Why did Amercian Idol run so long last night?

I blame it on Idol's producers for not ending the show on time. They need to slash out some of the clips of the finalists and product pap and focus on the performances. Just because there are lesser finalists left doesn't mean that you can hog up the hour with so much stuff. And the judges need to keep their critiques short--sometimes they go as long as 2 minutes or more. Whatever happened to ending at 8:57 or 8:58? Hello! And they should keep the results show to 30 minutes. They promised that they were going to stop doing 1 hour results shows but here they are doing these shows and going over the hour limit. But I think that they've been so trapped up in their success, being No. 1 or No. 2 every week that they can get away with it. They want to boast their bragging rights. So none of the other networks don't try to scramble and do an American Idol-like talent show. ABC tried to do it 3 years ago with The One, CBS did it with Star Search in 2003 and they both failed and ended after short runs.

maybe adding that fourth judge wasn't such a good idea after all...

Well I was pissed to watch Fringe on my DVR only to be watching the end of this stupid show and now I don't know how Fringe ended so not only are people who tivoed this show pissed but also those watching Fringe. I will just not watch either if they can't figure out how to keep Abdul from going on and on. I will not miss the demise of American Idle.

1) People dvr idol? Really?
2)"One final thought: If these DVRs are really so intuitive, you know "smart" machines, how come they can't figure out when a show -- be it an episode of American Idol or an NFL football game or the Oscars -- is running long and keep on recording? There's nothing as irritating as thinking you've got the show when it turns out that damn clock has worked against you and you only have 97% of the program."
They are only as smart as the controlling software embedded in them. Being a mass produced unit intended for the masses they are idiot proof. Easily fixed by building your own system with software you can adjust the timing on. The only way to have it keep recording until a new data stream goes through it's capture chip is to have each and every show flagged once it starts with a broadcast id then it would know hey a new file is starting cut off the prior one. But then you'll have people bitching about a whole DRM conspiracy of not being able to record anything.

Come on folks, it's an obvious given. The judges are making it clear who the winner will be. Adam. Couldn't they at least stop fawning over him enough to make it look a bit fair? Most of what he's sung has been crap. Ring of Fire is still burning in my ears after that horrible version he did.

There's an option to set your DVR so that it continues to record for several minutes AFTER the scheduled end time of your program. Because AI actually runs long quite frequently (although not usually AS long as last night's episode), I've set it to record to 15 minutes past the end. On my TV, it's under "Record Series with Options." Try it!

It certainly was a crossover between the two shows last night what with the observer in the audience at Idol (shown three times no less.)

Some of us have more than one show taping in an evening.
when a show runs late, you lose the part that went over.
Oh well. I wasn't ditching the other shows I was recording so I could see one more kid sing. There's always the next day's news to find out if you really missed something. Especially on a competition show like AI. If AI is worried people won't vote, maybe they should ration the comments spewed by the judges.

Sorry for whoever missed Adam's performance. It sent chills up my spine - he's that good.

And no one on AI EVER does an original song. Its always somebody's cover of a tune made popular by someone else. Some contestants, like Adam, have a lot of individual personality traits that make them memorable and manage to inject some of themselves into a song they're doing, but no, no one ever claimed these were originals.

As much as I hate that Ryan gets involved in what he shouldn't, I do believe that if he does what Tom Bergeron does on Dancing with the Stars, which is guide the judges and cut them off if he has to. He is the host so it is his responsibility to guide the show along. By moving the judges along, espcially Paula who rambles most of the time, it would cut several minutes of nonsense. Plus this would actually make Ryan useful instead of what he is now. Tom Bergeron keeps Dancing with the Stars moving and precise, they gotta do this on American Idol, especially now with 4 judges who all want to say something different.