Lee won. Crystal got runner up.

That makes me really sad, but at the same time.. Lee is great, but now Crystal is free. THe american idol is restricted to a 1 year contract where they have to BE the American Idol. They have to sing the songs THEY want you to sing. Crystal now has the freedom to sing whatever she wants. And I GUARUNTEE she'll have a record deal. She probably already does. She's not done. Not a chance.

I knew it, but still... :no:

You are right, though, Salem, so that's something.

Out of the top-10 selling American Idol alumni, 4 of them didn't win.

Wow.

I know it's a factor of this: But geez...

tooooootttttaaaaallllyyyyy a factor of pre-teen girls with phones. I just wish us hippie dykes with long distance plans had more pull for Crystals sake :(

Bah, humbug.

I was expecting Bret Michaels to have a brain aneurysm as he was singing with Casey James.

I was also expecting pants on the ground guy to have a heart attack mid song from all the movement.

And I was uncomfortable when Paula Abdul came on stage and slurred her way through whatever she was talking about.

Who's idea was it to have Lee sing with Chicago? Not such a good performance. In fact, one would assume after winning A.I., he would improve his singing during the Beautiful Day performance, but I guess not.

The fact that Lee won really was a surprise to me, and in truth, I'm glad that I was wrong. I felt like Crystal had it in the bag but she always sings in her one & only "Joplin" style ---which is going to get boring fast IMHO.

Hooray for Lee!!!!!!!!! He seems like a nice guy and his voice has lot's of potential (hope he uses it well).

Was there any reason for Lee to be doubled over like he was going to pass out in the two minutes BEFORE Ryan read the results? And during that time, Crystal was calm and stoic, and she kept stepping back out of the shot. It was almost as if they were told the results during the preceeding commercial break.

During the Joe Cocker appearance, I compared Lee's "presence" to Crystal's. Crystal had enough stage awareness to keep milking the audience for applause by continuing to gesture to Joe Cocker and say his name. During all of that, Lee looked comatose. He was standing next to an iconic rock legend, and all he could manage to do was slump and squint.

Yep, it felt like they DID know the winner before that commercial break.
A very strange show, huh? I was creeped out by old Joe Cocker and the Chicago part. Yuck. Extreme yuck.

...And I'm old enough to remember when those "acts" first began!

I thought Cocker was OK but Chicago really sucked.

I agree they might have known earlier. If you looked at Crystal and Lee before Ryan said the results, Lee was freaking out and again, crystal was calm, but she also laughed and said somethign to Lee and patted him on the arm. Kind of like a "At least we already know!" kind of thing...

"Uncomfortable" isn't nearly strong enough of a word for Paula being on stage.

The finale was a joke. I can't complain about the winner because I sure as hell wouldn't vote but the performances sucked. Chicago + Lee? Really? At least Crystal sounds like Alanis...