Pop Stand

10:02 p.m.: What a great ending! I never expected it! Off to write my story for tomorrow's paper -- keep your eye on the blog, and thanks so much to everybody who read and posted!

9:57 p.m.: COOK!!!!!! Wow! What an upset! He claps while Archie leaves the stage, then it seems to hit him and his eyes fill with tears. "I started this season much to Simon's chagrin as the word nerd, and I am absolutely at a loss for words right now!" he said. His brother joined him on stage, and Cook said, "This is all your fault!"

9:55 p.m.: OK, I'm ready for the Idol to be named! And it's David ......

9:47 p.m.: Mr. George Michael! He sings "Praying for Time." His first American tour in 17 years kicks off soon -- he says some stuff that's truly unintelligible. It was either, "God is my co-pilot" or "I hope to have gotten over my cold by then, by the way."

9:43 p.m.: Your Top 12 again! Hey, last year at this time we were listening to Sanjaya! This year he's the butt of Jimmy Kimmel's "parking valet'" joke! The boys clean up nice, don't they? We're always seeing the women in gowns and hot dresses and the guys in jeans and sloppy T's. This is a nice change.

9:40 p.m.: 20 minutes to David time! Little David does the Guitar Hero commercial in the shorts and shirt!!!

9:35 p.m.: Carrie Underwood, one of the two legitimate Idol superstars, is singing, "I Don't Even Know His Last Name." She far outshines Jordin Sparks.

9:30 p.m.: Gladys Knight auditioned hundreds of Pips in 1972? Among them were Ben Stiller and Jack Black! Who's that third guy -- is it Robert Downey Jr.??? It is! It's not exactly Celine Dion's duet with Elvis, but it's pretty cute. Jack Black pulls up his pants flagrantly as a Pip. Very clever!

9:23 p.m.: Jordin Sparks sings "One Step at a Time." I thought she was off singing due to a vocal cord injury?

9:21 p.m.: David Archuleta's father's father is live with a big crowd from his hometown. He says, "I'm very proud of my grandson, very proud of my son..." His mother's father is there too, and with the use of a Spanish translator, the interviewer tries to get the two adorable grandpas to argue about whose side the talent came from. Classy.

9:18 p.m.: It's "Apologize," by OneRepublic. This song is perfect for Little David, and sure enough, he saunters out.

9:10 p.m.: FINALLY a look back at the auditions. Oh, there's that glitter girl that they were mean to. And the guy in the gold suit who sang like he had a mouth full of hot pizza. It was a very sweet moment when the judges and Ryan joined Renaldo Lapuz. Here he is again, live on stage! "I am your brother, your best friend forever!" And he's joined by the USC marching band and cheerleaders! He's such a sweet soul. And I love his cape.

9:07 p.m.: They need no intro, but just in case you need one, they're the Jonas Brothers!

9:06 p.m.: I am waiting for the bits that feature people from the auditions. That was always my favorite part of the finale. Don't disappoint me, American Idol!

9:03 p.m.: David Cook doing the Tom Cruise shirt-and-shorts tune from "Risky Business"? Huh! It's a commercial for "Guitar Hero." I'll have to watch that again later .. for further research, of course.

8:59 p.m.: Graham Nash sings "Teach Your Children" with Brooke White. I hate to say it, but they seem to be using a lot of oldies on this show. It's a very sweet duet. The producers were smart to team up David with ZZ and Brooke with Graham Nash.

8:55 p.m.: David Cook teams up with ZZ Top to sing "Sharp Dressed Man." Love it! Paula is up and dancing, and I fear a wardrobe malfunction.

8:54 p.m.: Jordin Sparks pushes "The American Idol Experience" theme park at Disney.

8:46 p.m.: David Hernandez is front and center as the top six guys sing. Unusually, he keeps all his clothes on. The other two Davids steps front and center and sing together again, and it's looking a little romantic and weird now. Here's Bryan Adams!

8:43 p.m.: Jimmy Kimmel is back. He was good on "Idol Gives Back." Sanjaya joke -- ha! Ryan Seacrest would look like Chris Sligh without all the cosmetics. He says Paula sees actual performances that no one sees, and calls Simon's dad "Satan." Clips of Simon saying tons of nasty things set to music is the first really funny bit.

8:40 p.m.: Carly Smithson and Michael Johns sing "The Letter," another golden oldie. And another tight dress for Carly.

8:38 p.m.: "The Moment of Truth" is back with skanky questions for fools.

8:30 p.m.: The six female finalists sing a Donna Summer medley. The same evil stylist has gotten his hooks into Carley again and jammed her into a sausage-tight dress that does zero for her natural curves. All the other ladies look amazing. Donna Summer descends the steps with a young man on each side, like she's some kind of senior citizen. Wouldn't a simple stroll out from the side have looked better? Ryan Seacrest spends 5 seconds out on the floor with the amazing breakdancers, then has to take a seat on the steps and catch his breath. This show is making everybody feel old.

8:29 p.m.: Here are the finalists again, dressed in black rather than the white they had on 30 seconds ago. Hey, they each get an Escape hybrid from Ford. This promotion is shameless.

8:25 p.m.: Jason Castro sings Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" again. Love this song. Love the fact that they can get a whole song out rather than chop it up.

8:18 p.m.: Syesha looks better every day, honestly. And here's Seal! Is her duet with Seal better than the two Davids' duet?

8:13 p.m.: The Guru Pitka? "The Love Guru" ... sitar hero! He tells David Cook to shave and makes fun of Little David's youth in gross ways. Then he goes after David Cook's facial hair with a Bic. His mantra is "Mariska Hargitay." He's Mike Myers. Not funny! And kind of stupid!

8:11 p.m.: The two Davids duet on "Hero"... they actually sing very well together, don't they?

8:05 p.m.: Your top 12 sing "Get Ready," along with the stars from "So You Think You Can Dance." Brooke White and Kristy Lee Cook look more alike than ever.

8:01 p.m.: There were enough votes to cover every person in Canada, Ireland, Spain and Australia, more than 97 million votes in all -- which is more than 23 million more than any previous finals vote. But it wasn't really close -- one David got 56 percent, the other 44 percent. I wonder what that means?

8:00 p.m.: Those David vs. David faceoffs are .. odd. Odder than Ryan not quite hitting his mark during the dramatic beginning? Maybe.

This is it -- the David selection we've waited four months to see!

-- Anne Neville