Ellen DeGeneres to replace Paula Abdul as 4th American Idol judge


No, it's not a joke. It's not even April 1st.

It is hot news though.

So, I actually like Ellen well enough. I Tivo her show, and if she has an interesting guest I'll watch it. She's very pleasant and frequently amusing. I think she's very positive as well, including her brand of humor, and it's a nice antidote to the more typical cynicism that pervades pop culture. She'll clearly replace the nurturing role that Paula fulfilled. I even really admire Ellen for the ways in which she has skillfully broken down barriers for the gay community, and her prime time gig on AI is just one more notch in that belt.

Do you feel a "but" coming on?

But, I am concerned. And here's why.

-I still think four judges is too many. The show has become only about them talking. There is so much talk and so little singing now. If you checked out past seasons you would see that they were able to move to contestants singing two and then three songs earlier in the season. They had to push each shift to more songs later by a week this year because of all that talking.

-Simon may not be a singer, but he is a producer. Randy is a musician and producer. Paula was a platinum-selling artist, and Kara is a songwriter. Ellen is related to music....how? Sure, she's going to represent "the people", but...

-Ellen guest-judged on So You Think You Can Dance last season. Which is almost relevant because she does love to dance and dances on her show every day. In any case, the problem was that her job was clearly to tell a joke every time it was her turn to judge, and it got monotonous. And was more about her than the dancers. I think after an episode or two of AI we're going to get tired of her bon mots.

Hope I'm wrong. Certainly, she is one of the most likable people around. But if feels like stunt casting, and that's always a high-risk move.

Posted: Thu - September 10, 2009 at 07:40 AM       EmailFeedback

©