The showtime clock is ticking and butterflies are flitting all over Idol-dom as serious American Idol fans hunker down for Our Exciting Conclusion.
Weeks ago I wrote that surely the AI prods---who not only have a tv show to make, but who also have shown every indication that they enjoy, personally, burying the broadcast competition---were itching for a fight and hoping for a smackdown. At that time, the story arc seemed destined to bring the two long-haired rocker dudes face-to-face for the music world's version of Gunfight At the OK Corral.
Which I guess would be kind of like an updated version of the totally engrossing vocal sparring between Annie Oakley and Frank Butler in the classic tune "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)."
Wouldn't it have been delicious to see Bo and Constantine in a pitched battle to out-vibrate the other's vocal chords in this Annie Get Your Gun sing-off of heroic proportions?
Con: Any note you can reach/I can go higher.
Bo: I can sing anything/Higher than you.
Con: No, you can't. (High)
Bo: Yes, I can. (Higher)
Con: No, you can't. (Higher)
Bo: Yes, I can. (Higher)
Con: No, you can't. (Higher)
Bo: Yes, I can. (Higher)
Con: No, you can't. (Higher)
Bo: Yes, I can. (Higher)
Con: No, you can't. (Higher)
Bo: Yes, I CAN! (Highest)
But, alas, it was not to be. Like you and me, Constantine Maroulis is watching from the couch this week.
Sigh.
So, instead of the Gunfight At The OK Corral, we've got something like the Olympic sport of figure skating. Yes, suspense (some), surprises, danger, virtuosity, grace, beauty, all the while the charming competitors glide politely by one another and look darn and sparkly good doing it.
Well, mostly glide politely by one another. There was that little matter of Tanya a/k/a "The Boxing Queen" Harding and her kneecap-rapping goons, but . . . we won't go there.
Not since Gerald Rivera starting hyping the mysteries of Al Capone's vault have the stakes before a live audience been so high. Who's it going to be, America? Bo or Carrie? Carrie or Bo?
This much we do know: with all the prognosticators lining up to trumpet a Bo and Carrie win, someone is going to wake up on Thursday morning and discover it's "Dewey Defeats Truman" all over again.
Bo has so much buzz his fans are walking around in beekeeper suits. Still, I don't underestimate the steady commitment of Carrie's fanbase. They've kept her out of the bottom three all season, an accomplishment shared with only two other Idol alumni: Kelly Clarkson, who went on to win AI1, and Clay Aiken, who narrowly lost AI2 to Ruben Studdard, who had hit the B3 once before becoming the American Idol.
Article comments
1 - Mir
I agree, as always, Sticker! :) Great skating analogy. But I've had to ask you several times and this time is no different!! "Where do you come up with this stuff??" That Annie Oakley song is a crazy scenario!! The worst is that I can actually hear it all going on in my head!! HA! :)
Its going to be a great show tonight!! I just wish we wouldn't have to wait till tomorrow night to find out who wins!!! :) I think the suspense is better than Ruben and Clay's year! I have no idea what to expect but as I've said before, either way, I think America will have a great new American Idol! :)
Peace Out!
2 - Sticker
hey, mir!
The Annie Get Your Gun DVD is supposed to be appearing at the top of this article, don't know why.
Yeah, that song is a head-grabber. I seriously would have loved a sing-off like that one! ha!
I agree with you about the suspense. What I like about your comment was that you said Ruben and Clay were last year---
Of course, they were two years ago, but I do the same thing---in my mind, AI3 (Fantasia & Diana) mostly drops out of sight.
I also agree that America will have a great American Idol either way. Both Bo and Carrie will have good careers.
3 - Sticker
okay, meant to say "don't know why the DVD is NOT showing up"
4 - Leslie
The anticipation is wearing me down - tonight I'll be more than ready for my extra syrupy dose of Southern Comfort! I'm prepared for a faux pas - Carrie winning the title while Bo deserves the role but somehow I think America recognizes the star in Bo Bice. I think tonight will be all about Bo and Carrie will be his sidekick - showgirl to his gunslinger {I'm sorta keeping with the western theme you started Sticker}. It's not even a competition really at this point but who can pass up the jamBOree??!!
5 - mir
jamBOree! Thats great!! :)
Sticker, I didn't say that Clay/Ruben were last year. I said the suspense is better than "their" year, not last year, dear. No biggie! :)
Like you stated though, I also have a hard time remembering the winner/runner-up from last year. IF it wasnt for Fantasia's "summertime" performance, I would have almost no memory of last year!! :)
6 - Sticker
leslie said:
I think tonight will be all about Bo and Carrie will be his sidekick - showgirl to his gunslinger {I'm sorta keeping with the western theme you started Sticker}. It's not even a competition really at this point but who can pass up the jamBOree??!!
Excellent!
Yes, Carrie is Bo's Calamity Jane---or, maybe better since she did actually sing, Roy's Dale Evans. ha!
Also agree that the suspense comes not from it being a real competition at this point, but from the possibility that some unexpected event/performance could intervene in the jamBOree tonight.
7 - Sticker
yeah, you're right, Mir--my apologies.
But mind meld again: wow, like you, one of my only memories of AI3 was "Summertime" and Fanny's first tune, "Something to Talk About."
Seriously, I was there every week, faithfully watching, and I have almost NO memory of any of it.
If I work at it, I can replay a few bytes of JPL and John Stevens in my mind, but it takes real work.
Jam on, JamBOree fans!
8 - Corey
There was a season THREE? I have a few dim memories, but they seem to be painful.
Fans really cared who won the Ruben/Clay face-off, but since Clay has demonstrated that you don't HAVE to win, most Carrie and Bo fans feel that their favorite will have a career no matter what happens. Once the standard (runnerup-dom) has been set, the suspense is bound to be less. Go Bo.
9 - jarboy
It's the BEST AI ever
No, it's the WORST AI ever
How can two so-called "professional" critics be so far apart?
10 - Sticker
Corey,
Agreed. AI3 just seems to slip from the common consciousness most of the time.
I think there's something in there about the eventual winner and runner-up having landing in the B3 five times between them. I mean, the competition is only ten weeks long.
11 - Aaman
From the Constantine fanboards, a very funny series of jokes:
12 - Natalie Davis
Let the jamBOree begin! Be Bo's vehicle: 1-866-43657-01, 1-866-43657-03, and 1-866-43657-05.