Miley Cyrus plays as Hannah Montana with her father Billy Ray Cyrus on a Disney channel family sitcom of the same name. Season one of the show has already hit the shelves on DVD. After watching the first season of the show, I am ready to catch up on season two.

On Sunday, the young star earned the MTV Movie Award for best song with her tune The Climb. The song has reached #4 on the U.S. Top 100 list.

Who thought that Nashville’s little girl would become a household name? Look out Dolly Parton, Miley’s on your trail. In season one of Hannah Montana, Dolly plays Miley’s aunt for an episode. When putting the two of these ladies together, you definitely get your Tenessee pride and a “howdy” to go with it.

Miley was born on November 23, 1992, and is the daughter of singer/actor Billy Ray Cyrus and Tish Cyrus. She has five siblings, her favorite sport is cheerleading, and her favorite book is Don’t Die My Love. As of June 2007, Miley had never had formal singing lessons. (IMDB.com)

Being a singer is hard enough. I imagine it’d be even tougher adding an acting career to the list. Miley, or Hannah, really has the best of both worlds. When I first watched her show, I realized I had found something worth watching on Disney again.

This Tennessee girl knows what she wants in life and continuously puts on great performances. There are many kids that love the show, and we have Miley and Disney to thank for all the hard work they have done.

The Odds Are In David’s Favor

One need not look long before finding that all the odds makers have David Archuleta as the hands on favorite to win it all.

• American Idol odds for betting who will win the 2007 American Idol
• American Idol Betting Odds
• 2008 American Idol 7 Betting Odds
• American Idol Betting Odds – 2008 American Idol 7 – Bet American Idol Lines

Having the odds in your favor doesn’t necessarily mean you will win, of course. David does know what it feels like to win, though. He was a winner on Kids Star Search at the age of 12.

Early Indications David Archuleta Was A Potential Winner

A few weeks ago there was a lot of buzz about a video (which was later shown on-air by the producers of American Idol) showing David singing to a bunch of the Season 1 Contestants. The 11-year-old David was channeling Jennifer Hudson (before Jennifer Hudson was channeling Jennifer Hudson) when he impressed them BIG TIME with his rendition of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going�

Even way back then it was obvious that David had incredible talent and was destined for some great things. Was he destined to be an American Idol? A lot of people think so.

There’s No Denying His Talent

Even on Pop Critics we’ve had David in our top picks every week of the live performances. His voice is almost flawless and his song choices have been quite good. You don’t have to listen to him very much to figure out that he’s loaded with talent. Check out some of the videos that are on YouTube.

Even if none of these videos impress you, keep in mind that all of them have hundreds of thousands of views each. “A Thousand Miles” has over 930,000 views! None of the other Idol finalists can even come close to showing these kinds of numbers for their online videos. It’s obvious David has already built up a huge following all over the country.

If you have any doubt that his fans are committed, just check out some of his fan sites:

• Arch Angels of IdolForums
• the Archies of americanidol.com
• Vote For David Archuleta America Idol on MySpace
• Archangels Online – a David Archeleta fan forum
• ArcheletaFans : David Archuleta Fansite
• David Archuleta Fan Blog
• Fansite…David Archuleta
• David Archuleta. Fansite For American Idol David Archuleta
• David Archuleta Online
• David Archuleta Forum – Message Boards

There Are No Guarantees

Of course, nothing is ever guaranteed when it comes to the fickle tastes of the American public. Although David has pretty much been the favorite up until this point, I don’t think it means he’s won it just yet. The odds are definitely in his favor and it’s an uphill climb for the other contestants, but I think there are a few things that could cause David to lose the whole thing:

• Judges’ Criticism – Look for the judges to start finding harsher criticisms for him. There’s no way Simon is going to let him dance into the final round without a scathing remarks. How David handles the criticism will probably help determine a lot about how much of a favorite he remains. A bad attitude would probably lose him a lot of fans quickly.

 

• Underdog Factor – The American public loves to root for an underdog. David is not an underdog at this point. We KNOW he’s going to make it in the business whether or not he wins American Idol. If one of the other contestants can really win over fans they could have an outside shot at taking advantage of some David backlash late in the season and emerging as the victor.

 

• Talent Doesn’t Always Do It – This is a controversial argument, but the most talented Idol contestant doesn’t usually win. Cases can be made for almost every winner, but there’s also at least one or two other singers in almost every season that had more talent than the person who actually won (remember how everyone thought Melinda Doolittle had it in the bag?). If David has the most talent, he might not end up as the winner.

 

• History Of Upsets – American Idol history over the past six seasons is filled with upsets – people leaving earlier than everyone thought they should. We can go all the way back to Season One’s Tamyra Gray who was booted at number four or Chris Daughtry who left in the same spot in Season Five. Every single season has had at least one upset so far. David would certainly be the biggest upset of all, but anything can happen.

 

• Voter Turnout – This is actually part of the reason for the last thing I mentioned. American Idol doesn’t have a problem getting people to vote. What happens is that people think contestants such as David are safe because they sang so well and always do so well that they’re bound to have tons of fans and get lots of votes…so, they vote for other people they like instead, hoping to save someone else who they truly feel might get kicked off. The contestants like David then end up without the needed number of votes and end up near or at the very bottom. it could happen to David very easily seeing how much of a favorite he already is.

Conclusion – Has David Already Won?

I don’t think David has it wrapped up just yet. He’s definitely on the right course, though. If he keeps singing at the same level he has been and keeps picking the right songs he won’t have a problem remaining the favorite.

In order to win David should make sure that he keeps a pleasant personality no matter what happens or what the judges say and he should always be humble and respectful. If he gets a big head we’ll see the backlash coming a mile away. Above all, he somehow has to perform so well that people wouldn’t consider NOT voting for him just because they think he’s safe. He’s going to have to convince them that he was so good they should vote for him because it deserves it whether he’s safe or not. And that’s not going to be easy.

So, what do you think? Has David Archuleta already wrapped up American Idol 2008. Has David already won Season 7? Should the other contestants pack it in and go home? Let us know what you think.

Hae Da Fung

Denise

Well, you haven’t done anything to lose the game yet. The problem you have right now is that you haven’t done anything to win the game either. Even if you make it to the final Tribal Council (and you won’t in the alliance you’re in) you can’t possibly win because you’ve shown no overwhelming physical prowess nor any kind of gaming strategy. In other words, you haven’t impressed anyone enough to vote for you.

Since Courtney’s a waterhead and can’t be counted on for strategic purposes you will have to make your move this week if you want to try to win it all. Form an alliance with Erik and Peih-Gee (get Courtney if you can) and attempt to vote out Todd or Amanda (Amanda is the bigger threat). If you can’t get Courtney you may force a tie. There’s a chance you’ll lose a tiebreaker and end up in sixth place…but is that really worse than fifth…or fourth? You’re not making the final three if things stay the same as they are now.

Erik

I usually would not resort to having people hope for physical immunity challenges but I think that’s kind of what you’re coming down to. With James gone you have a good chance of winning a truly physical challenge so that’s good for you. On the other hand, all of the others aren’t exactly pushovers.

Strategy wise you don’t have many options. You should be willing to consider any new plans that come your way but you should also be thinking of some of your own. A three way alliance with you, Peih-Gee, and Denise makes a lot of sense. None of you have much of a chance of making the final three if the Todd/Amanda/Courtney alliance stays in effect. Don’t be afraid of taking a chance and losing it all if by winning you stand to gain a lot more.

By the way, why the heck did you vote for James last week? You should have stuck to the plan and voted for Todd. If James had played his immunity idol there would have been a tie (and a revote) between Peih-Gee and Todd and that could have been bad for Peih-Gee (and you, by extension). It didn’t make much sense.

Peih-Gee

You need to work on being less annoying around camp if you actually want people to vote for you. I’m not sure you can garner enough support to win at final Tribal Council as it is. Don’t make it harder on yourself if you actually find a way to get there.

You know that Todd and Amanda are the backbone of their own alliance. You trusted Amanda last week when she told you not to do anything to try to save yourself. Don’t trust her like that anymore or you may get burned. You need to be active in trying to save yourself now.

Erik and Denise have to know that they can’t win teamed up with the others. If they do not know this you must convince them and then convince them it’s in their best interest to team up with you for a final three alliance. It’s a win win for all three of you. Try to get Courtney to come along by promising her the same thing. If it works, great. If not, take your chances with the tie.

Alternately, you can try to break up Todd and Amanda which might get you in the final three, but I don’t see you (or anyone else) winning against either one of them in a head to head vote. Your best bet is to have both of them on the jury.

Todd

The longer you remain in the game, the worse your gameplay becomes. I can only assume it’s because your thinking and judgment are impaired from lack of food and sleep.

Your alliance with Amanda was smart and has taken you a long way. Unfortunately, in the last few episodes she has proven to be the superior player. If you try to go up against her in the final Tribal Council you will lose. At some point you will have to get rid of her. It will have to be a very secret and very swift blindside in order to work. I think you stand a pretty good chance against most of the others although your best bet is to go up against Courtney and maybe Denise or Peih-Gee.

Amanda

You’re smart enough to know that you don’t want to go up against Todd in the final Tribal Council. You should assume that he’s smart enough to not want to go up against you (even though he doesn’t seem to be). Make plans to dispense with him.

What you don’t want to do is act too quickly. You’re kind of in a delicate position. If you try to get rid of him this week you’re only left with the nutso Courtney as a fairly dependable vote and maybe Denise. You will have to do some major talking to get Peih-Gee and Erik on your side. It would be dangerous.

Waiting one more round would also be dangerous as you don’t know but what he might win immunity or form another alliance with the others to get rid of you. Like I said, it’s a delicate situation.

You’re best bet is to somehow convince all of the other players that you are in a final three alliance with each of them. Ideally you’ll want to convince Peih-Gee and Erik that you’re with them and then convince Courtney and Denise you’re with them. None of those people talk to each other very much so you might be able to pull it off. As long as you can keep them from teaming up with each other you have a virtual free pass to the final three.

Once Todd is gone you should take out either Peih-Gee or Erik (Peih-Gee is the better choice). When defending yourself at the final Tribal Council you can easily argue that you simply stuck to your original alliance. There won’t be much they can say about that and they aren’t likely to vote for Courtney or Denise over you because of that since they were on the same alliance.

The problem will be keeping them from realizing that they don’t want to go up against you and them teaming up together. If you vote out Peih-Gee you can probably charm Erik or otherwise convince him that he’s not next before you stab him in the back thus keeping him from talking with Denise and Courtney. None of those three have displayed much strategic thinking anyway (whereas Peih-Gee has on occasion.

Courtney

I don’t think you need to change anything that you’re doing. No one plans to get rid of you anytime soon. If you’re goal was to make it to the final Tribal Council I think you can start celebrating now.

If you’re goal was to actually win Survivor…well, that’s just not going to happen. You’ve not done a single thing I can think of to gain even one vote save for Frosti perhaps, and, to be honest, I think he’ll probably even vote for the better player. The better player won’t be you.

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