david cook

1. I really enjoy Suze Orman's show (it's a major part of my Saturday night, which tells you a lot about my social life), especially the "Can I Afford It?" segment, where viewers call in to get her OK to buy something like a sports car or a Lear jet or a coffee maker. But I was wondering, what if someone called in and asked, "Suze, I don't have a job and I have student loans to pay off, but I'm thinking about buying 100,000 copies of your latest book, can I afford it?" What would she say then?

2. Two different TV shows in the past week, one a news program that had an analysis of the election and one a design show, used the phrase "do the math." I don't want to do the math. That's why I got into writing.

(S34E07) Although I have fond memories of Mango and Ben Who-fleck working Saturday Night Live together back in the day, I was pretty disappointed by this episode. I think someone told Ben Affleck that he's pretty all right on SNL and it got to his head, because he was trying way, way too hard. It was almost to the point where it was unbearably awkward. If not for Senator John McCain's appearances, this episode would have been wholly unremarkable. I mean, apart from its super-weakness.

We scoured the earth (and the archives at various record companies for failed projects that showed vocal promise) to create the greatest assemblage of singing talent American Idol has ever seen! So what happened? After last year's virtual snooze-fest, how did a season that truly did give us perhaps the greatest depth of talent we've ever seen (an argument could be made for Season Five) give us such lackluster shows?

After Sanjaya-gate last year, the biggest controversy to come out this year was that finalist David Hernandez used to be a stripper and David Archuleta's dad might be a Mr. Meany-Pants. And we got to be pissed that Kristy Lee Cook outlasted the likes of Michael Johns. Not until we got to the finale of Davids did things get really intense.

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It seems that even after winning American Idol's seventh season, David Cook still expected David Archuleta to have won the whole thing. in the exit interview with David Cook, he describes the twelve million votes he won by as a "discrepancy" and said he "thought Archie was a little bit ahead" of him.

He thanks the show for allowing him to grow as an artist, and shrink at the waistline. "I've lost probably about 10 to 15 pounds. There was definitely a progression for me on this show. Early on ... the vocal coach really hit home for me ... Going into this, I had built up a wall, sort of a protective barrier between me and the audience. She forced me to break that down and I think it helped for my performances." I can agree that there was something keeping him from standing out in those early weeks as he came to later.

Welcome to the final installment of "AI Aftermath," where we explore Idol's past. Each installment, as one more American Idol hopeful is eliminated from the competition, we take a look back at contestants past who were eliminated at the same point. We'll examine how they did on the show and what they've been up to since their eliminations. In honor of David Cook's crowning as your American Idol, we will look back at other winners.

This week: The Winners, featuring Kelly Clarkson (Season One), Ruben Studdard (Season Two), Fantasia Barrino (Season Three), Carrie Underwood (Season Four), Taylor Hicks (Season Five) and Jordin Sparks (Season Six).

They came, they sang, they conquered. Take a stroll down memory lane and meet the winners of 'American Idol.'

Who says you can't learn anything from television? We talk about a lot of things here on TV Squad each week, and it's amazing what TV Squad and TV in general can teach you about life.

TV ... it's like the Bible!

1. America likes making a point rather than rewarding talent. Let me say upfront that even though I wrote this, I still think that David Cook is a good singer, and it was great that the American Idol final came down to him and David Archuleta. But I'm baffled as to why he won by 12 million votes! It's almost as if viewers were voting for Cook not just because they liked him, but because they didn't want to fulfill the predictions many had weeks and weeks ago that Archuleta would win (as if the kid could control any of that). They didn't want to prove to everyone that American Idol is predictable, or that Simon's comments about Archuleta winning the final night of singing meant anything. And what about that night? Come on, Archuleta clearly won that night, but it's almost as if they don't even have to have that final night of singing, because fans are clearly voting for other reasons. The Archuleta backlash has to be one of the weirder things that has happened this TV season. I have a very good friend who is a Cook fanatic. Nothing could make her say anything bad about him and I think she broke her phone calling in to vote for him, and even she admits that Archuleta did better that last night. I think fans convinced themselves that they had to vote for the "rocker" (cough cough) and not the kid who sings well (and I have to disagree with my cohort Debra - there's nothing "unique" about Cook).

Welcome back to our weekly American Idol polls round-up. Each week we look at various online polls that were conducted from the end of last week's results up to the performance show Tuesday. And then a few that were conducted after the performance show, but before the results were revealed.

This way we can analyze how the week's performances affected a contestant's overall popularity, which turns out to be not very much except in a few select cases anymore. And this week we're mixing it up a bit, bringing you this column before the "Results Show" airs. As this is our last time to look at polls, why not see how many, if any, properly predict the David that comes out on top. Personally, even though you won't see her on these lists, I think Syesha still found a way to come in last on all of them.

(S07E42) Forty-two episodes later we're finally ready to find out who is going to take home the crown of the next American Idol. Look at all those faces up there, and now it's all come down to the Davids. The lingering question is if they're going to be Idols the likes of Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson; sales in the millions with mantles full of awards; or will they find mainstream success more of a challenge, like Taylor Hicks or Justin Guarini (I know he came in second but let's face it, at this point first and second are almost interchangeable as far as getting a shot at a career)? The show's an hour early and an hour longer, clocking in from 8:00 PM - 10:00 PM Eastern Time. That means you have two hours to chat live right here with your friends and frenemies about which David should win and how stupid they are for disagreeing with you.

You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.

(S07E40) Tonight, it's wall-to-wall David as Cook and Archuleta face-off in the penultimate episode of what was once proclaimed to be the most talented and greatest season of American Idol to date. And yet, for some reason it hasn't worked out that way. Nevertheless, the Davids are both talented and in such different ways. Archie has a pure and beautiful voice but his performance technique is severely lacking. Meanwhile, Cookie is a consummate performer, but doesn't have nearly the vocal depth of his nemesis.

Tonight, expect them to sing the "Idol Songwriting Competition" winning song which should be a horribly saccharine song about "Gosh, I can't believe where I'm at and isn't this amazing," or if we're especially lucky we'll get two different songs like that. Other than that, we should get three songs from each, one possibly an encore of their favorite performance and the third ... well, who knows. Join us in our weekly live chat and we can speculate together.

You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.

Welcome back to "AI Aftermath," where we explore Idol's past. Each installment, as one more American Idol hopeful is eliminated from the competition, we take a look back at contestants past who were eliminated at the same point. We'll examine how they did on the show and what they've been up to since their eliminations. In honor of David Archuleta's elimination in the finale, we'll be looking at other second place finishers.

This week: 2nd place finishers, featuring featuring Justin Guarini (Season One), Clay Aiken (Season Two), Diana DeGarmo (Season Three), Bo Bice (Season Four), Katharine McPhee (Season Five) and Blake Lewis (Season Six).

It's getting closer. On Wednesday, America will crown the next Idol winner. Which David will it be? Of course, these two polar opposites have sparked some debate online as to who will win the competition.

Okay, is someone holding down Jeff Archuleta? According to E! Online, the oddmakers at BetCRIS.com have chosen David Cook to take the title Wednesday night. As per the online bookies, Cook has a 74% chance of winning this season of American Idol.

But E! Online makes a good point about Archuleta's young quick-dialing fanbase: "Of course, last we checked, Gambling 101 was not a part of a grade schooler's course load, meaning the actual voting demographic might not jibe with the oddmakers' pick and it still could be anybody's contest."

So, who are you voting for? Who do you think will win American Idol? Better yet, who do you think deserves to win American Idol this season? Check back with TV Squad for our review of the big night.

Welcome back to our weekly American Idol polls round-up. Each week we look at various online polls that were conducted from the end of last week's results up to the performance show Tuesday. And then a few that were conducted after the performance show, but before the results were revealed.

This way we can analyze how the week's performances affected a contestant's overall popularity, which turns out to be not very much except in a few select cases anymore. Of course, it's all come down to the inevitable finale everyone expected. Unfortunately, it turned out to be rather anticlimactic though it would have been a lot of fun to see our girl Syesha sneak her way into the finale. What it does accomplish is setting up a finale that's almost impossible to predict. Both Davids have been at the top of the polls for weeks now, so it may come down to what they do Tuesday. We'll be back next week on Wednesday before the results to analyze the available polls at that time and see if we can predict the ultimate winner.

(S07E40) This is it, the penultimate episode and possibly the most tense and contested results of the whole season. Based just on the comments here, fans of each contestant are passionate, so you can expect the world to erupt in chaos tonight, especially if David goes home. Syesha has been the comeback queen, but I don't know if she has what it takes to break through into the Finals, and after last night's performances I certainly don't think she did enough there. Join us here for our live chat and live out the excitement with billions (give or take billions) of other Idol fans and see who's going to vie for the title of American Idol in next week's finale!

You can join the chat by following this link. Look for the full episode review right here later tonight.