Who will be the next and the last American Idol?

What is it with American Idol that people watch it so much?  It is currently going on its 7^th season and people claim it to be the last season for American Idol as its popularity is dwindling down.  Apart from this, numerous scandals have sprouted from the show and the members, hosts and contestants in its 7 year reign. 

The show first started in 2002 and it was a hit with about 50 million people watching the show.  On its second season, the popularity of the show increased.  The show was having auditions all over America and a total of about 174 million votes were received during the whole duration of the 2^nd season.  The third season proved to be more popular as 360 million votes were received in the show.  By the 4^th season 500 million votes were received on the show but on the 5^th season, although the votes were still more than that of the previous year, it increased only by 80 million votes.   The 6^th season didn’t perform as well as the other seasons, plus the fact that the 6^th season contained the rift between Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell.  Honestly, the conflict between Ryan and Simon sounds more of a gimmick to create some buzz to increase the ratings of the show. 

The 7^th season has not proven to be any better than the previous season.  As a matter of fact, this season has reached the shows lowest viewership even though it has the highest ratings compared to the other reality shows of Fox.  That says a lot though…

Despite the consistently decreasing patronage of American Idol, it cannot be doubted that the show has produced some of the best talents in both Hollywood and the music industry.  Some of the artists that American Idol has produced are Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood, and Elliot Yamin among others. 

Now it’s the 7^th season and it’s the least watched of all the American Idol seasons.  Will it be able to produce talent at par with its predecessors?

Recently, Asian contestant Ramiele Malubay was eliminated.  It was the Dolly Parton week where the contestants were mentored by Dolly Parton herself and each of them were required to choose one of her songs to sing.  This now leaves 8 contestants, namely, Michael Johns, David Archuleta, Carly Smithson, David Cook, Syesha Mercado, Jason Castro, Brooke White and Kristy Lee Cook.

Members of Ibeatyou.com actually puts David Archuleta to be the next American Idol followed by Kristy Lee Cook and finally by Ramiele Malubay.  We all know what happened to Malubay which makes me wonder what the members of Ibeatyou.com are thinking.  Granted David Archuleta is a very talented 16-year old teenager and for a boy his age, competing in a competition like this is admirable and demands respect.  Moreover, for David Archuleta to be able to create the proper audience impact as well as be able to connect to the audience the way he does shows a lot of promise for David Archuleta. 

However, David Cook is one fantastic performer and maybe David Archuleta’s strongest competitor.  As a matter of fact, David is so comfortable on stage and so confident with his skill that as the judges have claimed, he stretches his ability to the limit making his songs either amazingly wonderful or dreadfully disastrous.  The thin line between the two always puts their audience on their toes but David consistently delivers and provides a mind-blowing experience.  His rendition of Billy Jean is an example of this marvelous feat. 

However, there are still 8 contestant and we are quite unsure as to how it will end.  Will the cut-throat competition affect their performances?  Will the pressure break them?  As usual, like all the other seasons previous to this one, all we can do is wait, watch, get awed and vote.  Who will be the next and the last American Idol?