Best and Worst: ‘American Idol’ finale Season 8

We hadn’t noticed Kara’s affection -- and affectation -- of calling everybody “sweetie,” but seeing the butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth montage made us realize just how insincere Miss DioGuardi (if you’re nasty) is.  (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)

Be careful, Adam Lambert, this is what “American Idol” does to the rock ‘n’ roll in you. You may think you’re coming out of this show wailing and hollering over air-guitar-worthy solos, but no, not gonna happen. You’ll be back in 2010 with your own power ballad. On the bright side, it may come with an iPhone app for the crowd to wave.  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images for Fox)

The usually understated Lionel Richie and the gravelly tone of Danny Gokey didn’t seem like it would mesh. It did, though. Like some of the other “Idol” performances, Gokey showed a lot of reverence for the “All Night Long” hitmaker, but also threw a bit of himself in there when he could. Overall, not as harmonic as Allison Iraheta and Cyndi Lauper, but well done.  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images for Fox)

We get that Steve Martin is a serious banjo player and we’re impressed that he also wrote the song that former “Idol”-ers Megan Joy Corkrey and Michael Sarver sang, but with Martin situated right there in the middle, we just kept waiting for the laughs. We’re sorry, Steve. We’ll get over it.  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images for Fox)

Carlos Santana. Is there ever a performance of his that doesn’t have a cool vibe? Jorge Nunez came back and got his grind on, but most of the “Idol” performers weren’t as samba-worthy with their two-steps. Awkward moves, OK vocals, but with Santana, it was the guitar that made it cool.  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images for Fox)

Did Ryan Seacrest pay a pre-show visit to Paula Abdul‘s medicine cabinet, because we could’ve sworn he said she was the judge with the most comprehensive vocabulary? Just checkin’.  (Jason Merritt / Getty Images)

To our minds, Queen Latifah, left, can do no wrong. And we admire the fact that when she signed on with Jenny Craig she was only interested in getting “healthy.” Still, not sure that the 20 pounds she lost last year qualifies her for catsuit status.  (Kevin Winter / Getty Images for Fox)