<p>I hope that American Idol doesn’t try to borrow anything from this show. From the dancers, fog and fireworks, to the audience screaming in the background throughout each show, it just got old real fast.</p>
<p>Spoiler alert…and it’s Melanie!</p>
<p>Her mom did a great job with the accent…</p>
<p>The best part of tonight’s show was Justin Bieber and Stevie Wonder. They were fantastic, and I really didn’t know how good Bieber really is. His singing was amazing, and to have Stevie Wonder there as well was a real treat. The rest of the show, well, not so much. Especially the rappers with the back up dancers wearing no skirts and shaking their behinds. It was really amateurish, especially after seeing the tight choreography in Justin Bieber’s act. As for the contestants, IMO Josh was by far the best tonight, but I’m not surprised he didn’t get the votes.</p>
<p>Yeah…hate to admit it, but Bieber was good.</p>
<p>There should be a law against two hour results shows.</p>
<p>I liked the friends, teacher, and family tribute segments.</p>
<p>I’m very happy Melanie won but also a little surprised that she was the top vote-getter. Josh was such a gracious “loser” and I thought Melanie should have broken away from her family circle to say something after she was announced the winner. In the end, the best personality, originality, and back story didn’t come out on top and I’m perfectly okay with that. The best voice won and I think she will go on to make some great recordings.</p>
<p>Well, that was a disappointment. The Justin Bieber/Drew moment was very cute though.</p>
<p>I liked Robert Bianco’s comment in his Best/Worst of TV for 2011 re: X Factor. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>And he wrote that before last night’s finale which confirmed it.</p>
<p>I thought that Bieber was Bieber. Says it all. The best part of the show was Leona Lewis and those few minutes. Josh was remarkable in defeat, but that was not surprising from such a class act. I have to admit that Melanie sounded good in the final duet with Josh. But she has sounded good most of the time. </p>
<p>X Factor has its own Neal E Boyd now.</p>
<p>Rachel Crowe was adorable. She’s going to go far, I think.</p>
<p>I didn’t watch the first hour and 45 minutes, just tuned in to see the results. I have to admit I was shocked when the final two weren’t Chris and Melanie. Was Chris eliminated early on?</p>
<p>Melanie definitely has an incredible voice and will sell records, although I don’t know to who. I can’t see either of my teens being interested in her. </p>
<p>Overall this show was a complete wreck. If they do it again, I think a major overhaul is in order: new host, higher eligibility age. </p>
<p>Oh well, only a few more weeks until the tried and true, American Idol, starts up again. I think Simon Cowell must be very unhappy that he left AI.</p>
<p>I’d never seen Justin Bieber perform and was duly impressed.</p>
<p>Like xiggi, I felt the Leona Lewis performance was the high point.</p>
<p>I thought both Chris and Josh were gracious in their defeats. I hope they each have strong careers. I was disappointed that it was Melanie but I agree that she also was deserving. She doesn’t have any X factor, imo, but with the right songs it will be a pleasure to listen to her voice.</p>
<p>Thanks for posting the Robert Bianco comment - said it all.</p>
<p>I wish I had timed how long it took me to watch the 2 hour train wreck. Next year, I will time myself so y’all can find out how easy it is to diminish the pain via the Magic Fast Forward Button… maybe I can work out something where I get a % of any DVR/TiVo boxes sold based on my data.</p>
<p>I was hoping for a Josh win. Hope he gets a recording contract and makes an album. I really enjoy listening to him. </p>
<p>I was out last night and DVR’d it. All I can say is: THANK GOD FOR THE FAST FORWARD BUTTON!</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Haha, when it comes to subjective opinions (aren’t they all) Jmmom and Xiggi seem to be separated at birth. Of course, anyone who knows us in real life know better. :)</p>
<p>To be clear, I never considered Melanie undeserving. I firmly believe the last three were the best of the crop and offerd clear choices for different audiences. It seems that the “local” audience is different from the voters’ pool at large. While I did like Melanie’s voice, I have felt from the get go that her presence on the show was entirely manufactured. The early elimination, the reversal by Simon, the accent snafu, the “confidence issue” all seemed to be orchestrated. In addition, while some candidates were forced to step out of their comfort zone, Melanie was allowed to stick on one style and do the same over and over again. It did not matter if it was a movie song, a dance song, she was allowed to belt out the same notes. On the other hand, Josh got stuck with Beatles song and other elements that did not suit him. </p>
<p>All in all, there is little doubt that Simon Cowell moves this show according to his entire whims. The circus with Drew and Rachel were all part of a grand plan. Everybody works for him and the show is 100 percent about him. </p>
<p>In the end, the finale offered the most memorable image of the show. Too long, too overproduced, awkward interactions between host and judges, and sadly enough, a discernable whiff of manipulation and fake emotions.</p>
<p>Fwiw, I still believe that the show would be better off with splitting the 5 million dollars in a more equitable way. It would have made such good TV had the three candidates decided to do it on their own.</p>
<p>Agree with swimcatsmom…took me about 15 minutes to watch the whole two hours.</p>
<p>I agree 100% with Xiggi on this. Entirely manufactured and Melanie was planned to win a very long time ago.</p>
<p>If it was ‘manufactured’, is everyone intimating that the votes were ‘manufactured’ as well? I thought the decision was popular vote, not the judges decision.</p>
<p>^ I am not sure about others, but yes I absolutely do not believe the votes matter one way or another. I am not prone to conspiracies, but really, why on earth would they really base it on votes? </p>
<p>Way too much resting on this - and Simon is too much of a know-it-all control freak - to leave it up to a bunch of kids who can each send 100s of text votes each. Having a small base of super-fans tells you little about whether you’d have a big base of paying fans. If you check out the voting website it says at the bottom, “Rules and procedures are subject to change at producers’ discretion without notice.”</p>
<p>I finally watched my taped shows, both Wed. and Thur. Even if Simon or the show knew or planned that Melanie should win, she sure didn’t appear to show it. Josh was very gracious and I hope the best for him. Chris did a great job … it may be best for him for now that he didn’t win so he can complete his successful recovery process. Justin Bieber was great, and I’m not a Be-lieber. Melanie was the true professional in the end, having to sing her song again and hitting so many difficult notes while trying to control her emotions. </p>
<p>I did not like the announcer guy, Steve Jones. His timing for getting the comments from Melanie and anyone voted off during the season seemed to be awkwardly off. He also seemed to say the wrong thing to the judges sometimes that offended them or annoyed them. He probably shouldn’t come back, just like the 2nd announcer didn’t re-join Ryan Secrist in the 2nd season of American Idol. Sometimes you just need a re-start (less production in the early rounds, older age limit, as someone above suggested).</p>
<p>I haven’t seen too much hype over the holidays about Melanie Amaro. I wonder if it was wise to have the show end right before the holidays. This allows the excitement for the win to die down without Melanie getting the additional attention from the post-show hype. Oh, Simon … don’t you realize that the TV entertainment show people go on vacation the last 2 weeks of the year to be with their families?</p>
<p>Caught Melanie Amaro on Live with Kelly! (used to be Live with Regis and Kelly) this morning.</p>
<p>Hmmm… no real trace of the Island Accent. Just sayin’…</p>
<p>No idea what this piece of evidence adds to our in-depth analysis :), but just thought I’d post the update.</p>
<p>Now on to bigger and better things… like, oh, Project Runway All-Stars?</p>