'Idol's' final note belies flat Season 9
It's so hard to say goodbye.
Or maybe after a lackluster "American Idol" Season 9, it's really not.
While the show benefitted from a strong final two, Crystal Bowersox and eventual winner Lee DeWzye, the reappearance of the Top 12 on the Idol stage Wednesday night served as a reminder that maybe "Idol's" deep well of talent has finally been tapped.
With at least half of the Top 12 suffering from what judge Randy Jackson would term "pitchy" vocals, it was a relief when bigger stars like Alice Cooper and the Bee Gees showed up to bail them out.
Indeed, the focus seemed to be more on departing Judge Simon Cowell than rehashing too much of a season where one of the "moments" was a civil rights activist's audition song.
Of course, General Larry Platt appeared on the stage at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles Wednesday night and of course his "Pants on the Ground" dance remix was one of the few entertaining bits of the evening.
Cowell will be missed. For all his snarking and sneering, the acerbic British judge often served as the true voice of reason on "Idol" and he's the one the viewers looked to as the final authority.
Although the show sent up Cowell's well-known narcissism with a series of a sketches throughout the night, including a spot-on parody song by Dane Cook called "Simon Says," "Idol" recognized how much influence Cowell has had in pop music over the last nine years.
The highlight of the evening struck a more emotional chord as Idol winners and runners-up from past seasons came out to salute Cowell and even he admitted he's going to miss the show.
"I didn't think I was going to be this emotional and I genuinely am," Cowell said.
"Everybody asks who's going to replace me, who's going to be the next judge. The truth is," he told the audience, "you guys are the judge of this show and you've done an incredible job over the years."
Cowell will be hard to replace and it's impossible not to speculate on how the already-flagging "Idol" franchise will fare in his absence.
Less than incredible was former Judge Paula Abdul's bizarre, rambling tribute to Cowell, which did nothing to dismiss speculation Abdul was sipping more than Coke when she used to sit at the judges' table.
DeWyze's duet with the former members of Chicago was far less successful than Bowersox's pairing with Alanis Morissette and it left viewers wondering if he's capable of hitting notes outside the five-octave range he's shown on the show.
Still Bowersox and DeWyze shared some nice moments with Joe Cocker, whose bluesy, gravelly voice served as the perfect counterpart to these two folksy idols.
Better yet was the final vocal of the night, where despite the choke in his voice, DeWyze went out and delivered a great performance of U2's "Beautiful Day," the song he'll release as his first single.
It was stronger than his Tuesday night showing and it sent the slow season out on a soaring note.