The battle of the Davids ends tonight

The David vs. David showdown on "American Idol" last night was probably one of the most overdone, tedious episodes of the seventh season.

For one, producers used the hourlong show to over-saturate its audience with a "boxing" motif, which was interesting for all of eight seconds. Really, why can't they just let these guys sing without all the extra commentary? No one really cares what the big-wigs of music think; it's America that will vote for the next Idol — hence the term "American Idol."

The only two songs that really caught my attention during the whole drawn-out thing was David Cook's first song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," by U2 — the performance was pretty good — and David Archuleta's last song, John Lennon's "Imagine," which I found phenomenal.

It's a toss-up on who will win tonight, though. I'm rooting for David C. because he's edgier, the better performer of the two (though his performances of late don't compare to some of his stuff midway through the competition) and probably more marketable. Plus, he doesn't have an overbearing stage dad and he's a raw talent (i.e. hasn't been on other talent shows before, whereas "Archie" has with "Star Search").

Archie's cute. He has those puppy-dog eyes that probably make pre-teens across American swoon, along with a great voice. Though he can sing, he's not much of a "performer" yet. It seems if it were up to Simon Cowell, who kept praising the teen last night, the 17-year-old would already be wearing the Idol crown. But I think he's too young for all that fanfare right now. He needs to find out who he is first, without his father pulling some of his strings.

January Holmes