Idol-Talk: Season 9 Finale

American Idol Season 9: Finale
Airdate: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 [8-10:07pm]

• Less than 2% separated Crystal & Lee
• Top 12 perform "Schools Out for Summer"; Alice Cooper later joins them.
• Kris Allen performs "The Truth" (at the start, you can hear Ryan and someone else talking; they apparently didn't shut off their mikes in time).
• Simon Cowell Farewell Video: Ryan Seacrest, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, Kara DioGuardi, and Ellen DeGeneres on Simon leaving
• Siobhan Magnus & Aaron Kelly perform "How Deep Is Your Love"; Gibbs joins them.
• Michael Lynche performs "Takin' It To The Street" with Michael McDonald
• Dane Cook sings a comedy song set to Simon's insults; auditioners come out and join in at the end.
• Top 6 Girls perform "Beautiful" and what I believe is "Stronger," with Christina Aguilera, who performs a song on her own.
• Ricky Gervais does a hilarious goodbye package for Simon.
• Top 6 Guys perform a Hall & Oats Medley with Hall & Oats
• Janell Wheeler in Crystal's hometown, Toledo.
• Crystal Bowersox performs, then Alanis Morissette joins her.
• Carrie Underwood performs "Undo It"
• Video: Kris Allen presents Crystal & Lee with their brand-new 2011 Ford Fiestas.
• American Idols perform "My Wish" as part of the final Ford Music Video, which compiled all the music video footage from the course of the season.
• Casey James performs "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" with Bret Michaels.
• The 10th season auditions will include auditions send in through MySpace. Visit myspace.com/americanidol for details.
• Lee Dewyze & Chicago perform a medley.
• Matt Rogers in Lee's hometown in Illinois.
• Simon Cowell Video: into himself, and who he's attracted to.
• General Larry Platts (& dancers) perform "Pants On The Ground" with choreography (The dancers have their pants down. Williams Hung joins in at the end.
• Simon Cowell Farewell Video: Paula Abdul's first day with Simon, and Paula talking about Simon.
• Paula Abdul makes a grand entrance on the stage and talks to and about Simon; Video: farewell, Simon saying goodbye.
• Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks, Taylor Hicks, Kris Allen (all the Idol winners minus David Cook, who was at a charity event), and many former contestants perform.
• While they are all still on stage, Simon Cowell joins them on stage and makes a farewell thank you and goodbye speech.
• Top 12 (minus Top 2) and Janet Jackson perform, and Janet performs by herself as well. This is the second time on this show we've seen the use of the lasers; the first was with Adam Lambert's performance of "Whataya Want From Me" earlier in the season.
• Video: Crystal & Lee auditioning in Chicago.
• Crystal Bowersox & Lee Dewyze perform "Find a Little Help." Joe Cocker performs with them.
• The winner of American Idol 2010 is...
• ...
• LEE DEWYZE!
• Winner Prediction: 0/1
• Lee Dewyze performs his new single, "Beautiful Day"
• End Time: 10:07pm (They actually ended on time, but in the process, they ended up cutting off the end of Lee's winning performance.)
• [Ricky Minor never got a goodbye; how rude of Idol to do that.]

• How long has American Idol run over the scheduled end time over the course of the entire season?: 40 Minutes! That's basically an entire one hour program (when you take out the commercials).
• Auditions/H'Wood Week (Going back to the auditions and Hollywood Week, below is how many times I wrote down the eventual Top 12; the * means that particular performance was one of my favorites. As you can see, Andrew and Katie were my favorites, but that all changed when Crystal Bowersox blew us away starting in the Semifinals. And notice how many times I wrote down Casey's name; it goes to show that contestant's can start off good but go downhill):
• Andrew Garcia*, Andrew*, Andrew*, Andrew
• Katie Stevens*, Katie*
• Crystal Bowersox, Crystal, Crystal
• Michael Lynche, Mike*, Mike
• Casey James*, Casey, Casey
• Didi Benami*, Didi
• Lacey Brown
• Aaron Kelly
• Siobhan Magnus
• My Season 9 Predictions: 10/23 = 43% [I'm not surprised here; this was the weirdest season for predictions, and many people in the blogosphere were way off all season as well]