Last night we FINALLY watched the American Idol saga wrap up. It has been my little oasis of the USA every Sunday night for the last couple of months.

I'm not sure what to make of it all. It took a few hours of stewing, but think I have finally determined that I actually wanted David A. to win. It took me a while to figure out because I had been under the impression that I didn't like him that much. 'The Squinting Marshmallow' was my nickname for him. (David Cook was 'The Smirking Wisp Boy). But in the end, The SM's perfect angel voice kind of won me over. And the way Simon slathered on the compliments during the final sing-off, young SM HAD to have thought the Idol crown would be his. And I hate to see cute little children disappointed. The SWB is a big boy and could have handled second place without a blink- and then gone on to be rich and famous like Chris Daughtry. But the poor little SM looked all sad around the eyes. He was smiling, but I could tell…

Plus, can you imagine the SWB doing ads for Disneyland attractions, à la Jordin?

I didn't think so. His Alt-Rocker cred would be right out the window and then where would he be? Out driving around in his new Ford Escape Hybrid, humming along with Daughtry tunes, I guess.

And as for the Ford Motor Company, I think they could have been far more generous with that car give-away. A Hybrid Escape each for David and David? TWO measly cars?

.Now, I never completely saw any of the famous ads that were aired, featuring AI contestants. The African channel that we tape the show off of chops out the US ads and replaces them with trailers for crazy Ghanaian soap operas (think witchcraft and fetishes) and African Idol (which looks astounding in many, many bad ways). But I did see a few clips from the ads, and all I can say is: Matador outfits? Puh-lease! For submitting to that humiliation alone they each deserved a nice car.
Ford = Cheapskate. Go for the big gesture, people.

And Fantasia’s guest ‘performance’?. Ummm… what WAS that? Her frenetic screaming and writhing and hopping was positively alarming. Has she been digging into Paula’s stash of crack cocaine?
Just asking.

How any of this really fits into a West African reality is beyond me. The aforementioned ‘African Idol’ takes place in South Africa, a place SO different from Burkina that it may as well be on another continent. And American Idol may as well take place on another planet in a distant solar system.