The Entertainment Wrap Up - May 22, 2008 - David Cook Wins American Idol 7, Thoughts on Season Finales, and More

I really enjoyed last night's American Idol finale. Very entertaining show that went just a little over two hours in length. The result was a surprising one and it definitely left me shocked. I really figured that David Archuleta would win it but David Cook was the spoiler pulling out the victory by 12 million votes. Cook got 56% of the vote compared to Archuleta's 44% of the vote. They also announced that 97.5 million votes were cast in total. David Cook joins the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, and Jordin Sparks to win American Idol. I have liked David Cook better over the season as I think he has taken some very big and good risks with his performances. I have to say that Archuleta did win me over on the finale with his performance with One Republic as they performed "Apologize". I thought it was a great performance. One thing I noticed when watching the finale was just how many of my favorites went home around midseason. I always enjoy all the montage type of performances from the top 12. It's a way to get to see all your favorites return and it was fun to see several of mine back on the Idol stage. We had two previous Idol winners perform on the show as Carrie Underwood and Jordin Sparks each performed on the Idol stage. I want to take a second to recognize Jordin Sparks as I think she has had a strong year as American Idol, especially the last several months. "Tattoo" and "No Air" have climbed the charts big time and helped push her out there into the music world even more. Ruben Studdard was also in attendance at the show and performed on Tuesday's show. One word to describe Carrie's performance of "Last Name", phenomenal. I thought she was incredible. Many others performed on the show including Bryan Adams, Seal, ZZ Top, George Michael, and more. I loved the duet of Seal and Syesha. Carly Smithson and Michael Johns also had a fun performance. I also really liked the montage with the guys and Bryan Adams. Why doesn't Fox schedule American Idol to go longer than the two hours with the finale? This happens every year where the show runs over. As 9:00 was approaching, I kept looking at the clock thinking just how mad the TIVO viewers were going to be when they watch and miss the crowning of the new American Idol.

Is Smallville losing another regular cast member? After debuting this season, Laura Vandervoort is said to not be on the cast list for season eight when it was shown at the CW upfronts. Laura had these comments to TV Guide when she was questioned about it: "As fans noticed in the CW's upfronts announcement earlier this week, they announced the cast.....and I'm not a part of it. We were all surprised when they chose not to bring me back as a regular, but I'm sure I'll be back for one or two (episodes)". That leaves Tom Welling, Allison Mack, Erica Durance, and Aaron Ashmore as the four regulars returning for next season. Kristin Kreuk is still said to likely be coming back for a few episodes but won't be full time. I'll be disappointed if Laura is not back for at least some episodes as I have liked the addition of Kara to the mix.

Season finales for The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother this past Monday night. I loved the finale of The Big Bang Theory which had Penny fed up with dating guys that treat her terrible. She said that she wanted to date nice guys for a change which perked up Leonard. She agreed to go out with them but we didn't see hardly any of the date itself which I'm sure will be saved for next season. We did see Leonard get the guts up to kiss her. I really enjoy watching this romance on the show and have found myself drawn into it all season. How I Met Your Mother was all about people realizing what they're missing when they have a near death situation. The result was Ted realizing that he wanted to stay with Stella. All the friends got a call that Ted was in the hospital after a car accident. After rushing there, they found Ted to be perfectly fine and eating ice cream. Barney got a call and rushed to his former friend's side. Well, he never actually got there but he was in route. He kind of ran out in front of a bus and ended up in the hospital himself. However, Ted and Barney patched things up and we were left with a teaser that Barney had developed real feelings for Robin.

Finally some official news on the season seven DVD release for Smallville. It will be released on September 9th in both standard definition and high definition Blu-Ray. The cover has Clark and Kara on it with the color of the box being blue. Extras announced for the set include a Supergirl featurette on Kara, a Jimmy Olsen featurette, and the Smallville Legends extra which is the mobile phone deal that has been advertised during Smallville. I'm still holding out hope for some commentary as I have LOVED listening to the commentary on the other box sets that have included it.

There has been DVD news this week about other shows that are set to come to DVD later this year. Here are a few of them. The Big Bang Theory (September 2), Chuck (September 16), Gossip Girl (August 19), Supernatural (September 2), and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (August 19).

Movie box office numbers for last weekend. 1. Prince Caspian - $56.6 million. 2. Iron Man - $31.2 million. 3. What Happens In Vegas - $13.8 million. 4. Speed Racer - $7.6 million. 5. Baby Mama - $4.6 million. 6. Made Of Honor - $4.5 million. 7. Forgetting Sarah Marshall - $2.5 million. 8. Harold & Kumar - $1.8 million. 9. Forbidden Kingdom - $1 million. 10. The Visitor - $0.7 million.

I read an interesting article about The CW this week talking about their ratings struggles. They did get good news on Monday night with the Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill season finale ratings. They combined to have the second highest rated Monday night since the launch of the network. Overall, the network is down. The network is averaging 2.6 million viewers while losing viewers in the 18-34 demographic. The first season of The CW had an average of three million viewers. Interesting points brought up including how the WB and UPN combined together to gain viewers but instead lost half the viewers in the change. The WB and UPN were doing a combined number of six million viewers in their last season so they lost half of the combined viewers for both networks between seasons. I really thought that The CW idea would work when I first heard it but I quickly lost my faith in that after one year. I always compare the CW to what The WB was but there really is no comparison. I thought The WB was much slicker with promoting themselves and their shows. The CW has just always looked weak to me in that department. I just rarely have anything on the network that I want to watch besides Smallville of course. I'm still stinging over the cancellation of Veronica Mars one year ago. The network is really going to push next season especially with the launch of Beverly Hills 90210. That show HAS to do well for The CW to get them rolling.

I was looking around on You Tube the other night and found some Buffy musical performances where different people around the country have done their own versions of the musical in front of an audience. What a shame that the studio keeps shutting these performances down cause they're fun. Some of them are very good. I also watched some videos that were recorded of fans watching the musical episode on a big screen at various fan gatherings. The fans were singing along with the songs and all I could think was, yeah, I'd love to get my nerd self to that thing. ha ha.

I've been re-watching season one of Veronica Mars and loving it. It looks like I succeeded in turning another one of my friends into a Veronica Mars fan. Yay!! Who can I hook next? Line up people. ha ha.

I signed up over at TheWB.com for their beta testing so I hope to be approved very soon so I can get to watching. I'm curious to see just what all that they offer from their old shows. I plan on rewatching several shows and watching shows that I didn't have time to watch the first time around.

The new season of Last Comic Standing started tonight on NBC. This will be the sixth season of the show. Guest judges for this season include Angela Kinsey and Oscar Nunez from The Office, George Wendt and John Ratzenberger from Cheers, and Lonny Ross and Keith Powell from 30 Rock. Bill Bellamy will host the show. The show airs on Thursdays at 7:30pm central time on NBC. For more info on the show including video clips, head over to: http://www.nbc.com/Last_Comic_Standing/

Kristi Yamaguchi and Mark Ballas were crowned as this season's winners of Dancing With The Stars.

I cannot believe that the Chicago Bulls got the number one pick in the NBA Draft. They had less than a 2% chance in the lottery of getting the number one pick and got it. The team with the worst record in the league, Miami, got the second pick.

TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, May 27th. Degrassi: The Next Generation (Season Six), Gunsmoke (Season Two - Volume Two), He-Man and the Masters Of The Universe (Volume Two), The Invaders (Season One), Lipstick Jungle (Season One), Rawhide (Season Three - Volume One).

TV Line Of The Week:
From The Big Bang Theory: Leonard trying to talk to Sheldon about second guessing going out with Penny.
Leonard: "I don't think I can go out with her tonight"
Sheldon: "Then don't"
Leonard: "Other people would say why not?"
Sheldon: "Other people might be interested"
Leonard: "I'm going to keep talking anyway"
Sheldon: "I assumed that you would."

You Tube Video Of The Week: Oh, how I miss this show. I found a music video that was made to promote American Dreams which is set to the theme song. I remember my mom telling me about this show and saying how I'd love how they produce the show. She was right and I was hooked after one episode. One of the best shows that I've ever watched. Maybe one of these days, we'll see the alternate ending.


Wishing all of you a very happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!! Take care and God bless!!