Site Presented By
Thursday, Nov 26, 2009
After Super Bowl-style fanfare and 65 million votes, TV's most popular show concludes with Fantasia Barrino as the most deserving "American Idol" yet.
May 28, 2004 | After screwing up most of the votes and sending some of the most talented contestants packing, after shaking our faith in democracy and making us wish that we were ruled by an evil tyrant -- namely the ornery but wise Simon Cowell -- America finally dismissed overrated show choir teen Diana DeGarmo and made Fantasia Barrino, the most talented and unique contestant yet, this year's winner of "American Idol."
It was great. Fantasia cried and sang and firecrackers blazed and confetti showered down and it was like the Super Bowl and "Star Search" and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" all rolled into one. But that was just the last seven minutes of the show. Much like the rest of the season, which is barely tolerable without TiVo's fast-forward button, 90 percent of the "American Idol" finale featured some of the most inane banter ever to be captured on the small screen -- and that's saying a lot.
The festivities featured an outdoor stage in Hollywood where many of the eliminated contestants sang (reminding us, in many cases, why they were eliminated), footage of stadiums filled with screaming fans in the finalists' home states of Georgia and North Carolina, an extended version of the usual dorky play-by-play by host Ryan Seacrest, an alarmingly amateur, horribly choreographed medley featuring this year's "Idol" contestants, and interviews with stars attending the show. To top off all of the hoopla, Jennifer Love Hewitt was on hand, MTV-style, to chatter aimlessly with whoever would have her.
Jennifer Love Hewitt: Hawaii's my favorite place in the entire world!
Jasmine Trias: Oh God, it's the best!
Love Hewitt: You rock!
Sitting through the "American Idol" finale was like watching a national championship sporting event, except that the event took place the night before, and fans were gathered merely to learn who won and to celebrate the outcome -- for approximately seven minutes. At least Simon Cowell could be trusted to say something outrageous in that matter-of-fact, sociopathic tone that tells you he's not just playing it up for the cameras.
Seacrest: What's the most difficult part about being a judge on "American Idol"?
Cowell: Uh ... The most difficult judge? Most difficult part ... Um, it's not difficult for me because I'm the one on the show -- without sounding conceited -- who actually knows what they're talking about.
Cowell's vanity is justified, since his sense and sensibility were the only things viewers could count on during the third "Idol." First there was the slightly sad popularity of William Hung, with his tone-deaf rendition of "She Bangs." Then there was the premature dismissal of two of three extremely talented African-American women, La Toya London and Jennifer Hudson, whose powerful voices put other finalists like John Stevens and Trias to shame. Then there was the disastrous all-Gloria Estefan show, in which contestants sang painfully bad hits like "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" and "Conga" while the audience and judges winced. While Cowell has had fewer nice things to say than ever, judge Randy Jackson has appeared to be using all of his strength to swallow back the urge to proclaim the voting racist, and even Paula Abdul seemed a little off-kilter each week, replacing her usual servings of unfocused positivity with tense, emotionally overwrought haikus that neither the audience nor her fellow judges seemed to comprehend.
But one force has kept this season together: Fantasia Barrino. A 19-year-old single mother from High Point, N.C., Barrino offered consistently stunning performances with a distinct voice that sounds like a cross between Macy Gray and Aretha Franklin.
