The American Idol Winners

That's very brutal when you have nine people in one night kicked out. (Some may have a second shot in a wildcard round, but for the most part it's over.)

The winners included Alexis Grace. She was definitely my favorite. Wow. Very good in every way. I was happy to see her go through.

Next was Michael Sarver. He's more of a country artist. The oil rig guy. I was surprised that he made it. But he seems very likable, is a family man, and sings very decently. He would be the natural one for the country fans to gravitate toward. So that's probably how he made it through. I don't think he will win the whole thing, but he might do well enough to come out of it with a lucrative country record deal.

Then the last of the three was Danny Gokey. He has real talent. And seems nice enough. He'll probably do well just as he is, but for me, I'd like to see him exude more personality. And saying that's probably not that fair. I don't want the widower and recently passed away wife angle to be his whole story. Come out with something that shows other dimensions.

It was not much of a moment of suspense at the end when it came down to Danny or Tatiana. I can't believe there was anyone out there who thought between those two it'd be anyone but Danny. As far as I was concerned it was a foregone conclusion that he was going through. If anyone was going to be paired with Tatiana for a thrilling conclusion, maybe Michael Sarver. Because he was a surprising winner, I thought. They even said it was the difference of only 20,000 votes between him and Anoop Dog. So that's tight out of 24 million votes total. (If this was Minnesota we wouldn't know which one was put through till Season 10!)