Tell me if you've heard this before. A frontrunner seems virtually assured of victory early in the campaign, only to watch as a cool, confident newcomer steals the mantle away. Desperate to make changes, the new underdog banishes a meddlesome family member and begins changing its image seemingly every week. Finally, the onetime all-but-assured winner, now trailing hopelessly, makes a shameless attempt to win over American hearts and minds ... but it's too late. The cool dude has got his voter base locked up. It's over even before it's over.
I'm just sayin'. I think I've seen this reality show play out this season already.
Still, it's wonderful to see David Cook overcome the media, the pundits and all the doubters (myself included) and score an incredibly decisive (56% to 44%) victory to be named the seventh "American Idol." I didn't really "toldja" he would win: DialIdol.com gets credit for that. However, I did spend part of this afternoon reassuring skeptical readers that DialIdol almost certainly had enough data — given that Tuesday was the heaviest voting night of the year — to make its unambiguous prediction of a Cook victory.
The best line I heard during the day came from the New York Post's David K. Li, who after seeing the DialIdol tally shared with me his theory: "David Cook's voters have later bedtimes."
UPDATE: More from LA from Tim Finn
(Here's a picture I loved so much I had to post it. Taken moments after the finale, it shows Cook with two tall Fox executives and Mike Darnell, its actual sized chief of reality programming. Think of this as a passing of the mantle. TAKE IT AWAY, LIL GUY! BRING ON THE LIE DETECTORS AND BREAK DANCERS! QUALITY IS LEAVIN' THE BUILDING!)
Rather than go on and on about the finale, I just want to point out one moment. OK, two moments. That George Michael song was amazing. But I was actually going to point out that when Carrie Underwood took the stage, she took OVER the stage. I don't know if it was the song or the fact she's totally resculpted her body or what, but if Tuesday's appearance of Reuben Studdard marked a sad coda to the sing-off, serving as a cautionary tale for how quickly your star can fade after winning "Idol," Underwood was strutting proof of how it could serve as a launchpad. The trajectory depends on a few if's: If you are independent minded and know what you want in a career. If you are in the right genre of music to exploit your talent. If you hook up with the right people (hopefully not connected to "Idol").
David Cook is poised for liftoff. I hope he achieves it.
EARLIER POST: Hold the phone! DialIdol is calling it for Cook
