Who won 'American Idol' season 9? After 17 weeks of 'Idol' performances, Lee DeWyze captured the 'American Idol' crown in the finale over Crystal Bowersox.

Some fans may be mystified that DeWyze took the crown as the next 'Idol,' especially after his performances Tuesday night, where he often sang out of tune, looked uncomfortable onstage and mustered only a negligible amount of energy. Bowersox, on the other hand, did everything right and sounded terrific. And yet, DeWyze garnered the popular vote and emerged victorious.

Watch the reveal after the jump.

Who was voted off 'American Idol'? Casey James went home after singing 'Okay, It's Alright With Me' by Eric Hutchinson and 'Daughters' by John Mayer, which means Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze made the Top 2 and will compete in the finale.

No doubt, James is pretty to look at and plays a mean guitar, but our biggest criticism is that he has a real problem connecting emotionally with his songs and the audience. And, while his voice is adequate enough, he's got an odd, trilling vibrato that leaves us cold. Voters, it seems, had their own issues with James as they voted him off over Bowersox and DeWyze Wednesday night.

Watch Casey's elimination after the jump.

Ryan Seacrest started off the show with "Prepare yourself for a surprise or two," and we definitely got that. Based on your comments on my 'Who Will Win 'American Idol'? post a few days ago, it's really anyone's game at this point. And I mean, anyone, from the shoe-ins like Crystal Bowersox and Siobhan Magnus to the dark horses like Tim Urban and Andrew Garcia. After this week's performance show, Kona thinks Casey James also falls into that dark horse category, and I agree.

After a message about Idol Gives Back, a group medley of Lennon/McCartney tunes, and a Ford commercial (kaleidoscope fun!), we got to the results.

We've got even more 'American Idol' changes coming this season. Traditionally, the Tuesday episode is for auditions, and the Wednesday (or sometimes even Thursday) episode is for results. However, 'Idol' feels as though they haven't shaken things up quite enough already this season, so they're making yet another change to the formula. This Tuesday, February 16, in a special two-hour episode, not only are we going to see auditions, but we're also going to learn who some of the Top 24 are.

This news doesn't seem to be a change 'Idol' has had planned for very long. The last we heard from FOX, the entire Top 24 was set to be revealed on Wednesday, February 17. So what's behind the change? Perhaps the folks behind 'Idol' sense that the audience is getting audition fatigue, and we want some more action. Maybe they want to keep the momentum going from Ellen DeGeneres' debut last week.

The dark horse surged ahead at the last minute to win it in a photo finish.

With almost 100 million votes tallied, Kris Allen defeated front-runner and judges' favorite Adam Lambert to become the 'American Idol' season 8 winner.

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Somebody's gotta go every week.

So, who's going home tonight?

Get the results and read fans' reactions to the latest elimination.

It was a little eerie to hear all the shouts for joy when Sanjaya's name was announced as the one to leave Idol this week -- even though I felt just as glad as the audience sounded.

And, while I was happy to see him go, I ran into him backstage on Wednesday, and that stripped away all the dehumanizing effects TV watching had on me. I felt a little guilty about being so happy and felt empathetic for the media blast he's got to face.

It's easy to look at the characters we see on TV and pick them apart, and sometimes we forget that that person is real. Well, in reality TV anyway. I'd forgotten until the other night when I saw the on-staff psychologist. Directly after you get the boot, you have an immediate counseling session. Poor guy -- he's gonna carry some scars around for a while.