Yay! Our 100th morning show update!
AMERICAN IDOL NOTES
Blake Lewis first took the stage for a frenetic, beat-boxing rendition of Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name." Randy Jackson gave high praise for performance, but a mediocre mark for Blake's singing. Simon Cowell sided with Randy. Paula Abdul gave an all-around good grade.
Then Jordin Sparks strolled in from the side of the stage and belted out Christina Aguilera's "Fighter." Simon thought her vocals were "shriek-y," and gave Round One to Blake. Paula called it a tie. Randy split the difference, giving vocal props for to Sparks, and performance points to Lewis.
Blake next sang Maroon 5's "She Will Be Loved." Randy loved the vocals. Paula agreed. Simon thought the song choice was too safe for the finale. Jordin followed up with Martina McBride's "A Broken Wing." Randy thought it was better than the original. Paula and Simon agreed that Sparks nailed the number.
The final song was selected by viewers from a field of originals, and was totally unfair to Blake. It’s a ballad, which is totally Jordin’s type of song. It's called "This Is My Now," that was penned by a Seattle songwriting duo. Randy and Paula were both lukewarm about Blake's performance. Simon said it felt "off," and proposed that America judge Blake on his first two songs. After Jordin's take on the same song, Randy proclaimed that she was the best singer of night and "deserved it all." Paula couldn't find enough words to praise her performance. Even Simon was wowed, and said Sparks "wiped the floor" with Lewis. And did you see Melinda Doolittle’s face during Jordin’s performance? She clearly felt she should have made the final.
One other note about last night… Did you see Marlee Matlin in the audience? What’s up with that? She’s deaf… not that she isn’t a fan, but don’t you watch the show to hear the singers? Maybe she thinks Sanjaya is cute. And hey, she did bring a sign language interpreter to relay the judges’ comments.
So here’s the official prediction... Jordin Sparks will win. Period.
JD Roberto will join us tomorrow with the inside scoop from backstage and the reaction of the winner!
KEEP YOUR KIDS SAFE ONLINE!
1) Post the rules... Set guidelines like "don't give out your name" and "never say which school you attend", write them down, and post them in plain sight at the computer area.
2) Keep it in the open... Put your computer (if possible) in a public, open area.
3) Ask about pals... Ask your kids about their online friends, just as you would their school friends.
4) Hire a free cyber sitter... On AOL and Earthlink, for example, there is a "kid-friendly" filter. Also, Microsoft's new Windows Vista program has built-in parental controls.
5) Get "instant" notification... If your child uses Instant Messaging, use a program like you'll find at www.imsafer.com. It monitors instant messaging and looks for key words like "phone number" and immediately sends you an email with the text of the instant messages.
Also, a listener called to tell us about a great product called Snoop Stick. You can monitor your child's internet activity in real time from a different computer. Check it out here.
DANCING WITH THE STARS
Talk of conspiracy theories and blocked phone lines can be put to rest on Dancing With the Stars message boards as Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno -- an early crowd favorite -- and partner Julianne Hough danced away with the coveted mirror ball trophy on last night's finale. 'N Sync's Joe Fatone and his partner Kym Johnson were Apolo's opponents in the final minutes of the show after boxing champion Laila Ali and Maks Chmerkovskiy were shut-out earlier in the evening. All three couples were allowed to perform a previous dance of their choice for judge's scoring. And, as luck would have it, all three earned perfect 30's, but with last night's scores combined with Monday's judges and audience scores, the final results remained the same.
The audience welcomed back previous champs -- Kelly Monaco, Drew Lachey and Emmit Smith, as well as the entire cast from this season, who performed edited versions of their "signature" dances. The evening was also filled with vignettes of the entire season's disasters and triumphs in a typical end-of-season stroll down memory lane.
BABY POOL
Get in your guesses... Click here.
