So we’ve reached the end of the road for The Show this year, and the finals pit Meat Loaf’s doppelganger against Teenage Katy Perry. I suspect the latter will have a big career and the former soon will be arguing with bar managers over the band tab.

I have a big soft spot for Mr. Doppelganger, which is why he’s doomed. I saw his archetypes when they came around for the first time in the 1970s, and his style thusly appeals to 54-year-old Midwestern white boys like me. That is not a prescription for victory.

There’s no doubt he can blow, but every time I see him, I think of the real Mr. Loaf in “Fight Club.” Edward Norton uses a very specific term to describe Meat’s, um, unusual physical appearance in that movie; Every time the Ganger hits my screen, the line from the movie pops right into my head and stays there. This also cannot be good.

I will say, Young Katy, that you are a cut above most winners. I have you up in that rarefied air of the few multiplatinum sellers churned out by The Show; your biggest obstacle might be your young age at this point, but it’s not a dead stopper to a long career, given your pipes. I also suspect that under that candy-coated shell The Show has painted on you, you might be a little bit of hell on wheels. I’d encourage the development of that side, although you need to stop considerably short of, say, Miley territory.

The ratings sank again for The Show this year, which is probably more a reflection of its age than anything else. It’s been a good run, and it looks like they’re going to fire up the war horse again next year — but I think it might be time to put that horse out to pasture. That wouldn’t be such a bad thing. The Show has made mountains of money and inspired all sorts of competitors and copycats. It deserves to be retired with dignity.

Update 5-22: Shows you what I know. The guy won like a bat out of hell. But I stand by my prediction of how she’s going to do.