American Idol: Ellen DeGeneres will Replace Paula Abdul as the New 4th Judge

By On 09/09/2009 · 334 Comments · In American Idol, Ellen DeGeneres

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UPDATE:   Ellen signed a 5 year deal. Seriously.   And I’ll bet she’ll be making way more money than what Paula was offered. (Read it at Nikki Finke.)   The producers call Ellen “warm, compassionate” with an incredible sense of humor and a love of music.   I think TPTB had their sights set on hiring an a-lister rather than say, a pop singer who has seen better days (what Paula was when they hired her).   Obviously, with some of the choices they made for guest judges (Neil Patrick Harris, Kristin Chenoweth) the producers were thinking out of the box when considering their next hire.   Ellen does have a fan base all her own, and the curiosity factor will bring in viewers.   Plus, Ellen will pimp the hell out of the show (she kinda already does) on her talk show.   But man, she really was awkward and unfunny when she guest judged on SYTYCD over the summer, so I hope that she brushes up on her skills between now and November…

Found this at NJ.com:

Fox just announced that Ellen DeGeneres will be the new fourth judge on “American Idol,” replacing Paula Abdul, beginning her role after a series of special guest fill-ins (including Victoria Beckham, Mary J. Blige, Kristin Chenoweth, Joe Jonas, Neil Patrick Harris, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry and Shania Twain) fill in for next season’s audition rounds.

I mean, really? Ellen DeGeneres? She guest judged So You Think You Can Dance last Season, and her critiques were comic relief.

So, is she going to be a real judge or some kind of joke? She’s a comedian, not a singer or a musician. I’m kinda flummoxed here.

Erm. I’ll have more to say on this later.

Ellen announces it on her show. Check it out after the Jump… She says she loves Idol and she loves music, and she won’t be looking at it from a technical standpoint, but from somebody at home who is looking to buy the contestant’s record.

By the way, I thought she was terrible as guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance. Her shtick wasn’t even funny.

Video after the JUMP…

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  • auntieaimee

    Yes, Ellen has Adam to thank for her success. LOL!

  • maturin

    Would they have picked a gay judge before Adam? Unlikely.

    Um, they probably picked Ellen because she gets great ratings on her own show and has won numerous Emmy awards for best talk show and best talk show host. .

    It’s not all about Adam you know. Really.

    Clearly, Idol never would have picked Ellen before Kris Allen’s breakthrough win, which was a victory for tiny people who wear comfortable shoes.

  • ahorseofcourse

    UUMMM!!! What were they thinking!

  • EntertainmentBlogger

    1) I love Ellen — AND her own show
    2) I don’t like this move
    3) Ellen has no musical expertise
    4) Paula, though a goof, was a singer with years of experience in the field
    5) I fear Ellen’s talk show may diminish in quality now that she has too many things going on!!

    THOUGHTS? Take my poll here:

    http://movies-tv-entertainment.blogspot.com/

    Thanks for voting!!

  • EveLambert

    I am so much in favor of Ellen Degeneres being a judge on American Idol …..by the way she will be the third (3rd) judge because she is replacing Paula Abdul who was the third judge, Paula was there before Kara – so that makes Ellen the third judge.

    Hopefully Ellen could have Adam guest host her show in-between when she has her plate full…. I think he would be great – her show will definitely increase in ratings and gives us a chance to see Adam in a different light since we like to listen and watch his body language so much…….hey one hand washes the other in music/show biz!………and as I write this comment I am actually listening to “Jingle bells” – WUT – WUT!

  • spring2009

    Ok, I very rarely leave here because I always have catching up to do but the first Ellen article I click on outside of here and there is MJ. No need to leave here really.

    http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=430429&GT1=28103

  • iluvai

    Ellen’s fans might help boost AI viewership. I guess it might now be called Ellen’s AI Show.

  • iluvai

    AI people, please give us 3 judges!!! I wonder what last season would have been like (for the fans) if we had gotten even at least one more song from each of the top 10.

  • iluvai

    “Ellen will represent the fans.”

    She is a fan. Like any AI fan. At least say that she will bring in her audience demographic. The marketing reason at least makes sense.

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