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I don't think the show is "rigged"; rather, the judges have their favorites and self-programmed expectations. Tonight, their stale tastes were again revealed.

I've said it before and I stand behind it again: David Cook is the best Idol contestant I've seen. For Round 1, credit Clive Davis for doing a much better job than the judges or producers (last week) in selecting suitable songs. David Archuleta's style, for once, suited a song, and a good song at that. He didn't milk it or over-emote, although, as usual, he was on autopilot in terms of volume and tempo. Cook was excellent as usual, on a pretty good song. I thought the round was a tie.

Now let's go to Round 2. Neither contestant has a wide choice. Archuleta picks the 2008 (sorry Randy, it's not 2007 - did you catch that humdinger?) version of the same old self-congratulatory coronation song. It was a mirror image of the forgettable crap they made my man Taylor sing, and that Sparks willingly sang. Archie crooned it in his usual style - i.e., none - and it wasn't even that good a performance. Cook actually picks something different, adds a passable rock guitar, and lifts the performance out of the narrow coronation genre into something resembling a self-sustaining, real song. Yet Simon, summing up for Randy (Paula was almost absent tonight), and while admitting that Archuleta's tune was the same old egotistical crap, throws the round to Archuleta. Un-freaking-believable.

So far, so bad. Now we get to Round 3. One contestant tries something new and different. Personally I thought the song itself was just okay, but it did express a different side of the performer (thanks Paula), and wasn't the same type of song or performance as in the other two rounds. The other contestant rehashes an over-emoted performance of the safest stanza of a song that is softheaded if taken seriously. (Lennon was sleeping when he wrote Imagine; it only makes sense, and barely at that, if sung in the quiet, wry, ironic tone of the original.) So what happens? Randy and Simon slobber over the lazier contestant, Archuleta. So much for Randy Jackson praising risks. And when the chips were down, Simon Cowell - favorite song, the fifty-year old Unchained Melody - showed himself as Mr. Conventional. Their programmed expectations were upset, and their little brains couldn't take it.

When David Archuleta makes his CD, it'll sound like an old fashioned LP - an LP that skips at the end of a track because the stylus (needle) is broken. Every song will sound the same; same style, tempo, volume, modulation. He gave fine vocal performances tonight, and for most of the season. Of course he could do that - he's a veteran contestant, and when you don't have to worry about thinking through a song, you can devote all your practice time to vocal tricks. If Archuleta wins, he'll be an improvement over Sparks (and a more successful winner than Taylor or Ruben). Kudo Withholder, the previous poster, accurately praises DA's moxie in being at the top of his game tonight. But the show can do better than that.

All his posturing aside, I sense ambivalence in David Cook. I don't think he really wants to win, in terms of his musical career; rather, once in any contest, a contestant wants to win. In the end, he voted with his heart: in Round 3, he eschewed the safe, vote-getting choice. That would suffice for me, and besides, in the end, merit is merit. David Cook was the best all season, and the better performer - the better musician - tonight. For your reaction tonight, judges, I'm now going to throw a hundred or so votes in for him. PS - more than an hour into the voting, I am getting mostly busy signals. Last week, 95% of my calls sailed through.