Kelly Named "American Idol"

Clarkson, a former cocktail waitress from Texas, beat out fellow finalist Justin Guarini, 23, by getting 58 percent of the 15 million votes cast by fans of the Fox talent contest.

The perky pop star was a slight underdog, according to oddsmakers, but throughout the show, people-on-the-street interviews and celebrity fans like Jimmy Fallon, Mary J. Blige, Scrubs star Zach Braff, Donald Trump, Dixie Chick and fellow Texan Natalie Maines and Malcolm in the Middle mom Jane Kaczmarek (who said she called to vote for Kelly 36 times last night...damn the vote fixers!) had forecast Kelly would win.

"I'm pretty much thinking, 'How am I going to sing this next song without crying?' " Clarkson said, before crooning "A Moment Like This"--a song that you'll probably be sick of in about a month, since her CD single of the tune will hit stores and heavy radio rotation on September 17.

The competition, adopted from a British series called Pop Idol, kicked off in June, with more than 10,000 aspiring superstars culled down to a top 10 and, finally, Clarkson and Guarini's head-to-head battle.

Not that Wednesday's finale, live from the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, was all about the best talent. The show kicked off with a who's who of less than stellar auditioners, including that infamous blue-eyeshadowed, uh, singer, who performed what seemed to be a version of Christina Aguilera's "Genie in a Bottle."

Red carpet arrivals (celebs in attendance included Ray Romano and his kids, the cast of Fox's Mad TV, Barry "Greg Brady" Williams, Luke Wilson and Natalie Cole), way too much prattle by lame-o hosts Brian Dunkleman and Ryan Seacrest and celebrity predictions (Justin got Fat Joe's vote) followed. Then, doing their best Up with People impression, the 10 finalists sang a medley of songs they had performed throughout the competition.

In short, the two-hour show had more filler than a 7-11 hot dog.

Then finally, after more medleys (so...many...medleys), a duet by Clarkson and British Pop Idol winner Will Young and another by Clarkson and Guarini, the winner was announced and all three American Idol judges--BMG honcho Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and record producer Randy Jackson--were proven right when their pick, Clarkson, was crowned the next big thing.

But don't count Doylestown, Pennsylvania, native Justin (trivia: he and Pink went to the same high school) out: He drops his own first CD single next month and, if squealing teen response and the judges' words of praise are to be believed, he'll most likely end up with a recording contract of his own.

Of course, the really big winners of American Idol are Fox, which has hosted the hit of the summer and seen numbers among the oh-so-coveted 18-49 demographic reach an impressive 8.3 rating and expected to draw upward of 20 millon viewers for the finale; Fox's switchboard operators, who processed more than 100 million calls over the duration of the contest; and crabby Cowell, who snagged a reported million-dollar deal with the network to return for next February's American Idol 2.

Not that we'll have to wait that long to hear more about the song stylings of the current batch of wannabe popsters. The official show tome is currently in stores from Bantam Books, an American Idol DVD comes out on October 1, and a six-week, 28-city tour, featuring the ten finalists, kicks off on October 8 in San Diego.

There are also persistent rumors of an American Idol big-screen movie floating around Hollywood, which brings us to just one request: please, don't let Dunkleman play himself. Please.