A new American Idol, almost entirely new judges table, but no snark. Even though Ryan Seacrest still exists to kick around… no snark.

You’d think the blog host had a baby or that facebook was the new wave of the future.

The worst moment was when Fred Sanford came out and joined them. Crystal and Lee sounded fantastic together on that song. They should release it immediately.

I’m glad Lee won, and he did it on the likability factor. Crystal’s clearly the superior musical artist–maybe the best Idol has ever had–though Lee’s not all that far behind her. But I never liked her attitude all season, not once. She also seemed like she thought she was just too cool to be there (and maybe she was). Lee always seemed amazed and humbled to be there, always genuinely surprised that he’d actually made it one more step up the ladder. I think the audience really responded to that. Good for him.

The final twelve with Alice Cooper singing “School’s Out.” Alice nearly brained a backup singer swinging a cane around.

The previous winners (except David Cook, maybe he’s touring or something) were all there for a number. Lots of previous finalists too, all doing a big group number. (I definitely saw Guarani, Mike Johns, the Pickle, Jason Castro, Ace, Alison Iraheta, and the Crown Prince.) Ruben has lost about 475 pounds, he’s actually a bit more slender than Mike Lynche now.

Mike Lynche sang “Taking it to the Streets” with Michael McDonald. I would have loved to see the next guy come out to sing “Peg” with McDonald reprising his backup vocals from the original. In any case McDonald was very good, he sounds unchanged from his heyday.

Casey sang “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” with Brett Michaels. Fantastic moment. Decent performance.

Crystal and Lee together with Joe Cocker. Crystal dominated.

Crystal with Alanis Morisette. Creepy that they arranged this well beforehand, given the news that came after, that Crystal and her guy had broken up Tuesday before the final performances. Crystal was awesome.

Lee with Chicago, for who knows why. Neither he nor they sounded good at all. Went with a pastiche of songs, bad idea.

Lots of roasting of Simon, who was a good sport about it. Randy actually tried to boo him during the intros (like always) but he gave up and gave him a one-man standing ovation. Other funny moments. Paula’s return was really sweet (but I’m sure you saw that part, it was second half), Dane Cook’s song annoyed me, and Ian Bernardo should be hunted for sport.

In essence, Crystal was just as dominant tonight as she was Tuesday. At least she can walk away with her head held high, she didn’t sell herself short and gave it everything all season. If she had won, Lee would have walked away with doubts about his missed opportunities. She can safely have none.