Relive the best and worst ‘Idol’ moments

Best trend
Every year sees “American Idol” hopefuls mimic what worked the previous year, and what led David Cook to victory in season seven was tweaking the arrangements to fit his own style rather than doing a glorified karaoke routine each week. That carried over to season eight, and both finalists succeeded putting their own spin on songs. Having Kris Allen ignore the disco theme and sing “She Works Hard for the Money” as an acoustic guitar solo was a lot better than if he had shown up in John Travolta's white suit and tried to strut.

Best mentoring trick
Had to be Jamie Foxx deciding to motivate Danny Gokey by getting right up in his face and standing chin-to-chin with the third-place finisher. The goal was to wring a little extra emotion out of Danny without scaring him to death and it worked, as the judges all loved his vocals on “Come Rain or Come Shine.”

Best facial expression
Randy Travis looking like he was about to throw up watching Adam Lambert's take on Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” on country night. Though Randy was polite enough in his commentary, Simon had the translator working when he noted that “What Randy was trying to say was ‘what the hell was that?’” Adam shouldn’t expect Randy to endorse him for the Country Music Hall of Fame anytime soon.

Best overwrought auditioner
Tatiana Del Toro. Sure, she didn't make it into the final 13 (imagine how much longer the episodes would have gone with her added theatrics), but she's still one of the most memorable singers to grace the stage this season. And she showed a good sense of humor making fun of her tenacity during the finale, resisting all attempts to get her off the stage and singing “Saving All My Love” one final time.

Best audition costume
With all apologies to Nick Mitchell and his Norman Gentle alter ego, it had to be the swimwear strategy used by Katrina Darrell, aka Bikini Girl. First of all, that was clearly what got her into the Hollywood round. And it may cause more hopefuls to dress in their skimpy finest next year, which Fox and its advertisers would probably rather see than the people who dress up like Big Bird or bananas.

Best outfit at the finale
The bikini. Not Katrina’s, but the one worn by judge Kara DioGuardi, who battled with Katrina throughout the audition rounds and showed up onstage for a surprise duet with her antagonist wearing her own two-piece suit. Ryan said afterwards that she earned a big donation to charity for that performance, and if nothing else she proved she was a better sport than the pouty Katrina.

Best Simon put-down
“I’m gonna be honest with you, it was like you were drunk. I’m not talking one or two bottles. I’m talking a crate.” That’s what he told failed auditioner Annie Murdoch, before before morphing into a kinder, gentler judge for much of the season's final two months. Except to Lil Rounds.

Best random Paula comment

Slideshow   ‘American Idol’ finale Adam Lambert and Kris Allen faced off for the crown in Los Angeles. more photos

There were so many to choose from, but she tried to compliment Kris on disco night by saying “there aren't a lot of men who shop in the women's department.” What she probably meant was that he was unusually good at singing women’s songs, but it caused the judges to devolve into speculating what he might have been purchasing in those aisles.

Best hype for the worst cause
Ryan broke out the hyperbole all season to describe The Judges' Save, a new wrinkle that allowed the judges to overcome the will of the voters and keep the lowest vote-getter around for an extra week. In theory, it meant that a united group of judges could prevent any gross injustices from removing a favorite from the competition too soon. However, in practice it was Simon who made the call each week, and when it was finally used all it did was keep Matt Giraud around for a couple of extra weeks. Big deal. So he finished in fifth place instead of seventh.

Worst innovation
The fourth judge. Kara DioGuardi was a better panelist than she is an “Idol” songwriter, which isn’t saying much, but in truth the issue wasn’t her. Four is just too many voices that take up too much time and take the focus away from the contestants. If the show wanted some new life in the judges’ stand, it should have had the courage to boot either Randy or Paula to make room.

Worst use of a clock
Basic math would suggest that a show scheduled to last an hour should be completed in somewhere around 60 minutes. Any elementary school student knows that. But keeping the trains running on time was an issue for “Idol” all season, with the low point coming April 7, when the show ran so long that Adam Lambert’s “Mad World” didn’t start until all the world's DVRs apparently whirred to a stop. Next season, instead of a fifth judge, the show might want to invest in a stopwatch.

Worst reaction to time management issues
In an effort to keep the show reasonably close to on-time, the producers decided on movie week to allow only two judges to comment on each singer. That experiment lasted just that one night, as everyone quickly remembered that the only judge anybody really cares about is Simon, and muzzling him for half the show was a bad idea.

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