MANILA, Philippines—Months ago, we took a deep breath and "educatedly guessed" that the 2008 "American Idol" grand finals could end up as a "duel" between the two Davids in the singing tilt-David Archuleta and David Cook. As of last week, both of them were still among the five "surviving" finalists, so our "fearless" forecast could come true a few more weeks from now.

Better chance

If both Davids do make it to the "final-finals," which one of them has a better chance of being hailed as the ultimate Idol? It all depends on the show's millions of viewer-voters, of course-but, a little second-guessing may not be such a fruitless exercise in speculation:

On point of basic voter preference, it could be concluded that David Archuleta has the advantage of youth (he's only 17). In some of their remarks, the show's jurors occasionally hint that the younger David, the tilt's most youthful finalist, gets among the highest number of votes each week.

Aside from his innate talent as a performer, his high marks could be due to the fact that the competition's audience is basically a young one-hence, most of the tilt's voters empathize most readily with its youngest contender.

In addition, Archuleta's cute looks and "puppy-dog eyes" (in Simon Cowell's words) help boost his appeal. It can't be denied, too, that his vocal range is quite impressive for a teenager whose singing voice hasn't quite "matured."

On the down side, Archuleta's youth sometimes translates into relative rawness, lack of versatility, and limited vocal texture and color.

More expressive

As for David Cook, he's years older, and less "puppy-dog cute," but he get higher marks on point of versatility, vocal texture, interpretation and "sexy" projection. In other words, his more extensive experience in performing has made him a more expressive and daring performer than his younger cofinalist.

He also appears to be more knowledgeable about how to use the TV cameras to enhance the effect of his performance on viewers. Instead of unrelievedly belting out his numbers as many other contestants in singing tilts are wont to do, he knows that when he's on a close-up, he should make his performance more introspective and intimate.

So, on point of the totality of their performances, it can be concluded that Cook has an edge over Archuleta. The question now is: Should both of them reach the final square-off, will Cook's more totalized and musically sophisticated performance be able to sufficiently neutralize Archuleta's "youth" advantage?

The tilt's past winners offer conflicting indications: 2006 saw the relatively mature (at 28) Taylor Hicks win the title, while last year's Idol was teenager (like Archuleta, also 17) Jordin Sparks.

So, which side of the age gap will the show's viewer-voters favor this year? Going way out on a limb, our "fearful" forecast favors David Cook. We could be wrong, of course.

Predictions

In fact, we could be dead wrong if, as per last Thursday's vote (this piece is being written on Tuesday), one of the two Davids doesn't even get into the tilt's Final Four. Egg on our face? Portrait of NUT as an omelet. Which only goes to show, if you make predictions about the outcome of singing tilts on TV-don't quit your day job!

If, however, both Davids do continue to survive the competition's inexorable selection process, prospects for their ultimate musical "duel" firm up, the plot thickens-and, all bets are on!