually created a vacuum in which all masculinity has left the stage.
Until, that is, Constantine, Jessica and Nadia sing "Walk This Way" with Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Damn. Constantine should have performed this on the show. He's fantastic. Jessica is hot and raunchy while Nadia rocks (finally!) If any of the three of them had busted out a performance like this during the season, they might very well be in the final two themselves. But, after hearing the singles, maybe they're the smart ones.
Punkass & Nikko sing "Nights on Broadway" with George Benson. Eff Punkass. I'm sick of writing about him. Vonzell sings a duet with Billy Preston. It's kind of a mess. Vonzell is just all over the place when she sings. I think that makes it hard for anyone to sing with her as they have no idea what she's going to do.
Lindsay & Mikalah sing something with Babyface. In the words of Kelly Clarkson, this is going to be a beautiful disaster. Hmmm, actually, I take it all back. Individually, they suck, but together they work. They're like the Wonder Triplets.
Finally(!), Bo sings "Sweet Home Alabama" with Lynnard Skynnard. Bo looks like he's in heaven. He's soooo happy to be fronting the band. And seriously, the band's looking kind of grim. Bo would get all the groupies.
And now, at last, it's go time. The results are in. Carrie and Bo both look like they're going to throw up. And here we go, after over 500,000,000 votes throughout the course of the season, America has decided that Carrie is the American Idol! Wow. I'm shocked that Carrie was the winner. And so is the crowd, some of whom are actually booing.
Congratulations Carrie! So, where does Carrie stack up against the ghosts of Idols past? You make the call:
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Posted by kris at May 25, 2005 08:56 PM
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Comments
| # May 25th, 2005 9:05 PM james |
| our polls showed bo with an almost 20% lead over carrie, and im inclined to think that they are right.
no way did carrie actually win this thing on votes. she must have been selected by the producers. |
| # May 25th, 2005 9:13 PM kris |
| A couple of things to think about:
1. Our poll is in no way scientific. Our demo hardly matches that of Idol voters. 2. Our poll did not allow multiple voting. Idol does. Perhaps Carrie's fans are more rabid. 3. Carrie was never in the bottom 2 all season while Bo was. She had an extremely strong fanbase. |
| # May 25th, 2005 9:13 PM james |
| even the sports books have bo as a big favorite over carrie. that means that the public preferred bo. this show doesnt release the actual voting results for a reason. |
| # May 25th, 2005 9:15 PM james |
| our "demo," huh? what exactly is that? our "demo" for these stories is "people searching google news for the term "american idol." those are the same people that call in votes.
|
| # May 25th, 2005 9:17 PM kris |
| No, they're not voting. They're searching google news. |
| # May 25th, 2005 9:27 PM jensant68 |
| Was that booing I heard when Carrie won? I think it was and I agree with it. Carrie may have had a good voice, but it should have been the all around package to be an American Idol. I think Bo got robbed.
Now that said, I dont believe Bo needed or needs AI to go on to have a very successful career, I would and probably will buy his CD when it comes out, Bo is unique Carrie on the other hand, still needs ALOT of help, with her terrible stage presence and wooden performances. I wont buy Carries, because lets face it, she's a dime a dozen in a world where there is nothing to set her apart from all the other eye candy out there. Jen |
| # May 25th, 2005 9:30 PM jensant68 |
| btw, was anyone else giggling when ole weeble wobble Scott Savol walked out on stage? It was either that or put a pencil thru my temple. Oh the agony of having to watch him again!! Was almost too much to bear!!
Jen |
| # May 25th, 2005 10:26 PM Squibbly |
| Ok... I take it from the previous posts that no one else is a country music fan. I, on the other hand, am. I really hope they don't try to make Carrie make pop music. It really isn't her forte (meaning... she doesn't do it very well). There is a niche in country music right now for female singers. Country music is hurting for female stars right now (only 2 of Billboard's top 20 in country music are be female solo artists), and all this publicity may have given her the exposure to become the next big female country star. She's got a good enough voice and just needs good writers.
I really didn't care who won, they will both get recording deals anyway. What to do with my Wednesday evenings now..... |
| # May 26th, 2005 12:08 AM BaldEagle |
| Wow. The bitter Bo partisans are out in force tonight. This reminds me of when the "most popular" Contantscream was eliminated.
You have to understand the typical Carrie fan: middle american, likes country music, quiet about his/her favorite, doesn't talk to polsters or take online polls. BUT WE VOTE. And all the "experts" were wrong. Just like when Bush beat Kerry. So there. |
| # May 26th, 2005 1:14 AM kris |
| I have nothing against Carrie. I think Bo was more exciting, but Carrie is fine too. I just hope she eventually gets to sing more interesting songs. The schlock she'll be recording in the near future isn't going to cut it. |
| # May 26th, 2005 4:19 AM outspoken |
| I love Carrie. Everything about her says "i'm the next american idol". I know Carrie sings like an angel inside a robotic suit but that doesn't stop her to be the next AI. I also like Bo by the way. He's unique and can kick ass. But the cute innocent image of Carrie is very rare in American idol. Compare her with the outspoken Fantasia. See what i mean? Anyway, since the beginning of AI 4, i surely love Carrie to win the American Idol and so she did! |
| # May 26th, 2005 5:29 AM jensant68 |
| Actually, I am a huge country music fan. It's all I listen to, basically. I just feel that Carrie didnt have the whole package and shouldnt have been the AI this year. Bo put it out there and all around was the better performer. |
| # May 26th, 2005 6:48 AM JohnTant |
| I was hoping Bo would win, and I don't consider myself a "bitter Bo partisan." And frankly, I really don't think there is (or was) some silent and dedicated Carrie Majority out there which somehow avoided notice.
Rather, I think it all came down to coalition politics. Consider the demo (to use Kris' term) of the final four. You had three bubblegum-types and one Bo. When Boringov was voted off, does anyone think those votes went to Bo? Or when Vonzell came up short, was she appealing to the Bo demographic? In fact, when you look at the entire field, I'm thinking the only times Bo picked up votes was when Constanteeth and The Beater left. Meanwhile Carrie was ultimately picking up blocs of votes every time a Lindsey/ Jessica/ Mikalah/ Nadia/ Vonzell/ Anthony/ Anwar went bye-bye. So Carrie had a broader base, but that's because she was indistiguishable from much of the field at the end of the day. I mean, honestly. Cute young kid singing his/her heart out? Yeah, we never saw anything LIKE that in pop music before.... |
| # May 26th, 2005 8:33 AM rockydog |
| The show was a *disaster*! How much filler can one network get to fill up 1 hr. and 59 mins. of space...obviously alot of crap! But now that it is over, I am not surprised that Carrie won. Afterall, could Bo sell as many records as Carrie could singing that Heaven song? As I have said before, it seems like the songs were picked more for Carrie and pop music (with a little kick for the country charts as well) vs. for the rock fans. Bo will do great! Afterall, didn't Clive offer him a contract (America heard you Clive, can't get out of this one!)? I think Carrie's single will go over great, especially if they allow her a slight country twist on it.
Well, this morning feels like the day after the Super Bowl...what to do with myself until AI5 comes around again.... :-( |
| # May 26th, 2005 8:34 AM jagorham |
| A couple of thoughts here:
(1) While the producers can do some things to skew results (e.g., more face time, a song genre more favorable for one contestant than the other), they can't out-and-out pre-pick a winner. They do have a standards and practices department overseeing this contest, and I think it'd unlikely that Fox would risk killing it's gold-laying goose by tampering. (Think ABC would like to get some dirt like THAT?) That having been said, I made a comment at the time of the tryouts that they were going to push Carrie big time, based upon what they were airing at the time - after showing Carrie's audition tape, they showed tapes from her farm and of her with her animals, which was a lot more than anyone else they showed from that tryout. (In fairness, they did the same thing with Anwar the next night, and we saw how well that worked). Contrast this with the first we saw of Bo - it was at the time of the next level of cuts (the up the elevator thing); he and Constantine were among the last to be told "stay or go," and they were wondering which of the two long-haired rockers would stay and which would go (assuming that they weren't going to pick two of the same types). But, pushing and promoting is one thing; the contestants still have to perform, and the wheat separated from the chaff fairly predictably. (2) Bo and several of the others (Constantine, Anthony, and Vonzell come to mind) and do just fine on their own, once the legalities of their contracts with Freemantle play out (or if they can get Clay Aiken's lawyer. |
| # May 26th, 2005 9:01 AM jensant68 |
| Jagorham,
You do know that the Idol producers are coming out with their new show "So, you think you can dance?". That should be a hoot!! I wonder how it will do in comparison with AI. Anyone gonna watch it? Jen |
| # May 26th, 2005 9:08 AM jagorham |
| "So You Think You Can Dance," eh? Someone dusting off Denny Terrio for another hosting gig? |
| # May 26th, 2005 4:12 PM kris |
| USA Today reports that their Gallup poll showed that Carrie was ahead 38-34 this week. However, their online poll showed Bo with 62% of the vote.
Interesting how that mirrors what we saw here. |
| # May 27th, 2005 7:13 AM stratton |
| I simply want to thank Kris for the weekly laughs; your wit is a treat. |
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