Is it true? American Idol hasn't aired on the West Coast yet - it just finished its East Coast live broadcast - and technorati has posts regarding the winner...

David Cook? Seriously? My mother, who for the past few days has been saying that the other David, Archuleta, was going to win. And as far as I knew, he was the one to beat. (And beat Cook apparently did.)

(And I should point out that I barely saw any of this years shows - bits and pieces only - and I really didn't care who won. And you don't have to win AI to get a record deal - second place isn't that bad.)

Was reading on tvguide.com an article about how Fox should change American Idol next season since it seems it's slipping in the ratings a bit. (I guess being #1 isn't good enough.)

I'm not a fan of the show, but I have watched it on and off over the years. Now, I don't think anything would make me watch it more often than I do - tuning in from time to time - but here are my suggestions for improving the show:

1. Get rid of Paula. She adds absolutely nothing to the show. Her comments, when they actually do make some semblance of sense, are useless. "You look great" doesn't help a singer.

2. Cut the result show in half. An hour to get rid of one person? That takes 5 minutes out of 45. The rest is wasted time.

3. Keep the auditions. Yes, I like the auditions. They may not add anything to the show, but it's great fun.

4. A suggestion on the tvguide post above said that the viewers should say who the bottom two are and the judges pick the person voted off. I like that as it keeps quality singers around. (This could be done for the first 6 weeks, then after the Sanjaya's are gone America can vote for real talent.

Even if Fox takes these suggestions to heart, I still probably wont watch the show. After all, it's still karaoke - without the words in front of them...

That's right. American Idol returns to Fox tonight.

And after attempting to watch it over the last couple of years, I've determined that this is one of the most pointless shows on TV. (Anything with Donald Trump is also quite pointless.)

They really should just rename it "American Pop Stars." Idols they aren't. Most of them just blink out of sight. Some make an album or two (Kelly, Carrie) but mostly they just fizzle out after a while. In fact, it's probably better to not win the show (Daughtry).

I'm not even sure I want to watch the auditions, which are by far the best thing about AI.

NCIS is on tonight... that'll probably be much more entertaining.

UPDATE: Disregard the last sentence. From what I understand, Jordin Sparks won. It's times like this I'm glad I live on the West Coast. I don't actually have to watch anything that's "live" to find out who won.

Thank the gods for time zones And my faith in american reality tv is restored.

Not that I had a lot of faith in reality tv....

/UPDATE

If for some reason Blake wins American Idol, I'll forever give up on that show.