By this time tomorrow night, America will have a new Idol, and I'll be short a blog topic each week.

It was the best of times, and the worst of times.  A season of hype, performances great and awful, dumbasses in dreds, and constant reminding that this was The. Most. Talented. Top. 12. EVER.  The season also known as The Year of the Sanjaya Backlash, it all came down to the Tale of Two Davids.

David Archuleta, the barely-pubescent kid with the devil father and angel voice. 

David Cook, the rocker that Simon tonight proclaimed one of the genuinely nicest, most sincere contestants ever on the show.

Sincerity seeped from their very pores tonight.  They sang out their hearts and, for good measure, both were so overcome that they teared up.

Brooke White was so proud.

Keeping it real, for me the night didn't have the energy, the big build, the super-WOW, IT'S the FINALS!! feel.

Except for Randy who was so over-the-top from the very first performance that I think they ought to send his Coke glass out for a drug test.  Seriously -- David A opened with a heartfelt rendition of Elton John's Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me and Randy almost backflipped out of his chair, screaming, "It was MOLTEN hot, babeeee!"

Uhhh, sure it was, Randy.

When did Ryan start calling David A. "Archie"?  Does that make you Jughead, Ryan?

I badly wanted David Cook to rock the place off its foundations.  So, I'm a little disappointed.  His performances were adequate, but nothing that made me want to mimic Randy's reactions.

That might be too harsh.  Elvis returning from the dead for a One Night Only performance at the Las Vegas Hilton couldn't make me want to mimic Randy.  Ever.

To David C's credit, he seemed sincerely moved to be in the finals and truly looked like he was soaking in every minute of performing for 7000 screaming people in the theater. 

That said, he didn't phone in the performance, but part of me thinks that he knows, in his heart, that he'll have a better career as a rocker if he doesn't win the title.

Daughtry or Taylor Hicks -- just sayin'.

Wow, Taylor Hicks has to be the most miserable Idol winner on Earth.  I just realized that Daughtry, Kellie Pickler AND Bucky Covington were all eliminated from the Top 10 in his season and all three of them are now more successful.  Cheer up, Taylor.  By Season 12, they might pick you to sing the song at the end of the results show every week as the most recent contestant to get voted off cries and waves goodbye.

So, another American Idol season is almost over.  I have one more vote to make in the pool I've been in with friends.   After this week, I'll have to find something else to watch on Tuesday nights -- and something else to blog about.